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Telescopes: Confusion central


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Help!

I'm really sorry for posting what has I see been posted a million times but I'm still confused.

I want to buy a telescope for my partner for Christmas. She is obsessed with space and all things space related, especially the solar system. Her pride and joy is a mug from when she visited NASA. Don't ask...

Anyway, I have a max of £500 to spend on a telescope (and maybe accessories of needed) for Christmas.

1) Is there such a thing as good starter models?

2) She is a tech head so is there one she may prefer over another?

3) We live in central London and may not be able to get out of the city very often. is there any point having a telescope here?

4) She will want it mainly for photography. is it also possible to upload images directly from a telescope to a computer? I'm not she she would want to but if it's possible I knoww she would love to.

Again, REALLY sorry for the repeat questions. I'm sure if I go ahead with it she will come back here VERY often :headbang:

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There are a lot of issues there. I'll try and answer your quesstions as simply as I can.

1) Is there such a thing as good starter models?

Absolutely. There is a scope for almost any pocket - £500 would buy you quite a bit of kit - at least in terms of visual astronomy.

2) She is a tech head so is there one she may prefer over another?

When you say tech head - she likes gadgets ? Theres a dillema there. At £500 you could get a very techie scope with a GoTo mount (which will automtaically find things) BUT at the cost of worse optics. So you could find any object but you wont get a good view of it or, in some cases, you wont even see it at all.

A motorised but not GoTo mount might appeal.

3) We live in central London and may not be able to get out of the city very often. is there any point having a telescope here?

probably not except for planetary views. Deep sky objects like nebula might will be impossible. That may not be a big headache if she likes planets.

4) She will want it mainly for photography. is it also possible to upload images directly from a telescope to a computer? I'm not she she would want to but if it's possible I knoww she would love to.

Yes it is - well from a camera attached to the telescope - but I would suggest forget astro-imaging for a start. The kit to pull it off would bust your budget and then some. Its an enormoulsy complex subject and the learning curve just for the scope will be very steep. I'd suggest get a scope to start with and perhaps buy her a good book on astro-imaging which is every tech heads dream. 'Making Every Photon Count' is the only one I could suggest and its written by Steppenwolf on the board.

If I were living in Central London and with the £500 limit I would probably buy a refractor on a powered mount or perhaps a smallish SCT.

Something like

Clearance / Pre-Owned - Celestron C100 ED-R ED

or this

Maksutov - Skywatcher Skymax 127 SynScan AZ GOTO

The refractor there might push your budget because you'd certainly need a few extras.

You also need to consider the space a scope would consume. If your in a smallsih flat a big scope is a non starter whereas a small SCT or refractor can make a nice talking point.

If it were me I would get the smallish SCT style scope and accept that lunar and planatery would be the limit for me.

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Not Central London, but I'm in NE Surrey, inside the M25. I know that Light Pollution is a big headache, as AB rightly points out.

You will be able to track down some of the brighter DSO's though, like Orion, the Pleiades (sp?) etc. I can get some of the fainter ones where I am with patience, perseverance and a LP filter (like M31, the dumbell).

don't foget that the moon has a wealth of interesting stuff to look at!

I'd second a Mak, as AB suggests.

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If you get one of the scopes recommended above, which have a motor in the mount for tracking, then she could always buy a webcam and use that for capturing shots of the moon and the planets. Its a great way to start astrophotography! (and there are articles here - under primers - for how to do it)

Helen

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+1 on the makutsov with GOTO. Although I own a goto and never use it cause I like the "trill" of hunting objects myself. :headbang:

As it's a surprise gift, better safe than sorry! With GOTO you can guarantee she will be able to use it and she can always leave it off if she prefers to hunt.

Other then that, a Mak or SCT are the smallest designs and they seam ideal for a city person, cause they perform best on objects that are easier to see under light pollution (planets, double stars, moon, clusters). Due to it's compact design it will be easier to find a place for it in a small apartment (if that's the case) and also nice to take on a weekend trip to the country.

She will be a little limited on DSOs but the light pollution already takes that option out of the picture, so no harm done. She can still look at the brightest ones.

With the remaining budget I would add the astrophotography book and "turn left at orion" witch is a great beginners book I used. A Light Pollution filter may also be a good addition.

As Helen said, planetary imaging is done with a modified webcam. Basic idea is you make a movie, break it into frames, select the good ones and stack them into one final image using software. It's also cheap. DSOs imaging is more like a full time job then a hobby! (No disrespect to all the great astrophotographers here! :D I love your images and admire the dedication you put into this!)

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  1. London means only bright targets are available and these are Solar system objects (moon, sun, planets, comets). A "catadioptric" design is considered optimal for these.
  2. There is no need for an equatorial mount as no long exposures are needed. But you do need a tracking "AltAz" mount if you're going to do photography.
  3. The combination to beat is, I think, this:

Maksutov - Skywatcher Skymax 127 SupaTrak £280.00

Imaging Source - DMK 21AU04.AS Mono £279.00

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  1. London means only bright targets are available and these are Solar system objects (moon, sun, planets, comets). A "catadioptric" design is considered optimal for these.
  2. There is no need for an equatorial mount as no long exposures are needed. But you do need a tracking "AltAz" mount if you're going to do photography.
  3. The combination to beat is, I think, this:

Maksutov - Skywatcher Skymax 127 SupaTrak £280.00

Imaging Source - DMK 21AU04.AS Mono £279.00

I agree 100% on the scope but buying the camera right on 1st day before even knowing what she's getting into may be a bit too much.

I think the book "making every photon count" will be better. Then, when she haves a solid idea of what planetary imaging is, she can pick a camera. Either a camera ready for planetary off the shelf, as the suggested one, or a cheaper, but still good, webcam to modify at home (witch is something a "tech head" will enjoy!).

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  1. London means only bright targets are available and these are Solar system objects (moon, sun, planets, comets).

:headbang: Um, see my prior post at 8:09pm yesterday.

From experience there is MORE that you can see from in and around London than just those items listed above! You CAN see things o/s the solar system from LP areas.

Or am I just talking to myself?!?

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From experience there is MORE that you can see from in and around London than just those items listed above! You CAN see things o/s the solar system from LP areas.

Absolutely!! :headbang:

It's not all "doom and gloom" in the city. I'm in Hackney (north-east / central London) and really wasn't expecting much from my Mak 180 whilst in town.

To my amazement - even on nights when you can only see the vaguest hint of any constellations above - through the scope I can see every single star shown by default in the Cartes de Ciel Sky-Chart software! Since I enjoy looking at double stars and also enjoy looking at tiny open clusters this is a real treat for me. A low-power view of the double-cluster remains beautiful (though muted) in light-polluted skies.

Back inside the solar system, my views of the moon are still breathtaking to me. The crystal-clear vision of the entire moon through a Mak 180 with 32mm Revelation Plossl is nothing short of stunning.

Finally it's worth mentioning than light-pollution is not significantly detrimental to planetary or lunar views. I saw the polar caps of Mars the other day - for the first time ever - and loved it!

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(Vlebo, "Post Reply" and not "Report")

I was giving a response to TheThings post of 27 November 07.49 pm . I can post what I think is relevant as long as it is within the rules of SGL , freedom of speech etc.

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I was giving a response to TheThings post of 27 November 07.49 pm . I can post what I think is relevant as long as it is within the rules of SGL , freedom of speech etc.

Vlebo, What Steve means is that on one of you posts you pressed the report post button instead of the reply to post button so the post actually went to the moderator and admin team. No big issue and nothing wrong was said, just a case of pressing the wrong button.:headbang:

Now back to topic,

Bella, you can see stuff from central London. I have stood on a tall building in Westminster with 10X50s binos and had pretty good views of the clusters etc even though the light pollution was quite bad and I think with light pollution filters etc you could quite happily do some DSO imaging, probably not galaxies or faint nebulae but certainly globs and open clusters.

Sam

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Bella,

Another vote for the Mak. I'm not central London but just down the road from Heathrow and they've got the odd light or two. I've got a SkyWatcher Mak 127 (although on a manual mount) and it fits nicely in the corner of our flat and is easily carried down the stairs when I want to do some observing.

As expected, it's great on the moon and planets but also good for double stars. Ive used it for clusters (M3 was good!) and brighter nebulae (Orion, Clown face). It's never going to give the views of a big Dobsonian but I'd never fit one in our flat and certainly wouldn't get it down the stairs.

The simplest form of photography (and the only sort I've tried) is afocal - simply pointing a small camera down the eyepiece - usually at the moon. I was quite pleased with my own results. I've bought a webcam and intend to have a go at some planetary imaging although I'll need to get a drive for my mount first.

Andrew

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I was giving a response to TheThings post of 27 November 07.49 pm . I can post what I think is relevant as long as it is within the rules of SGL , freedom of speech etc.

As Sam has pointed out, I was informing you that you should be using the "post reply" button to add into the thread, and not the "report" button which creates a thread for all the mods and admins, and is usually used to report unwanted content, abuse, bullying, copyrighted content, etc.

I was in no way trying to limit what you were saying or preventing you from your valuable freedom of speech, just pointing out that hitting report accidently is something you should avoid doing.

Now, take a deep breath and calm down.

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Vlebo, What Steve means is that on one of you posts you pressed the report post button instead of the reply to post button so the post actually went to the moderator and admin team. No big issue and nothing wrong was said, just a case of pressing the wrong button.:icon_eek:

Now back to topic,

Bella, you can see stuff from central London. I have stood on a tall building in Westminster with 10X50s binos and had pretty good views of the clusters etc even though the light pollution was quite bad and I think with light pollution filters etc you could quite happily do some DSO imaging, probably not galaxies or faint nebulae but certainly globs and open clusters.

Sam

Sorry Guys , I completely misunderstood SteveL's response to my post and reacted unnecessarily, I thought he was implying my post was not relevant to the topic being discussed.

Thanks for the heads up AWR and Lightbucket , I did not realise I clicked the preview post tab by mistake or what it was for.

It's not the first time my Greek hotheadidness has got me into trouble nor probably my last.

Vlebo

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As Sam has pointed out, I was informing you that you should be using the "post reply" button to add into the thread, and not the "report" button which creates a thread for all the mods and admins, and is usually used to report unwanted content, abuse, bullying, copyrighted content, etc.

I was in no way trying to limit what you were saying or preventing you from your valuable freedom of speech, just pointing out that hitting report accidently is something you should avoid doing.

Now, take a deep breath and calm down.

Thats what makes you a SUPER Moderator :icon_eek:

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If its any consolation Vlebo, you're not the only one who's clicked the wrong button. (Its unfortunate that the software has the 'Report' button above the 'Post Reply' button.) We're getting a steady stream of them, hence we're starting to flag up to people to try to reduce the number. We don't want to lose the real reported posts (where we might need to take action) in a list of what are actually replies to posts.

Helen

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