I need help choosing a telescope

[Raulvdzande]

i want to start exploring space with a telescope. can some one help me choose the perfec telescope that i can use(i am a beginner). the budget i have is max 1200 euros

[M40]

Hello Raulvdzande and welcome to the site. You have a good budget there so a couple of questions for you. Do you need to transport the telescope or can you use it where you live? Some telescopes are rather large and heavy, do you have a storage space? Do you have any thoughts on what you would like to see i.e. Solar system stuff or deep sky stuff? 

All the best. 

[Cosmic Geoff]

And do you want to have a GoTo mount or a totally manual mount?

[Raulvdzande]

1 hour ago, M40 said:

Hello Raulvdzande and welcome to the site. You have a good budget there so a couple of questions for you. Do you need to transport the telescope or can you use it where you live? Some telescopes are rather large and heavy, do you have a storage space? Do you have any thoughts on what you would like to see i.e. Solar system stuff or deep sky stuff? 

All the best. 

i keep it at home and i have a big enough space to storage it and use it and i want to use to to see stars, deep sky and planets

[Raulvdzande]

36 minutes ago, Cosmic Geoff said:

And do you want to have a GoTo mount or a totally manual mount?

i prefer GoTo mount, but if totally mount is better or you can find a better totally mount telescope its fine as well. i still prefer GoTo mount

[M40]

10 hours ago, Raulvdzande said:

i keep it at home and i have a big enough space to storage it and use it and i want to use to to see stars, deep sky and planets

I am going to suggest something slightly outside of the box. You have a very healthy budget and you would like goto. How about this, the skywatcher skymax 127 az gti and the seestar s50.

Slightly over budget but you don't have to get them both at once.

The skymax, using a good eyepiece can be used on the planets and moon with the seestar giving you deep sky stuff. With the skymax, you will need to buy a few extras, like eyepieces and a dew shield and the seestar is an excellent all in one piece of kit that you can buy a couple of low cost extras for such as a dew shield and quick levelling device. 

Food for thought and hopefully others will offer a few alternatives. All the best. 

[Cosmic Geoff]

1200 Euros allows for a large number of combinations of GoTo mount and telescope, so unless you want us to randomly pick something and urge you to buy it, you need to narrow the field down a bit. 

You can buy all sorts of telescope for 1200 Euros, some of them quite large, provided you put it on a low cost manual mount.

If you buy a sturdy Goto mount, capable of supporting a 9Kg telescope and worth keeping for the future, it will not leave you with much change out of 1200 Euros.

What you can buy for 1200 Euros is a small-ish telescope mounted on a 'starter' Go To mount capable of supporting telescopes of 5 Kg max. For example the suggestion by M40 above.

You still have the choice of what small-ish telescope to buy - a Newtonian reflector, a refractor (traditional lens telescope), a Schmidt-Cassegrain, or a Maksutov.  Some designs are best suited to looking at small objects (planets and double stars and globular clusters) and others more suited to looking at extended objects (star clusters).

If you have really no idea, it might be wise NOT to spend the whole 1200 Euros, but to buy a basic low-priced instrument like a 130mm tabletop Dobsonian with a view to replacing it when you have a clearer idea where your interests lie.

[malc-c]

Welcome to the forum.

Before you make a purchase I would suggest you locate an astronomical society or club and give them a visit, especially if its at a star party where you would get a chance to look through scopes of different types and price points.  If you search or brows through similar posts to yours you'll see that there is no "one scope fits all"  even with your budget.  Scopes that are more suited for brining out planetary details of Jupiter's belts or Saturn's rings are not ideal for use with deep sky objects such as fain galaxies.  That also brings me on to what you expect to see.  It can be quite a let down when you view a galaxy that looks so bright and colourful in the pictures in books or on forums such as these.  What you see can be just a slightly greenish smudge with a brighter centre...  Part of the reason is that the human eye lacks the ability to see colour in low light, and unlike a camera sensor that can be open for long exposures, can't collect the light in the same way. 

This then brings up a second question... do you want to do visual observations, or do you want to use a camera to record the images of targets?  -  Visual setups requirements are different to imaging set ups.  The latter the mount is just as , if not more important than the scope gathering the light.  You are fortunate in that you have a decent budget, and you could get a mount and then use two different scopes, one with long focal lengths for planetary work, and another with shorter focal length and more aperture for deep sky work.

The third point is that it's best to plan for the future.  If you think that there is a good chance that you are going to be disappointed doing visual after a while and possibly go towards imaging, then try and get a mount that would be suitable for that.  It would save having to sell equipment to raise funds at a later date.  So many of us have made a purchase, and then find they limited by the hardware when changing directions and wanting to get involved in imaging.  As other members have mentioned, 1200 euros is basically the cost of an HEQ5 mount which has been the "entry" level mount for imaging, but these can be picked up for less on the second hand market.

[Tiny Clanger]

12 hours ago, Raulvdzande said:

i keep it at home and i have a big enough space to storage it and use it and i want to use to to see stars, deep sky and planets

For anyone to be able to give you a useful answer, you need to give far more detail.  What you have asked is like someone going to a car forum and asking what is the best car to buy to be cheap to fuel, be a 4x4 to drive up rough mountain tracks, comfortable to carry a big family on a long drive on holiday, and do 200kph on a racetrack

Is your home an apartment, a house, a house with a garage or other secure storage?

Is the route from storage to where you will use the telescope level and clear, no steps, rough ground, narrow doors?

What kind of weight of awkward shaped yet delicate equipment could you confidently carry from your storage to viewing place? Some setups in your price range are over 35kg.

Do you have electrical power available at your viewing place ?

Where you live do you have dark rural skies, city lights, or nearby bright lighting you have no control over ?  Tall buildings or mountains or trees obstructing your view in some directions? Those factors can have an enormous impact on what you might be able to see, even with a great telescope.

Where are you ? We don't even know what continent you are on, some makes of telescope which will be recommended may only be easily available in the UK, or EU, or USA ...

 

[Raulvdzande]

2 hours ago, M40 said:

I am going to suggest something slightly outside of the box. You have a very healthy budget and you would like goto. How about this, the skywatcher skymax 127 az gti and the seestar s50.

Slightly over budget but you don't have to get them both at once.

The skymax, using a good eyepiece can be used on the planets and moon with the seestar giving you deep sky stuff. With the skymax, you will need to buy a few extras, like eyepieces and a dew shield and the seestar is an excellent all in one piece of kit that you can buy a couple of low cost extras for such as a dew shield and quick levelling device. 

Food for thought and hopefully others will offer a few alternatives. All the best. 

i tought maybe the Celestron NexStar 5SE would be good for me as a beginner

[Raulvdzande]

37 minutes ago, Tiny Clanger said:

For anyone to be able to give you a useful answer, you need to give far more detail.  What you have asked is like someone going to a car forum and asking what is the best car to buy to be cheap to fuel, be a 4x4 to drive up rough mountain tracks, comfortable to carry a big family on a long drive on holiday, and do 200kph on a racetrack

Is your home an apartment, a house, a house with a garage or other secure storage?

Is the route from storage to where you will use the telescope level and clear, no steps, rough ground, narrow doors?

What kind of weight of awkward shaped yet delicate equipment could you confidently carry from your storage to viewing place? Some setups in your price range are over 35kg.

Do you have electrical power available at your viewing place ?

Where you live do you have dark rural skies, city lights, or nearby bright lighting you have no control over ?  Tall buildings or mountains or trees obstructing your view in some directions? Those factors can have an enormous impact on what you might be able to see, even with a great telescope.

Where are you ? We don't even know what continent you are on, some makes of telescope which will be recommended may only be easily available in the UK, or EU, or USA ...

 

i live on a farm
its a clear route from the place i keep the telescope and the place i use it
now i can carry 10 to 12KG
no i dont have electrical power available but i can use batteries and if realy needed i can make it so i ave electrical power
i live in a smal town with no big buildings so a clear sky
i live in the netherlands

[Raulvdzande]

1 hour ago, malc-c said:

Welcome to the forum.

Before you make a purchase I would suggest you locate an astronomical society or club and give them a visit, especially if its at a star party where you would get a chance to look through scopes of different types and price points.  If you search or brows through similar posts to yours you'll see that there is no "one scope fits all"  even with your budget.  Scopes that are more suited for brining out planetary details of Jupiter's belts or Saturn's rings are not ideal for use with deep sky objects such as fain galaxies.  That also brings me on to what you expect to see.  It can be quite a let down when you view a galaxy that looks so bright and colourful in the pictures in books or on forums such as these.  What you see can be just a slightly greenish smudge with a brighter centre...  Part of the reason is that the human eye lacks the ability to see colour in low light, and unlike a camera sensor that can be open for long exposures, can't collect the light in the same way. 

This then brings up a second question... do you want to do visual observations, or do you want to use a camera to record the images of targets?  -  Visual setups requirements are different to imaging set ups.  The latter the mount is just as , if not more important than the scope gathering the light.  You are fortunate in that you have a decent budget, and you could get a mount and then use two different scopes, one with long focal lengths for planetary work, and another with shorter focal length and more aperture for deep sky work.

The third point is that it's best to plan for the future.  If you think that there is a good chance that you are going to be disappointed doing visual after a while and possibly go towards imaging, then try and get a mount that would be suitable for that.  It would save having to sell equipment to raise funds at a later date.  So many of us have made a purchase, and then find they limited by the hardware when changing directions and wanting to get involved in imaging.  As other members have mentioned, 1200 euros is basically the cost of an HEQ5 mount which has been the "entry" level mount for imaging, but these can be picked up for less on the second hand market.

i want to see the moon and some other planets and stars nothing specificly right now and i want to make pictures with a phone or camera. i dont worry about the future because when i want to upgrade i will make sure that i have to money for the right equipment

[Elp]

If you want to image Id err caution on getting a long focal length scope. The setup needs to be quite stable, and tracking is also an option but adds to the cost (tracking is part of a goto setup). Imaging via an eyepiece with a camera above it is the easiest form to do it with a scope but the above still applies, you'll also get blackouts imaging through an eyepiece so some sort of camera bracket helps keep the camera fixed. If you want to do EAA or better AP, you'd need to consider upping the budget to around 1500-2000, or do as suggested, get a Seestar to really see what's out there, though it's short focal length is limiting on planets.

Edited May 4 by Elp

[Raulvdzande]

1 minute ago, Elp said:

If you want to image Id err caution on getting a long focal length scope. The setup needs to be quite stable, and tracking is also an option but adds to the cost (tracking is part of a goto setup). Imaging via an eyepiece with a camera above it is the easiest form to do it with a scope but the above still applies, you'll also get blackouts imaging through an eyepiece so some sort of camera bracket helps keep the camera fixed. If you want to do EAA or better AP, you'd need to consider upping the budget to around 1500-2000.

no like 1250mm is enough for me

[Elp]

1 minute ago, Raulvdzande said:

no like 1250mm is enough for me

That is a long focal length. Reliable tracking on a budget is with a Tele camera lens or a short FL refractor around 400mm range. For visual accurate tracking isn't so much of an issue as long as the object remains in the FOV of the eyepiece. Also a long focal length makes finding and centering objects quite difficult due to the narrow FOV, I've got a C6, done it. The 400-700mm refractors are far more enjoyable.

Edited May 4 by Elp

[Raulvdzande]

i tought maybe the Celestron NexStar 5SE is a good one for me

 

[Elp]

Stable, larger aperture (hence long FL), dobsonians are normally the way to go for best bang per buck as long as you can carry it out/along.

What is your bortle zone?

Edited May 4 by Elp

[Raulvdzande]

what i want to do is look at the moon and some other planets if possible and look at stars and observe them really good

[Raulvdzande]

and its to to begin with so not something for professional but just for beginners

 

[Bivanus]

Hello @Raulvdzande and welcome to the wondefull world of astronomy. Sice you are in the Netherlands , maybe have a look at this site Robtics | Buying a telescope is hard? Ask for advice!  They just happen to be one of the largest resselers in Europe so I have a feeling you might find something-advices included , especially if you have a clear budget.

Talking about the budget , as other have already explained , you'll have to make up your mind first what do you want to put in. There are four parts : mount / optical tube assemby aka OTA aka the telescope/ diagonal and eyepieces/photo thinghies

I also agree with @M40 , the the SW 127 Mak on the AZT mount would quicly satisfy all your requirements. Regarding the Celestron , well, it's almost there too , but in my humble opinion the Mak is better that the SCT at this size. Here's an older thread that maybe would give you more details. 

Also , the observation @Elp wrote is correct , however , if you would not require NASA level imaging but fun pictures of the Moon and Planets to show family and friends , it can be done with this set-up too. Beware all and everything related to "AstroPhotography" proper , at least if you want to keep the farm 🙃 His coment regarding a Dobsonian is also valid , since you have space available , however tracking &go-to are a tad more difficult. Maybe , and this is only a sugestion , a 4in/102mm refractor would be something to look at , they are in many people opinion - mine included - a sweet spot between optical quality and aplications posibility.

 

[Raulvdzande]

but is the Celestron NexStar 5SE for me as a beginner or not? because i saw that that one was in my price range and was good for beginners they said.

[davhei]

Wouldn’t recommend getting a setup to do both photo and visual.

A 10-inch dobsonian with collimation tools and a copy of Interstellarum deep sky atlas should fit your budget nicely. Even leave you with a bit of cash for a few extra eyepieces of your choice.

Great setup to start out with visual observing. For many a lifetime scope.

[davhei]

18 minutes ago, Raulvdzande said:

but is the Celestron NexStar 5SE for me as a beginner or not? because i saw that that one was in my price range and was good for beginners they said.

The combination of smallish aperture and long focal length make the views a bit dim and limits the visual use. At least it would for me. I think a larger aperture dob would be more versatile.

[Raulvdzande]

23 minutes ago, davhei said:

Wouldn’t recommend getting a setup to do both photo and visual.

A 10-inch dobsonian with collimation tools and a copy of Interstellarum deep sky atlas should fit your budget nicely. Even leave you with a bit of cash for a few extra eyepieces of your choice.

Great setup to start out with visual observing. For many a lifetime scope.

than i choose only visual

[Raulvdzande]

because i like that more