Telescope advice

[Mjb]

Looking for advice on purchasing telescope have had a few recommendations already i keep getting told Skywatcher 130PDS.

Any other recommendations would be appreciated 

Budget around £300

Hope to eventually do some astrophotography 

Would like something with a sturdy mount not looking for goto at the minute unless not to expensive  have noticed some mounts you can add motordrive to follow your subject.

 

Edited September 14, 2020 by Mjb

[Alan64]

The term "astrophotography" conjures up visions of house-mortgages and such.  If you have a DSLR-camera, and the desire to take long-term exposures of dim and dimmer objects, £300 is not going to go very far, I'm afraid.

There is afocal-photography and EAA that may be done with any telescope.  Most any entry-level equatorial mount can be motorised(RA-axis only) for automatic tracking, and that can help ensure success when taking instant and short-term exposures.

With an alt-azimuth, instant exposures are to be expected, and of the brighter deep-sky objects; even the camera of a "smartphone" can be used.  I used a 150mm f/5 on a manual alt-azimuth, and took this instant shot of a globular-cluster, M13, and the brightest globular in the sky...

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/reflectors/skywatcher-explorer-130p.html

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/sky-watcher-mount-accessories/ra-single-speed-motor-drive-for-eq-2.html

Best of luck to you.

Edited September 15, 2020 by Alan64

[Mjb]

 Thank you for your reply and advice.

Reading various articles and so on i can see astrophotography is not a cheap hobby and that is why i am starting off low budget but can be increased, but obviosly don't want to go into thousands of pounds  to start with to see what i can do then maybe progress from there.

 I already have a DLSR Camera

Looking at the scope you recommended i see other options for the same model what are the advantages and disadvantages of the below setups

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/sky-watcher-az-gti-wifi/sky-watcher-explorer-130ps-az-gti.html

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/az-goto/skywatcher-explorer-130p-synscan-az-goto.html

[Cosmic Geoff]

If you want to attach a DSLR you need the PDS variant, otherwise you may find you can't get focus with the camera.  Some imagers  use the 150 PDS with an EQ-6 GoTo mount, which seems to show how far the mounts you are looking at are off the mark.

With your budget you could get a tracking mount on which to mount the camera directly for widefield imaging,  or a telescope on a light mount suited for visual only, which you could try experimenting with for imaging or EVAA.  I found I could do interesting EVAA with a 102mm f5 refractor, SLT alt-azimuth GoTo mount, and ASI224MC camera but the camera alone would use up most of your budget.  And I used a more rigid home-made wood tripod. 

[KevinPSJ]

I have a skywatcher 150P with RA motor drive. It's a great aperture size - performing well for both planetary and deep sky observing visually and not too heavy to quickly setup and put away. I never get tired of looking at the moon; have recently seen the south polar ice cap on Mars and have been amazed to see hints of banding on saturns globe and the enke gap.  Just checked and FLO are selling them for £320. You would definitely benefit from an RA motor (£70) but only essential for astrophotography so maybe you could delay that purchase? Finally a polar scope (£30) will make a big difference for getting accurate tracking although you can also use the drift method so not essential. 

But that's not all - combined with the RA motor, a polar scope and a Nikon DSLR I have used this scope to take 30s exposures with no star trails and using stacking software to produce images of galaxies, nebula and globular clusters that have really got me hooked on astrophotography. It's true from astrophotography perspective that there are lots of limitations in the mount, that I can't use my DSLR to image planets (except for tiny, low detail images) and that it's hard work to get things set up right even to achieve 30s. But I don't have £1000 or even £500 spare to get to the "minimum entry level" that many people talk of for astrophotography - and I'm learning lots about all the same pieces of the puzzle that will apply when I do eventually move on to more expensive gear.

In short - I'd recommend something with as big an aperture as you can afford because you will (hopefully) get hooked quickly on the joy of visual observing. Just pick a scope that will allow you to move into astrophotography gradually so you can judge if it's for you without spending way over your budget.

 

Kevin

[Alan64]

This is the basic EQ-5...

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/skywatcher-mounts/skywatcher-eq5-deluxe.html

Automatic-tracking can be enabled at present with a single motor-drive kit, and for the RA-axis only... https://www.firstlightoptics.com/sky-watcher-mount-accessories/single-axis-dc-motor-drive-for-eq5.html

That, to get your feet wet.

In future, you can consider the go-to upgrade... https://www.firstlightoptics.com/sky-watcher-mount-accessories/synscan-pro-goto-version-3-upgrade-kit-for-eq5.html

Do you earnestly desire to capture glory on "film"?

Have a look at this thread, if you haven't already...

It is still active, unto this day.

[Mjb]

So far I have now worked out an idea of what telescope I need from the above comments which is either off the following 130P- 150P or the 150P- 150PDS.

The 150PDS with EQ3-2 with the possibility to add an RA motor to do some photography and progress later to more advanced astrophotography with GOTO Mount.

This is what i have arrived at so far.

Edited September 15, 2020 by Mjb