Good evening from an old bloke who’s looking to buy his first scope

[huddo]

Hi all, just wanted to post my first post. Signed up a couple of days ago that was when I was a young whippersnapper of a 59 year old. Moving on to tonight and I’m a 60 year old. Really lean to buy my scope but am not 100% sure what I’m going to go for but am favouring a 150mm Newtonian on a EQ3-2 mount. Want to do planets, moon and a bit of DSO hunting. Hopefully I’m on the right lines. Clear skies all.

[cajen2]

Hi from another old bloke who's only had his first scope for three months......also, coincidentally, a 150p but the Flextube dob version

 

[huddo]

13 minutes ago, cajen2 said:

Hi from another old bloke who's only had his first scope for three months......also, coincidentally, a 150p but the Flextube dob version

 

Thanks for replying, can I ask are you happy with your choice and what have you looked at and did the views meet your expectations?

[cajen2]

Wow, long story.

I love the scope: it's given me many hours of observing pleasure.

Pros:

a great all rounder - I've viewed everything from the moon and planets to double stars, distant nebulae and galaxies. With decent eyepieces, the sky is very literally the limit!

very light and easy to store away and deploy - grab and go.

Cons:

the focuser is a bit of an acquired taste and benefits from being fettled with some PTFE tape 

collimation (as with most Newtonians) is important and can be fiddly.

Overall, I could have chosen a much worse scope than that to start with.

Having said all that, I'm upgrading it already to something bigger and better (a StellaLyra 8" dob). 😄 The 150p has stimulated me to want to see even more!

 

 

 

[cajen2]

Question: have you also considered an alt/az mount? A lot easier to use unless you have future ambitions to become an astrophotographer......if so, I hope you have deep pockets! 😆

[bosun21]

Hi 👋 welcome to SGL 

[mikeDnight]

Hi Huddo,

Welcome to SGL and to a great hobby. A 150mm Newtonian is a seriously capable scope and will do everything you ask of it. May be an EQ3 could carry it, but it would be at its limit. The eyepiece of a Newtonian can get into some strange positions, so how's your back? I'm not 60 until Feb 4th, yet my back is my Achilles heel, figuratively speaking. Comfort is key to being relaxed at the eyepiece,  and if you're comfortable you'll undoubtedly see more. Other scopes that will be great for Moon and planets would be a 127mm Maksutov Cassegrain or a 102mm Starfield ED refractor. Both could be carried by an EQ3, or an AZ4 or AZ5 altazimuth mount. I like the latter two scopes as they are so comfortable to use, yet very capable scopes. 

 

Edited January 31, 2022 by mikeDnight

[Floater]

Welcome. Have fun on the learning curve. 🙂

[PXR5]

Welcome to SGL thanks for joining us 🙂

[dweller25]

Hello @huddo and welcome to SGL.

For the best visual results on the planets, the Moon and deep sky you need as much aperture as possible as this gives the most resolution of detail for the Moon and planets and the most light gathering for deep sky.

The best design to do this is a Newtonian of at least 150mm aperture, they are also the cheapest so a very good way to get into Astronomy.

The Newtonian tube can be mounted on an equatorial or on a simple alt-az Dobsonian base. I initially bought an 8” Dobsonian but later mounted the tube on an equatorial, so I had either option. I found my bad back preferred the Dobsonian setup.

You can download “Stellarium” for free which is very good sky mapping software.

I prefer to sit whilst observing, I find it’s much more comfortable than standing up and stooping over the eyepiece.

It’s a great hobby 👍

 

[barbulo]

Welcome to SGL and happy birthday!

[Starwatcher2001]

Welcome aboard SGL. Good to have you with us.

Happy Birthday. It's never too late to take up this fantastic hobby.

[RobertI]

My suggestions would be in line with the above. An 8” dobsonian is a brilliant all rounder. The main downsides are that it takes a while to cool, you get diffraction spikes on bright objects (some folk hate them, some don’t care) and you will occasionally need to collimate it. A good alternative is a 100mm ED refractor on an altaz mount like an AZ4/5 which cools quicker, is more portable, no diffraction spikes and can do really wide field. The down side is it’s not so good for really faint deep sky objects. Good luck! 

[200pman]

Hi from another young man who is 64 years young.

I have 200p .

Happy birthday.

[banjaxed]

Hi and welcome to SGL.

[jock1958]

Hi @huddo and a warm welcome to SGL.

Like others have said I would keep things as simple as possible, for me portability, comfort and ease of use are my priorities.
Just now I’ve settled on a nice 4” refractor, Alt Az mount with a steel leg AZ4 tripod which I can lift into my garden in one go.
Ive accepted I won’t see everything with my setup but as you will find you might have to compromise!

Below is an excellent thread which will give you an insight into what you are likely to see with a variety of instruments. Good hunting 👍

 

[Dave Lloyd]

Hi and welcome. 

[RT65CB-SWL]

Hi @huddo and welcome to SGL. 

If you are just a visual astronomer, then I would purchase a ‘Dobsonian’. Simply find a patch of level ground, (preferably grass/lawn), place telescope and base on that… and enjoy.

As I am 61 years young in six months time [July 2nd] and purely visual most of the time, I find an alt-az mount is easier to use.

Using an EQ mount requires a bit of setting up, i.e. polar alignment, balancing the OTA, etc… plus being a flexible ex-Eastern-bloc gymnast helps… as eyepiece placement is not always where you expect it.

Edited February 1, 2022 by Philip R
added some images of my alt-az mounts...

[200pman]

Putt it on a water butt.it brings the focusser to eye level.

[paulastro]

18 hours ago, huddo said:

Hi all, just wanted to post my first post. Signed up a couple of days ago that was when I was a young whippersnapper of a 59 year old. Moving on to tonight and I’m a 60 year old. Really lean to buy my scope but am not 100% sure what I’m going to go for but am favouring a 150mm Newtonian on a EQ3-2 mount. Want to do planets, moon and a bit of DSO hunting. Hopefully I’m on the right lines. Clear skies all.

Happy birthday Huddo.

60, old? 🤣  I don't think so!

[Peter Drew]

I'd give 20 years of my life to be 60!    Welcome to SGL.     🙂

[Rusted]

Only 60? Congratulations. When I were a lad..

Seriously? 

++++Get a 6" Dobsonian.

--- NOT an equatorial mount!
--- Nothing bigger!
--- Bigger is a physical and mental hurdle against more frequent use.

+++ Grab and go outside whenever it is clear
+++ Mind blowing on the Moon
+++ Great on the planets
+++ Small footprint
+++ Easily carried
+++ Easily stored upright on its mount
+++ No cool down time to delay the fun
+++ Shows you all you could wish for
+++ No neck contortions
+++ Hold a phone or camera to the eyepiece to record your views
+++ Goes in any car with room to spare
+++ Trailer it behind a push bike to a darker, local site?

Negatives? None to worry about as you explore the night sky.
Learn how to maximize your viewing pleasure and PRACTICE seeing stuff. It's a learned skill!
I can still clearly remember my first view of the Moon through a schoolmate's 6" Newtonian.
That was 60 years ago. Back then altazimuth mounts were solid cast iron but people were much stronger!

[bomberbaz]

Hello and welcome.

The best selling scope in the UK is a dobsonian and it is 200mm apertured. The reason for this is it gives a decent aperture whilst still be relatively easy to move around.

Fits across the back seat or even the boot of some cars and at F5.9 (focal ratio) is reasonably forgiving of lower costing eyepieces. 

Sky-Watcher Classic 200P Dobsonian | First Light Optics

Whilst we are on about eyepieces, seems only fair to warn you the ones you will receive will have an half decent 25mm eyepiece and a pretty poor 10mm one.

Most people upgrade quite quickly and the usual dispensed advice is to get BST eyepieces as these are good quality for a relatively low cost. 

BST StarGuider | First Light Optics

The cost of an EQ 150 is 439, the 200p dobsonian os £369, the price difference would allow you to buy one extra eyepiece, my choice would be a BST 8mm. That, along with the 25mm supplied eyepiece would keep you going for quite some time, be far easier to use than a EQ mounted scope and gives you an extra quality eyepiece. (for less money)

Edited February 1, 2022 by bomberbaz

[wookie1965]

A warm welcome to SGL 

[JAC51]

First welcome.  (PS  I'm quite new here as well)

I think the advice given above is very sound can I also suggest a book 

'Turn left at Orion'

Which I have found immensely useful and still use.

Here you will find a number of targets in the sky and how to find them.

In addition it gives drawings of what you can actually expect to see through a 4" refractor and an 8"  Newtonian.

Though I should mention the views are I think based  on 50 degree plossels (still very good eyepieces)

You will also find a brief discussion of different types of telescopes in here as well.