Hi Everyone. Newbie With Loads Of Questions I'm Afraid

[Dbswales]

Hi everybody.

I been browsing the site for a while now and have been amazed by the depth of knowledge that the members have here.

But of history about me, I'm early 50's, been really interested in astronomy since my dad bought me a telescope over 35 years ago and managed to get some glimpses of Saturn. Even with the relatively basic telescope that was mounted on a feeble excuse of a tripod, seeing Saturn and remembering the excitement I felt is something that I can still look back on and smile about today.

Most of my hobbies have sport related and have consequently, for the reasons of my mounting years, been put out to grass. After discussing with my wife the need to find another pastime, she reminded me of the number of times I mentioned the dodgy telescope and the joy at being able to see Saturn for myself. Of course! Perfect!!. I'd look online for a forum where I could do a bit of research. Check! Found this forum, definitely a place where I could learn and maybe find some kindly souls to help me on my way.

So, after reading pages and pages of the forum, I decided to bite the bullet and introduce myself. Fantastic site by the way!

Ok, after sampling the posts, I feel my interest is probably going down the photographic avenue where I'd love to be able in the future to take photographs of planets, lunar and if possible some of the nebulae.

In the way of available spends, I'd say around £1000 to £1500. I know that isn't going to get me anywhere near all the bits and pieces that I'd need but I thought that if I mentioned that I'd probably need a telescope that I would more often than not use in my garden but would on occasion travel within 30 mins or so to a few farms which have nigh on no real light pollution so would ideally be portable. Would that be possible?

Anyway, sorry to have prattled on so long, hopefully someone will be able to help and suggest a starting point for the equipment that I'd need. Thanks for reading and hopefully speak to you soon.

Dan

[laudropb]

Hello and a warm welcome to the SGL. Unfortunately I am a purely visual observer, so can't help you much. I am sure advice will be forthcoming for someone more knowledgable than me. If not post a question in the getting started in imaging for sure fire responses.

[jason.p]

Hi Dan and welcome to the friendliest astro forum around, glad you found us. I don't feel qualified to advise on your choice of scope, but I'm sure you'll get all the advice you need here. Just ask.

Good luck and clear skies

Jason.

[hippie]

Welcome to SGL Dan .

[Dave In Vermont]

Greetings and welcome aboard, Dan. Nice to have you!

I'm sure we can get you going. Take your time and explore, and don't be shy about asking questions - we love helping to find answers. Just find the right forums in here and ask away! One quick answer - you don't need to be rich to get a good telescope and learn about what cameras are available and get going. Amateur-astronomers are known for employing just about anything and everything to get nice images, even with cheap webcams! You'll be pleasently surprised.

Be seeing you -

Dave

[geministar]

I'm new as well, but have really got going now, thanks in no small part to the folk on SGL.

I got to this point in three steps:

1. a 5" reflector with equatorial mount - found it hard to balance, aim, adjust, and even move - it almost put me off for life - I took it back

2. a 70mm refractor with alt-az mount - now we're moving - easy to aim and use - started seeing things - wanted more, so passed it on and got......

3. a Celestron 127mm Mak with GoTo - compact, easy to move, easy to aim and use, easy to align (if you want to do that) - now I've seen so much more

You don't have to align it and use the GoTo, you can just aim with the finder, then move it round using the motors.  (No direct manual control.)

Having been bitten, I've now acquired a number of accessories.

Well Dan, that's my story.  There's a lot of choice.  There are lots of opinions.  And I stress I am new to this, so others might have more insightful comments to make!

[Stu]

Hi Dan,

Welcome to the forum. You will probably get some better advice by posting your specific questions in the getting started in imaging section.

For what it's worth, bearing in mind I'm a visual observer, a couple of little pointers.

For lunar and planetary imaging, the basics involve taking many hundreds or thousands of very short exposures, usually in a video, and then stacking the best of these to remove the effects of atmospheric turbulence. For this type of imaging, a reasonable aperture helps, as does a longish focal length, so an SCT on a tracking mount (does not need to be an EQ) would do very well for this.

Deep sky imaging is a very different beast, and more expensive to do well. Many will say that an HEQ5, an ED80 scope with reducer/flattener, guide scope, guide camera and perhaps a DSLR is the starting point for this. Multiple, very long exposures are order of the day here, stacked and processed to pull out the detail. The mount is very important as this gives you the stability and tracking required, whilst large aperture is not required, a small, fast apo refractor is much more suitable.

So, a quick guide from someone who's never done it, but reads a lot on here! Ask the experts in the relevant section and you will get the proper advice

[Dave Lloyd]

Hi Dan, welcome.

[michigander]

Welcome to SGL, Dan!

Dana

[JamesM]

Hi Dan and welcome to the forum.

Clear skies

[PeterCPC]

Hello and welcome.

Peter

[Pete Presland]

Hi welcome to SGL from Pete in Bedfordshire  Astrophotography is massive subject with many different strands, the planets and moon are relatively easy to get good results. Deep sky objects are a different matter.... As others have said take your time and read lots and once again welcome to SGL  

[seo]

Hi Dan, welcome aboard.

[Kabi]

Hello Dan and welcome.

My experience is that a very good telescope on a very cheap mount is useless, but even a cheap(ish) telescope on a good mount brings enjoyment. 

Especially if you have astrophotography in mind, my advice would be to get the best (used) motorized mount you can find. I would say an EQ5 as a minimum (you can still carry it around...)  This will make your life so much easier!  

If you have some money to spare get a Goto mount, which will help you a lot while learning the sky.

Then you have to think about buying two telescopes... one for planetary/lunar (high magnification) and one with a large diameter (lots of light) for the rest.  

[Dbswales]

Crikey, thank you so much for all your replies, advice and greetings.

I've taken onboard the advice that you've kindly given and with browsing the site and looking at what people have in their gear locker in their signature bit, it seems like I might be leaning towards something that aeajr and a few of you have suggested in that I might be better off getting a scope with a good mount so I that might enjoy a bit of both worlds. This sounds like the best way to go I think in my humble and not very confident opinion.

Maybe something like a C9.25 or even a ne8?? One of these with what Kabi has suggested, an EQ5? Do you think this would be OK or do you think I'd struggle getting to grips with an outfit like this bearing in mind that I am a complete and utter newcomer to this oh so complicated world of astronomy. Seriously, I read some of the posts here and wonder why I didn't try harder in school!!! It all sounds so complicated with the terminology you all use.

What I have noticed is that some of the explanations made to newbies such as myself has been freely given and not in any way condescending which is very often the case in forums throughout the Internet. This has obviously given me the heart to approach you all and ask what some of you will think is pretty dumb, but I appreciate it never the less.

Thanks again everyone and please feel free to reply with any info you may feel will help me in the coming weeks before I grab the nettle and get spending!!!!

Dan

[Stu]

What I have noticed is that some of the explanations made to newbies such as myself has been freely given and not in any way condescending which is very often the case in forums throughout the Internet. This has obviously given me the heart to approach you all and ask what some of you will think is pretty dumb, but I appreciate it never the less.

Thanks again everyone and please feel free to reply with any info you may feel will help me in the coming weeks before I grab the nettle and get spending!!!!

Dan

Dan, one thing you do not have to worry about is condescending answers on SGL. It's one of the friendliest online communities and everyone will do their best to help out and answer your questions, no matter how simple or obvious they may seem. We all started in the same place!!

As said, probably best to start posting questions in the relevant forum sub-sections to get the best advice.

For imaging, the oft quoted bible which everyone should read is 'Making Every Photon Count' by Steve Richards, well worth getting.

I guess the only thing to add is to be careful not to try to mix up the disciplines and end up with something which doesn't do anything particularly well. Planetary/lunar imaging is very different from Deep Sky imaging so be sure you understand the requirements before buying.

Enjoy the forum

[brantuk]

Hi Dan and welcome to SGL

Great advice above -  plenty to get you going there.

[JemC]

Hi Dan and welcome to SGL

One other thing you might find useful if you have not already got it is a software program called Stellarium, its free to download and quite simple to use,

Regards

James

[swag72]

Hi Dan and welcome to SGL - Glad that you found us and hope that you enjoy your time here.

Look forward to seeing you around

[Charon]

Welcome to the forum Dan.

[northcanadian]

Hi Dan....welcome to SGL. Great suggestions above.  I am curious...do you have an astronomy club near?  Maybe a star party would help in selecting your gear?

Cheers and good luck

Roger

[Gparkz]

Hi Dan, I'm new to this and although I cannot offer you any advice on scopes or mounts I can say......... I'm delving straight in to astro video photography and so far the support from this site has been warm and welcoming, as a newbie its daunting with so many experts around. I'm struggling to get my laptop to talk to my camera but no one laughed, no one said I shouldn't be doing this yet, but what they did do was offer some useful advice and guidance and a few links and products to check out, nothing condescending at all, I feel I will learn heaps from these guys and I'm very grateful to them for the advice, I'm sure you will find a similar experience, be sure to check out the threads specifically for imaging.

Regards

Gary Parker

[Vox45]

Welcome to SGL Dan

Clear skies!

[Dbswales]

Thanks again for such a warm welcome everyone. 

So much advice which has already helped me loads, so thanks for your input. It's really appreciated. 

Dan

[Vox45]

I would split the subject of astrophotgraphy in 2 different beast: planetary and deep sky (galaxies, nebula)

1. for planetary/lunar I would go for a Maksutov 150mm as it is really small, has a long focal and would give you stunning views of the moon and saturn/jupiter. Combined with a simple webcam you can acheive this at the very very least

Acutally taken with an SCT (C6) so image would be even better resolved with a MAK.

2. for Deep sky objects (DSO) I am very happy with my Sky watcher 80ED. small and portable, wide field. Combined with a second hand DSLR Canon 1000D I was able to image this:

Now I am not saying that these images are spectacular but this is the lowest you can expect using entry level astro gear.

HEQ5 mount

SW 80ED with focal reducer OR SW 150 MAK

Webcam

Canon 1000D

with all the bits and pieces should be near your price tag....

Hope that helps!