Total Newcomer....

[Corkyzz]

Hi, my question has probably been asked a thousand times before but here goes anyway......what is the best first telescope to get - Having looked at this for about a month now I'm just getting more confused - ultimately I want to take pictures but realise that may be some way off at this point - ny help would be appreciated

[PeterCPC]

Hello and welcome. You will need to give a bit more infomation such as budget and what you want to use it for initially (observations, planetary, DSOs).

Peter

[Corkyzz]

Thanks for responding, the budget will be around £300 and I'll just stat with looking at what's out there before I try and take photos, starting with the moon as it's the easiest target (I think)

As I've really got no idea what to look for would a Goto system be useful or am I better spending the money on a larger scope?

[malc-c]

Best bit of advice would be to read through similar posts to see what responses others who were in similar situation and budgets.  

There is no one scope fits all option.  Imaging has different prerequisites to visual, the mount being the primary one.  If you want to bolt on a digital SLR camera body to the scope to take images of faint objects then you will need to quadruple your £300 budget in order to get a fast, large aperture scope on a precision mount that is capable of tracking with ease.  Yes it is possible to use less sturdier mounts, and smaller scopes but it's more problematic and can lead to frustration that you end up no longer enjoying the hobby.

If on the other hand, you just want to take images of the moon and bright planets, then that can be done fairly cheaply with a web cam and a laptop through fairly cheap equipment.  The choice you need to think of is do you spend your £300 on something that you soon out grow, and then let go for a fraction of what you paid for it in order to upgrade to something that better suits your needs.  Or save up  / extend the budget and get something that you will grow into and be capable of achieving your long term goal.

£300 will get you a fairly decent 6" reflector.   The Skywatcher 150P on an Eq3-2 mount  http://www.rothervalleyoptics.co.uk/skywatcher-explorer-150p-eq3-2-telescope.html  is as close as you'll get to the general purpose all-rounder scope you are seeking.  It will be fine for observing a wide choice of targets, which if you have a dark site, can include galaxies, clusters and bright nebula.  It lack drives, which can be added later, but at around £300 again is more expensive than purchasing the 150P with the motors fitted (£547 for the full computerised goto option).  I would recommend a reflector over a refractor at this level of budget as personally I think you'll get better results,

The goto option typically adds £270 to the price of the non-goto version of the scope.  There are two camps regarding the goto options, those who feel it can be a useful tool to show the newcomer to objects of interest, and those who feel it takes away the need to learn the night sky.  Personally I think that the goto option is excellent for anyone who wants to get the most out of the scope from day one, and aid to the learning of the night sky.  The drawback is that you need to double your current budget in order to get the goto option of the 150P.  I wouldn't recommend getting a smaller scope in order to afford a goto option though ! 

[swag72]

Hi and welcome to SGL - A good post above, there is no one fits all solution sadly. When you look at photography that can take on a mind of it's own and oddly enough the mount is more important than the telescope.

Look forward to seeing you around

[Pete Presland]

Hi welcome to SGL from Pete in Bedfordshire

[Corkyzz]

Thanks for the advice, l'll have a look at some more posts but I think I'd be better off getting the best viewing scope and worry about the photos later

[Corkyzz]

Have just looked at Sara's images on Flickr and they are absolutely phenomenal - just knowing that stuff is out there just makes me want to get set up ASAP

[laudropb]

At your budget I would go for the Skyliner 200mm Dob and as you say worry about photography later.

[malc-c]

Have just looked at Sara's images on Flickr and they are absolutely phenomenal - just knowing that stuff is out there just makes me want to get set up ASAP

Truly stunning images, but it's a combination of a quality camera, decent optics and a really sturdy and well aligned mount.  Then you need to be blessed with nice clear dark skies (Sara is in Spain and not in damp, dull cloudy UK - so that helps !), and the learning curve when doing imaging is steep and expensive !

The disappointing thing is that most people expect to visually see those sort of images, even with a large scope, but then see just a faint smudge of grey on the best of nights, if anything at all.  The sensitivity of cameras, even basic digital SLRs allow us to see these faint details in all their glory.  I would suggest the following:

• Join a local astronomical society, most of which hold observing sessions and get a look through some of their scopes
• Telephone or better still visit a telescope stockist if you have one within a reasonable travelling distance to see what the scopes look like in reality.
• If you can't get to a shop, purchase from leading retailers such as Rother Valley Optics, or First Light Optics, the latter are sponsors of this site, and often respond to posts on the forum as well as directly via e-mail. Both have showrooms, but are not local to you.  Either way you should still be covered by the distant selling regulations if you find the scope you get is not what you expected when it arrives.

[JamesM]

Some very good advice so far. I would further endorse the recommendation above of the 200P mentioned by laudropb because in my opinion it is when working with an aperture of 8" that observing starts to get really interesting as the resolving power of that size of mirror will help you to tease out just that little bit more detail and structure, especially on the fainter deep sky objects (DSO's). 

I also think that GOTO is great as you can spend more time observing rather than finding the object. Now I will concede that finding objects manually certainly helps you learn the night sky and that half the fun of any manual observing session is hunting down the object, equally I also appreciate that for many, the amount of time that people have to look for objects is often restricted (work patterns, children having to get up early for school etc) and so GOTO does provide an efficient means to use what available time that you might have. However as has already been mentioned above, I would see GOTO as  something that is budgeted for in addition to any money spent on the scope. There is no point in having a system that can point to over 15,000 objects, if the scope that you are now forced to buy as a consequence of securing GOTO has a smaller aperture that will now mean that you won't be able to see the majority of objects that GOTO can secure. 

The 200P would be my choice. It is the best selling scope in the U.K and therefore it will also have a very good resell value should you decide to upgrade later on. In addition, although it is supplied on a dobsonian (lazy susan) style of alt-azimuth mount, there is nothing to stop you attaching some tube rings to it and setting up on top of an equatorial mount that has GOTO capabilities when funds become available. If there was only one scope to own we would all have it and there would be no further discussion but in reality the choice of activity (e,g astrophotography) the choice of target (e.g Planets, DSO's) and most importantly the size of our budget, has all helped to create many different types of scopes that have their own advantages and disadvantages which allow the humble amateur astronomy greater choice on how best to proceed. Hope that helps take you further although you might want to post your question over on the beginners equipment section as more people visit there.

In the mean time may I wish you clear skies and hope that you will enjoy your stay here.

[Corkyzz]

Thanks again guys, seems that no one can praise the Skyliner 200mm Dob highly enough - I think that I just need to see one 'in the flesh' to get a feel for it before I take the plunge

[Dave Lloyd]

Hi Corkyzz, welcome.

[Mr Spock]

Hi, welcome to SGL I'd also recommend a 200mm Dobsonian and you won't find much better than this http://www.firstlightoptics.com/dobsonians/skywatcher-skyliner-200p-dobsonian.html

Astro photography is an expensive hobby and the images you see take a great deal of knowledge. It is possible these days for anyone to create great images but it is a steep learning curve.

[michigander]

Welcome to SGL, Corky!

Dana

[Charon]

Welcome aboard Corky.

[malc-c]

See you are already being confused with differing opinions

If you are now thinking that your intention is just to look through the telescope then a Dobsonian is bar far the best bet.  You get more aperture for your money as the mount is the simplest of mounts and the money can be spent on the optics.

The 200P dob fits nicely in your £300 budget, and will do the job most adequately. However if you start getting the itch to do imaging with it, you'll soon find it has limitations.  I'm not saying web cam or mobile phone imaging isn't possible, but it becomes trick with such a mount.  So you would need to consider replacing the mount for something like an HEQ5 minimum, and possibly an EQ6 given that the 200P skyliner is 1200mm focal length where as the 200P explorer that is often bundled with the HEQ5 is shorter at 1000mm.  The current price for the HEQ5 pro goto mount is £749, so build in the cost of the dobsonian and you can see how you can loose money in the upgrade process, and it's more expensive in the long run than faster 200P explorer on the HEQ5.

Whatever path you opt for, don't rush into it.  I live in a town, and thought that I would just do visual, but wanted tracking and goto as whilst I know the basic constellations, didn't know where to find the faint targets.  I opted for a 200P explorer on an eq5 mount with goto.  After a very short time I was messing about with webcams, and then experimenting with taking images with a camera body.. Even with the mount being on or over it's operational limit I got some encouraging results, and found that imaging from a town was better than visual observing from the same location.  So I sold the EQ5 mount (making a loss on what it was really worth) and purchased a secondhand HEQ5 mount, along with a guide scope and guide camera, and at the same time built a large observatory to put it in, but that's another story !

Now I hardly if ever do visual observing through the scope (currently I've actually not used the scope since the summer of 2015 due to weather and personal things - but its there for when I do want to go out).  Even second hand the cost of the scopes, mount and equipment is probably in excess of £2000 excluding the observatory.  I don't know what equipment Sara uses, but I'm guessing its a dedicated mono CCD astro camera probably costing more than my complete set up again ! - If you go into imaging seriously you need deep pockets.

So do your research, try and test drive a couple of scopes, or at least compare a shortlist (Skywather are not the only make) and then think about what you may want to be doing in six months, will you be content with visual observing, or are you really wanting to do entry level imaging, and if so then which path to go down, buy now for the future, or upgrade as things move along. - Whatever you do, don't rush into it...

[glowjet]

Hi Corkyzz and welcome to SGL, you have been given some good advice already, choosing a scope that you think will suit you, can be a bit daunting. Source a local Astronomy group in your area, as has been suggested, you will then be able meet up with the members and see what instruments they are using, you will then get a better idea of what is available and the financial outlay you will be faced with, enjoy the forum

[Corkyzz]

Thanks again for all the advice - I guess I'll need to take some time in getting the right set up - have found a couple of local ish clubs so I'll pay them a visit - one of them does have an observatory so that looks as though it will be very useful - Cheers

Iain

[WaveSoarer]

Hello and welcome.

[hippie]

Welcome to SGL .

[Parkini]

I'm a new recent beginner and loving my Skywatcher 150p Dobsonian. I can only imagine the 200p is even more awesome for a beginner!!!

Ian

Deal, Kent, UK

Skywatcher Skyliner 150p Dobsonian

Canon 600D

[Paz]

Welcome to SGL. I would go for the 200mm dobsonian. As they are fairly popular you might not have to wait long to find one second hand (astrubuyandsell.com) in which case they would cost a lot less than £300 and you would get close to your money back if you trade on to something else later in order to do photography.

[triton1]

Hi there and welcome to SGL for the budget a 8" dob would be the way to go

[Vox45]

Hello and welcome to the forum

Clear skies !