Meade or Celestron?

[Goldfinger]

Hello Stargazers 

I'm interested in astronomy and planet-stargazing. I don't have a telescope yet and am having a hard time deciding what to buy.

 

Meade and Celestron seem to have the market cornered so I'm going to start there.

Can some of you give me your opinions on which of those two offer the best value for the money if purchased new?

I know it's a difficult question with many factors to consider but it'll be start.

Thanks

 

 

 

 

[wulfrun]

It'd be helpful to know a lot more before you can get sensible recommendations. Where are you, geographically? What do you want to see? Do you want to do astrophotography or just visual. What sky quality do you have? Where will you use the telescope? Where will you store it? What budget do you have in mind? Probably other stuff people will ask too, that I've overlooked.

P.S. Meade and Celestron are by no means the only makes, depending on budget and where you are.

[johninderby]

The Synta group are now the worlds biggest telescope manufacturers. Synta own Celestron and Skywatcher. Meade filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy in the US  a while ago and their future is a bit uncertain. They will most probably will be acquired by new owners but who knows what will happen. 🤔

 

Edited April 20, 2021 by johninderby

[Shimrod]

21 minutes ago, Goldfinger said:

Hello Stargazers 

I'm interested in astronomy and planet-stargazing. I don't have a telescope yet and am having a hard time deciding what to buy.

 

Meade and Celestron seem to have the market cornered so I'm going to start there.

Can some of you give me your opinions on which of those two offer the best value for the money if purchased new?

I know it's a difficult question with many factors to consider but it'll be start.

Thanks

 

 

 

 

Here is the UK you don't really hear of Meade very often, although they were one of the 'big' names twenty years ago. If you are in the US then Orion is another name to look at, although they are also available in the UK - not to be confused with Orion Optics! There are also a number of own-brand re-labelled telescopes than can be good value although there are a much smaller selection of mount manufacturers.

[johninderby]

The US company Orion buys in most of their scopes and mounts from Synta although they are a seperate independant US owned company.

Edited April 20, 2021 by johninderby

[RT65CB-SWL]

Hi @Goldfinger and welcome to SGL. 

When you have decided on your intended 'scope purchase, please do not rush out and purchase from a high street store, (often located in a retail park), that sounds like an Indian sub-continent meal; a warehouse site that is named after a south-American river; or the well known auction/discount sites, etc.

 

18 minutes ago, johninderby said:

The Synta group are now the worlds biggest telescope manufacturers. Synta own Celestron and Skywatcher. Meade filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy in the US  a while ago and their future is a bit uncertain. They will most probably will be acquired by new owners but who knows what will happen. 🤔

 

BTW - 'Chapter 11'... what is it? - to a non-US 🇺🇸 resident... https://www.uscourts.gov/services-forms/bankruptcy/bankruptcy-basics/chapter-11-bankruptcy-basics 
or here... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chapter_11,_Title_11,_United_States_Code

[Goldfinger]

I have an apartment in downtown St Louis, Missouri with no opportunity to get out of the city limits where there's not as much light pollution.

So there's going to be an issue with night lights where I live. I mainly wanted it to view the planets with a few galaxy's thrown in as well. 

I had no idea you could view the planets with a pair of binoculars. I suspect you wouldn't get much detail with those so I ruled them out. My budget is around $1000.00 and it doesn't have to to be new. I'm perfectly willing to purchase a used telescope as I think it will offer more value and options than a new telescope with the same price.

Orion doesn't seem to offer as many options as Meade and Celestron so I'll probably go with them if I can find something suitable.

Hope to get some advice so I can narrow my choices.

Edited April 20, 2021 by Goldfinger

[Cosmic Geoff]

Give us an idea of where you will be observing from (your balcony? A local park?) and what degree of portability you have in mind.  Do you favour a plain old-fashioned telescope and mount, or  the latest tech with GoTo?

[RT65CB-SWL]

32 minutes ago, Goldfinger said:

I have an apartment in downtown St Louis, Missouri with no opportunity to get out of the city limits where there's not as much light pollution.

So there's going to be an issue with night lights where I live. I mainly wanted it to view the planets with a few galaxy's thrown in as well. 

I had no idea you could view the planets with a pair of binoculars. I suspect you wouldn't get much detail with those so I ruled them out. My budget is around $1000.00 and it doesn't have to to be new. I'm perfectly willing to purchase a used telescope as I think it will offer more value and options than a new telescope with the same price.

Orion doesn't seem to offer as many options as Meade and Celestron so I'll probably go with them if I can find something suitable.

Hope to get some advice so I can narrow my choices.

If your apartment has a balcony, then I would suggest a Schmitt-Cassegrain [SCT} or Maksutov [MCT}...

Images above of my C6/SCT and 're-modded' ETX105.

 

Also you may wish to consider a refractor...

Images above of my TeleVue Ranger.

 

...or maybe one of these... 
https://www.firstlightoptics.com/heritage/skywatcher-heritage-130p-flextube.html
https://www.firstlightoptics.com/heritage/sky-watcher-heritage-150p-flextube-dobsonian-telescope.html

Still confused as to what to buy? - then read this first... 
https://www.firstlightoptics.com/beginner-telescopes.html

[Goldfinger]

I have a rooftop on my apartment building complete with swimming pool and that's where I plan to spend the bulk of my time sky gazing.

It's fairly well lighted up at night and I'm wondering how much that will affect my viewing. Would I still be able to see the planets in good detail? That's mainly what I'm interested in and whatever stars and galaxies I can view will be a bonus.

Was thinking about a used Celestron - NexStar 6SE Telescope as that will fit my budget. Think that will suffice?

And by the way, I could always try to knock out the  power on my block for a couple hours if the light pollution was really bad.....

JUST KIDDING!!!! 😜

 

Edited April 20, 2021 by Goldfinger

[Goldfinger]

Something else I was thinking about. Since I live and plan on using the telescope on the rooftop of my apartment building in the city, how difficult would it be to manually locate three objects with the celestron nextstar 6se? Can you actually manually locate three objects in the sky at night with the light pollution?

[RT65CB-SWL]

Being on a rooftop, you may experience thermals/eddies from the apartment below, so be prepared for that.
Also if the apartment below, is not yours, just warn the owner just in case they inform the local pest control or local police dept. SWAT team... just in case they hear 'strange' noises in the middle of the night coming from the roof.

If you do buy the NexStar 6SE Telescope, I would take someone along with you that knows what to defects to look for, ask questions, etc., unless the seller is an amateur astronomer upgrading to something bigger. Also you will need a dew shield if it does not have one. You can DIY and make one from an exercise floor mat or similar material or purchase one ready made and have them heated. 

Image above of my 're-modded' ETX105 with dew shield attached.

 

BTW - I could not resist adding this... 

 

[Peter_D]

Hi, 

Why don't you contact the St Louis Astronomical Society? I'm sure in they could fix you up with a loaner telescope while you research further and give you good, practical advice . I see there is even a library telescope loan scheme in your city!

https://www.slasonline.org/library-telescope

Peter

 

 

[Orange Smartie]

I've never been to St Louis, but you should be aware that if you live in a heavily light-polluted area, galaxies are going to be a tricky target.  If you haven't already, you might want to take a look at this thread so that you have reasonable expectations:

 

 

I'm fortunate enough to live in a semi-rural area where I can observe galaxies with my 6 inch Dobsonian telescope - however, even here, on a bad day (neighbour's lights on, any kind of moon up etc), it becomes quite a challenge.  I've not done much in the way of planetary viewing, but I suspect that they'll be less affected by light pollution.

 

[wulfrun]

59 minutes ago, Goldfinger said:

I have a rooftop on my apartment building complete with swimming pool and that's where I plan to spend the bulk of my time sky gazing.

Best take care where you set up in the dark! One false step could be costly...

[Orange Smartie]

28 minutes ago, Peter_D said:

Hi, 

Why don't you contact the St Louis Astronomical Society? I'm sure in they could fix you up with a loaner telescope while you research further and give you good, practical advice . I see there is even a library telescope loan scheme in your city!

https://www.slasonline.org/library-telescope

Peter

 

 

In this place you'd need a telescope to find a library, not the other way round.

[Goldfinger]

41 minutes ago, wulfrun said:

Best take care where you set up in the dark! One false step could be costly...

Don't worry. We have 5 ft high walls to keep all the party goers from falling 16 stories to the ground. Thanks for the concern.

[wulfrun]

1 minute ago, Goldfinger said:

Don't worry. We have 5 ft high walls to keep all the party goers from falling 16 stories to the ground. Thanks for the concern.

I was thinking more of the pool. You can get waterproof eyepieces but I don't think a scope would do well 🙂

[Goldfinger]

48 minutes ago, Orange Smartie said:

I've never been to St Louis, but you should be aware that if you live in a heavily light-polluted area, galaxies are going to be a tricky target.  If you haven't already, you might want to take a look at this thread so that you have reasonable expectations:

 

 

I'm fortunate enough to live in a semi-rural area where I can observe galaxies with my 6 inch Dobsonian telescope - however, even here, on a bad day (neighbour's lights on, any kind of moon up etc), it becomes quite a challenge.  I've not done much in the way of planetary viewing, but I suspect that they'll be less affected by light pollution.

 

That's what an article stated... Planetary viewing is less affected by light pollution since they are much closer than galaxy's.

Is there much difference in performance between telescopes with the same size lenses?  So far I've seen Dobsonian, Newtonian ,  Schmidt - Cassegrain and there's a couple others 

 

All of these can come in 6 inch lenses but does the performance vary from type to type?

- General Features

- 6" Schmidt-Casseg

 

- as

- 6" S

[Goldfinger]

10 minutes ago, wulfrun said:

I was thinking more of the pool. You can get waterproof eyepieces but I don't think a scope would do well 🙂

We may not have water in the pool this year due to covid-19 concerns. So that may save me yet 🥺

[Goldfinger]

1 hour ago, Peter_D said:

Hi, 

Why don't you contact the St Louis Astronomical Society? I'm sure in they could fix you up with a loaner telescope while you research further and give you good, practical advice . I see there is even a library telescope loan scheme in your city!

https://www.slasonline.org/library-telescope

Peter

 

 

Thanks so much for the link. I will join as they have the meetings about 5km from here. 

[Goldfinger]

1 hour ago, Philip R said:

Being on a rooftop, you may experience thermals/eddies from the apartment below, so be prepared for that.
Also if the apartment below, is not yours, just warn the owner just in case they inform the local pest control or local police dept. SWAT team... just in case they hear 'strange' noises in the middle of the night coming from the roof.

If you do buy the NexStar 6SE Telescope, I would take someone along with you that knows what to defects to look for, ask questions, etc., unless the seller is an amateur astronomer upgrading to something bigger. Also you will need a dew shield if it does not have one. You can DIY and make one from an exercise floor mat or similar material or purchase one ready made and have them heated. 

Image above of my 're-modded' ETX105 with dew shield attached.

 

BTW - I could not resist adding this... 

 

A dew shield isn't something I remotely considered. I've been browsing through the telescope ads on eBay and have never seen them mentioned...at all. But that's a good idea. Thanks for bringing that up.

[Orange Smartie]

3 minutes ago, Goldfinger said:

That's what an article stated... Planetary viewing is less affected by light pollution since they are much closer than galaxy's.

Is there much difference in performance between telescopes with the same size lenses?  So far I've seen Dobsonian, Newtonian ,  Schmidt - Cassegrain and there's a couple others 

 

All of these can come in 6 inch lenses but does the performance vary from type to type?

- General Features

- 6" Schmidt-Casseg

 

- as

- 6" S

It's a bit of a horses for courses thing - no one design will do everything perfectly.  As there are many people more qualified than I on this forum, I'm not going to embarrass myself by trying to go through the pros and cons of all the different telescope types, but it does sound like a schmidt cassegrain or maksutov would suit you, as you are likely to be looking at brighter targets.  Dobsonian reflectors give the best light-gathering per dollar spent, but are big and bulky.

[johninderby]

Or the 6” Classical Cassegrain might suit. Unlike an SCT or MAK fast cooldown and no dewing problems

https://agenaastro.com/gso-6in-f12-classical-cassegrian-reflector-ota-black.html

[Peter_D]

3 minutes ago, Goldfinger said:

That's what an article stated... Planetary viewing is less affected by light pollution since they are much closer than galaxy's.

Is there much difference in performance between telescopes with the same size lenses?  So far I've seen Dobsonian, Newtonian ,  Schmidt - Cassegrain and there's a couple others 

 

All of these can come in 6 inch lenses but does the performance vary from type to type?

- General Features

- 6" Schmidt-Casseg

 

- as

- 6" S

A Dobsonian is a type of mount - the majority of them having Newtonian Reflectors on them.

A 150mm telescope will have different characteristics depending on the type:

1. Newt: Relatively small central obstruction so good contrast. Will typically be an F5 (so tube is 750mm long). For planetary you will need a Barlow lens. Regular collimation is required. Mirror is open.

2. SCT: Relatively large central ob. Will typically be an F10.  Lighter, compacter OTA so easier to mount than a Mak. Corrector plate protects mirror but can dew over without insulation or dew heater. Collimation relatively stable.

3. Mak. Smaller central ob. than an SCT. More contrast. Greater focal length than SCTs so more magnification than the same ep in an SCT. Lens protects mirror but can dew over without insulation or dew heater. Collimation very stable.

4. Refractor - 150mm needs a very big mount. I've a 80mm F11 achromatic which is a good general scope (bit old school now with ED and APO glass now cheaper than before).

HTH

Peter

PS

5. Classical Cassegrain: See John's post. I have never used one.