Newbie goto telescope for camping

[Fade2grey]

Hi all,

 

my first post post here and thought I'd dive right in, sorry if this is done to death as there are a few very similar posts but figure my prime requirement is slightly different.

xmas present from the wife is a telescope, she's been scouring eBay etc with a budget of 200-250. She's identified the sky watcher 127 synscan as a good option.

im completely new to observing. Don't really know what I want out of it. We do a fair bit of camping with the kids and always enjoy looking at the sky at night. So that's what this is for

main requirements

portability - needs to fit in the car with our camping gear. If it's massive or really heavy we'll probably not take it out as much.

auto setup - as automatic as humanly possible please  and I like my gadgets lol

something like the goto system which can take you on a tour or point/track specific objects

optionally:

terrestrial use 

camera/webcam/Ccd for pictures- not sure if I'll really need that but great if it's possible.

so far it looks like the sky watcher 127 goto and the celestron equivalent are front runners. I've also found the celestron 4se which seems to tick the boxes. The 5se would be lovely but out of budget from what I can see.

Are any of these bad choices? They are all mak setups(?) which we thought gave us the benifit of a more compact unit.

anything else we should be thinking about/considering? - I'll probably be powering it direct from the 12v on the Landrover so will need a suitable cable.

cheers!

[Cosmic Geoff]

I have the Celestron 127mm Mak GoTo, so my opinion may be biased. This is an excellent general purpose telescope, and also suitable for newbies, provided that you are comfortable with handling computer-controlled gadgetry. It is also suitable for portable use - I have taken my GoTo on holiday several times.  The GoTo, provided it is aligned accurately enough, will enable you to find a lot of faint objects (people tend to understate the difficulty of doing this without a GoTo.)

I wouldn't say that the setup is automatic - there is a learning curve in getting the system to work properly. I recommend the (Celestron) 2-star align as being quicker than the 3-star, but you do need to be able to name a number of bright stars for the 2-star alignment.  For an automatic alignment you'd want the Celestron Starsense (£270) and maybe a GPS module. I'd advise that you get used to setting up the system at home a few times before venturing out to a campsite.

The 4se and 5se are not Maks but SCTs - the difference is rather technical. They are better featured than the Mak SLT kits you looked at - stiffer tripods for instance.

Photography - you can hang cameras on these scopes and take some snaps. The -se telescope mounts are more suited for this as far as I know. But for serious astrophotography, it seems you would need totally different and far more expensive kit. 

Extras - you'll need that cable, and also something similar to power it at home - few of us use the 8 dry cells. Also think of upgrading the 9mm or 10mm eyepiece soon as the one supplied is not good enough. Get a premium quality eyepiece as the scope itself is first class. Finder - you might prefer a 6x30 optical in place of the red dot, or vice versa - both have their uses. You won't be using the finder much except for the 2-star align.

Terrestrial use - never tried that, and the Mak and Se scopes are really a bit high powered for this. The image is the right way up with the diagonal IIRC.  The Sky-watcher Startravel 102mm goes on the same GoTo mount (with a minor modification) and is good for galaxy spotting and for terrestrial use. (I think you can buy an equivalent Celestron 102mm Goto f5 refractor package)

If anybody suggests getting a 8" Dobsonian instead, bear in mind that this is bigger, heavier, and you will struggle to find faint or difficult objects with it. People tend to denigrate the performance of the smaller scopes, but in poor seeing, planets low in sky etc, a small scope will show nearly as much detail as a massive one. A 127mm scope, well used, should keep you occupied for years. The big scopes score in light-gathering power for faint and extended objects.

[Cornelius Varley]

The Nexstar 4SE is a mak, the other telescopes in the SE range are sct.

[Putaendo Patrick]

Be careful with using the vehicle battery - although it's possible, I've also heard stories of astronomers being stranded in the middle of no-where with a flat battery. Vehicle batteries are more designed for high power rapid discharge, i.e starting the engine, rather than prolonged use with electric devices. Celestron and Skywatcher both do rechargeable power packs, and Maplins or Halfords etc have similar units.

[Fade2grey]

Good to hear I'm on the right track! Thanks for the feedback so far.

million dollar question, will the extra inch of aperture really make any difference for my kind of stargazing? If it does then presumably that discounts the 4se and I'm just trying to track down one of the 127's and essentially availability/price will win!

Fair point on the 12v from the car, though I've got a 2nd battery setup which is handy for camping stuff.

Eye pieces - that's another problem, I wear glasses (short sighted) so need to do some digging on that too - someone suggested a 20mm? Either way need to find the scope first lol

[Cosmic Geoff]

4 inch or 5 inch? That is something you have to decide yourself. The 4se kit apparently has a better spec, hence the higher pricing of the se range. And it is smaller and easier to lug around. But the 127mm is a more powerful scope.  Sky-watcher do a 102mm Mak Synscan GoTo, by the way.

Battery - the 7AH battery I use lasts several nights between charges, so I don't see a Nexstar troubling your Land Rover battery at all. With the computers, dew heaters and big mounts some people use it might be different.

Eyepieces - the 25mm is adequate, so keep it. 20mm not sufficiently different. Replace the 9 or 10mm that comes with the 127 SLt or Sky-watcher scope. I am short sighted (~2 dioptres) and I take the specs off and adjust the telescope focus.

[Putaendo Patrick]

Eventually you will probably want several eyepieces to give different magnifications (or perhaps a zoom) - but if you need to wear spectacles to observe, your eyepieces must have enough eye relief to accommodate them. 16mm is probably the minimum you can get away with, although 18-20mm of eye relief would be better.

[Fade2grey]

Great input - daft question, how do I tell if I want a 4" or 5" or any other size scope? Is it generally based on levels of light pollution and how bright the things you want to look at are? 

[rockystar]

generally depends how much money you want to spend. If you've settled on a type of telescope and the features you want, then see what you can afford in terms of size. Also note that a bigger scope will be heavier, so the ability to move it and set it up can come in to play when deciding