Telescope advice

[Nate67]

Advice from anyone would be great. Complete novice here looking at x3 telescopes for planet and moon viewings and nebula/dso. For both viewing and possibly basic photography:

Bresser messier 10" dobsonian

Bresser messier mcx-127 goto 

Skywatcher explorer 200p eq6 goto

Thanks all

[dweller25]

The 8” Newt on the EQ6 mount would cover all your requirements.

The 10” Bresser on the EQ6 would be even better 😁

Edited November 11, 2020 by dweller25

[dweller25]

However, there is another slight variation you may want to consider......

I bought the Skywatcher 8” Dobsonian - which is F/6 making it a little kinder on eyepieces and easier to collimate - it’s a very capable scope for little outlay that allows you to dip your toes in the water visually.

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/dobsonians/skywatcher-skyliner-200p-dobsonian.html
 

Eventually I wanted tracking - which is great for both observing the planets and astrophotography so I took the handles and bearings off the OTA, bought some tube rings and a dovetail and it then fitted straight onto my equatorial mount. Voila 😁

[M40]

57 minutes ago, Nate67 said:

Advice from anyone would be great. Complete novice here looking at x3 telescopes for planet and moon viewings and nebula/dso. For both viewing and possibly basic photography:

Bresser messier 10" dobsonian

Bresser messier mcx-127 goto 

Skywatcher explorer 200p eq6 goto

Thanks all

Got to say that my first proper telescope was a 200P dobsonian which I would still be using if I hadn't been in fear of dropping it each time I moved it. That on the goto mount will be superb. Which leads me to a question for dweller25, according to the info I can find, the 200P ota weighs 8.8Kgs, have you weighed yours at all with the bearings removed? My reason for asking is that I passed my Dob onto the grandson but I believe that its collecting cobwebs, so my thoughts were would my HEQ5 pro mount be capable of moving it plus DSLR plus eyepiece? Your thoughts would be most welcome. 👍

[dweller25]

Hello @M40 - I don’t want to hijack the OP’s thread, so a quick answer...

I used the Dob OTA on a Vixen GPDX rated at 9kgs and it was fine, your HEQ5 is rated at 15kgs 👍

Edited November 11, 2020 by dweller25

[Cosmic Geoff]

You need to take some basic decisions.  You can hang a camera on almost any scope and take 'astro snaps' but if you are serious about astrophotography you need to give some serious thought to getting the right kit (which will not be cheap). Requirements differ depending on whether you go for wide field imaging, planetary imaging, or deep space imaging.

Is having the maximum aperture for your money a priority? In that case get the large manual Dob.

Do you think you will want GoTo so you can find faint non-obvious objects with the minimum of hassle?  If so, unless you have deep pockets you may have to compromise on aperture.

If you have GoTo, consider that if you are using it for visual only, a German equatorial is a liability, and an alt-azimuth GoTo will be quicker and easier to set up each time you take it out (no polar alignment).

Consider the possibility of ending up with two setups - one for visual and one for imaging.

I once had a 200p Newtonian on a manual equatorial mount, with a straight-thru finder. I found it a thoroughly unpleasant beast to use - the eyepiece was sometimes out of reach, the finder gave me a neck ache at high elevations (it really needed two finders - coarse and fine), and I struggled to find any faint objects with it.  As soon as I could, I took it out of use and got a second-hand 8" GoTo SCT outfit.

[johninderby]

Either the 8” or 10” Bresser dob have the advantage of already coming with tube rings so easy to swap over to an EQ mount by simply fitting a dovetail bar or putting back on the dob base very easily.

 

Edited November 11, 2020 by johninderby

[dweller25]

Yes, John makes a good point about the Bressers - I would choose one of those over the Skywatcher equivalent now as they have some better features.

[Nate67]

6 hours ago, dweller25 said:

However, there is another slight variation you may want to consider......

I bought the Skywatcher 8” Dobsonian - which is F/6 making it a little kinder on eyepieces and easier to collimate - it’s a very capable scope for little outlay that allows you to dip your toes in the water visually.

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/dobsonians/skywatcher-skyliner-200p-dobsonian.html
 

Eventually I wanted tracking - which is great for both observing the planets and astrophotography so I took the handles and bearings off the OTA, bought some tube rings and a dovetail and it then fitted straight onto my equatorial mount. Voila 😁

Thanks for the info most helpful and appreciated.