I’ve nearly made a decision on what to buy (I think)

[huddo]

After weeks of research I think I’ve nearly decided that my first telescope will be a Celestron StarSense Explorer DX5. My back garden suffers from being really quite close to several bright street lights and houses which restrict views so I really what something I can pop in the car and drive a mere 4 miles or so to really quite dark skies (I live in semi rural Norfolk and the broads and coast are a stones throw away.

I did think I wanted a manual find my own way around the sky scope but having seen the celestron in action on good old YouTube it’s peaked my interest. 
 

As the DX5 is Schmidt Cassegrain it should give me decent details of moon ,planets and hopefully some DSOs shouldn’t it and being compact , nice and easy to transport. Am I correct in thinking cool down time shouldn’t be too bad as it’s an SCT rather than a MAK which I believe has thicker lens on the front.

my budget is new around £500 having started at £350 it’s crept up !!! Guess that’s not unusual. 
 

All advice gratefully received.

 

 

 

[ollypenrice]

The optics will be fine and easy to collimate when needed and the mount is compact. My only reservation would be reliance on the smartphone. I know that humanity is losing the ability to do anything at all without a smartphone  but, in this case, my concern is about the light from the screen. Even though it's small and can be turned down, it's still a light and you're still looking at it when observing. Deep sky observing requires the best night adaptation you can manage and I'm not convinced that any kind of screen is a good idea. I've used red cellophane over a PC screen and it's 'better than nothing' at best.

Olly

[Mr Spock]

I agree. If you are going to a dark sky site then light of any kind is the last thing you need.

[huddo]

A good point well made, I’ll forget that one.

following a visit over to the North Norfolk Astronomy site I’ve been advised against a Schmidt Cassegrain on the grounds that they’re not the easiest of telescopes for beginner to find targets.

They where more inclined to suggest a refractor and sturdy mount. So I guess it’s back the drawing board. Very frustrating for me as I just want to get cracking but I guess it’s best to patient and at least try and get it right first time, at the end of the day £500 doesn’t grow on trees (not in my world any how)

thanks all, clear skies

[Davesellars]

If you're able to fit it in to the car OK how about the StellaLyra 8" f/6 Dobsonian ?  I'd recommend this model over the Skywatcher 8" dob as it has a RACI finder (although for the price difference between the two you could buy the RACI as well), much better focuser and also a base which allows adjustment of the balance of the tube.  Another accessory I heartily recommend though with a dob is a Rigel QuikFinder which makes for easy star-hopping (then honing in with the 50mm finder...)

Edited February 6, 2022 by Davesellars

[huddo]

2 hours ago, Davesellars said:

If you're able to fit it in to the car OK how about the StellaLyra 8" f/6 Dobsonian ?  I'd recommend this model over the Skywatcher 8" dob as it has a RACI finder (although for the price difference between the two you could buy the RACI as well), much better focuser and also a base which allows adjustment of the balance of the tube.  Another accessory I heartily recommend though with a dob is a Rigel QuikFinder which makes for easy star-hopping (then honing in with the 50mm finder...)

Hi Dave,

I had considered a 8in Stella but have decided that it’s too big for me to manhandle out of the house , down the garden and into the car to drive to my preferred observation spot and do the same on the return trip. Not to mention the fact that maintenance of a reflector scares me (bearing in mind I’m on the clumsy side so not only could I struggle to get scope to car from house without damage to me, scope or car there would a good chance I would drop tools down tube and smash the mirror)

A refractor kind of makes sense but I have to say I’m a bit hung up on “Chromatic Aberration” issues. would it really be capable of giving me decent views of planets that I’d like ?

this isn’t an easy hobby to get my head around. I just want to get started , I’m starting to wonder if I shouldn’t just think sod it, I’ll just not bother and I’ll leave the £500 earmarked for the scope in the bank…….🙁🙁🙁🙁🙁

 

Edited February 6, 2022 by huddo
Missed a word out

[Davesellars]

Chromatic abberation (CA) is only an issue on bright objects like the Moon and planets -  however for deep sky objects CA is irrelevant.

At a decently dark site a 5" (or thereabouts) refractor will be excellent for DSOs.  I have made many good observations with my Skywatcher 120ST and that's at bortle 5 (which is far from brilliant) - for sure your rural site is much darker!  Now, at f/5 the scope has CA - I don't care at all about this as this scope is purely for DSOs for when I want a quick session or the conditions are not suitable for when lugging the dob out (wind is not dobsonian friendly!)  For planets and lunar - sure it's not good unless you like a blue / violet fringe around the objects however if you use a mask to restrict the aperture from 120mm to say 80mm then that will be quite effective to rectify a reasonable portion of CA.  I use it on an AZ4 alt/az or EQ5 mount which is very stable indeed.

The other "budget" option I would recommend as a better general stargazing scope would be the SW Evostar 120mm - this weighs a bit more than the 120ST but because of its length I don't think I'd be comfortable with it on the AZ4 - it would be just too much I think.   On the EQ5 however it would be really solid.  The evostar would also be quite a bit more eyepiece "friendly" at f/8.3 meaning lower price eyepieces will work much better than an f/5 scope.   I don't have any experience of the EQ3/2 mount (which is quite a bit cheaper) - i doubt that this would be any more solid that the AZ4 though especially as the legs are the aluminium ones instead of the steel legs.   The EQ5 and 120 Evostar is not quite as portable though as the 120ST / AZ4 solution.

There's never going to be a perfect solution so try not to get into paralysis analysis thinking and attempting to do it.   Planets aren't really visible until later on in the year so perhaps you could make a DSO scope more of a priority and look for a long focal length solution for planets later on...

Edited February 6, 2022 by Davesellars

[Cosmic Geoff]

6 hours ago, huddo said:

ollowing a visit over to the North Norfolk Astronomy site I’ve been advised against a Schmidt Cassegrain on the grounds that they’re not the easiest of telescopes for beginner to find targets.

I don't think this is sound advice.  With my 127mm Mak - a similar aperture to your proposed purchase, but with a focal ratio of around f12.5, I don't have trouble getting things in field even using it manually on an Az-4 mount (it came with a SLT GoTo mount).  The SCT is f10.

There are various choices open to you, each with their own peculiarities, pros and cons. 

[That Bear Guy]

13 hours ago, huddo said:

After weeks of research I think I’ve nearly decided that my first telescope will be a Celestron StarSense Explorer DX5. My back garden suffers from being really quite close to several bright street lights and houses which restrict views so I really what something I can pop in the car and drive a mere 4 miles or so to really quite dark skies (I live in semi rural Norfolk and the broads and coast are a stones throw away.

I did think I wanted a manual find my own way around the sky scope but having seen the celestron in action on good old YouTube it’s peaked my interest. 
 

As the DX5 is Schmidt Cassegrain it should give me decent details of moon ,planets and hopefully some DSOs shouldn’t it and being compact , nice and easy to transport. Am I correct in thinking cool down time shouldn’t be too bad as it’s an SCT rather than a MAK which I believe has thicker lens on the front.

my budget is new around £500 having started at £350 it’s crept up !!! Guess that’s not unusual. 
 

All advice gratefully received.

 

 

 

You are right about the corrector plate on the front being thinner on the Schmidt Cassegrain rather than Mak, and in my VERY limited experience my AstroFi 5 SCT a similar size aperture to your choice had no issues with cooling, but I do have a habit of leaving it in our cold hall an hour before going out.  I think bigger exposed mirrors particularly on dobs are more of a cooling issue!

Geoff is right! I'm a complete beginner and have found my SCT easy enough to see various objects such as Pleiades, The Orion Nebula, Jupiter and even Uranus (the goto helped with that last one). 

I also agree with Dave.  You can get really tied up in knots trying to get the perfect solution of which there isn't.    I was going to wait until I could afford my dream scope (a large dob), but realised it would be a lot of cash to waste if it wasn't for me, so I then took a risk on the second hand SCT above which paid off because I'm getting the experience now.  I did a fair amount of reading and started off with some binoculars just to learn some basic star hopping.  You-tube is great, kindle and a visit to the library provides more reliable info though, but getting the experience is king!  The most important piece of kit you'll ever have is your observing skills, and that transfers to every scope you'll ever get.

I would suggest checking out a local astronomy club with a view to seeing if there will be members who are happy to let you check out some of their kit on a clear night.  First light optics, the SGL sponsor have a list of clubs you can search but there is also https://gostargazing.co.uk/ which should have a list of events local to you. This might be a lower risk way forward if you are unsure or getting confused by other people's advice, but as a newbie I took the risk on the SCT at the same spec as your choice and didn't look back.  I now generally looked up. 😉

Best of luck and clear Skies!

 

TBG

 

Oh and the screen issue is easily solved by a settings tweak on iPhone/iPad  or an app on android, The only dark dark adaptation Ive had is when local Kevs drive into the carpark at my chosen dark site!

Edited February 6, 2022 by That Bear Guy

[DhamR]

I use my android phone to control my heritage 150p virtuoso and with brightness down and "vision comfort" on I have no issues with adaptation. 

[Spile]

I think the Dobsonian is a great telescope (https://astro.catshill.com/why-did-i-choose-a-dobsonian/) but I can understand your concerns about the size and weight.

As for using a smart phone, I would recommend a tablet as the map will be far bigger. There are a number of great apps/ star charts and light adaptation is really not an issue. https://astro.catshill.com/what-do-i-look-at/
Well not for me anyway. But get a copy of Turn Left at Orion while you make your mind up.

Edited February 7, 2022 by Spile