Another newbie seeks advice on first telescope and future upgrades

[John]

I don't blame you for taking your time - there are a lot of choices these days !.

While the Skywatcher 80ED is a very nice scope, at the end of the day it's "just" an 80mm aperture scope so you may find you exhaust it's capabilities quite quickly.

I realise that you have constraints, ie: your sloping garden, but, personally, I'd be looking to try and get something with more aperture so that your interest remains engaged for longer.

In an earlier post you say you want "the wow factor" everytime you use the scope. I really don't think an 80mm scope will deliver that, apart from viewing the moon perhaps.

[pvaz]

I 2nd John on this. I gave my little sister a 90mm refractor and it's a nice scope on planets.

But the last time I was with her I showed her M13 (her 1st dso) and I was disappointed as I could barely resolve any stars in it. M13 is probably the largest globular and in my 8" I can resolve countless individual stars and it's an amazing object. A 90mm takes all the wow factor out of it.

[great_bear]

I really don't think an 80mm scope will deliver

Out of interest, how about 100mm

- since you have one...

[jonathan]

An alternative I could consider might be to just bite the bullet and go for the Skywatcher 200P on EQ5 for £369 - I get the EQ5 mount and a decent telescope for viewing those distant stars. I would need to clear a space in the garage for storage though, no way this would fit in the house! The garage is a place where it might get knocked or have oily things placed nearby, exposed to petrol fumes, all that kind of stuff; I dread to think how it might affect the precision optics. Decisions decisions...

[oldfruit]

Hi and welcome to SGL.

[great_bear]

I dread to think how it might affect the precision optics.

Well - on a Newt, they're not sealed - which is a good thing, and modern mirror sets are coated rather than having the aluminium surface exposed to the elements - so you'll be able to wash the mirrors in the kitchen sink every few years if you can see there's a film of anything nasty building up.

[jonathan]

So much conflicting advice! Through it all though, the main theme which I am beginning to come to agree with is the bigger the better in terms of light gathering potential, this can be something we all agree on at least.

I've read many reviews, seen what people have managed to photograph through some of the telescopes I've had my eye on (to give me some idea of what they're capable of seeing with amateur kit), and contrary to what I've said in the past I think I'm now leaning heavily towards the Celestron 8SE; it's a Goto Schmidt-Cassegrain which makes it very compact, should be much easier to store than a whopping great big Newtonian of similar power, will be a cinch to set up using Celestron's three star system, all in all a great sounding telescope for getting out there and viewing quickly, which is what I need to keep me interested to start off with.

I'm now of the opinion that specialisation should come later, but to be honest I may find that a telescope like the Celestron suits me fine for years. I'm aware that I will probably want to buy a dew shield and a few high quality eye pieces right away for this telescope, and a power tank too, so be it - I will add them to the overall cost.

Anyone got opinions on the Celestron 8SE? The Gadget Show gave it a glowing review saying that it gave the sharpest image out of the three telescopes they tested (one of which was the Skywatcher 200P) and was surprisingly quiet for a Goto (an opinion which I have seen echoed on Amazon reviews of this telescope). It is also said to be a very portable telescope which for the most part should be completely maintenance free.

[brantuk]

An 8" schmitt cass is a great scope for imaging planets. And it will afford nice views of dso's. The only catch is that it's alt/az mounted which means imaging dso's will be tricky. The Celestron has nice electronics and great tracking - but equatorial mounts are preferable for deep sky pics. You'd need a wedge and very accurate alignment to get anywhere near the performance of eq mounts.

The 8SE's a nice compact scope and very portable - but do get to see one in the flesh first for best judgement on size. My 8" CPC is bigger and heavier than it looks in pictures lol.

As for the gadget show - I watch that when I want to scramble my brain, blur my eyes, and frazzle my nerve endings lol

[jonathan]

As for the gadget show - I watch that when I want to scramble my brain, blur my eyes, and frazzle my nerve endings lol

I take their reviews with a pinch of salt, but it is sometimes useful for that 'complete novice' opinion on certain items

If I do any astro-photography it will be strictly amateur stuff, no expectations or allusions really as I've learned that it takes a lot of time, effort, and skill to get good images, not to mention some very expensive kit. This will be one of those specialist areas that I wouldn't expect the Celestron 8SE to really cope with that well.

I've seen photographs of people standing by their 8SE's and they had one on the Gadget show so I hope that should be a good enough size indicator.