£1500 to spend on a Telescope and Accessories

[Anser]

I have up to £1500 to spend on a telescope and accessories for visual observation, not photography.  Primary interest in planets.

How would you spend the money?

[johninderby]

Does tje 1500 include the mount?

[Anser]

Yes it does, thank you

[johninderby]

Next question. 

Is GOTO a requirement or would a nanual alt-az mount do?

[Anser]

Would consider both.  I have navigated using the stars so can find my way around.  Most of my viewing will be to the southern skies so an EQ mount would be difficult as I can rarely see Polaris.  

[faulksy]

orion optics dob. best spec you could afford idealy 1/10 wave mirror

this is bang on the money. or 10"

https://www.orionoptics.co.uk/VX/vx12-12l.html

[johninderby]

A manual mount like the Skytee II is a great budget alt-az mount and would leave more money for the scope. Very nice to use with slow motion controls. 

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/alt-azimuth-astronomy-mounts/skywatcher-skytee-2-alt-azimuth-mount.html

For planets and the moon a mak or classical cassegrain is a good choice. An apo refractor is good as well but your budget would mean a smaller aperture. I had a Skymax180 but changed to a StellaLyra CC8” as it cools down a lot quicker and no dewing problems plus has a proper crayford focuser.

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/stellalyra-telescopes/stellalyra-8-f12-m-lrs-classical-cassegrain-telescope-ota.html

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/maksutov/skywatcher-skymax-180-pro.html

Do either of these appeal to you?

 

 

Edited January 27, 2021 by johninderby

[John]

5 minutes ago, faulksy said:

orion optics dob. best spec you could afford idealy 1/10 wave mirror

this is bang on the money. or 10"

https://www.orionoptics.co.uk/VX/vx12-12l.html

That would be my thinking as well.

Versatile as well, the planets not being too well positioned over the next couple of years

Expanding the interest into the other wonders that the sky has to offer will prove more rewarding I reckon

Edited January 27, 2021 by John

[John]

Just now, John said:

Posted in error.

 

Edited January 27, 2021 by John

[ScouseSpaceCadet]

There's probably no right answer as these decisions can be very subjective based on a particular users experience and preference.

However, if I was given £1000 right now and told to go buy myself a telescope, it would undoubtedly be a 10" Skywatcher Skyliner Flexitube GoTo.

Relatively easy to move around and store. 10" aperture, with goto and tracking. An extra £500 would get a light shroud, power tank, colllimator, comfy seat and eyepieces.

 

Edited January 27, 2021 by ScouseSpaceCadet

[Anser]

Thank you for all your helpful replies.  Clearly a minimum of an 8” aperture is recommended.  I had been wondering about the Celestron NexStar 8SE.  I am not in any hurry to buy as I can see telescope stocks across the board are limited and I would prefer to wait and make the right choice.

[dweller25]

Hello @anser,

Given your budget a high optical quality 10-12” Dobsonian with a small secondary and cooling fan will show a lot of detail on the planets.

The SCT is OK but in my opinion has many compromises - very precise collimation requirements, mirror shift, varying optical quality, large secondary, slow cool down and dew formation on the front corrector.

Alternately a 5” refractor on an altaz mount would be a good choice...

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/pro-series/skywatcher-evostar-120ed-ds-pro-outfit.html

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/alt-azimuth-astronomy-mounts/skywatcher-skytee-2-alt-azimuth-mount.html

Edited January 28, 2021 by dweller25

[Cosmic Geoff]

I would suggest that you only spend the full 1500 pound budget if you are sure about what you want and what you intend to do with it.  If this is not the case, I recommend you get a smaller and simpler outfit and use it tikk you can decide what to buy next.

The C8 SE is mentioned. This is a good outfit for visual use and with a few accessories (eyepieces, dew shield, power tank) will fill out your budget.  The outfit is portable - you can pick up and carry outside the whole assembly, and it breaks down into three sections if you want ti take it on holiday to a dark site.  However, even though the C8 SE costs a wad of money, the mount is only suitable for visual use.  You can use it for planetary imaging, but the wobble and backlash will prove trying.  If you want to do any planetary imaging at any time, you'd want to spend even more money on a C8 variant with a better and more solid mount.

The new Classic Cassegrains look like an interesting option if you want a planetary scope. Other possible OTAs that might catch your fancy are a f8 Newtonian, or a !80mm Sky-watcher Mak on a suitable mount.

Au usual, various people recommend you buy a Dob.  I would urge you instead to consider a GoTo outfit if you can afford it, which it seems you can. A proper mount is as important as the scope itself, and with a good GoTo mount you can do so much more, and spend your time looking at objects rather than for them.

Should you be told that GoTo are hard to use, I would say that the ease of use of GoTo systems varies greatly.  The Nexstar system is easy to learn, and adding GPS or a Starsense reduces the effort further.

[Cosmic Geoff]

11 hours ago, Anser said:

 Most of my viewing will be to the southern skies so an EQ mount would be difficult as I can rarely see Polaris.  

If you can find a fixed position for an EQ mount and mark the positions of the tripod feet, you only need to provide an alignment accurate enough for visual use and do it once.

[Anser]

Thank you David.  Will I see the same detail with a 5" refractor as an 8" SCT?  When I run it through the FOV calculator items seem very small. What is the maximum magnification eye piece you would use with it?  

[KP82]

17 minutes ago, Anser said:

Will I see the same detail with a 5" refractor as an 8" SCT?  When I run it through the FOV calculator items seem very small. What is the maximum magnification eye piece you would use with it?  

The 5" refractor has a shorter focal length than the 8" SCT, therefore with the same eyepiece it will generate a much larger FOV and lower magnification. However there is nothing to stop you from using a shorter focal eyepiece to match the same FOV and magnification as the SCT.

Under optimal seeing the SCT will be able to provide slightly more details. Although there is a large cental obstruction, 8" is 8" and it can gather 155% more light than a 5". However if you compare a quality 5" APO to an 8" SCT in real life, you'd be surprised how well the APO can do on planets, the Moon, doubles and open clusters (SCT wins decisively on dimmer DSOs). The less than perfect optics, large central obstruction, light loss and scatter due to multiple reflections all have detrimental effect on the views through the SCT.

A comparison between a 4" APO and 8" SCT:

http://www.scopeviews.co.uk/TMB_C8.htm

 

Edited January 28, 2021 by KP82

[dweller25]

28 minutes ago, Anser said:

Thank you David.  Will I see the same detail with a 5" refractor as an 8" SCT?  When I run it through the FOV calculator items seem very small. What is the maximum magnification eye piece you would use with it?  

In theory the C8 will slightly outperform the 5” APO on the planets, but in practice they will be very close. 
Personally I find the high contrast, razor sharp views through a refractor very pleasing, refractors are also less affected than a C8 if the seeing is poor - which it often is 🙁

A 5” Apo will have an approximate range of x30 to x250 - which is also about the limit our UK skies allow. Roughly, roughly Jupiter is best around x190, Saturn x210, Mars x250.

The moon is superb anywhere between x50 and x250.

[Cosmic Geoff]

32 minutes ago, dweller25 said:

refractors are also less affected than a C8 if the seeing is poor - which it often is

A 127mm (5") Maksutov will also challenge a 8" SCT (including for planetary imaging) when the seeing is poor - and it is a lot more compact, lighter and cheaper than a 5" Apo. 

[johninderby]

Many good sugestions have been made which must make it confusing as to what scope / mount you go for. All the suggestions have their good and bad points. There is no perfect choice of the “best” scope and whatever you choose will be a compromise in some way.

I moved from an 8” SCT to a Skymax180 and then ended up with a Classical Cassegrain which turned out to be the right planetary scope for me.

So if one type appeals then that would be somewhere to start. 🤔

Edited January 28, 2021 by johninderby

[Anser]

Thank you all.  Much to ponder although the best compromise for me would seem to be Sky-Watcher Skymax 180 PRO.

[johninderby]

The Skymax180 would work well on the Skytee II which is the setup I used to have. Have now moved on to an 8” Claasical Cassegrain on a Rowan AZ100 mount.

Reasons for replacing the Skymax180. Long cooldown and dewing problems. The CC cools down quickly with no dewing problems and has a fixed primary mirror and a proper crayford focuser and will take higher magnification than the 180. Not a huge difference in price, size or weight so the CC will also work on the Skytee.

Note the Skymax180 in the photo has a crayford focuser fitted but this is a short travel SCT type whereas the CC has a refractor type focuser?

 

Edited January 28, 2021 by johninderby

[Anser]

Have you moved to StellaLyra 8" f/12 M-LRS which was your other recommendation?  I suspect if I go down this route I will blow my budget as I will not be able to get a suitable mount and tripod

[johninderby]

Mine is the TS 8” Classical Cassegrain but identical to the StellaLyra version which wasn’t available at the time. Yes the scope and a Skytee mount would use up most of your budget.

You might look for a second hand Skymax180 as they do show up quite often in the SGL sales section or on Astrobuysell.

 

 

Edited January 28, 2021 by johninderby

[Anser]

Thank you.  What eyepieces would you go with on the StellaLyra 8" f/12 M-LRS?  I may push my luck and go for this with the SkyTee-2.  Is there anything else you would recommend I need to start with.

[johninderby]

An 8mm 12,mm and an 18mm would be a good starter set. The BST starguiders are a very good line  of budget eyepieces that would work well.

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/search/for/starguider/

I like the Nirvana 82 degree eyepieces but sold out at the moment. The ES 82 degree eyepieces are better but more expensive. Of course there are loads of premium eyepieces out there but £££££ and being f/12 the scope doesn’t need premium eyepiece really.

You would need a finderscope. This one is pretty good and not exoensive.

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/finders/astro-essentials-9x50-right-angled-erecting-finderscope.html

A dew shield isn’t really needed unlike with a mak or SCT where it is a necessity.

The dovetail saddles that come with the Skytee are rubbish and need replacing and with the CC 8” would use the Losmany dovetail on the scope rather than the Vixen. A dual fit saddle that would take either Viven or Losmandy dovetails would be best. Ask FLO to recommend one that would fit the Skytee.

Edited January 28, 2021 by johninderby