advise

[ajaja2000]

hi i would like some help before i purchase a telescope so i hope to get some answers. :wave:

1. I want to purchase a telescope i like the bresser messier 150 newtonian if someone have it if u can give me ur feedback on it.

2. If an equatorial mount is set,is it easy to find planets by just using the RA

Edited by Ant: Poll removed.

[peeceeTal2M]

Hi aj, welcome to SGL. The type of telescope you need will depend on a few things, firstly do you want to observe deep sky objects or moon and planets, what is your budget? will you require portability? will you be wanting to take photographs at some point. If you could answer some of these we will be able to better advise you on your purchase.

[SteveL]

One of the Admins or Mods will be along shortly to edit your post and remove the "poll", which is used so that users can vote for options, and not for answering questions.

[scotastro]

1) Bresser Scope

Is there a particular reason why you chose the Bresser? Looking at the spec and price of the Bresser (£299) it is similar to the Skywatcher 150PL which is only £220.

Most people are very eager to get their firat scope, but the most important thing is to get the one that suits you best. You need to consider not only what you want to look at now, but also what you want for the future. There is no point in buying a scope now that you out grow in a year or two. If you are only interested in the Moon and Planets buy a refractor or for planets and star clusters, etc. then buy a reflector.

150mm is a good size scope to start with and will show the planets and the brighter deep sky objects quite well. The mount can be motorised in the future allowing simple webcam imaging.

2) RA

Right Ascension (RA) and Declination (Dec) are the sky equivalent to longitude (Lon) and latitude (Lat) on the Earth. Just as every point on Earth can be marked in Lon and Lat so is every point in the sky defined by its RA and Dec. As the planets move through different constellations over time so do their RA and Dec numbers (stars, galaxies, etc. do not change position).

So it is not possible to find a planet by RA alone. The brighter planets from Venus to Saturn are all easily seen visually and so are no trouble to point a telescope at.

Download the planetarium program Stellarium which shows the position of the planets and brighter Deep Sky Objects - its free.

http://www.stellarium.org/

Mike

GAC

Galloway Astronomy Centre

www.gallowayastro.com

[mcut]

the planets can be found with a monthly star chart from sky at night magazine etc, or stellarium. you can find them with a finderscope quite easily.

for my part i would not be relying on setting circles for accuracy on most "affordable" mounts

[ajaja2000]

hi thank u for ur advice yes to be honest with u my target is looking at the planet and galaxy but i want a telescope that will give me sharp and crispy pic and details.my budget is around 200 t0 250pound.so what's the best choise for me as a first telescope.very much take care.

[Astro_Baby]

I'm old fashioned and use a Planisphere from Philips which will give you a rough location for planets. You can use that as a guide and then just use your eyes to get a visual fix. The planets all show up quite bright so are relatively easy to see ( I have never seen Uranus or Pluto - Pluto only shows as a bright star anyway and Neptune and Uranus mostly only show as featureless pale blue discs ).

Sharp and crisp views required good cold weather and a stable atmosphere plus the planets being quite high in the sky ( right now they are low on the horizon ).

If you want a sample of what you'll see as opposed to whats possible with a photograph you could take a look at a short review I did on my firts scope which is a tiny bit smaller than what your planning on buying. It might give you at least an idea of what the view is like.

The review is at http://www.adur-astronomical.com/reviews/Sky-Watcher%20130PM/Sky-Watcher%20130PM%20Review.htm

[ajaja2000]

hi great pics know i have no doubt, u consider than that a reflector telescope would be good for me not a refractor.so shall i go for the skywatcher 150pl.if u have a better choice on my budget 250pound let me know.thanx :wave:

[Astro_Baby]

Whooo I dont think anyone said a reflector was necessarily better did they ?

[ajaja2000]

hello so i'm about to purchase a telescope but still didn't decide yet a refractor102mm celestron or skywatcher130mm what's the best in all purpose.

[Keagle]

Have you considered the skyliner 200p dob? I'm confused as to whether you would like a refractor or reflector.

[Trevor]

I’m just confused…………..

[ajaja2000]

what is the best do u think for my budget 250pound

[John]

My suggestion would be to get a newtonian (mirror) telescope on a simple mount that is known as a Dobsonain. You simply point the scope to where you want to look - and use either a good book such as "Turn Left at Orion" or planetarium type software (eg: Stellarium - which is a free download) to find what part of the sky the interesting objects are in.

For your budget you could get either a 6 inch (and have some change left over) or an 8 inch - which shows more of course.

Something like this (which is the scope that Keagle suggested):

http://www.firstlightoptics.com/proddetail.php?prod=dobsky200

That would be my suggestion. I'm sure others will chip in with other ideas

John

[ajaja2000]

thank u very much for ur advice very helpful.

[ajaja2000]

hi i purchased my first telescope a celestron omni xlt 150mm reflector i think it's ok.i observed juptier this week not good everytime i use 150x it become fuzzy and sometimes very poor.am wondering if it's the atmosphere condition and whene will i get better view?!!!!!! i want to buy a better eyepieces for planets any advise?budget 60 pound.thank u.

[ajaja2000]

hi i purchased my first telescope a celestron omni xlt 150mm reflector i think it's ok.i observed juptier this week not good everytime i use 150x it become fuzzy and sometimes very poor.am wondering if it's the atmosphere condition and whene will i get better view?!!!!!! i want to buy a better eyepieces for planets any advise?budget 60 pound.thank u.

[storebror]

Jupiter is low down in the sky at the moment so you won't get the best view of it - it's light is travelling through a thicker layer of atmosphere which leads to distortion. If you're thinking of buying new eyepieces in the hope of improving what you see, I'd hold off for now and spend any spare cash on buying some beginner's books and a planisphere - a reasonably decent pair of binoculars would also be a good idea so that you can get to know the sky more easily. Just some suggestions to consider.

[ajaja2000]

i have a binocular and a planisphere do u know any good make of eyepieces for planets?thanx

[storebror]

Have a look here:

http://www.firstlightoptics.com/categories.php?cat=10

if you look elsewhere I'd advise you to go at least for plossl-type eyepieces - and be very careful if you decide to look on eBay because you could end up with a lemon.

[ajaja2000]

thankx mate

[Tiny]

Being low down Jupiter can have light cloud over it that blurs the image - which can vary minute on minute - even when it looks clear to the mark one eyeball. Don't worry if you don't see too much to start - your brain has to get used to what you are trying to see - and what you are trying to see is not what it has been used too up to now.

(There was a letter in a US magazine from a very well off but annoyed chap who had brought all the same (expensive) equipment as the man who wrote articles describing what he suggested people look at. The letter stated that the new chap could not see all the detail described. The article writer said he had spent years studying the sky and had found the longer he looked the more he saw so to be patient and in a few years... But even at the start there was so much to see that he tended to glance then move on. Only later he realised he had to spend time just looking a the same thing and slowly things got better and clearer.)

[Grotemobile]

:newb: Hi ,i was out looking at Jupiter for about 2 hours last night.

I live on the south coast so i get some good nights .The thing i find that improves things is to make sure the scope is cooled down enough .Iv only

got a 6" reflector & i find it needs a min of 2 hours before it stars performing.

I find the best mag for jupiter is 100X through this scope .i could see the 2

cloud bands & the 4 moons quite well ,but this was only after being out there

some time .You have just got to spend time out there, as im finding out.

[Psychobilly]

... Only later he realised he had to spend time just looking a the same thing and slowly things got better and clearer.)

Perhaps the Brain is acting a bit like Registrax ...

[Tiny]

:newb: i find it needs a min of 2 hours before it stars performing.

I find the best mag for jupiter is 100X through this scope .i could see the 2

cloud bands & the 4 moons quite well ,but this was only after being out there

some time .You have just got to spend time out there, as im finding out.

Two hours to cool seems a lot. Does it need to be re-collimated?