Help choosing my first telescope

[ItsTheWhittle]

Hi everyone,

Nice to meet you all this is my first time posting here, im currently looking into buying my first telescope but i am having a lot of trouble choosing which one to buy.

Ive veiwed many makes and models such as Celestrons,Orions etc but just cannot choose, as i am a complete beginner i dont really know what to look for and everytime i think i have found a good telescope i delve into reviews from around the web to find they may not be so good.

I was wondering if anyone on here could help me out with this please maybe some suggestions? I'm hoping to find a good quality telescope for planetary veiwing and veiwing celestial bodies and also maybe some astrophotography, my budget is around the £400 mark any help will be most appreciated thank you!

[Victor Boesen]

Hi! and welcome to the forum!

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/az-goto/sky-watcher-star-discovery-150p.html

This telescope has a 6" aperture and a 750mm focal length which will give you a really good and wide view of the deep sky objects. It is an alt/az go-to telescope which means that you can do some astrophotography.

check out the thread  (The "no eq" dso challenge) for examples of astrophotography with an alt/az telescope. However if you want to get into serious astrophotography then i would recommend you getting an eq mount, but that will cost you about 700£.

Check out these results with this telescope!

 

[ItsTheWhittle]

Those are some amazing images taken with that telescope, could i ask for your opinion on these two telescopes and how they stand up to the one you recommend if possible http://www.telescopeplanet.co.uk/celestron-nexstar-130slt

http://www.telescopeplanet.co.uk/celestron-nexstar-127-slt

[mikeyj1]

Both the Celestrons are good scopes also, but very different to each other in focal length (650 vs 1500mm).  Longer focal length means more magnification with the same eyepiece, but smaller field of view and dimmer.  For the money, the Skywatcher gives you bigger diameter mirror, so brighter image, and medium f/l so reasonable magnification, as victor points out.  Any of them would be good scopes, i have had both the 150p and the S/W version of the 127 Maksutov,  i really liked them both, perhaps the 127mm more as its compact.  The Goto on both is  good, perhaps slightly easier to use the Celestron vs the S/W, but just my preference.  There is also the Nexstar 5SE, but its above your budget,  better quality mount and optics

One thing:  you wont see the deep sky objects at the eyepiece in the same detail and colour as the photos- that takes a bit of knowledge, practice and patience to get to those quality shots, but quite possible to do!

I would be happy with any of those,

Mike

[ItsTheWhittle]

Thanks for both of your advice i'll probably spend a few more days considering but the skywatcher definitley seems like a good choice

[Cosmic Geoff]

I have a Celestron Nexstar 127 SLT, so naturally i would tell you to get one. :-)

More seriously, this Maksutov scope is a premium quality scope and well suited for what you say you want to do. Just budget for buying a premium quality eyepiece of around 8mm to get the best out of the scope at high powers. And an external DC power supply or power tank.

Not familar with the 130p except the mounting.

The 150P Star Discovery you were looking at is f5 which means it will work better with more exotic and higher priced eyepieces. I think that you will find that a lot of these mountings, including my Nexstar tripod,  are on the wobbly side, which is tolerable for visual as they are also very portable, but  if you are serious about astrophotography, somebody is sure to recommend you buy a more expensive and more rigid equatorial mounting for that purpose.

I have not seen a Star Discovery mounting, but it looks like a variant of mine, so expect something portable but more wobbly than one would really like.

Definitely get a Goto mount unless you are hopeless with gadgets. It's a huge boon, and this is the 21st century.

Get something of quality that is easy to handle (and with Goto). I hope this helps you.  

Edited November 15, 2016 by Cosmic Geoff

[ItsTheWhittle]

So just to double check and sorry if im being a pain haha, i think i am going to go for the skywatcher 150p as suggested good choice? And thanks for all your replies and being really helpful 

[rockystar]

3 hours ago, Cosmic Geoff said:

Definitely get a Goto mount unless you are hopeless with gadgets. It's a huge boon, and this is the 21st century

There's something to be said about sitting out, on a cold dark night, in the middle of no where, gadget free.   And I get a thrill from hunting down objects with a star map. But you need to enjoy it too, otherwise it will just frustrate you. There is something in Astronomy for everyone (viewers, hunters, images)

I think the skywatcher 150p is a good choice

 

[popeye85]

4 hours ago, ItsTheWhittle said:

So just to double check and sorry if im being a pain haha, i think i am going to go for the skywatcher 150p as suggested good choice? And thanks for all your replies and being really helpful 

I have this scope and can definitely back up other people's views about the quality, it's a fantastic scope. It you have any specific questions about it you would like to know before you buy then just ask and I will see if I can help.

[happy-kat]

The nice thing about the star discovery mount is you get choice.

The mount can be used with no power and moved manaully by hand so you can find objects yourself if that is you interest, you are not tied to having to use a handset to move the mount, I think this is a big bonus. If you are using power you can mix and match the mount has freedom find, means you can losen the clutch when in use and move by hand then re-engage and it will track etc. again.

Out of the box the star discovery mount can be used with a DSLR and camera lens (I think it even comes with the bracket to mount) to start having a go at astroimaging. Out of the box the 150p that comes with it like most reflectors will not reach focus with a dslr.

[Dave In Vermont]

If planets are your preferred objects, the 127mm Maksutov-Cassegrain would serve you well. But if you want to also see larger objects such as nebulae and expansive star-fields, not so much. Maksutov's have a quite narrow field-of-view (FOV). The 150mm F/5 will be better as an all-rounder telescope, meaning it can show you wide FOV objects, yet still be good on planets and other smaller objects.

I personally would be inclined to go for the Skywatcher. It comes with everything you'd be needing to get going. As a first telescope, it would be quite capable to locate most types of DSO's (deep space objects), as well as those in our local solar-system such as planets, comets, asteroids such as Ceres, as well as our fantastic Moon.

You'll note many of us have more than one telescope. This is usually to be attributed to our finding that different types of telescopes - such as Newtonians or refractors - perform the best on certain varieties of targets 'up-there.' While other types work best on other targets. So we get other telescopes as our interests become more refined. But this Skywatcher 150mm would be excellent in helping you to find out what things you like and give you a good view of these.

That's my 2¢ worth,

Dave

[ItsTheWhittle]

Thanks for all the great advice everyone you have all been a really great help!

[popeye85]

Good luck! And remember never to be scared to ask questions. 

[happy-kat]

To clarify.

150p there is a dobsian mount version, a tripod version (eq or az4) and a goto version. Reading above one member is talking about the dob and another the goto version in the stardiscovery mount. The only thing they all share is the 150mm parabolic mirror, the mount and actual telescope fabric varies. Think about what is important to you.

[ItsTheWhittle]

I was going to buy the one of the First Light Optics website which says it is an Alt-Azimuth Go-To

[ItsTheWhittle]

Is First Light Optics where you guys would recommend i purchase this telescope? I have seen it elsewhere for around the same price other places have it prices significantly higher like this one http://www.telescopeplanet.co.uk/skywatcher-star-discovery-150p-goto-telescope

[brantuk]

I started with a 150P and it's a very nice ota indeed (optical tube assembly). The included eyepieces though tend to be basic ones just enough to get you going - so you will want to upgrade them at some point and it's definitely worth doing - it'll change the views from "ok" to "awesome" lol.

Make sure you choose a decent mount and tripod to put it on. The heavier and more stable the better - my personal preference is for steel tubing over alloy - it reduces vibration which becomes very important at higher magnifications. Hth

(Oh and we recommend FLO because you'll always get the best price possible with them, good warranty, and excellent pre/post sales service)
 

Edited November 16, 2016 by brantuk

[popeye85]

7 hours ago, ItsTheWhittle said:

[popeye85]

I think you would have to go along way to find anyone who has a bad word to say about Flo. In fact i think it's fair to say that many people will go to them even if they find the same product for less elsewhere, simple for the expertise and customer service.

[ItsTheWhittle]

Thanks for the help everyone i have just ordered and am very excited for it to arrive, i'll be sure to ask any questions i have when i get the scope thanks again!

[happy-kat]

There is a good video of it in youtube by nature and astronomy tv. Enjoy your telescope.

Could install stelarium in the mean time and set it up for your location.

Edited November 16, 2016 by happy-kat

[LukeSkywatcher]

On 15/11/2016 at 14:53, Victor Boesen said:

Hi! and welcome to the forum!

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/az-goto/sky-watcher-star-discovery-150p.html

This telescope has a 6" aperture and a 750mm focal length which will give you a really good and wide view of the deep sky objects. It is an alt/az go-to telescope which means that you can do some astrophotography.

check out the thread  (The "no eq" dso challenge) for examples of astrophotography with an alt/az telescope. However if you want to get into serious astrophotography then i would recommend you getting an eq mount, but that will cost you about 700£.

Check out these results with this telescope!

 

It really is impressive what can be done with a non-EQ mount. 2017 could be the year i turn to the dark side.

[popeye85]

Please just remember that what you see in the photos (including the ones shown in the video above) is much more spectacular then what you with see with your naked eye. Most things you will see will just be grey blobs-our eyes just aren't sensitive to pick up any colour. So many people buy a scope with high expectations and are shocked with the reality of it, the thing to remember is that your will be seeing things that are a mind boggling vast distance away. There is a post on here somewhere entitled 'what to expect to see' which should prove to be helpful.

You will also need a power source to power the mount. You can use some AA batteries but a power pack usually proves to be more reliable. 

Finally I found a app called 'synscaninnit' to be useful for finding all the info for what to plumb into your handset.

Swinging from the negative to the positive you are coming into the best time of year for stargazing. With longer nights, Orion rising earlier all the time and of course the king of them all, Jupiter, soon to show herself you are going to see some great things through that scope!!

[LukeSkywatcher]

7 minutes ago, popeye85 said:

Please just remember that what you see in the photos (including the ones shown in the video above) is much more spectacular then what you with see with your naked eye. Most things you will see will just be grey blobs-our eyes just aren't sensitive to pick up any colour. So many people buy a scope with high expectations and are shocked with the reality of it, the thing to remember is that your will be seeing things that are a mind boggling vast distance away. There is a post on here somewhere entitled 'what to expect to see' which should prove to be helpful.

You will also need a power source to power the mount. You can use some AA batteries but a power pack usually proves to be more reliable. 

Finally I found a app called 'synscaninnit' to be useful for finding all the info for what to plumb into your handset.

Swinging from the negative to the positive you are coming into the best time of year for stargazing. With longer nights, Orion rising earlier all the time and of course the king of them all, Jupiter, soon to show herself you are going to see some great things through that scope!!

Absolutely MUST agree. The human eye (as amazing as it is) has its limits. You will never see colour in any object outside of our solar system because the distances are just so vast and the colours are long faded away before they hit our eyeballs. You will see colour through a telescope on the planets in out solar system. You may also not see the level of detail as seen in images taken with a camera of those planets.

Dont be disappointed though. Even though objects which are very very very far away may be just shades of grey, the light from them has taken millions of yrs travelling through space to reach your eyes. Its you basically looking back in time millions of yrs.

Thats pretty cool.