Looking for some telescope advice!

[Retrodan16]

Hello all,

Firstly, I'll apologise for asking a question that has been asked many times before - I've been reading past threads for over an hour now and I'm probably more confused than ever!

I'm looking to buy a telescope (and have been for several months!), and despite reading and reading, I'm really none the wiser as to what would suit my needs best.

My priority in viewing is planetary, especially the Moon as I'd like to study this in as much detail as my budget will allow. Other objects would be nice to see, but aren't as much of a priority at the moment.

I'm not sure so much as to what make or model of telescope to go for, rather what kind would suit me best. Reflector, refractor or Dobsonian? (I don't know much about Dobsonians to be honest!)

Astrophotography is something I'd be interested in at a later date, so something that could be upgraded or adapted for that is a consideration, but for now I'd rather get a half decent telescope to find my way around. I'm not looking for a GOTO 'scope, I've been learning the sky through binoculars and studying charts etc and am quite happy learning the sky this way.

My budget isn't huge, around up to £220 is my limit I would say.

Is there a good 'all rounder' that will give reasonable views of all sorts of astronomical objects, or is a certain type of telescope better for say, Jupiter and the Moon for example? Talks of apertures, focal lengths and lens diameters is confusing me hugely I must say!

I intend to keep this telescope for a good while, so I'd like to make a good choice! Any advice would be hugely appreciated!

Thanks!

[alfi]

hi

for lunar and planetary wiewing, i would go for a refractor.

maybe something like this: Omni XLT Series - Celestron Omni XLT 102 ?

alfi

[ollypenrice]

A Dobsonian is just a Newtoian relector on a simple but very effective push-pull altazimuth mount. It is not the thing for planets because of the tracking required at high magnifications.

I think Alfi has found the scope for you. That is an extraordinarly good price and refractors are nice to use.

Olly

[Retrodan16]

Thanks for the advice! so far I've only really been looking at reflectors as some of the Skywatcher reflectors seemed to be highly recommended. (I think a 130 or a 150 seemed to be popular?) I like the look of the Celestron scope too, especially if it's a good price!

Just as a random question, do either type of telescope require much in the way of maintenance, or are they fairly easy to maintain?

Thanks again!

[alfi]

hi

the newtons need more maintanance, you have to colliminate the mirrors, adjust them so they line up correctly. the refractor are more maintenance free. that is partly why i recommended it, its more of a point and look scope, and dosent need to cool down as long as the newtons.

but if you find that this is something you want to continue with, then upgrading to a newton on a GEM is the way to go, more aperature for the money.

alfi

[Retrodan16]

hi

the newtons need more maintanance, you have to colliminate the mirrors, adjust them so they line up correctly. the refractor are more maintenance free. that is partly why i recommended it, its more of a point and look scope, and dosent need to cool down as long as the newtons.

but if you find that this is something you want to continue with, then upgrading to a newton on a GEM is the way to go, more aperature for the money.

alfi

Thanks - I'm seriously considering one of the Skywatcher reflectors as they seem to be good all rounders - I've a feeling I'll end up looking much further into space than I originally planned as I get more experienced!

As a complete novice again, I'm presuming things have moved on since the Tasco telescope I used to own, and what put me off astronomy for quite a while!

[Doc]

If you can stretch to £269 then this is a real good buy.

http://firstlightoptics.com/proddetail.php?prod=dobsky200

[newbie]

I was looking for advice on my first scope a couple of months ago and got some great advice on this forum. You will find though that everyone has different views, they are all relevant, and it all becomes very confusing!

In the end I went for a Skywatcher explorer 150PL which has (so far) proved a great buy. In terms of maintenance, it hasn't needed any. I have tested the mirrors and they haven't needed collimination at all. It's very easy to set up and use and I've seen great views of the moon, Jupiter, M42 and M31, all from my back garden despite some lousy cloudy skies over the past month.

I can see me wanting a 16" dob at some point in the future, but then isn't that just the case with everything - got to have bigger/better! but the SW 150 is a great place to start.

[Retrodan16]

I was looking for advice on my first scope a couple of months ago and got some great advice on this forum. You will find though that everyone has different views, they are all relevant, and it all becomes very confusing!

In the end I went for a Skywatcher explorer 150PL which has (so far) proved a great buy. In terms of maintenance, it hasn't needed any. I have tested the mirrors and they haven't needed collimination at all. It's very easy to set up and use and I've seen great views of the moon, Jupiter, M42 and M31, all from my back garden despite some lousy cloudy skies over the past month.

I can see me wanting a 16" dob at some point in the future, but then isn't that just the case with everything - got to have bigger/better! but the SW 150 is a great place to start.

Hi newbie! It's helpful to get some views from someone new to astronomy as well as often their expectations are higher from the start if you see what I mean. The SW 150 is one that's certainly on my shortlist as it does seem to tick a lot of the boxes for me personally. Certainly, if it's upgradeable with regards to perhaps a motor drive and more eyepieces I think it might be a good place to start. The other suggestions are tempting too of course, and I'm reading up on all of them a lot at the moment. I think the options to me are getting a little clearer now, which is a relief!

[Peter Drew]

Hello Retrodan. Welcome to the world of telescope confusion! All the advice for you has been good but if you join an astro group it's a good idea to have a look through other scopes first hand to see what suits you best. As mentioned already, a Newtonian offers the best aperture for your outlay and will be apochromatic (check the price of apochromatic refractors) There are maintenance details to become familiar with but if you have a long term interest you will sooner or later get a reflector, best to get used to handling one early. Ultimately, provided that the optics are good, almost any telescope will not disappoint. Stick with it, patience really is a virtue in astronomy.

[Astro_Baby]

I think if you want a scope that can do a great many things well and your primary interst is planets then I think you cant go far wrong with e a 150PL on an EQ3-2.

The scope will allow you to track manually or add a motor for automatic tracking of an object. Planets and the moon literally whizz past your field of view in higher power eyepieces and without some form of tracking you'll spend more time jiggling the scope than you will actually seeing anything.

The 150PL will be a long focal length so will give good contrast on planets and it wont be too fussy with eyepieces or colimation. It will still turn in a pretty fair deep sky performance as well because although the plents is what attaracts a lot of people into the hobby the fact that most of them dont look very much even in a huge scope either puts people off OR they start looking for deep sky objects. Dont forget as well most of the planets are not well placed right now for the best views.

EQ mounts can cause beginners a bet of nervousness but the complexity of them is more imagined than real.

The EQ3-2 mount is well engineered and can be upgraded for motors, GoTo etc but my advice would be if you end up going the astrophotography route later then sell the mount and go up to something more swish like an HEQ5 or EQ6. THe imaging folk would give better advice but I'd suspect an EQ3-2 wont cut it as a serious astrophotography mount though its find for visual with a scope no bigger than the EQ3-2.

As an all rounder its probably one of the best combinations out there. Plenty of upgrade options for you with the kit and its in your budget. They also turn up 2nd hand quite frequently as people upgrade.

JUst be VERY wary of ebay - I have been on there in the last few days and the mount of complete junk at over the top prices is scary - I feel sorry for some poor newbie buying off there I really do.

The alternate for you would be a bigger Dobsonian but if your main interest is planets and the moon you may find the constant nudging of the scope a distraction.

Best advice would be to go observing with some other people and see how you get on.

YOur very welcome if your anywhere near Worthing or Redhill to come out with me and have a bash through my 8" - although it would be too expensive for you it would at least give you an idea what an equatorially mounted Newtonian is like to use.

ALl scopes have their upsides and downsides its very much a question of what upsides/downsides do you need as an absolute and which can you live without - which are minor niggles and which are absolute killers.

[vinny]

I cant recommend the skywatcher explorer enough its a brilliant scope

http://firstlightoptics.com/proddetail.php?prod=SW150PL

[Retrodan16]

Thanks again for the valuable advice! I think, after much researching and internet trawling, that the 150PL is ideal for my abilities and expectations, and just from this thread I understand a lot better the pros and cons of different types of telescope.

It looks like I can't go far wrong with this scope as I can hopefully expand on my equipment as I become more able. Although slightly above my budget, I'm sure I can stretch it for a telescope that should be useful to me for a good while. (After some convincing of the wife of course!).

Thanks again for the help, I'm looking forward to sharing my observations!