Reflector vs refractor

[Tiny Clanger]

29 minutes ago, Asoor said:

Thanks a lot, I think I'll just build one, this video is a life saver. Appreciate the effort.

I'm not sure if I think you are brave or crazy !  🙂 Either way, I wish you good luck.

Come back and let us know how your project goes, there is a DIY (do it yourself) section of the forum you could post your progress in.

Heather

[Asoor]

13 minutes ago, Tiny Clanger said:

I'm not sure if I think you are brave or crazy !  🙂 Either way, I wish you good luck.

Come back and let us know how your project goes, there is a DIY (do it yourself) section of the forum you could post your progress in.

Heather

probably a bit of both. I'll definitely post later. Thank you.

[DeanCJ]

This may seem like a bit of a daft question, but what about a good set of binoculars? Are you allowed to purchase any? They are great for sweeping the night sky. I still use mine they are only 7x50s but will still show Andromeda, and to be honest I prefer the view of the Pleiades in these than my telescopes.

Dean.

[Asoor]

1 hour ago, DeanCJ said:

This may seem like a bit of a daft question, but what about a good set of binoculars? Are you allowed to purchase any? They are great for sweeping the night sky. I still use mine they are only 7x50s but will still show Andromeda, and to be honest I prefer the view of the Pleiades in these than my telescopes.

Dean.

There are a few binoculars but I live in Cairo, so the light pollution here is terrible. I can barely make out 10  stars, so trying to find deep sku objects more difficult. I do think I might get a pair at some point though, but for regular use it has to be a telescope

[AstroMuni]

13 hours ago, Asoor said:

Edit: I used to have a 152-750 but I saw no detail at all, I never collimated it because I didn't know how at the time and the seller is in another city so I sold it.  Does not collimating it cause such loss of detail?

If you are interested in planets you will need a scope that can give you good magnification. Try using this tool to see the FOV for your scope. https://astronomy.tools/calculators/field_of_view/

Also look at this site which shows what kind of views you can get under typical circumstances. https://www.stelvision.com/en/telescope-simulator/ If the views you got are not close to the ones shown here, you know that your scope is not correctly setup or defective.

If you are using a camera then it opens a whole new range of possibilities. Happy to share my experiences in this area as I have recently bought a camera and been having a go at photography of deep sky objects. 🙂

Good luck!

Edited June 28, 2021 by AstroMuni

[Asoor]

25 minutes ago, AstroMuni said:

If you are interested in planets you will need a scope that can give you good magnification. Try using this tool to see the FOV for your scope. https://astronomy.tools/calculators/field_of_view/

Also look at this site which shows what kind of views you can get under typical circumstances. https://www.stelvision.com/en/telescope-simulator/ If the views you got are not close to the ones shown here, you know that your scope is not correctly setup or defective.

If you are using a camera then it opens a whole new range of possibilities. Happy to share my experiences in this area as I have recently bought a camera and been having a go at photography of deep sky objects. 🙂

Good luck!

Yeah it probably wasn't set up well. I do want to get into astrophotography later on, just waiting to see if I can actually build the scope though. Thank you.

 

[KP82]

The reason you couldn't see any details on Jupiter was probably because the primary mirror of your 152/750 was spherical. A spherical newt at f/5 is not going to be able to produce any sharp and contrasty views. And less than perfect collimation would make it even worse.

If that dealer you mentioned has any parabolic mirror in stock, I'd say go for that. Then try to source the other necessary components to build your own dob.

[Asoor]

10 hours ago, KP82 said:

The reason you couldn't see any details on Jupiter was probably because the primary mirror of your 152/750 was spherical. A spherical newt at f/5 is not going to be able to produce any sharp and contrasty views. And less than perfect collimation would make it even worse.

If that dealer you mentioned has any parabolic mirror in stock, I'd say go for that. Then try to source the other necessary components to build your own dob.

Thanks a lot for telling me this, I might've went with a spherical one otherwise, he told me that he has 7 inch parabolic mirrors coming soon so I'll wait for those.

[Stu1smartcookie]

Asoor , having read through the entire post i can honestly say i will NEVER moan about shortages of astronomy gear in this country again . As Heather wrote earlier , the worst we deal with is bad weather in the UK . I really wish you success in the construction of your scope . 

[iapa]

Sorry, I probably missed it ( as usual) , but, I can’t whether you want to observe or image the night sky.

 

[Alan64]

https://stellafane.org/tm/dob/index.html

For astrophotography however, to "see" galaxies and nebulae, an equatorial mount is essential.

 

 

[Louis D]

2 hours ago, Alan64 said:

For astrophotography however, to "see" galaxies and nebulae, an equatorial mount is essential.

Not necessarily.  A lot of good work has been done with alt-az mounts and field derotators.  In fact, many professional observatories have been going this route lately.

[Alan64]

2 hours ago, Louis D said:

Not necessarily.  A lot of good work has been done with alt-az mounts and field derotators.  In fact, many professional observatories have been going this route lately.

I suppose that's true, for professional pursuits.

[Asoor]

On 29/06/2021 at 13:38, Stu1smartcookie said:

Asoor , having read through the entire post i can honestly say i will NEVER moan about shortages of astronomy gear in this country again . As Heather wrote earlier , the worst we deal with is bad weather in the UK . I really wish you success in the construction of your scope . 

😂😂😂😂😂, It's really a pain but I think I have a plan that might work. I'll post it here when I do. Thanks a lot.

[Asoor]

On 30/06/2021 at 13:52, Alan64 said:

https://stellafane.org/tm/dob/index.html

For astrophotography however, to "see" galaxies and nebulae, an equatorial mount is essential.

 

 

As far as I know, there aren't that many equatorial mounts here, and I've never seen a dob. All of them are alt az. I will be building a dob though because it's easier, later on, I want to find a way ro build a go to mount but I don't know how realistic that is.

[John]

27 minutes ago, Asoor said:

As far as I know, there aren't that many equatorial mounts here, and I've never seen a dob. All of them are alt az. I will be building a dob though because it's easier, later on, I want to find a way ro build a go to mount but I don't know how realistic that is.

I can't help with the GOTO function but if you are still planning to build a big refractor, one of these type of home build mounts might be more suitable than the dobsonian type:

Edited July 4, 2021 by John

[Asoor]

1 minute ago, John said:

I can't help with the GOTO function but if you are still planning to build a big refractor, one of these type of home build mounts might be more suitable than the dobsonian type:

Thanks a lot

[ollypenrice]

On 30/06/2021 at 16:16, Louis D said:

Not necessarily.  A lot of good work has been done with alt-az mounts and field derotators.  In fact, many professional observatories have been going this route lately.

Few amateurs use derotators but Alt-Az with derotator has been the professionals' choice for some time. These are, though, two different worlds.

Olly

[Louis D]

7 hours ago, ollypenrice said:

Few amateurs use derotators but Alt-Az with derotator has been the professionals' choice for some time. These are, though, two different worlds.

Olly

Agreed, but the original posting I responded to said EQs are essential to AP.  This is an absolute statement which is simply not true.  Perhaps if it had said NEARLY essential, I wouldn't have bothered replying.

[Alan64]

On 04/07/2021 at 09:03, Asoor said:

As far as I know, there aren't that many equatorial mounts here, and I've never seen a dob. All of them are alt az. I will be building a dob though because it's easier, later on, I want to find a way ro build a go to mount but I don't know how realistic that is.

I can't use a full go-to system myself.  I have far too many trees on my property.  

There are more articles and blogs online about building your own Newtonian-Dobson than you can shake a stick at, so you're good to go there.

I have this 200/1000 Newtonian that needs a mount, and I will probably have to resort to building a Dobson mount for it as well...

I've had it for almost twenty years, but I've yet to observe with it, and I'm not getting any younger.

The one thing that troubles me about building a mount for it is that Wilsonart's "Ebony Star" type-50 laminate is no longer available.  I and others will need to find a substitute.

[Pixies]

11 hours ago, Alan64 said:

I can't use a full go-to system myself.  I have far too many trees on my property.  

There are more articles and blogs online about building your own Newtonian-Dobson than you can shake a stick at, so you're good to go there.

I have this 200/1000 Newtonian that needs a mount, and I will probably have to resort to building a Dobson mount for it as well...

I've had it for almost twenty years, but I've yet to observe with it, and I'm not getting any younger.

The one thing that troubles me about building a mount for it is that Wilsonart's "Ebony Star" type-50 laminate is no longer available.  I and others will need to find a substitute.

There was a chat about this last year. Sorry if I'm preaching to the converted: