beginner trying to choose a telescope

[Tohrazer]

hi there, im pretty much wondering which of these light buckets will be better, one is eight inch, the other is ten inch, whilst that may seem like an obvious choice, the fact that they are similarly priced with such different aperature's makes me wonder ... my budget is around £300, give or take 150 at a stretch, i would love some suggestions, i need something of an all rounder, able to view anything from nebulae to galaxies or planets. thanks in advance for any replies.

http://www.telescopeplanet.co.uk/ViewProdDetails.asp?prod_code=PON07I000032

http://www.telescopeplanet.co.uk/ViewProdDetails.asp?prod_code=PON07B000062

[beamer3.6m]

Hi, it all depends what you want it to do.

The 10" is a Dobsonian design which means that you get a lot of scope for your money but it will not track the stars and as such you must nudge the scope as you watch an object.

This for some is not a problem but at high powers you will need to move the scope very often.

Also, if you ever intend to image with the scope Dobs are not suitable for the same reason.

The 8" is smaller but almost the same price due to it being on an Equitorial Mount. This will allow you to track the stars (Not GOTO - see below) so will allow you to find an object manually and then track the natural rotation of the stars meanign that you will not need to nudge the scope.

The bonus is that you can image with it and upgrade the mount at a later stage (I believe, this will be clarified no doubt) to GOTO whereby the mount will actually find the stars for you.

The downside of EQ mounts that they are heavy, mor awkward to set up and need to be polar aligned, which although is very very easy can be a bit of a mind trick until you get it.

The Dob is place and go and easy to move about as it does not need to be polar aligned at all.

I personally would go for the EQ but only because I image, however if visual is for you only then the Dob is great.

[Tohrazer]

i see, thanks alot - dont suppose you have msn? if you have a minute or two spare i could use some clarification on a few things

[beamer3.6m]

I don't I'm afraid, but just post away on here and all your queries will be answered very quickly.

Don't worry about 'silly' questions (apart from the fact that we have all asked them before) there is no such thing.

[Tohrazer]

alright here goes , is the whole automatic tracking thing complicated? like am i going to have to align a million fiddly things everytime i want to set it up, and im guessing its caused by the earths motion?, also, what can i expect to see from an 8-10 inch reflector? how clear will saturn be, for example? or the Orion Nebula, Andromeda, and the moon, will they seperate the stars in globular clusters, and im ithink i know the answer with this one, will any stars be more than a point of light? was hoping to see red colouration of betelgeuse for example thanks again.

edit: additionally, if anyone has something to suggest telescope-wise, it would be more than welcome.

[beamer3.6m]

Ok, here goes:

1. Polar Alignment is not complicated as you just need to point the mount (not the scope) as Polaris (the North Star). This is not difficult but lots of people get very confused. However if you just want to visually observe then the accuracy is not that important but this increases a lot if you want to image.

2. It is caused by the earths rotation, yes (at least I think it is)

3. I have the 200p (8") and you can clearly see Orion, m31, Saturn is fantastic, Mars, Jupiter is stunning and all the other DSO's, however none of them look like they do in magazines.

It may be a good idea to see if you can get a look on a scope before you invest as M31 (Andromeda Galaxy) is just a grey smudge in the eyepiece.

4. Stars are always just a point of light, but you can see colours, for example the Double Alberao (Arrgh, I cannot remember how to spell it) clearly shows two stars, one orange the other blue.

Betelguese is indeed red.

[Tohrazer]

i suppose to get a view of m31 that isnt just a smudge you basically need to take an exposure photograph, regardless of your scope?

[beamer3.6m]

Yep.

You shoudl note however that imaging is very tricky and images you see on here are hard to obtain.

May be you should start with a pair of binoculars and see what you like to look at, ie. planets, moon, DSO's etc etc before spending out on a scope.

[Tohrazer]

hey, one thing im wondering, will the small number of eyepieces that come with the dobson be a hinderance? there seems to be a bigger range with the other one, also, what exactly do different eyepieces do anyway? in relation to the magnification amount etc etc.. again apologies for stupid questions.

[themos]

Eyepiece #1 : * plus other *

Eyepiece #2 : bigger *

[pediman]

I'm pretty much in the same boat, looking for my first scope.

As i'm only looking at visual at the moment, i'm inclined to go with an 8" Dob.

Look at the First Light Optics link at the top of the page. You'd get the scope and enough left over for a couple of extra eyepieces.

[themos]

I think an 8" reflector on a Dobsonian mount is a good choice for first instrument (but get some binoculars like 10x50 too!). It's light enough to throw on an equatorial mount and start taking pictures through it later on.

[Tohrazer]

another stupid question.. that thingy that sticks out near the eyepiece on the scope, is that a finder scope? and will it be included

[themos]

It's a finder scope, a little refractor (light goes in one end, you look down the other) and they're included, yes.

[Tohrazer]

if, for example, i bought the 10" dobsonian, could i later upgrade it to go onto a GOTO type stand etc? (for pictures)

[themos]

Yes, you can even put a 12" on one but at 10" they start to get unweildy. Hardly any hard core imagers use straight newtonians.

[Tohrazer]

hm ok thanks - i dont suppose anyone happens to have any suggestions for a 10" telescope with atleast tracking? (goto not necesary, but feel welcome to suggest those too )

its just, my current interest is direct observation, but i know these things have a way of sucking you in to other things (astrophotography) so im trying to find something that will be good for both :/

[themos]

You won't find it at that price range. My advice is start with the biggest Dobsonian you can afford and start saving for mounts, cameras, refractors etc.

[Tohrazer]

at what price range could i find it? i've looked around, but the cheapest seems to be disproportionately more expensive, i think im missing something, lets suppose i could go upto 700?, surely the extra 3-4 hundred can add a better stand

[beamer3.6m]

For £700 you could get an Explorer 200p on HEQ5 with £200 left over for the additional items like eyepieces etc etc.

[Tohrazer]

hrm isnt that 8 inch though? trying to aim for a 10, want it to be future proof, if you know what i mean

[mdstuart]

For £700 you can get an meade SC on ebay. Much shorter, will track etc. Just get an astronome to check it over first before purchase.

[themos]

want it to be future proof, if you know what i mean

I know what you mean, I just don't think it's possible.

[Tohrazer]

hm, is that due to the price, or its just truly impractical to have a goto + 10" ?

[Whippy]

A goto mount and a 10" reflector is a big beast to setup and strip down every time. I had that setup for a short while and found it a bit of a pain to deal with (I'm 6' 3"). Plus you'd need a step ladder to reach the eyepiece unless you're observing something quite low down. On the other hand, a SCT of that size is considerably smaller due to the nature of the design and hence is much easier to deal with. Downside is that it's a lot more expensive.

Basically, I think if you want to go big, get a dobsonian and think about a totally seperate setup for imaging at a later date.

Tony..