Warning Newbie Alert!

[Sweetpea]

So much research and still not sure! Its for my husbands birthday...would prefer something more light weight and easy to travel  with. Budget is £270 max.

Skywatcher explorer 130 go to

ot Skywatcher skyhawk 1145 go to

 

 

[gnomus]

Skywatcher Skyliner 200P Dobsonian?

[Louis D]

Avoid low end German Equatorial Mounts like those.  They tend to vibrate like crazy and take forever to settle down.  If there's a wind, it never settles.

I second the dobsonian recommendation for a first telescope.  If you want portability, look into the Skywatcher Heritage-100P.  It has a parabolic mirror so it's image is pretty good.  It is light and compact and has a wide field of view.  Its mount is also quite stable.  At that price, you can add eyepieces, a planisphere, etc.  Setup is also quick.

[zicklurky]

I third a dobsonian. A SkyWatcher dob is quite economical and will give you great views. And dobs are much easier to operate than EQ mounts (for me anyway )

[laudropb]

Dob are great but not particularly light weight or portable. Much depends on what you or your husband wants to observe. 

[Sweetpea]

We hope to observe as much as is possible! We'd hope to set up in the back garden on a regular basis - daughter studying Physics will be all over this new scope! and my sons too who love the sky at night!

Husband is a Technical Director and thats why Im leaning toward the go to types? Skywatcher explorer 300 go to? Its a surprise so  I cant ask him his opinion! 

Moved to the countryside so skies are clearer for us now, weve never had a scope but are familiar with night sky ... hope we would use it a lot.

Husband getting a DSLR Canon 200D from his folks for his birthday. So would be good to get a scope with a fitting so he can try some Astrophotography? 

Would probably take it out and about too. But think we'll probably use ot from home mostly.

Any help much appreciated 

?

 

 

[brantuk]

To satisfy all of your stated requirements you would need to double your budget to get the very minimum imaging set up brand new. Astrophotography is very expensive and I would suggest the following items for about the cheapest starter kit I can think of:

http://www.firstlightoptics.com/skywatcher-mounts/skywatcher-eq3-pro-synscan-goto.html

http://www.firstlightoptics.com/reflectors/skywatcher-explorer-130p-ds-ota.html

You may be able to get a little discount buying them as a package so do ask the retailer - or you could go for second hand gear to obtain the same for around 2/3rds the price. The thing is - you need equatorial tracking - and a very stable mount - the mount in this one is not what I usually recommend (HEQ5 Goto would be better) but it will give you a "beginners taste" so to speak. Modifications will be required to make it more stable.

Dobsonians with their larger apertures give you deeper views into space which is great, but they are alt/az mounted which is unsuitable for imaging much more than planets (assuming you get one with tracking).

Your family sounds quite technical and I think you may want to rethink your budget, or your requirements - everything in astronomy is a compromise and mistakes can be expensive. Hth

[gnomus]

I think it would be best to avoid  astrophotography until you find out whether or not you like the hobby, because astrophotography will surely test the limits of your enthusiasm!!

A lot of people seem to be recommending Dobsonians - its difficult to find more bang for your buck, I would say.  

I too, worried about GOTO.  There is no doubt that finding stuff for yourself can be challenging, but GOTO does not always put the target bang in the middle of the eyepiece.  You may find it more rewarding to get a star chart and track down stuff for yourself.  

I do apologize but I have the zeal pf the newly converted as far as Dobs are concerned.

 

 

 

[Louis D]

Start out simple and build from there.  I see a lot of high dollar (pound?) Meade/Celestron/Vixen SCTs/MAKs/Newts/Fracs on various tracking mounts being ditched for a major loss after just a few months when the owner/family quickly loses interest in the hobby and wants to put the money into something else.  Don't fall into that trap.  Start with a solid, but affordable setup, get out under the night sky and learn where things are and how to use a telescope.  There are great apps for cellphones now to help with locating objects that didn't exist just a few years ago.  Once you confirm continuing interest in the hobby, invest in a more expensive second telescope to compliment the first.  No one telescope is the best for all purposes.

[saac]

Sweetpea I would second Brantuck's advice.  If you are sure you want to progress quickly to some form of Astro photography then you are almost certainly looking at an EQ mount with at least some form of motor drive to allow tracking (keeps the object centred in the eyepiece).  Goto is certainly nice but it only pushes up the price. If you purchase the right mount you could add goto later; easily within ability of technically minded.  I started off by writing the advice below but I wonder, as it is a birthday present, if you would be more likely to be looking for something that works straight out of the box.  Anyway for what it's worth here it is, something else to consider I guess:

"Here's what I would do.  Going by your introduction I think that a genuine starter scope set-up would very quickly be short lived in terms of its usefulness, especially if you are serious about taking any form of astro photography.  Given that your husband is of a technical profession then he may welcome the challenge of putting together a system. Ok, compared to a fully packaged set-up it may take the shine of as it's a birthday present, but you would potentially end up with a better set-up per £ spent.  Over on Astroboot you could pick up a SW EQ 3 mount head for £65 (non motorised) and then take your pick from a number of Newtonian Reflectors from £120 (Skywatcher Explorer 150P ) or £25 (Skywatcher 114 mm) - both telescopes and the mount head are advertised as A1 - basically new.  The scopes come with focuser and tube rings - you would need to purchase one or two eyepieces separately, together with counterweight for the mount head - again you can generally pick these up on astro boot.  Of course this approach would leave you without a tripod, but you could easily build a pier to accept the EQ 3 head in the garden if that is where most of your observing is to be from.   All of this may sound  difficult, but trust me it is straightforward for the technically minded and there is loads of experience and advice on this forum to guide you through it.

http://www.astroboot.co.uk/AstroBoot

"

On second thoughts maybe a good compromise would be the EQ3 mount (goto) in Brantuck's post and then make some saving by matching it up with the 150P from Astroboot.  

 

Jim

 

[happy-kat]

You can take great photos with a camera and a lens, starting on a static mount and moving to a tracking mount once available. A telescope is not mandatory for astrophotography.

Link with examples

[Soupy]

Some great advice Sweetpea and has already been said, don't jump all in on your first attempt at scope buying. Each type of scope and mount has its merits, but AP is another beast and it is wise to first learn the sky with a more basic setup than go in full pelt then lose interest, either because it's too complicated and you are not getting Hubble style images or there are never any clear skies to use the kit!

I see your husband is a technical director and others have commented that he should be technically minded to build and add to some set up later on, but my wife is also a technical director and would have no idea where to start with something like this. I don't want to do your husband, or my wife, a disservice but I understand a technical directors role and it could be food and clothing that he works with not necessarily computers/gadgets etc. So be mindful of this.

you also need your setup to be portable as you want to travel with it. Again that depends on the travel. If it's in a caravan or to a holiday home by car then that will be a different choice if you are flying somewhere, you could consider binoculars for portability and I would go for a Dob for home set up to start with.

you can buy a T2 adaptor that will enable you to attach your camera to the scope, whichever one you decide on.

good luck with the search/purchase and with your families first forays into deep sky Astronomy, and remember we are all here in the forum to help 

[Sweetpea]

7 hours ago, gnomus said:

Skywatcher Skyliner 200P Dobsonian?

Thanks for the advice guys.

I'm ditching the Go to idea! I think I'll go ahead and buy a Dobby 200 and learn the proper way! ??? cant wait for his birthday and clear skies. 

 

 

[gnomus]

Extremely smart move.  Think about getting a decent star atlas - it doesn't need to be expensive - many people (including me) use this one: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sky-Telescopes-Pocket-Atlas/dp/1931559317?ie=UTF8&keywords=sky and telescope pocket sky atlas&qid=1459901598&ref_=sr_1_1&s=books&sr=1-1  Think also about something like this: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Turn-Left-Orion-Hundreds-Telescope/dp/0521153972/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1459901690&sr=1-1&keywords=turn+left+at+orion+spiral+bound

Finally, consider mounting a Telrad to your Dob - read about them here: http://www.firstlightoptics.com/finders/telrad-finder-astronomy.html

Good luck

[Sweetpea]

11 hours ago, happy-kat said:

You can take great photos with a camera and a lens, starting on a static mount and moving to a tracking mount once available. A telescope is not mandatory for astrophotography.

Link with examples

These pics are beautiful, amazing what can be done with a modded camera and vintage lenses... and no telescope! This is the beginning of an exciting learning curve thanks happykat

[Sweetpea]

13 hours ago, brantuk said:

To satisfy all of your stated requirements you would need to double your budget to get the very minimum imaging set up brand new. Astrophotography is very expensive and I would suggest the following items for about the cheapest starter kit I can think of:

http://www.firstlightoptics.com/skywatcher-mounts/skywatcher-eq3-pro-synscan-goto.html

http://www.firstlightoptics.com/reflectors/skywatcher-explorer-130p-ds-ota.html

You may be able to get a little discount buying them as a package so do ask the retailer - or you could go for second hand gear to obtain the same for around 2/3rds the price. The thing is - you need equatorial tracking - and a very stable mount - the mount in this one is not what I usually recommend (HEQ5 Goto would be better) but it will give you a "beginners taste" so to speak. Modifications will be required to make it more stable.

Dobsonians with their larger apertures give you deeper views into space which is great, but they are alt/az mounted which is unsuitable for imaging much more than planets (assuming you get one with tracking).

Your family sounds quite technical and I think you may want to rethink your budget, or your requirements - everything in astronomy is a compromise and mistakes can be expensive. Hth

 

8 hours ago, gnomus said:

Extremely smart move.  Think about getting a decent star atlas - it doesn't need to be expensive - many people (including me) use this one: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sky-Telescopes-Pocket-Atlas/dp/1931559317?ie=UTF8&keywords=sky and telescope pocket sky atlas&qid=1459901598&ref_=sr_1_1&s=books&sr=1-1  Think also about something like this: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Turn-Left-Orion-Hundreds-Telescope/dp/0521153972/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1459901690&sr=1-1&keywords=turn+left+at+orion+spiral+bound

Finally, consider mounting a Telrad to your Dob - read about them here: http://www.firstlightoptics.com/finders/telrad-finder-astronomy.html

Good luck

Thanks, the above sound like sensible must haves! 

The Dobs arrives today and I'll just have to hide it till the big birthday ...May 1st. 

Looking forward to clear skies.

Thanks for the help

[Ricochet]

You're going to need a really big hiding place. You might want to see if there is a friend or family member who can store it for you given the length of time until his birthday and that what is inside is clearly marked on the boxes.

[brantuk]

A 200P dob is a sound investment - highly useable, easy and quick to set up, great views of everything in the night sky, and reasonably portable in two pieces (so it'll fit in most trunks). Guaranteed to please as a first scope - Congrats! and do let us know how you all get on with it.

[Sweetpea]

3 hours ago, brantuk said:

A 200P dob is a sound investment - highly useable, easy and quick to set up, great views of everything in the night sky, and reasonably portable in two pieces (so it'll fit in most trunks). Guaranteed to please as a first scope - Congrats! and do let us know how you all get on with it.

Will do!

[Sweetpea]

4 hours ago, Ricochet said:

You're going to need a really big hiding place. You might want to see if there is a friend or family member who can store it for you given the length of time until his birthday and that what is inside is clearly marked on the boxes.

Yep, will do

[saac]

Absolutely let's know how you all get on and put the address of this site on your husband's birthday card - best of all membership is free.  It's so cool that you'll all have an interest in this as a family; so far my main astro companion is my youngest, Bridget, she helped build the observatory and keeps me company. Good luck.

 

Oh, download a copy of Stellarium onto his computer/laptop for his birthday too - it's invaluable.

Stellarium

 

Jim

[Sweetpea]

6 hours ago, saac said:

Absolutely let's know how you all get on and put the address of this site on your husband's birthday card - best of all membership is free.  It's so cool that you'll all have an interest in this as a family; so far my main astro companion is my youngest, Bridget, she helped build the observatory and keeps me company. Good luck.

 

Oh, download a copy of Stellarium onto his computer/laptop for his birthday too - it's invaluable.

Stellarium

 

Jim

Hey thanks, very kind of you for the tips. Stellarium is another birthday treat, just had a look at it - its right up his street, nice bit of software.

Me and the kids are very excited about this scope... (The boys have constellation names as middle names soon they will be able to spot them in the sky ?

Ive just started reading Turn Left at Orion & teaching the boys as I learn - my daughter at Uni helped me decide on the scope too, she loves astronomy.⭐️

Wow- building an observatory with your daughter, what a lovely hobby to enjoy together

Cant wait for us all to get started, roll on May day!

Cheers!

[Astro Imp]

Hope you all have a great time with the birthday gift, sounds great.

If you enjoyed Stellarium have a look at Virtual Moon Atlas, its free as well and is invaluable for introducing you to our neighbour:- https://sourceforge.net/projects/virtualmoon/

Good luck and enjoy.

[Physopto]

This may sound a bit daft, but have you thought of asking your husband what he would like as far as a scope goes before spending a lot of money. I know it sort of spoils the birthday surprise idea, but he may not want a scope that does not find the object, or he may want to find it himself.

Getting the wrong one can be very costly in the long run. There are many scopes put up for sale because they are not exactly what the recipient wanted. Wrong present = lost money and disappointment on both sides.

Derek

[rockystar]

I see you don't need advice on what to choose any more, so I'll just say: good choice.

I recently ditched my EQ5 mounted scope for exactly the one you have chosen, and haven't regretted it. Searching for DSOs manually is great fun, and very rewarding when you find them. As for GoTo, I think it would be better if you have people who want to just look at things, but I was out the other week with my DOB, I was up and running in about 10 minutes, 30 mins after I was observing, some of the guys with GoTo were still trying to get it aligned, so not always as easy as it seems.