How much kit does a novice need?

[Alan64]

Incidentally, none of that stuff is any good...

...without these...

[Dave In Vermont]

A cupboard-full. And a barn-full, too!  

But tame. Very tame. I'd need to get a wide-angle lens (or 3) to begin to photograph my outlay. Or Google-Earth.....

Dave

[Alan64]

Yes, I must admit, my collection pales in comparison to many others.

[JOC]

Ha, ha, love it both of you!!  I don't suppose I'll ever have more than one tube - I'm having fun and games getting to grips with just that!

[LukeSkywatcher]

21 minutes ago, JOC said:

Ha, ha, love it both of you!!  I don't suppose I'll ever have more than one tube - I'm having fun and games getting to grips with just that!

Come back in a yrs time and say the same. Our 1st scope is NEVER our last scope. Having said this........if you do your homework and really know the pros and cons of a scope before you buy.......there is no reason why your 1st scope shouldnt be your last. 

If i knew 10 yrs ago what i know now about what scope suits my needs/wants........i would have just gone straight for the 8Se. I would have also bought my 70mm travelscope and Heritage 130P afterwards.

I would have forgone the 90mm refractor on EQ mount. Love the scope..........hate the EQ.

Scope-wise, i'm good. One thing i will never rule out though is a 10-12" Sumerian. 

http://www.sumerianoptics.com/products-price/

[Alien_Photons]

Less than they think it just stuff to mess with and stops you looking through the scope.

Architects chair and a boonie hat.

Skysafari for your smartphone.

[JOC]

Ooops.......Damn these cloudy nights:

As above plus:

Meade colour filter set 2 (#11 Yellow Green, #25A Red, #47 Violet, and #82A Light Blue) - Yes, I know I said I wasn't going down the coloured filter route, but for a tenner (yes, a tenner!) I thought I'd see what effect they have - I paid more than that to park in York for over 5 hours the other week!

Explore Scientific H-beta 1.25" filter and Baader ND 3.0 1.25" filter - couldn't look a gift horse in the mouth, and I guess they will always be worth what I paid - they do seem to be another 2 filters that I see mentioned from time to time - what with the UHC and O-III already obtained and now the H-Beta I think that's nebulas here I come!  I might try the ND 3.0 with the moon - yes?

I've also got a dual mounter for both the RA Finder and Red dot scopes both at the same time - I hope I can get them both angled correctly (it's been even too cold during the day to find out.  There's a guy in Poland on ebay making the dual mount holder on a 3D printer for £8 + postage - I thought the cash was low enough to write off if no good, but TBH I'm rather impressed with the object.

I've got a rather flash adjustable ironing seat to view from

Also on order is the expensive branded film to make a solar filter from

Oh, yes, and I've got another aluminium box full of foam on the way!!

Did I mention I'm not impressed with cloudy nights - Mind you I am resisting the EP's as I think I have most bases covered there now.

[BeerMe]

Filters are another headache altogether it would appear from my limited reading (as in which filter for which target).

I think the only unanimous opinion I've heard is that the H-beta is a necessity for viewing the Horsehead nebula.  I'm not sure which other targets it is useful for, but the Horsehead is an obviously popular target so there has been plenty of discussion online about how to get it visually, and unless I've misread, it is nigh on impossible without a H-beta.

Could someone more knowledgeable expand on the virtues of the H-beta, as it's a filter that I'll likely be interested in when the time comes to buying things like that?  What, for instance, would it do to the Orion nebula versus an unfiltered view?

[John]

21 minutes ago, BeerMe said:

Filters are another headache altogether it would appear from my limited reading (as in which filter for which target).

I think the only unanimous opinion I've heard is that the H-beta is a necessity for viewing the Horsehead nebula.  I'm not sure which other targets it is useful for, but the Horsehead is an obviously popular target so there has been plenty of discussion online about how to get it visually, and unless I've misread, it is nigh on impossible without a H-beta.

Could someone more knowledgeable expand on the virtues of the H-beta, as it's a filter that I'll likely be interested in when the time comes to buying things like that?  What, for instance, would it do to the Orion nebula versus an unfiltered view?

I've owned a few H-Beta filters and currently an excellent one made by Astronomik.

I've yet to see the Horsehead Nebula using my 12" dobsonian. I feel that it is a very challenging object even with a H-Beta filter unless you observe under very dark and transparent skies.

The H-Beta filter will also enhance a few other nebulae but the UHC and O-III filters are much more versatile so I would make one of those a priority over an H-Beta filter.

Here is a link to a widely read and quoted article on which deep sky type filters do what, which is well worth a read

http://www.prairieastronomyclub.org/useful-filters-for-viewing-deep-sky-objects/

[Louis D]

3 hours ago, John said:

I've owned a few H-Beta filters and currently an excellent one made by Astronomik.

I've yet to see the Horsehead Nebula using my 12" dobsonian. I feel that it is a very challenging object even with a H-Beta filter unless you observe under very dark and transparent skies.

The H-Beta filter will also enhance a few other nebulae but the UHC and O-III filters are much more versatile so I would make one of those a priority over an H-Beta filter.

Here is a link to a widely read and quoted article on which deep sky type filters do what, which is well worth a read

http://www.prairieastronomyclub.org/useful-filters-for-viewing-deep-sky-objects/

Read Eddgie's recent post on CN about another, albeit more expensive, option to easily view difficult nebula.