I would like to ask for an advice, please

[Race908]

Hello,

I have been an astronomy fan for the vast part of my life (mostly the physics and chemistry behind it) and I decided to try looking for objects with my own eyes. I live in very low light-polluted village. I would like to ask for an advice about buying a telescope, because there are so many types and I think it's better to ask people who are experienced in this field. I tried to do some research on my own for last few days, but I got confused.

I am mostly fascinated by a Deep Space Objects like nebulas. I am aware I can't expect to see all those photography-like colorful pictures.

My starter budget is around 300 euros (max. 350), can you advice me what to look for? I saw Dobsonians 150/1200 are good starters that can also see some DSO's, is it true? Or should I look for something completely else?

Thanks in advance :)

[carastro]

Dobsonians are great for visual, they are also very reasonably priced, and simple, but you will need to learn your way around the sky.  They also will need some collimation.  

If you are not keen on collimation and finding your way around the sky, then a Maksutov on an Alt/Az GOTO mount would be another option.  

Carole 

[John]

Hello and welcome to the forum !

Given your location in a dark sky site, your interest in observing deep sky objects and your budget I think a 150 or 200mm dobsonian is the ideal choice. Such scopes provide the most visual performance per £ / Euro spent of any scope type.

A 150mm / 200mm dob will show dozens or even hundreds of deep sky objects and under a really dark sky the brighter ones will look pretty good. Don't expect anything like the images you see though.

Budget for a good guide to the sky to go with your dob.

The problem with a GOTO scope is that the GOTO facility eats a lot of your budget up at the expense of scope aperture: you get a somewhat smaller aperture scope with less deep sky observing potential.

 

[jonathan]

I would say for nebulas you'll probably want the largest reflecting telescope (popularly found on Dobsonian mounts, but can also sit on an Equatorial or Alt/Az mount) that you can afford.

A refractor telescope (traditional type with glass lenses) will give sharper more contrasty views, which is not really what you want when looking for a faint grey misty patch, you may lose them against the black sky.

Maksutov and Schmitt-Cassegrain telescopes probably give a slightly dimmer view than reflecting telescopes, and while you may be able to see some nebulosity I think you'd need to spend considerably more than your budget to see more than just a handful of the brighter ones.

So in conclusion, for dim DSO hunting you need to go for light gathering, and that means the biggest light bucket reflector you can afford.  You can save money by going for a Dobsonian mount, it will be steadier than an EQ mount (technically a Dobsonian is a type of Alt/Az mount, but there are tripod mounted Alt/Az mounts too), and don't bother with tracking or goto to save even more.

[dweller25]

21 minutes ago, Race908 said:

Hello,

I have been an astronomy fan for the vast part of my life (mostly the physics and chemistry behind it) and I decided to try looking for objects with my own eyes. I live in very low light-polluted village. I would like to ask for an advice about buying a telescope, because there are so many types and I think it's better to ask people who are experienced in this field. I tried to do some research on my own for last few days, but I got confused.

I am mostly fascinated by a Deep Space Objects like nebulas. I am aware I can't expect to see all those photography-like colorful pictures.

My starter budget is around 300 euros (max. 350), can you advice me what to look for? I saw Dobsonians 150/1200 are good starters that can also see some DSO's, is it true? Or should I look for something completely else?

Thanks in advance

Hello and welcome to SGL,

A dobsonian would be a perfect fit for you, perhaps you could find a used 10” that is within budget.

Good luck and clear skies

[nephilim]

As mentioned, a 200p Dobsonian is a great scope & will give you some great views. As @John says also budget for a good guide, many people (myself included( recommend this. https://www.bookdepository.com/Turn-Left-at-Orion-Guy-Consolmagno/9781108457569?redirected=true&utm_medium=Google&utm_campaign=Base1&utm_source=UK&utm_content=Turn-Left-at-Orion&selectCurrency=GBP&w=AFC7AU9SYBJPG6A8VRG0&pdg=pla-293946777986:cmp-10333021322:adg-104437772098:crv-443151537351:pos-:dev-m&gclid=Cj0KCQiAlsv_BRDtARIsAHMGVSbn2ZBciqkga97oyZvS_QGv5L00RgbK8f4W8MKY7WE6HtgYvh2lPZ0aAkpvEALw_wcB

[Race908]

thank you so much, I am gonna look for some