Telescope for sketching

[Giampiero Baggi]

Hi everyone!

I finally decided what to do with astronomy (i wasn't sure between visual and AP), but there is still a question.

Since i'd like to start doing astronomical sketches, i was wondering: Is a 10" Dob sufficient for sketching? What can i see, keeping in mind that i live in a green/yellow zone?

Also, which was your first scope you used when you first started doing sketching?

[Moonshane]

My main recommendation for sketching is a driven mount. What are you hoping to sketch? Bear in mind many faint objects will be an obscure smudge if you suffer a fair bit of light pollution.

Most star clusters would be good targets as would the planets, the moon and double stars. The sun is too but you'd need proper filtration or a different scope.

Good luck. ?

[emadmoussa]

A mount that can track. 

[mikeDnight]

Any telescope can be used for sketching, but a scope that is light and easy to use will bring joy to your hobby. Many objects are large and therefore a wide field comes into its own. If you already own a 10" Dob then use it to the full, but there are other scopes you might consider if not. I believe a 120mm ED refractor is a fine all round scope choice for a sketcher, as its razor sharp, offering low power wide fields and high power  (X400+) without breakdown of image. Best of all, its a joy to use! 

[RichM63]

Hubble would be good, it has all the features that you are likely to ever wish for.

[mariosi]

Hello, and welcome to the SGL forum. As Mike says - Any telescope can be used for sketching, but a scope that is light and easy to use will bring joy to your hobby - I am in the same opinion.

Marios 

[ollypenrice]

1 hour ago, RichM63 said:

Hubble would be good, it has all the features that you are likely to ever wish for.

Oxygen?

[Giampiero Baggi]

19 hours ago, Moonshane said:

My main recommendation for sketching is a driven mount. What are you hoping to sketch? Bear in mind many faint objects will be an obscure smudge if you suffer a fair bit of light pollution.

Most star clusters would be good targets as would the planets, the moon and double stars. The sun is too but you'd need proper filtration or a different scope.

Good luck. ?

I'd love to observe and sketch deep sky objects, so i thought of a dobson with at least a 10" aperture...

One of the issues is the budget, which is around 1000€. At first i thought about the GSO 12" deluxe (because of the double speed focuser), but i'm not sure... how hard would it be to sketch without a driven mount?

 

[Dave1]

16 hours ago, ollypenrice said:

Oxygen?

One could use a long air tube, like in those old diving suits!

[Dave1]

As has been said, a driven mount would be a bonus but not a requirement. I get along fine with my manual az mount. 

Any telescope can be used for sketching. If picking a telescope, bear in mind what you want to observe. Pick a telescope best suited to that. 

Apature is over stated, the quality of the optical system should be the number one concern. 

The other aspect of astronomy that should be mentioned is seeing conditions. The bigger the apature the more suspectable to poor seeing conditions. The optimal apature for the poor to average seeing conditions in the UK has been stated as 4"-8" in outdated and current publications. 

[Giampiero Baggi]

2 minutes ago, Dave1 said:

As has been said, a driven mount would be a bonus but not a requirement. I get along fine with my manual az mount. 

Any telescope can be used for sketching. If picking a telescope, bear in mind what you want to observe. Pick a telescope best suited to that. 

Apature is over stated, the quality of the optical system should be the number one concern. 

The other aspect of astronomy that should be mentioned is seeing conditions. The bigger the apature the more suspectable to poor seeing conditions. The optimal apature for the poor to average seeing conditions in the UK has been stated as 4"-8" in outdated and current publications. 

In particular, which telescope would you recommend for DSO sketching?

[Dave1]

For DSO 8" Newtonian or dob. Maybe a 6" ED refractor. 

[mikeDnight]

1 hour ago, Giampiero Baggi said:

I'd love to observe and sketch deep sky objects, so i thought of a dobson with at least a 10" aperture...

One of the issues is the budget, which is around 1000€. At first i thought about the GSO 12" deluxe (because of the double speed focuser), but i'm not sure... how hard would it be to sketch without a driven mount?

 

It's not hard to sketch using an unproven mount. DSO's move relatively slowly across the field of view so you'll encounter very few problems. The moon and planets move at a fare old rate across the field, but this can become less of a problem if you use wide field eyepieces, though they are not essential.

One way to overcome some of the effects of local light pollution is to use a blackout blanket over your head. An observatory is also quite handy if you have room for one. However  blocking out light from your surroundings by any means can massively improve your dark adaption, and effectively increase your telescopes depth of reach whatever its physical aperture. 

[N3ptune]

If you like sketching, I don't think it's a good move to skip the tracking.. even if it's not required.  2 weeks of every month you have full high illuminated moon and it's not good for sketching DSOs, but you might have the planet and moon available which are very nice to sketch too. Usually I like to put the maximum power available on my telescope for these objects, between 111x and 212x.

Trying to sketch at these powers is not very convenient, it's possible.. but not optimal.

One instrument I find really attractive is the Skywatcher 8" Synscan Dob. It's à F5.9 so you should be able to use mid range quality eyepiece without too much aberration problems, it's not too big and it has good 8" aperture for DSOs, you can sit while sketching, you have tracking and it Goto has a bonus... 

http://ca.skywatcher.com/product/product/bk-dob-8-synscan-gps/

There is a 10" (F4.7) and a 12" (F4.9) version too but you should see them first, they are big, higher and heavy, much more expensive too.

Just a suggestion.