Help me pick a 'scope for deep-sky astrophotography

[Paul-Folbrecht]

Hello!

Total newb here. I want to purchase a telescope for the family to look at cool stuff in the universe and take pictures of it easily in electronic form.

Preliminary research had told me that I want a refractor in the 4-5" range.

(I would imagine that the lens diameter follows the bigger = better rule, actually.)

Budget is up to $3,000. I want to buy one telescope to use for years and hand down to kids.

It has to be light enough to be portable by two people.

Ease of use is important, but *image quality is the most important criteria.* I want the most bang for the buck in terms of image quality.

Please give recommendations - and also correct me if any assumptions are off.

[RT65CB-SWL]

Hi @Paul-Folbrecht and welcome to SGL. 

Are you allowing for the mount in your budget?

[Paul-Folbrecht]

Yes, $3K for everything. Thanks.

[Stu]

Welcome to the forum Paul.

Visual and imaging sides of astronomy require quite different types of kit to do successfully unfortunately. Visual often means either a 4” or 5” refractor or, say, an 8” or12” dobsonian.
 

Astrophotography can be done very well with small, fast (as in short focal ratio) apochromatic refractors around 80mm. These do widefields of view well, to do smaller galaxies and other targets you need more aperture and a longer focal length. A very steady and accurate tracking mount is needed. It also tends not to be a social thing as the mount has to track for long periods which much post processing before getting a final image. 

So, I wonder whether you have any more info on what you would like to achieve? Taking snaps with a smartphone through a telescope of the Moon and Planets and some brighter deep sky objects is quite possible these days so if you mainly want to do visual as a group that might be a good option.

One suggestion might be two scopes! A dobsonian for visual use, and something like a ZWO SeeStar50 for taking images. These are very capable little scopes, controlled via WiFi on a phone and which automatically finds targets and take images for viewing/sharing on smartphones and tablets etc

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/zwo-telescopes/zwo-seestar-s50-all-in-one-smart-apo-telescope-tripod.html

I’m sure others will be along with more suggestions soon but hopefully that is of use.

[Elp]

5 hours ago, Paul-Folbrecht said:

take pictures of it easily in electronic form

Only the ZWO Seestar and Dwarflabs Dwarf (soon to be version 3) will allow this for a cheap-ish outlay. Discredit them due to their price and size will be a big mistake. They are limited for planets though due to their short focal length. Nothing will come close to what these can do for the price, and ease of use.

Taking images otherwise takes a lot of patience and money if you want excellent results.

It depends on what you want to image, in what quality. Note the best images require post processing skills otherwise the result will be lackluster or non existent. With the two above options the software by default combines (stacks) each image as it's taking them (Electronic Assisted Astronomy method) and gives you a result at the end which you can post process with simple tools on your phone for example, or save out the individual images and post process on a computer for more control, the best images use the latter method regardless of how the images were taken in the first place.

Note you've stated you'd like to pass the scope down, I've found if a person doesn't show genuine interest in space/cosmology/sciences prior without using telescope equipment, you'll find they won't have an interest or attention span for long. Using such equipment takes time, patience and dedication, even using in poor/cold weather scenarios, overcoming and problem solving issues and taking advantage of clear skies depending on location.

 

[Tony Acorn]

Hello Paul and welcome.

Taking on Stu's comments, I am a comparative newbie but I have discovered how integrated the ZWO bundle is so, without any knowledge of DwarfLabs Dwarf, I would strongly consider the ZWO SeeStar as a portable rig that you can all access and view through your smart cell phones. I think the SeeStar comes with its own mini tripod whereas I think you have to buy that as an extra for the Dwarf. Convenience, simplicity and the speed in which you can start using the selected apparatus will be key to getting the family to buy into astro time. ZWO's bundle certainly can be run from an iPad (which I do) and so at least a couple of people can see what is being imaged out in the sticks (you set up a local wifi network).

Expanding on Stu's points, the outlay for either the SeeStar or the Dwarf would be less than what you'd spend on a 10" Dob even before you start adding the likes of Barlows, collimation tools, masks, camera mountings, dew heaters and improved lenses plus it's quite a lump to move around which sometimes puts one off getting it all set up. Perhaps most importantly, either the Seestar or the Dwarf is truly portable so can be carried around by one person and either seem to offer "a lot of bang for your bucks".

With time, you may find that this isn't what you hoped and so you won't have spent a lot on a white elephant. Equally, the SeeStar / Dwarf bundle is likely to have a good pre-owned market potential if you subsequently want to get bigger / better kit.

HTH

Tony

[M40]

Hello Paul and welcome to the site. Great comments above and a +1 for the seestar from me. The seestar is able to take pictures of deep space stuff and the interface is an app on your phone or tablet. The pictures are sent to the app and are seen almost immediately from a few minutes to as long as you like. There are limitations to the seestar in that all it will show you is a bright white dot for planets but it is excellent on the moon and sun. The seestar is a smart telescope so not one you look through.

If you would also like a traditional telescope, then you will need a mount, telescope, camera, eyepieces and power supply as a minimum. Other than solar system stuff, most targets will require some form of software and a tracking mount.

So couple of questions that will help us to point you in the right direction, would you like to see solar system stuff or deep sky stuff or both? Can you set up at home or do you need to transport it? Are you interested in processing any images or would you prefer seeing your target without processing? Have you looked at eeva? Worth having a look on the eeva part of the site to see what has been achieved and what people are using. All the best.