Best lunar/planetary scope - EUR 2000 or less

[Ags]

While looking at the Moon with my C6, and particularly while admiring regions like Aristarchus, I felt the first fever chills of aperture fever. 300x is really pushing a C6 but I felt the Moon has more to offer. My current thinking is a Synscan 250mm dob - the parts are still reasonably manageable, 250x would still be a 1mm exit pupil, and the tracking is useful at high powers. It would also be a good platform for planetary imaging.

The other contenders are a manual 250mm dob on an EQ platform, or why not the 300 mm synscan dob and a wheelbarrow?

[Mr Spock]

Others may have a different view, but I had a Synscan 250 Dob. The optics were fine but I had problems with the tracking. The first base I had went back for the az adjusting as it was 'clicking' - that didn't work. Next they sent a new base - that was 'clicking' in the alt! Eventually after months of grief I sent the whole thing back and got a StellaLyra 12" on an EQ platform. The rest is history as they say.

Browsing the moon at a very sharp x461 (3.3mm TOE) in excellent seeing isn't something I can describe. 

I would have thought a 250mm StellaLyra and EQ platform would cost less than €1k. 

[Louis D]

I actually like watching the moon drift through ultrawide to hyperwide angle eyepieces at high power when using an undriven alt-az mount.  It's kind of like watching it rise and set in a way.  Of course, each eyepiece can cost as much as some telescopes and equatorial mounts.

[CraigT82]

Yeah I’d say a tracking dob is best option if you’re having to include scope and mount in your budget. 

Hard to beat - budget wise - for planetary imaging too if that’s the route you’ll go down. 
 

One of the best planetary imagers going right now uses a 16” Skywatcher synscan dob. Check how amazing the tracking is….

 

Edited September 22, 2023 by CraigT82

[GTom]

Second hand C11 or a 14" goto Dob.

[Ags]

And a second-hand forklift to go with the second-hand 14" goto dob! I am tempted, if I can contrive a way to wheel it out to the observing spot.

Sadly, unless I put the C11 on my plucky little AZ-GTi, I don't have a mount for it.

Edited September 22, 2023 by Ags

[Louis D]

There are quite lightweight, large Dob options out there, they just cost a lot.

[Elp]

Due to mount dobsonian is your only real choice. I've quite fancied an ES truss one myself.

[GTom]

2 hours ago, Ags said:

And a second-hand forklift to go with the second-hand 14" goto dob! I am tempted, if I can contrive a way to wheel it out to the observing spot.

Sadly, unless I put the C11 on my plucky little AZ-GTi, I don't have a mount for it.

Wheelbarrow

[nfotis]

If you want also a mount, things are getting tight.

A possible solution would be a HEQ5 mount (bought used) and a Skymax 180 (I bough mine 550 and 1200 EUR, respectively).

 

[Cosmic Geoff]

I'd vote for a CPC800 as the best planetary imaging scope.  (Or if you have more money or a good s/h deal, go for a bigger CPC, provided you are aware of the weight.)  It has enough aperture (considering the often poor UK seeing), and the mount is very solid and tracks well.  I often use a 320x240px region of interest, and the planet often fills most of this and stays there during a video run.  I also imaged with a C8SE but its mount made it rather a pain.  

The GPS cuts the setup time, and I normally use 2-star align rather than 'Solar System Align' on the target planet as it seems to track more accurately with the former. 

Unlike a Dob, the SCTs have lots of range of focus, so you can hang on a filter wheel and a ADC with no problems. Or a flip mirror diagonal, though it is possible to manage without one.

I don't use an electric focuser as the mount is stiff enough so that the image doesn't jiggle much even with my hand on the focus knob.

Yes you can do it cheaper with a Newtonian or Dob, but it won't be as usable IMHO.

[Planets]

On 21/09/2023 at 22:25, Ags said:

While looking at the Moon with my C6, and particularly while admiring regions like Aristarchus, I felt the first fever chills of aperture fever. 300x is really pushing a C6 but I felt the Moon has more to offer. My current thinking is a Synscan 250mm dob - the parts are still reasonably manageable, 250x would still be a 1mm exit pupil, and the tracking is useful at high powers. It would also be a good platform for planetary imaging.

The other contenders are a manual 250mm dob on an EQ platform, or why not the 300 mm synscan dob and a wheelbarrow?

I'd say more aperture isn't always the best thing to go for, because bigger telescopes require more cooling to give best views of planets. For this reason, I'd not usually recommend big catadioptrics due to their closed design, requiring long cooldown times. Newtonian's open design and less central obstruction is better in this regard, but still, 250mm or even 200mm isn't something you can just bring out and expect optical views.

Also, bigger telescopes are more adversely affected by poor seeing.

Yes, go for the 250p Synscan. For Imaging, you can't beat aperture, as software nowadays usually take care of poor seeing. But spend the rest on a good quality, long focal length 102mm ED refractor, or even 120mm if money allows (or you can downsize to 200p Synscan to allocate more to refractor). It will allow for planetary viewing with minimal cooldown when you don't have much time. You'd need to consider mount as well, but 102mm could go on same mount as C6.

[Ags]

Still thinking about this... I feel it might be time to pick up an equatorial mount, just something basic like an EQ5 with an RA drive. Goto is not needed for the Moon and planets, and for my photographic experiments y 4-10 second DSO subs do not require much from the mount either. As for the telescope I currently fancy the 8" Classical Cassegraine - apparently a real perfomer for visual use at least.  A downside is the aperture is apparently only around 187 mm, so not that much more than my C6 and thus not much more resolution from an imaging perspective.

[glafnazur]

I've always fancied the 8" classical cassegrain, the reports are very good. Don't forget your c6 will have a sizeable obstruction too so I reckon you'd still notice the difference with the CC.

[John]

If not a refractor then I would be thinking of a Russian mak-newtonian for the purposes stated, for visual at least. I'm not sure how they are for imaging, not being an imager.

 

[bosun21]

2 hours ago, John said:

If not a refractor then I would be thinking of a Russian mak-newtonian for the purposes stated, for visual at least. I'm not sure how they are for imaging, not being an imager.

 

Ed Ting did a review on the 7" Intes Maksutov scope of which he sung its praises. He also took some images with it.

 

[John]

I used to have an Intes (badged Orion) 152mm F/6 maksutov-newtonian (rather than cassegrain). Very, very "refractor-like" images 🙂

Edited October 27, 2023 by John

[RobertI]

You may have already considered this, but for visual only have you ever tried a binoviewer? I have found mine to be amazing on lunar and planets, objects look 50% bigger with two eyes, and viewing is more relaxing and just far more engaging. Your C6 would work well with one I think. 

[Ags]

2 hours ago, RobertI said:

You may have already considered this, but for visual only have you ever tried a binoviewer? I have found mine to be amazing on lunar and planets, objects look 50% bigger with two eyes, and viewing is more relaxing and just far more engaging. Your C6 would work well with one I think. 

I have been trying unsuccesfully for two years to fill an eyepiece case... don't make me do it in duplicate!

[RobertI]

1 hour ago, Ags said:

I have been trying unsuccesfully for two years to fill an eyepiece case... don't make me do it in duplicate!

Oh dear! 😆 At least the WO binoviewers come with eyepieces, but I take your point. 

[Ags]

Well I could double up my 20 and 30 plossls, and get SLVs matching my 9 and 12 NLVs, so its not impossible. As I struggle a lot with floaters, BV is something I have toyed with...

[dweller25]

I am now 100% a BV user as I found they allowed me to see planetary details easier and viewing was much more comfortable.

BV’s also increase the focal length of your setup so in my case I can use 15mm eyepieces to get x180, which really helps with floaters.

Perhaps you could try the BV option with your C6 first and then decide if you need to change scopes ?

Edited October 27, 2023 by dweller25

[RobertI]

The standard arrangement with the William Optic BVs (20mm eyepieces plus 1.6x glass path corrector) will give 120x in your C6 I think. You can also play with barlows to give different multipliers, rather than eyepieces - I have a Baader Classic 2.25x Barlow, and when I screw the lens from that on the end of the BVs (instead of the GPC) I get an effective multiplier of around 4.5x, which gives a perfect 160x in my refractor so that would give 337x in your SCT, which is probably too high, but if you have barlows worth experimenting. It’s worth noting that you could also use BVs with your ZS66.

Being a bit controversial, but I would suggest getting BVs before shelling out on a bigger scopes - for me they have been a complete revelation for solar system. They don’t work for everyone though. 

Edited October 28, 2023 by RobertI

[Ags]

Out of curiosity,  is the glass path corrector required in an SCT?

[RobertI]

From memory, I don’t believe I needed the GPC in my C8, due to to the large range of focus, so I’m guessing the C6 would be the same, but I can double check. I did try it with a 0.63 reducer and no GPC to try and get a low magnification for DSOs, but could not reach focus, so the lowest magnification I could get was around 100x (no GPC or reducer).  The field stop of the BVs is only 20mm, so limits the field of view if using longer focal length eyepieces to get lower mags. More expensive BVs improve this problem.  Probably more info than you wanted! 

Edited October 28, 2023 by RobertI