Help me find a new telescope.

[A budding astronomer]

So, I have owned a 4.5" inch reflector for about 2 years now. Ive learned how to observe, image and how to use a telescope in general with it. But now, the time has come to replace the 'scope with something bigger and better.

 

▪Im looking for a Schmidt Cassegrain telescope.

▪Which is good for imaging and observing.

▪I have a Budget of €1,400 (about £1,300)  

 

If you have any suggestions for any telescope models leave them down below

Thank you and clear skies!

Adam

 

[mikeDnight]

It seems like you've already answered your own question if you've already set your mind on a Schmidt Cassegrain. There are other alternatives out there that could well suit your needs. Have you had opportunities to use a SCT under varying conditions, and also compare SCT's to other scope designs in the field? 

[scitmon]

what are you looking to image?

[A budding astronomer]

7 minutes ago, mikeDnight said:

It seems like you've already answered your own question if you've already set your mind on a Schmidt Cassegrain. There are other alternatives out there that could well suit your needs. Have you had opportunities to use a SCT under varying conditions, and also compare SCT's to other scope designs in the field? 

Yes I have used a Nexstar 8SE at a star party this year and a Nexstar Evolution 8 the year before. The Evolution is out of my budget but the 8SE I am considering alot. Due to it being quite cheap for an 8" SCT.

[A budding astronomer]

10 minutes ago, scitmon said:

what are you looking to image?

Im looking at imaging Solar System objects at first, but i was thinking if i save up money I could get equipment that could image DSO's.

[mikeDnight]

13 minutes ago, A budding astronomer said:

Yes I have used a Nexstar 8SE at a star party this year and a Nexstar Evolution 8 the year before. The Evolution is out of my budget but the 8SE I am considering alot. Due to it being quite cheap for an 8" SCT.

If you really want an SCT I'd suggest you should go for it, otherwise you may never feel settled with any other type of scope. There is so much to choose from these days, and at great prices, we can be spoiled for choice. Each design has its speciality and you need to get what's right for you. Contentment is worth its weight in gold! A nice 80ED would complement the SCT for wide field imaging.

[alanjgreen]

Hi Adam,

I guess the first thing that would concern me is your requirement to image. I would not have said an sct was the best choice for imaging.

The second is your budget. You will struggle to get mount, scope, wedge, focal reducer etc for that budget.

If you were visual only then I would have no hesitation in pushing the Celestron CPC series. I have owned both Celestron cpc800 and cpc1100 scopes and was very impressed with them. They are over your budget but come up second hand often. Expect to pay 60% of new price.

if you want to image then you would also need to buy a Celestron wedge to be successful with the CPC scopes.(wedge converts it to EQ)

the dual fork mount of the CPC is so solid that I would never look to use a single arm sct unless I really had to. It is far superior to nexstar or evolution mount when it comes to image stability at the eyepiece.

But if you really want to image then your best bet will be to buy the book "making every photon count" and read up on the subject as your choices at this point don't seem to be the best! (Sorry)

If after reading the book you still want an SCT then you probably want to buy a sturdy EQ mount (HEQ5) and a standalone C8 or C925 tube to fit onto the HEQ5. This would be the best imaging setup (But not the best visual as with EQ the eyepiece is going to end up all over the place, and EQ is a faff to setup). Again, you could buy a new mount and second hand tube to get it in budget.

For imaging, the Celestron C8 Edge would be a good choice of tube but again at a price! You would also need a focal reducer (which is £200 for the edge) for imaging.

i would buy the book and have a read before rushing in the wrong direction  

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/books/making-every-photon-count-steve-richards.html

hth, Alan

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

I have had a C8 on a Vixen Great Polaris mount for over 22 years, and it is a great combination. I would go for a C8 on a German EQ mount if you want to do (even solar system) imaging, as you don't get any field rotation, and they are more stable and more easily polar aligned than fork mounts with a wedge. The C8 AVX Go-to would be close to what I got years back, with the addition of go-to. You could get a C8 OTA and EQ5 mount (no go to) within your budget. The EQ5 is a clone of my Vixen GP, so it should be able to handle it well enough for lunar and planetary imaging. Adding go-to puts it a bit beyond. However, if you look for a second-hand OTA and mount, you would stay within, and might even get an HEQ5. You could then use the same mount for DSO imaging, if you get yourself a short refractor like I did, to complement the C8.

Two examples of images with the C8

Click on latter for full size

 

[Guest]

There is a Celestron C8 carbon fibre in the "For sale " section at the moment. Further back there is a Celestron AVX mount listed. Might be up your street 

[Datalord]

1 hour ago, A budding astronomer said:

Im looking at imaging Solar System objects at first, but i was thinking if i save up money I could get equipment that could image DSO's.

With my short experience doing astrophotography is that "DSO" is a wide range of things and they are not all compatible with planetary.

planetary: the longer fl, the better and higher f value, Mount just needs good go-to. The camera needs to take colour video at a high framerate (compared to slow cameras like my QHY), so that is a different game.

Widefield nebula: Short fl (300-700), low f is preferable (2-6), solid mount needed for long exposures. Mono seems to be the choice of most, although I love my colour qhy.

Small DSO like galaxies: Long fl, medium f, but a very good mount is needed and good PA. 

 

So, well, it depends. the biggest overlap in OTA is between planetary and small DSO, but the mount requirements are vastly different. Widefield and small DSO both require good mounts, but the OTA is vastly different. Planetary and widefield just don't match at all.

I'll be happy to adjust my reasoning above if I'm wrong, after all, I have only been at it for a year.