New to all this :)

[Mortislock]

Just signed up to the forums and thought i would say Hi to all

My name is Peter i live in Scotland "West coast" and i am hitting 40 soon

With a great wife and two great kids well they are most of the time

Now down to work i have been interested in star gazing for years but never took the plunge

as my Birthday is coming up soon i have told my wife and family i would like cash instead of gifts

As i am about to Jump in to this with both feet

I have read around this site and others (Not as good as this one)

that entry level scopes are anything from 100 to 200 pounds

i am looking to spend 200 to start myself off with and seen that there are a lot of scopes that have

The scope for improvement with addons pardon the pun

I want to be able to see the planets and some Galaxys close ones at first i am keen to take pictures with

The rig that i will be getting and have a 7 meg digi cam sitting ready for use so here is what im looking for

1 A good scope that will take me to the stars and beyound

2 A scope that i can improve on with bolt ons

3 Some laymen info on the science behind it all

4 A reference book or books that i can pick up to help me on my way

5 A location that will give me a clear "Weather permiting" veiw of the night sky

6 And finally a good place to get advice and info "Oh wait strike that i have found this PLACE "

[brendant]

Hi Peter and welcome to SGL.

Some of your questions I will try and answer :-

Budget £1-200 is not going to get much new, secondhand is probably the cheapest way of getting a new scope and mount. Have a look at the sponsors site - First Light Optics and give Steve a ring to discuss your requirements. Have a look on various astro dealer websites and this will give you an indication of costs of the various different types of scopes, a Dobsonian is probably the best value option but is unsuitable for photography other than the moon as they are not drivem. I'm sure there are lots on here to give advice on a scope in this price range which is very limited.

A good starter book is one called "Turn left at Orion"

If photography is something you want to do then an (GEM) Equatorial mount is a must if imaging anything other than the moon and it must be drive, you will also require an adaptor to fit your camera to your scope. I have managed with an EQ5 but have just upgraded to a HEQ5, the HEQ6 is considered the best for imaging but is 4-5 times your budget alone without a scope. Probably best to start with a small Dobsonian or Newtonian and then work up from there.

Probably your most difficult question is finding a clear view weather permitting in the West of Scotland, I have only managed out twice in the last two months (I know as I live there). The weather is always an issue on the west coast.

Brendan

[Mortislock]

I was looking at this to start with Reflectors - Skywatcher Explorer 130PM it is driven well it has a drive is this the sort of drive your talking about ?

Im not looking to get ultra fine pics from the start some nice clear pics of the moon i do want and some soso ones of the planets "I know that i wont get any detail"

The clusters and Galaxys can wait untill later when i upgrade at a later date

And with more money spent

what area of the west coast are you from? North Ayrshire here

[brendant]

The SW 130PM is a good starter scope, small newtonians give a good level of satisfaction because they have reasomable light gathering power, It will be capable of excellent lunar observation, and some of the brighter deep sky objects so a good choice.

An option may be to take pictures of the moon through the eyepiece (afocal imaging), from your discription of your camera I am guessing it is not a DSLR so prime focus imsges are not possible.

The simple RA drive will make it easier to keep objects in the eyepiece as it is surprising how fast they move at high magnification through the field of view, also the eyepieces supplied give you a decent starter package to which you can add to at a later date.

I am up the coast from you in Renfrewshire, Johnstone area.

Brendan

[Mortislock]

Thanks for the Info i will look ionto getting the books to read up on and hopfully be out looking at the heavens prety soon

one more thing what is DSLR ?

[Karo]

Hi and welcome from one Peter to another!

DSLR = Digital Single Lens Reflex camera. You completely remove the standard lens from it and with an adaptor you use the telescope as the 'lens'. How easy it is to achieve depends on the telescope design. This is called prime focus photography. You can't do this with compact digi cams as the lenses aren't removable, but you can take a photo through the eyepiece - known as afocal or eyepiece projection.

[Mortislock]

ahh i see now so my digi cam can take some images of say the moon just throught the eye piece and when i move up the scale i can get a SLR camera that will use the scope as the lense that makes it a lot clearer

thanks for all the help

[Dazraz]

Hi im in the same boat i have just started off in the last few days and had £200 to £250 so i went for a dobsonian 8" and am totally happy with the price also

I have been looking at jupiter for the last few days and its great and now after some great help from this forum am going to look at the Great nebula in Andromeda whoo hooo !

Here is link to what i bought it was delivered the next day no fuss !

S-W Skyliner-200 COM

Good luck with the stargazing

Regards Daren

[Mortislock]

what size is jupiter from your scope i know your skyliner 200 has a bigger mirror than the 130p that i am looking at but i cant seem to find a site that will give me a ruff idea at what size i will be able to see the planets

Im looking to start but dont want to hand out 200 Pounds for somthing i will want changed in 2 weeks of use i am looking for a scope that will start me off and still be good to use in a year as that if i want to step up to the larger scopes i can

[Saturn1]

Hi ML & welcome to SGL.

Take a look at this it might be a good place to start, and just a touch over your budget, but worth a little extra to start you off.

Happy spotting

[dweller25]

Here is a pic I took through my Skyliner 200, however it is now on an equatorial mount not the original dobsonian mount - optics are excellent.

[Mortislock]

OK thanks to all of you for making my life HELL now not only do I want but Need a scope

I love the help and info I am getting really helps me but also makes the choice of scope

to great for one man to handle

I now have 3 scopes that I am looking at

Skywatcher Explorer 130PM

Celestron Omni XLT 150

Skywatcher Skyliner 200P Dobsonian

I love the pic Dweller25 posted and think this may have swayed me towards the 200p

but I also love the stand on the 130pm

choices choices

As I said I have around £200 to spend so now I have to try and find more if I want the other

It has got that bad that I am selling all my RC stuff to try raise more cash so I can buy more

DAM you all for helping so much just kidding Love the feedback and help I am getting

I will post back when I have decided on what scope to get

P.s Any one want to buy a lot of RC Flight items

[peeceeTal2M]

This might be worth looking at

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Skywatcher-Explorer-200-Telescope_W0QQitemZ200376009971QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_Telescopes?hash=item2ea75744f3&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14

[Mortislock]

now i have even more to think about

[John]

I love the pic Dweller25 posted and think this may have swayed me towards the 200p

Dweller25's pic is great as is the 200P dobsonian which I owned for a while before upgrading to a 12" dob.

You can see the sort of details in that photo with a 200P, on a really good night, with a good quality eyepiece once you have got used to looking through the scope but the actual image scale (ie: the size of Jupiters disk in the eyepiece) won't be quite that big - just so that you are not dissapointed !.

John