looking for Help with first telescope

[baticles]

Hi all i am wondering if there is someone or a few people that can help me with choosing the right and my first telescope any help would be great full thank you. 
i intend to use it to look at deep sky objects like nebulas other solar systems if thats even possible and anything else out side of our solar system,

i also wish to view objects, planets and moons in our solar system,

i do wish to do some astrophotography in the future so if i can get a telescope that is brilliant at viewing and for photography that would be awesome 

i have a budget of around £1500 

the telescopes i have been looking at are these but i am so unsure i need some help with choosing the right one for me, if there is a cheaper option i am all down for that then i can buy some accessories  to go with it, 

https://www.rothervalleyoptics.co.uk/skywatcher-explorer-250pds-neq6-pro-goto-telescope.html

https://www.rothervalleyoptics.co.uk/celestron-nexstar-8-se-telescope.html

thank you for taking your time to help me out

[Owmuchonomy]

Do you need something portable? How dark is your sky. Answers to these will help us guide you. 

[happy-kat]

Welcome

Aperture is great for visual but for imaging it's the mount and a 250pds would be quite a wind sail for imaging and possibly quite heavy to set up for visual on an eq mount.

Do you own any dslr camera equipment already?

A good start is where available if you have any local astro clubs near you to get a feel on size (for when out of lock down).

[MarkAR]

Just for scale, my 250PDS on AZ EQ6, fence is 6 feet high.

[baticles]

1 hour ago, Owmuchonomy said:

Do you need something portable? How dark is your sky. Answers to these will help us guide you. 

there are a few street lights that are LED and go off about 1 am and my garden can be pretty dark when i turn the house lights off, portable would be preferable please but i dont mind if its a big tube il make it portable lol

Edited April 3, 2020 by baticles

[baticles]

27 minutes ago, happy-kat said:

Welcome

Aperture is great for visual but for imaging it's the mount and a 250pds would be quite a wind sail for imaging and possibly quite heavy to set up for visual on an eq mount.

Do you own any dslr camera equipment already?

A good start is where available if you have any local astro clubs near you to get a feel on size (for when out of lock down).

i dont own any dslr camera at this time, i have been looking at cannon eos m200 and the cannon eos m50 mirrorless cameras, i have had a look for astro clubs near to me but i am unable to get to the closest one as its about 20 miles away and i dont drive so im pretty much gonna attempt to learn from the internet and just dive in.

oh is it really heavy then? if it is my skinny arms will snap lol

[baticles]

14 minutes ago, MarkAR said:

Just for scale, my 250PDS on AZ EQ6, fence is 6 feet high.

wow thats a nice piece of kit and thats a big scope is it heavy and hard to set up ?

[happy-kat]

3 minutes ago, baticles said:

....so im pretty much gonna attempt to learn from the internet and just dive in.

Canon are great for connectivity and software support though there's plenty to read on what might be good models for astro.

If it's heavy and difficult initially might be enough to lead to the equipment gathering dust rather than photons.

[bottletopburly]

As someone that started out with an Eq5 Mount and a sw 200p I would advise to go for a small refractor  giving a wider field of view on an Eq5 mount though depends what your budget is .

[baticles]

1 minute ago, bottletopburly said:

As someone that started out with an Eq5 Mount and a sw 200p I would advise to go for a small refractor  giving a wider field of view on an Eq5 mount though depends what your budget is .

i got a budget of £1.500 

[baticles]

11 minutes ago, happy-kat said:

Canon are great for connectivity and software support though there's plenty to read on what might be good models for astro.

If it's heavy and difficult initially might be enough to lead to the equipment gathering dust rather than photons.

well this is something i have been thinking on for about 2 years, done a bit of looking up on stuff on and off used my fathers bird watching binoculars to look at the moon and other stars in the sky well bright dots lol, so you would recommend getting a potable telescope? do you have any in mind? 

[MarkAR]

26 minutes ago, baticles said:

wow thats a nice piece of kit and thats a big scope is it heavy and hard to set up ?

Cheers, scope isn't too heavy but it is cumbersome. Pretty easy to get balanced. 

It's the mount that weighs a ton with the weights on and a bit of a dance to get it out the workshop door with the tripod legs splayed out. I just can't be bothered to take it all apart just to go through a door and place it 10 feet away.

[Louis D]

30 minutes ago, baticles said:

wow thats a nice piece of kit and thats a big scope is it heavy and hard to set up ?

According to APM's website, the tube weighs 14kg and the mount weighs 34kg, so the scope isn't particularly heavy, but the mount is getting up there.  Taken together, 48kg is quite a bit to move around if you have to dodge obstructions like trees and houses to see various parts of the sky as I do from my backyard.  That, and it's extremely top heavy and awkward to carry as a unit.

[baticles]

9 minutes ago, Louis D said:

According to APM's website, the tube weighs 14kg and the mount weighs 34kg, so the scope isn't particularly heavy, but the mount is getting up there.  Taken together, 48kg is quite a bit to move around if you have to dodge obstructions like trees and houses to see various parts of the sky as I do from my backyard.  That, and it's extremely top heavy and awkward to carry as a unit.

 

14 minutes ago, MarkAR said:

Cheers, scope isn't too heavy but it is cumbersome. Pretty easy to get balanced. 

It's the mount that weighs a ton with the weights on and a bit of a dance to get it out the workshop door with the tripod legs splayed out. I just can't be bothered to take it all apart just to go through a door and place it 10 feet away.

well if its that heavy i think i might need to pass on that one thats gutting, coz il be taking it from back garden to front garden and there is alot of stuff to dodge lol

[MarkAR]

You'd have to be brave to carry it all set up. I have to take the scope off.

[baticles]

10 minutes ago, MarkAR said:

You'd have to be brave to carry it all set up. I have to take the scope off.

so whats the image with it like? is it worth getting even tho its really heavy and would it be good for a first timer?

[MarkAR]

Only use it last night for the very first time on the moon with a couple of different EP's. Image looked pretty damn good even though sky quality wasn't that great.

For a first timer, I don't know if you should. I only got it as part of a bundle sale. I'm pretty new to this lark myself.

I've just ordered a DSLR adapter to use on this so no idea yet how easy it'll be for imaging.

The 8SE you also link to in your first post has a greater focus length, its smaller and more manageable and will get you a lot "closer".

Play around with this tool to see the difference-

https://astronomy.tools/calculators/field_of_view/

 

[Louis D]

1 hour ago, baticles said:

so whats the image with it like? is it worth getting even tho its really heavy and would it be good for a first timer?

It probably throws up good images similar to many other 10" mass produced Newtonians.  However, the images will probably be the same as in a Skywatcher Skyliner 250PX Flex Tube SynScan GOTO Dobsonian Telescope minus the two speed focuser.  The mirrors are probably identical.  The Dob would track, just in alt-az instead of equatorial mode, so there would be image rotation ruling out DSO astrophotography.  You could still do planetary AP.  The OTA weighs 19kg and the rocker box weighs 25kg for a combined 44kg, or just about the same, but much less top heavy.

3 minutes ago, MarkAR said:

The 8SE you also link to in your first post has a greater focus length, its smaller and more manageable and will get you a lot "closer".

Actually, "closer" only with a given eyepiece.  The 10" Dob would be able to go to higher power owing to the larger aperture.  It would just require a shorter focal length eyepiece or a Barlow.  But you're right, it's way more compact.  It's just that you can't get much above about a 1 degree true field of view with it.

I think the OP has to decide what weight is comfortable to carry around.  I know my limit is about 50 pounds.  I've got a 15" Dob that doesn't get used because the mirror box is 65 pounds and kills my back to get it out of storage and up onto the rocker box.

[Erling G-P]

In my case, with a history of several hernia operations behind me, it's a question of how heavy the smallest pieces I can break down my setup into are.  I'm using a SW 200PDS on a HEQ5Pro. Heaviest single piece is the mount head, which weighs 12kg, or probably 13kg in my case, with the heavier ADM saddle I've put on it.  The OTA itself weighs around 8kg, but can be cumbersome to handle.  Having seen a 250PDS in the flesh, I'm glad I don't have to handle that one!

I'm imaging with my setup, although many here will say the OTA is too big for the mount.  True to some extent - I can't image with it if it's windy, as it's quita a sail, but it's a compromise I have chosen to live with. Using an EQ6, where I believe the mount head weighs around 16kg, is not something I would be comfortable doing, as I would have to carry it every time I used it.

The few times I've used the scope visually, I have had several 'wow' moments - the Moon for example, and Jupiter & Saturn, even at their low positions last year showed great promise for when they get higher in the sky.  An EQ mount, as has often been mentioned here, can be a bit awkward for visual, with the eyepiece potentially getting into hard-to-reach positions.  Can be alleviated to some extent by rotating the OTA, so with the vast majority of my clear nights being used for imaging, it's a compromise I can live with.

As a supplement for the 200 PDS, I also have a 130 PDS.  It has a larger field of view, so can be used for targets too big to fit the 200 PDS, and can be used in more windy conditions, since it's considerably smaller.  Skywatcher's 0.9 Coma Corrector works with both scopes, so it's a relatively cheap addition, if you have the other gear already.

Edited April 3, 2020 by Erling G-P

[Supernova74]

Hi if your looking for something generally for all round observing I would choose the Sct cassagrain thay are the work horse so to speak of the Astronomy world and a 8” OTA weighs in around 5.8kg mark and you don,t need a massive payload capacity mount either thay do most solar system and deep sky to a reasonable standard also 

[baticles]

6 minutes ago, Supernova74 said:

Hi if your looking for something generally for all round observing I would choose the Sct cassagrain thay are the work horse so to speak of the Astronomy world and a 8” OTA weighs in around 5.8kg mark and you don,t need a massive payload capacity mount either thay do most solar system and deep sky to a reasonable standard also 

hmm i cant seem to find that scope got a link?

[Louis D]

9 minutes ago, baticles said:

hmm i cant seem to find that scope got a link?

Search for Meade OR Celestron Schmidt Cassegrain telescopes.  That should get you more hits.

[Supernova74]

Are you looking for visual mainly or Astro imaging also in the further !?

[Supernova74]

Meant furture dam quick spell 

[baticles]

2 minutes ago, Supernova74 said:

Are you looking for visual mainly or Astro imaging also in the further !?

visual at this moment and astro imaging later when i get a camera