First time sky watcher!

[Makeshiftsam]

Hi guys and girls, i am completely new to astronomy and could do with some advice on what would be best to get for my first scope.

What do you think of this scope: http://www.bristolcameras.co.uk/p-sky-watcher-star-discovery-150p-computerised-go-to-reflector.htm#accessory

Seems to be good value for the money, but i honestly dont know what i'm really looking at?!

give me your opinions and any reccomendations on brands and specific scopes, this would be great thank you!

[paul mc c]

Hello and welcome,it would be good to know what your main interest is,ie visual bit if photography,what your really paying for is the electronics,personally i would go for a Skywatcher Skyliner 200P Dobsonian 8" dob,and just learn your way around the sky,you would have money left over for maybe a couple of eyepieces like the BST,s.

[Ab Umbra Lumen]

General suggestion (although here it's really a matter of taste/philosophy): it depends on how much time and effort you want to invest before gettings results. If you never looked at the sky before, a good monocular or a binocular are just fine to start with. If you just don't know, then I'd advise as a first scope one with at least goto and tracking: this really brings you right away to see things and relax with the tracking, giving istant gratification. After that, you can better judge whether you want to go the "pure" (no motor) way, or go on with the "comfort zone". In fact, in terms of learning the sky, I found I learnt much more from a motorized scope when a beginner, so that now I can just point without go-to: the other way around is way harder, and can be a stopover for a beginner.

Of course just my 2 cents: other people are really passionate about this and would surely advise the "pure" way, no motors no tablets etc. I think it is very personal: in retrospect, I found my passion and ability grew quickly and fast just because of the motorized approach, starting right away to spend hours and hours looking at things and learning the sky since day 1 (I still remember fondly my first two nights with a (motorized) scope, each up until 3am, and discovering the second day I had missed the real first accessory of any scope: a good adjustable chair (nothing like realizing it's 3 am again because of your back sore ;-) !

Either way you go, have fun!

Ab

[rockystar]

this is a good telescope at a reasonable price, It's on an AltAz mount, so you won't have the woes of an EQ (personal opinion) and it has freedom find, so you don't need to rely on the computer and your can have a go at finding things manually with the fall back of asking it to do it for you when you get lost and frustrated.

as Paul mentioned though, you do pay a bit more for the mount, the same scope on a dobsonian mount (fully manual) would be about £150 cheaper.

[Putaendo Patrick]

The Sky Discovery you are considering looks very interesting for a beginner mainly interested in visual observing. I know a couple of people who have them and they are very happy. You might watch this video:

Note that the presenter mentions three areas of potential concern. You'll get better results with better eyepieces - but this is common for most less expensive telescopes (and at the top end they don't usually give you an eyepiece at all ). There is limited adjustment for collimating (aligning) the primary mirror - so, either a nightmare or a dream come true (but as said, I haven't heard complaints). The incompatibility of the cable to connect to a computer is actually quite common - Skywatcher isn't the only manufacturer which apparently hasn't seen modern interfaces!

A nice feature is the ability to remove the telescope and use the mount to track a camera. Other than that, however, attaching a camera to the telescope is likely to exceed the mount's weight capacity. I've seen some astrophotographs taken with this - perhaps fun to experiment with but certainly not stellar quality (maybe others have obtained better results?).

I would say it's an attractive option, and certainly in the right direction. A simpler manual Dobsonian would give you the option of more aperture - 8 inches as opposed to six, together with change to buy a better eyepiece. But go-to is a great feature - depending on your outlook. Starting manually may force you to learn the night sky quicker - but go-to will show you a lot more fascinating objects a lot faster!

[happy-kat]

It's rare that a goto telescope can be used manually I think, if you run out of juice on that one you are not stuck as you'll see in the video. There are several members now using this mount so a search should throw up lots of results.

[popeye85]

I have this scope and must say it is a great for beginners and experienced alike. 

Take on board what others say about a dobsonion will get you more bang for your buck which is very true however it depends on what you want to see-if you are happy with just the moon, planets and the more brighter galaxy's then this will get you all that easily. You will also also need to remember that with a Dob you will need to learn all the skills of star hoping to find your targets so you should expect (with the exception on obvious targets) a period of frustration at not finding anything before getting the hang of it where as with this scope it really is a pint and go ( although you will need to know a couple of stars but that is easy enough to learn.

I have both the discovery and a 8" dob and I honestly think that if I had to pick one to choose it would be the discovery.

[Makeshiftsam]

Thank you for the great responses eveyone, definatly going to go for either the discovery or dobsonion. Guess i just have to make a decision, completely torn!

[popeye85]

Good luck! Either will be a good choice. Remember about portability though-a dob is much bigger and bulkier.

[Makeshiftsam]

5 minutes ago, popeye85 said:

Good luck! Either will be a good choice. Remember about portability though-a dob is much bigger and bulkier.

hi, so a for taking in my car and setting up elsewhere if i wanted which would be best?

can the discovery be plugged into a mains instead of batterys?

thanks

[Makeshiftsam]

okaie just looked at videos of the dob, bloody massive! bulky describes it well, Maybe when i have my own place. For now i will go for the discovery!

[popeye85]

Depends on your car! A do generally can be fitted in most cars across the back seat but there is no doubt the the SW is allot more portable. If you give me till tomorrow I can send you a couple pictures of them side by side so you get a better idea.

As for power then it can run of battery's however a portable battery pack is recommended (recommend one from maplin as opposed to the SW one)

[Cosmic Geoff]

1 hour ago, Makeshiftsam said:

 

can the discovery be plugged into a mains instead of batterys?

thanks

You can run it from a 12v power supply connected to the mains. Make sure it's a regulated supply, has the right rating (2 amps), the right connector and the right polarity. You are supposed to use one rated for outside use and freezing temperatures, BTW, and a proper one costs about £28. Actually, since you will almost certainly need a battery pack (or a 7AH lead-acid battery) for portable use anyway, you might as well just use that and recharge it every week or two. Fewer wires to trip over.  

[popeye85]

Size comparison of 8"dobsonion and 6"skywatcher discovery.

 

[happy-kat]

Very useful images there. It packs surprisingly small the tripod it looks.

[brantuk]

Yes - smashing images especially with a bike in the background - gives newbies a really good idea of the size of these scopes. Nice one Popeye!