Telescope help please?

[hadyn73]

Hello all at SGL.

I have looking around this forum for these last few days and find that all are very helpful to the likes of us newbies, to which I am sure we are very greatful for all the advise from you guys out there.

First of all I would like to ask you somethting that you have all been asked before of which I am sure.

I live in a village with light polution and will be requiring some help in choosing a portable telescope & tripod. I will be wanting to go down the road to doing some astrophography in about a year or so. I am looking to purchase a resonable size scope to start with. I have been looking around some sites and do fancy a Celstron CPC 800, or a Nextstar SE8 or a C8 SGT. I am looking for something portable as I will be doing a fair bit of star and planet watching from various sites around our island.

I have a budget of approx £1,300. Please could you tell me will I get anything suitable for that price? bearing in mind at a later date I will want to purchase a ccd unit for photographing planets and star clusters, but that in next years budget LOL.

Looking forward hearing your kind advice.

Kindest regards, Hadyn - Isle of Man

[johninderby]

Well the Nexstar 8SE is by far the most portable, but not really suitable for astrophotograhy. The C8 SGT would be the best of those mentioned for astrophtography.

You might consider the Nexstar 8SE for now and get a second hand CG5 GT mount later to put the Nexstar 8SE OTA on for astrophotography.

John

[hadyn73]

Hello John

Thank you for your advice. Its a pity I couldn't just buy the Nextstar 8 Tube and purchase the tripod mount with it, one package so to speak.

By the way what software do you use as for

star maps and steering your telescope with? I have got Redshift 6 on my laptop.

Thank you again.

Kindest regards, Hadyn - IOM

[johninderby]

Hello John

Thank you for your advice. Its a pity I couldn't just buy the Nextstar 8 Tube and purchase the tripod mount with it, one package so to speak.

Hi

The C8-SGT OTA and the Nexstar 8SE OTA are the same except for the colour.

Celestron C8-SGT (XLT)

http://www.telescopesplus.co.uk/moreinfo.php/Telescopes/Celestron_Advanced_Series_GT_series/Celestron_C8-SGT_(XLT)/3073

John

[hadyn73]

Hello John

Thanks again for help. Been looking at both the specs on these scopes. I have got details on both from the net. It says that the Nextstar 8 weighs 24lbs and the SG8 weighs 52 lbs, how the heck is that John, does that include the tripod weights? Looking forward to a reply, hoping to contact FLO tomorrow and may purchase the C8SGT. Is that a very good scope John please?

Kindest regards

Hadyn IOM

[John]

Those weights would include the mounts - the CG5 equatorial mount is much heavier than the Nexstar mount. As the other John has said the optical tubes of these scopes are both the same.

Another John

Edit: the Nexstar mount and tube weights are quoted separately at 23lb and 9lb respectively. I believe the weight of the SG8 is for the scope andmount combined. These are taken from Celestron's web site.

[johninderby]

The 8" SCT is the jack of all trades in telescopes. While other telescopes do some things better, the C8 does everything well and is very compact and lightweight.

You should download the manuals for these scopes. lots of information for you to read.

Nexstar SE

http://www.celestron.com/c3/images/files/downloads/1152120348_1106811069manua.pdf

Advanced Series

http://www.celestron.com/c3/images/files/downloads/1145296473_advancedsgt.pdf

John

[astrokat]

Reflectors what about some thing like this eq6 10" scope in your price range and good for imaging

[alfi]

hi

i would also say get a 10-12" newton on a eq6, it is the most versatile scope on any object i think.

it performs well on solarsystem and deepspace objects.

alfi

[hadyn73]

Hello Alie + the two Johns & all who have helped me so far!!!!!

Thanks again for your help. I am looking for a portable scope as watching from my back yard is very very poor. Will the 10" & 12" reflector be portable enough to put in the back of my car and re-assemble on a really dark site on the island?

Could you give me some idea of makes etc too please?

Kindest regards

Hadyn - Isle of Man

[alfi]

hi

it is portable enough to put in a car.

of the makes i have gone for a 10" orion uk spx, it is supposed to have really good optics.

the skywatcher ones are also good bang for your bucks.

alfi

[John]

Hello Alie + the two Johns & all who have helped me so far!!!!!

Thanks again for your help. I am looking for a portable scope as watching from my back yard is very very poor. Will the 10" & 12" reflector be portable enough to put in the back of my car and re-assemble on a really dark site on the island?

Could you give me some idea of makes etc too please?

Kindest regards

Hadyn - Isle of Man

I'd have to say that I would not call an equatorially mounted 10" or 12" newtonian a portable scope. While you may well get them into your car assembling them at a dark site, especially if you are on your own will be a real challenge with plenty of chances for accidental damage to either the scope or yourself.

Even an 8" on an eq mount is luggable rather than portable IMHO

I have a 12" dobsonian scope which I can move around in 2 sections reasonably easilly if I am careful. The tube section is 5 feet long, 14 inches in diameter and weighs nearly 50 lbs - the thought of trying to fit something of that bulk onto an equatorial mount, in the dark, on my own is alarming to say the least

I don't know if you have actually seem some scopes "in the flesh" but do see if you can before you buy - their size and weight can be really daunting.

John

[astrokat]

miliways has a eq5 and 10" and he seems to set up with ease i have a he6 and 6" that gets traveled about to dark site and if you want to get into imaging eg6 is spot on for the job ,you could go for a smaller scope say 8" have money to buy your power pack and adapters you will need may be a better option

give first light optics a buzz there very helpfull

thanks toby

[Astro_Baby]

MUch as I love Newtonian Reflectors I think the poratbility issue here could be a no-no for some people. Haydn said he wanted portable. I;d consider my 8" on an HEQ5 to be on the very limits of 'portable' and more truly luggable than portable.

You have the scope tube, the mount, the weights (mine uses 15kg of weights), power supplies, a case full of accessories (hand controller, hair dryer, leads etc) and a cse full of eyepieces. Yes it can be done ( I do it in fact ) but its far from what I would call portable.

Depends on HOW portable Haydn means. If its easy to carry solo and quick to set up thats needed I'd be inclined to think in terms of an SCT or perhaps a good quality short tube refractor which would mean less heavy mounting (maybe).

Thing is even an 8" SCT is potentially a heavy old bit of kit by the time you have factored in power tanks, leads and EPs.

[astrokat]

if haydn is looking to imaging maybe Evostar 120 refractor on eq5 pro would be a better option i would still point in the direction of eq5 for imaging as it a very good mount