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Brand new to the forum and Astronomy, so bare with me as I ask the obvious.

Firstly, the most basic question really is 'How much can I see from the South of England as a home user'? - What I dont want to do is spend out a fortune to only be able to see very little due to the Earth spinning or something (told you im a little clueless!)

Secondly, Telescope -I had a very good chat with a bloke from this shop today, who advised me on various scopes and what id like to see. I explained that id like to see all the planets and maybe a bit more.... even the mysterious 'Planet X'.. :o - so he recommended a few to me and this one caught my eye:

Celestron nexstar slt series Telescopes Nexstar 130 slt spring sale special offer

Now i believe that will do everything for me and is computerised so should help me a bit more as I get used to things... however another question is, do telescopes have built in cameras to capture images?

Im sure there is more, but as long as I know im getting the right kit.... ill be happy with that start.

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Welcome to the forum.

Alot of people on this forum started of with the scope you mentioned. It's a great scope but is limited to what it can do. Most of the money in the scope has gone on the electronics (Go-to) and this has sacrifised the aperture side of things.

I'm not a keen lover of go-to and I personally think a new beginner should try and learn his own way around and to do this a bigger scope aperture wise can be bought for the same cost. At a later date go-to is good to find the faint fuzzies or if you go the astrophotograhy route.

The benefits of this is more light grasp so alot more deep space objects become visible. The downside you have to put more into it.

If you do go the go-to way just bear in mind from a light polluted back garden alot of the go-to objects will not be visible. Your scope will be pointed at it, but your aperture will not see it.

Also bear in mind all these lovely photo's you see on this forum or in any magazine are taken over many minutes or hours with dedicated cameras and you will not see these like this with your scope or a matter of fact most scopes.

My advice would be read, read and read again all articles on this forum and see the pros and cons yourself.

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I side with Mick, spend the money on more aperture - bigger mirror means you'll see more. Learn your own way around the sky, don't be tempted to go for the quick fix option :o

From my back back garden with a modest sized scope (5" aperture) I can see alot of objects. I have a bit of light pollution that limits what I can see in the west but, once it gets dark, there's a seemingly limitless amount of objects up there to gaze at. Take heed of Mick's comment on the photos - you won't see things like this, they'll be grey blobs, streaks of faint light etc but this won't dimish your enjoyment.

My advice would be to get a cheap pair of 10x50 binos, a decent star map (such as those that come with monthly astronomy magazines) and learn the sky. Especially as winter is coming, you can really take your time with the long nights now. Learn the sky now and you'll get much more out of this hobby and you won't feel so frustrated trying to find things. Perhaps purchase a book or raid your local library so you can get to grips with various concepts. There are also lots of threads on this forum to help you get started, just have a browse :)

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If I can ask another question... the photos sound like they come from very technical equipment... so does this mean that through the scope I mentioned or even with that budget, planets like Mars or even the Moon will be like grey blobs? If so, that would disappoint me.

At least id love to see all of our solar system in colour... further a field would obviously be something that would further my enjoyment, but could understand if that got a little sketchy.

Maybe my hopes are too high for what you can do as a home user :)

Thanks for all the help so far :o

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With that scope you mention....

Jupiter will have a slight yellow tint with darker banding. You should see four moons.

Venus will appear white. You might see the phases.

Mars should see a slight red tint to it. Should resolve to a disk

Saturn again slight yellow with maybe a hint of light brown. You should see at least 4 moons.

Neptune will appear very small and I doubt if you will have enough power to resolve it to a disk, might appear slightly blue.

Again with Uranus I doubt if you have enough power to resolve it. Might appear a slight green tint.

All other dwarf planets out of the scopes reach.

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Hi,

I have a celestron Nexstar, but the 102 refractor. I really enjoy using mine, it's very quick and easy to set up, which is what I needed.

I've managed to see Jupiter and it's belts and even imaged it with a webcam.

post-14991-133877400612_thumb.jpg

Like has been said, the go-to database will point the 'scope in the direction of 4,000 objects, but don't expect to see them all. I think even a 12 inch dob would struggle with some of them!!

But, all I can suggest is read some posts, reviews etc and see what's been discussed. As I said, I love mine!

Gavin

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Hi rzz,

I am fairly new to taking more than a passing interest in astronomy, I started with a 4½" f/5 Newtonian on eq1 mount and within a month I had "upgraded" via eBay by (pure chance) to a 8" f/5 Newtonian on eq5 mount.

The 4½" gave good resolution of the moon, Saturn was a disc with a line through it and Jupiter was a slightly bigger disc with just discernable banding. Other than the moon the rest was a little disappointing, (not having had the advantage of finding SGL :D) and relying on sales patter from someone who I know now know little at all about astronomy. :)

The 8" although much larger in length, diameter & weight. It is a joy in comparison, Jupiter & moons are crisp and clear (when the seeing is good) even under low magnification and under higher magnification I have been able to make out the red spot. I've seen a number of nebula, split doubles and spent almost an hour just looking at the Andromeda galaxy (it doesn't look like the pictures - but the more you look the more you glean). :)

So to cut to the chase, as has been said before go for go for the biggest diameter you can afford/handle, get some good eps and build form there. It will be frustrating when you first try star hopping and don't find what you were looking for, but when you do the sense of achievement is even greater. And before you know it you'll be navigating around the night sky with only an occasion glance at the sky maps.

Hope this is of help, good luck, :o

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