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First Telescope help please :)


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Evening all,

I've been reading a lot of threads, posts and ordering Turn Left at Orion (Which arrived today and I can't wait to read) and had narrowed down my choice of first proper telescope to the Sky-Watcher Classic 200P Dobsonian from Flo due to the great reviews and I only want to do visual viewing at the moment.

I was about to press the order button and join the waiting list, but I read some more posts about Dobsonian's being difficult to keep on target for a beginner. Is it particularly difficult for a complete beginner or just something you have to master?
Also, after reading those posts I stumbled across a DIY Equatorial Platform
thread which might be of help to me. Is this worth investigating further, or should I start my telescope search again?

Thanks for reading and I'll apologise in advance as I'm sure this won't be the only set of questions I have. :)

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If you just want to do visual astronomy then the 200p is a superb scope which gives you a lot of power for very little expense, and it may well prove to be the only scope you'll ever want. The downside (or another upside depending on your point of view) is that there's no computer to guide you around the night sky, so you'll have to learn how to find the objects yourself. But it's not that hard to do - if you've got some binoculars then while you're waiting for your scope to turn up, have a go at finding some objects in Turn Left at Orion and learn how to star hop to them from an obvious nearby star. This way when your scope arrives you'll be able to find your way around, though there is a little bit of a learning curve with this as everything in a finder scope is upside down and back to front, but it's not hard once you've got your head around it. Keeping an object in view once you've found it isn't a problem at all, you just give your scope a gentle nudge up and to the right as something drifts out of shot.

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No need to fear, my friend, once you handle the 200P you'll quickly get the idea. Push to dobsonian telescope require the user to rest their fingers on the scope and ever so slightly move it to keep the target in the FOV. Depending on the amount of magnification you are using at any moment, it will require more or less moving, more for high power and less when using lower magnifications. This is a learning curve but, one which you will get the hang of quickly, no need to question your decision on the 200P. There is a reason why it is one of the most recommended scopes for beginners, it wouldn't be if it were difficult for a beginner to grasp quickly. Once you use it you will see what i am talking about.

I would stop reading too many posts, if you would like a great visual scope for a beginner then you need look no further.

Well, read these posts here yes lol

Edited by Sunshine
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4 minutes ago, Sunshine said:

No need to fear, my friend, once you handle the 200P you'll quickly get the idea. Push to dobsonian telescope require the user to rest their fingers on the scope and ever so slightly move it to keep the target in the FOV. Depending on the amount of magnification you are using at any moment, it will require more or less moving, more for high power and less when using lower magnifications. This is a learning curve but, one which you will get the hang of quickly, no need to question your decision on the 200P. There is a reason why it is one of the most recommended scopes for beginners, it wouldn't be if it were difficult for a beginner to grasp quickly. Once you use it you will see what i am talking about.

I would stop reading too many posts, if you would like a great visual scope for a beginner then you need look no further.

Well, read these posts here yes lol

What they said ! 😀

Learning to nudge a dob is considerably easier to learn than riding a bike , and there's much less chance of falling over ....

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30 minutes ago, Rekrab said:

Well, I clicked the necessary buttons and ordered the SkyWatcher 200P this afternoon. Let the waiting games begin

You will nor regret the purchase. I got myself a SW 200P back in December and it is great. I am a total beginner like you. The manual tracking is not too bad. Things stay in the field of view for a few seconds especially at low magnification. At higher magnifications you need to keep nudging more often but the views are amazing. So overall you can enjoy the views before they move out of the EP. Just remember that everything is the wrong way round so the first few times you will be nudging the opposite way that you want.

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