Beginners advice - Telescope

[Snowy]

Hi All,

Just joined the stargazers lounge an and already a proud member :-)

I'm from Cape Town, South Africa.

Currently I have a Optisan F700 60mm. Which by make is horrible, although it has given me great pleasure in learning the skies.

What I would like to know... Since the Optisan make is so cheap (hence no parabolic mirror). Would it be possible for me to say buy a Optisan F800 203mm with an EQ3 mount (which would be great later on?) and then later when my budget is a bit better (getting married soon) to replace the spherical mirror with a parabolic one? I know people would recommend buying a new scope... although I must say, with the 60mm...i could make out a few things... but not entirely.

Or I could later buy a new scope and use the EQ3 mount?

Sorry for confusing you :-) Any advise/views would be appreciated.

Regards,

Jaco

[John]

Hi Jaco - welcome to SGL !.

My advice would be to make your next purchase a good quality one rather than investing further money in a brand that does not have a good reputation at all. A spherical mirror in an F/4 scope (ie: 203mm aperture, 800mm focal length which I interpret your figures as) will produce really poor images and if they can't be bothered to put a decent mirror in the scope what does it say about the quality of the rest of the scope / mount ?. A replacement mirror (of that specification) would probably cost much more that you paid for the whole scope - decent F/4 mirrors are difficult to make.

I would save for a good 200mm scope such as a Celestron or Skywatcher 8 inch newtonian on an equatorial mount - such as this:

Reflectors - Skywatcher Explorer 200P EQ5

As you can see the 1st item on the specs list is a parabolic mirror - essential for scopes of this type and focal length.

John

[Neon]

Hi Snowy,

Sounds like you already kind of know what you want, and have spent time learning the skies. Depending on your budget, I'd probably look to buy decent kit that you can build upon with your subsequent purchases.

I've not heard of Optisan, but they sound a little like Tasco with regards to telescopes, and I'd probably avoid them. It also depends on how you intend to use the equipment (visual or imaging).

If it were me, and I was seriously looking to spend big bucks in the future, I'd probably get a decent, solid mount that could support something big and maybe choose a small refractor that you could ultimately use as a guidescope. An 80mm Skywatcher Skytravel would be a massive improvment over what you have and if when you decide to go for something bigger you could still use it as a grab and go as well. They're fairly cheap here in the UK (£85). A reasonable EQ5 would cost you about £200+

But that's just what I'd do, and of course it depends on what sort of astronomy you want to do.

HTH

[Snowy]

Hi John,

Thanks for the reply. At least I learned something today :-) Didn't know that you get spherical and parabolical mirrors. What's your advice if I choose to go with an Orion SkyQuest XT8 -without the intelliscope?

This seems like a good scope, and i'm not that much into the astrophotography... And it's just a tiny little bit over my budget :-P

Regards,

Jaco

[John]

This thread will be of interest Jaco:

http://stargazerslounge.com/beginners-help-advice/90529-hello-everyone.html

Go for it I say !.

John

[pvaz]

Hi John,

Thanks for the reply. At least I learned something today :-) Didn't know that you get spherical and parabolical mirrors. What's your advice if I choose to go with an Orion SkyQuest XT8 -without the intelliscope?

This seems like a good scope, and i'm not that much into the astrophotography... And it's just a tiny little bit over my budget :-P

Regards,

Jaco

I have the XT8i, witch is the same with a small computer. I never use the push-to function, just bought it in case I would get frustrated since I'm new to this hobby, so you'll be fine with the XT8.

It's asimple to use, good quality scope. It's bulky but easy enough for 1 person to carry around even when fully assembled.

[Astro_Baby]

Hi from me as well snowy. I havent heard of Optisan but like everyone esle here would suggest on your next purchase to go with something quality - SKy-Watcher, Meade and Celestron are all pretty solid brands. There are other more exitic brands as well but I have no idea what the supply situation in SA would be.

[Scott Tilley]

Another vote for Skywatcher 200p, Had mine a couple of weeks and I'm getting some stunning views.

Scott