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Hi!

Jove

By Jove
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Jove

Jove

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I have been lurking around for a week or so and thought it time I said hi, and thanks to you all for creating a great forum!

I've been a bit of an armchair astronomer for a while and mean to get out under the skies more this year. I was out in the cold a few days ago with my 10x50s and was surprised what I could see even in a very light polluted north London sky - I managed to catch Jupiter and one moon (Ganymede?), and could just about make out the Andromeda galaxy as a faint smudge :)

The main problem was holding the bins steady... so I have found myself looking through the telescope catalogues and may be asking for some opinions in the near future!

In the meantime I will be enjoying the view through my trusty 10x50s when possible and exploring the sky with Stellarium and Celestia when not.

Happy observing everyone!

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Jove

Jove

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Hi Jove, welcome to the forum.

You will never be short of very useful advice on here.

Just out of interest, what kind of scope are you leaning towards?

Thank you for the welcome!

Having had a chat with the folks at the telescope shop the current front runners scope-wise are (both Sky Watcher):

127mm "SkyMax" Maksutov-Cassegrain (here)

or

Equinox-80mm Apochromatic refractor (here)

My main criteria are:

- quick to set up

- small to store (Live in London -> not much space)

- planetary views more important than DSOs (I think they will have to wait until I have space for something bigger and/or move somewhere darker!)

- though I would like to be able to get decent DSO views when I take the scope out of town (or even in town - is that realistic?)

Since the Mak is cheaper and bigger it's probably my current favourite. Are either of these terrible choices?

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glowjet

glowjet

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Hi Jove,

A warm welcome to SGL, both scopes you have mentioned will be very good for Planets, Moon, Star Clusters and splitting doubles etc, with some of the brighter DSO being visible also, but do not expect to see the same images that have been published on this and other web sites, it is just rewarding to know that what you are looking at is millions of light years away. Another point to take into account, that although the 80mm refractor is smaller in aperture than the 127 mak there is no central obstruction, which should result in sharper images, if you look at the imaging side of things you may see that the 80mm apo refractor is used to take many of the splendid pictures taken nowadays, a fact to remember, if you intend to use a camera at some stage. Hope this helps, whatever you do enjoy the forum.

John.

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SteveP

SteveP

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Hi Jove

A warm welcome to SGL

Both scopes you mention would be vefy good scopes to start the hobby with. Of the two, i'd be tempted by the Mak-Cas because of its larger aperture. Its 'light grasp' is more than twice that of the 80mm. The Equinox range is a better finished produst and will need a mount as well. This would make it much more expensive than the Mak-Cas If you can, have a look at them in the flesh

Steve

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