Thinking of getting into stargazing...

[cRazi_man]

Hi

I've recently become very interested in stargazing. But it's quite complicated. I've been browsing these forums and have started to get an idea of things. I need some advice though.

I wanted to spend around £100 for an entry level telescope, but might spend a bit more on one of these:

Skywatcher Explorer 130

Skywatcher Skyhawk 1145P

And this book to go with them: Turn Left at Orion

What are your thoughts on these?

A few concerns I have:

- Cloudy British skies, long summer daylight, light pollution at night; how many chances would I actually get a good look at the sky?

- On a good night, realistically, how good a view would I get with these telescopes? What can I expect to see and with how much detail? Planets? Nebulae? Clusters? Reasonable detail or fuzzy specks? Any pics as examples of the things these telescopes will show me?

I've read people's advice about getting a good pair of binoculars first to start with (to test the waters), but I think I'll go all out with a telescope if I'm going to take the plunge. I've also read advice on getting a dobsonian, but I think I'll stick with reflectors.

Sorry this has turned out to be such a long post. I just want some advice before I invest so heavily in something (wouldn't want it to disappoint).

Tonight the sky is wonderfully clear and I'm really enjoying standing in my back yard with my laptop with Stellarium and Microsoft WorldWide Telescope and Wikipedia open; while identifying what I see in the sky.

Hope you guys can help me take this further.

Thanks.

[paulhereford]

Good evening. I too am a newbie to stargazing, starwatching or whatever we want to call it....well actually when I say newbie I did have a strong interest when I was younger which has now been reignited. The telescope I am looking to purchase is the Skywatcher 150p 6'' which will cost in the region of £200 - £230. I decided to gofor the largest reflector mirror that I could justifiably afford after receiving fantastic advice on this forum. Good luck.

[mickyjd]

Hi and welcome to sgl take time over your decision over what scope to buy a lot of people buy a scope and find they are dissapointed at what they can observe. Get to know the sky well first. I have been into this since i was young and have progressed as time went on going for bigger and better scopes. You will get hooked but it is not a cheap hobby so starting off with a small budget is a good idea if you like it and i'm certain you will you can upgrade when you need to. You will get plenty of advice from this site.

[Rob]

I have the 150P and find it a fine scope. The 130P again is a very good place to begin. I've owned a few scopes in my time and started out with the 114!. Look at your budget and don't get sucked into too much extra equipment so soon.

Pickup your scope leaving enough budget to purchase 2 mid range eyepieces to go with it. This will be (along with a book maybe) all you need to get started.

Regards

Rob

[yeti monster]

What you will be able to see very much depends on the surrounding light pollution. Find the darkest site possible, with a good wide view of the sky. The more stars you can see with the naked eye, the better. Clusters are great viewed with a longer focus (20-25mm) eye piece, as are nebulae. Planets require more magnification, so use a shorter focus EP (6-12mm). If you get EPs with the scope, experiment with those until you get a feel for what else you might want. Of course you'll end up wanting everything, but you won't need everything, certainly not yet.

A decent scope. like those you are considering should keep you happy for quite a while to come.

[Beyond_Vision]

Welcome to SGL, the 130 should be a great starter scope. The only thing I would say is that dont expect to see images like the pictures in books or magazines. Your eyesight has very poor colour response in low light levels so only the smalllest amount of colour will be seen in deep sky objects with a large apeture scopes of 16" or above.

Regards

Kevin

[Teddy]

Hi and welcome

I have only been doin this for six months . I took the advice of going for the bino's. 10x50's. I am learning the skys too. don't forget it will take time as different times of the year it looks different. I feel I need for a telescope now but not going to rush. Patience is needed for this hobby. Even if u get a scope , bino's will always be needed for the benifit of a large FOV which helps us newbies.

Turn left at Orion is the book I bought and it is a must purchase IMHO.

I try to remember ..... It's not what u can see ...... It's what your looking at!!!!

The views are great but I love reading about what I have seen to truely understand and enjoy the night sky.

I am not an expert by a long way , but just thought I would try to help

SGL is awsome for help and it's a great way to share thoughts and advice.

Enjoy

Ps. The clouds and British weather will at some point p155 you off!!!! That problem will never go away.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Chris H]

I have the Skywatcher Heritage 130p and it is a great scope, I still use it even though I now have a 10 inch dob. The 130p cost me £125 and comes with two eyepieces which are perfectly acceptable to get you started, it gives me great views of star clusters, planets and some of the brighter nebula. As a 'starter' scope I can certainly recommend it and if the astronomy bug does not bite you have not laid out loads of cash on a white elephant and you could sell the scope and probably get most of your money back.

As for the weather well this is the UK and we get what the Atlantic gives us but I have had many nights out under the stars and it seems to me that a reasonably clear night comes along at least every ten days or so.

Yes summer nights are short but late autumn, winter and early spring nights are long to compensate and with the coming of winter comes the constellation of Orion with the amazing orion nebula M42.

It is difficult to describe what you would see through a scope the best way is to try and get yourself to an astronomy club and look through other peoples scopes before you lay out some money.

Turn left at orion is a good book but IMO it is a little bland I own it but I also have Nightwatch by Terry Dickinson and is it a very good book and not just for a beginner it contains info on astronomy, equipment, planets and deep sky objects it also has some excellent star charts and I use it often.

Good luck.

[Astro_Baby]

Well the weather has been atrocious the last few years. I have a huge scope and have used it maybe half a dozen times. At firts it was disheartning and the weather over the last few years has probably broken a lot of newbies (and experienced astronomers as well) away from the hobby.

With that said when you do get a view the WOW factor makes up for it all. DOnt expect to see color pics like NASA. But you will see the rings of Saturn, the Moons of Jupiter, great views of the moon, Venus as a shining crescent. YOu'll get great views of M42 in Orion, The Pleiades, M13, beautiful double stars.

You have to remember the views are subtle - they arent immediate. Its a big learning curve for lots of us but the reward is seeing things that few people today see. The views arent very ofetn spectacular in a visual sense but specatacular in that you can see them at all.

Dont expect stuff to leap out at you - its more like fishing than anything else. It takes time.

Dont overspend. The 130 in all of its guises is a great little scope and plenty of people on here have started with them. Get the scope, a red light torch and a moon filter - thats all you need to start really.

[cRazi_man]

Thanks for all the replies guys, everyone's given me good bits of info to consider. The great free software I've got on my laptop is really keeping my interest alive. I'm probably not going to buy a scope for a few months.

> rings of Saturn, the Moons of Jupiter, great views of the moon, Venus as a shining crescent. YOu'll get great views of M42 in Orion, The Pleiades, M13, beautiful double stars.

Seeing all that would be amazing.

I guess I'll look up local clubs to get my feet wet, although the real charm of this for me is the fact that it's a great solo activity; just me alone with the dark open sky.

Do SGL members ever organise meet ups themselves?

[John]

...Do SGL members ever organise meet ups themselves?

Have a look here:

Star Parties - Stargazers Lounge

SGL5 is in April in Herefordshire. I went for just one night last year and had a fantastic time - the best viewing night of the event but it would have been a lot of fun even if it had been cloudy. I'm going to do two nights this time hopefully

[crepitis]

Hello and welcome to SGL.

Dont write off Dobsonians yet, ( you say in your original post " I think I'll stick with refectors" , Dobsonians are reflectors.) .

I have just been outside trying to align and set up my refractor on an EQ mount and I was cursing under my breath and wishing I had never got rid of my Dob.

A 6" or 8" Dob from a reputable maker would be a great start and the things that either of those scopes will show you will take your breath away.

[pvaz]

I have to agree. Assembling an EQ takes some time. Besides I seen a lot of people here buy a cheap scope on a shaky EQ mount and then get frustrated it keeps wobbling around at high mags.

A good 6" dob costs under 200£, doesn't wobble and gives you 44% more light then a 5". You do have to track manually which makes it less comfortable at high mags, but it stops shaking just a second after you adjust so you can actually observe with it.

[cRazi_man]

> Dont write off Dosonians yet

Hmm, I guess I'll read around this some more. If I'm going to use a Dobsonian more often then that may well be a better buy (although price is still an issue).

@jahmanson: Thanks. Herefordshire is kinda far away for me, but good to know something like this is happening. I'll see how busy I am in April.

[Astro_Baby]

Theres also the Salisbury event in August.

[Ogri]

Well dad had a 130p Heritage from me for Christmas, and he's already considering an upgrade to a 250mm dob. lol!

As an utter newb myself, what's really sinking in, since I have been enjoying this site, is how important a comment I read was - "The best 'scope is the one you use the most".

A 'grab and go' seems to be the indispensible one that's lurking there in the background, and yet most often seems to get hauled into 'the foreground' and actually used.

This role does seem to be dominated by short tube fast refractors in the 66mm - 100mm objective lens size. On alt azimuth mounts or camera tripods, rather than equatorial setups too.

'Scopes such as the Skywatcher ST80 and ST102 seem to get snapped up for this role, as soon as they appear secondhand (many other makes do similar 'scopes too).

What this says to me is (and I apologise if I appear 'contrarian'), 'start' with one of those types of 'scopes, with the idea of never having to get rid of it (it's going to be your grab and go, always lurking there in the background, and ready to be used), then see where that 'scope takes your interest, and 'then' save up for the suitable gear you will want to pull into use, when viewing conditions allow you to make the most of the things the 'grab and go' is lacking for.

For example if you decide you want to concentrate on observing the moon and planets, you can then get a long focal length 'scope that's ideal for that purpose, or, if you want to concentrate more on the really faint stuff and need a 'light bucket' to cope, you can get one of those.

Still with that ever useful 'grab and go' sitting there waiting to be used at a drop of the hat. Plus of course, with an erect diagonal, that grab and go is useful for terrestrial observing as well, during daylight hours, which again adds significantly to the mileage you can get out of it.

You can also use that grab and go, to slowly accumulate the eyepieces and other things, that you will be using with the later 'scopes. So if you want to concentrate on say improving 2" based equipment (filters, eyepieces, etc), maybe the 102mm type would be a better purchase as the supplied focuser can handle them (eta: with an appropriate 2" diagonal, of course).

While the 130p Heritage is itself a pretty handy grab and go, in retrospect I think it might have been better getting dad one of the refractors. Once he has a 250 dob, I don't think he'll use the 130p again, sad to say. If the ST80 had been available with the AZ3 mount, I think I'd have got one of those instead (should have spoken to Steve at FLO I suppose /sigh).

If money allows, of course, you could start off with a pretty high quality OTA to improve/remove false colour, but with fringe killer type filters, even the achromats don't seem to be too bad if you don't go mad with magnification on very bright targets.

ST80 - Startravel - Skywatcher Startravel 80 (EQ1)

ST102 (with erect diagonal) - Startravel - Skywatcher Startravel 102 (AZ3)

Examples of lush stuff (the 66 and 80) - Equinox

William Optics

I admit I might be a bit biased in my approach due to what I need personally (something like a ST102), but I do hate to see perfectly good gear not being used, and the more an initial 'scope is used, and the more chance that initial 'scope has of being and remaining complementary to whatever you get after, then the better the introduction to the hobby, that initial 'scope is likely to be.

I tell you this, if you find the hobby isn't for you (and it isn't for everybody, I suppose), if you put such a 'scope up for sale on this forum, it won't hang around long. That in itself, should be some reassurance.

I hope I'm not wildly out anyway, and hope the above is useful for perspective.

[derekm]

My first scope was a Celestron Firstscope 114mm on an EQ. It was fine for the brighter deep sky objects, but it wasn't many months before it was sold and replaced with a Skywatcher 8" Dob. Apart from the fact that this Dob is now for sale, to be replaced with a 12" (but I need one more post to put it in the For Sale section) I would say start with an 8" Dob. They are small (!) enough to manhandle easily, simple to use and have sufficient aperture to keep you interested for years, before the eventual aperture fever sets in.

The small computerised scopes look cute, but IMO their performance is disappointing. Apart from high quality small refractors for planets, aperture is king and their is no substitute for it.

I bought a S/H Meade 90mm goto as a grab & go last year. It's fine for the moon and tracking the sun, but honestly I didn't recognise the Orion nebula when it pointed to it!!! It was soooooo tiny and faint compared to the Dob.

Your choice entirely, but I'll stick to 8" minimum to keep a newbies interest.

[cRazi_man]

More love for dobs huh? Thanks for your opinions guys. Firefox is fast filling up with bookmarks here, I've got a lot of reading to do.

[brantuk]

Hi Crazy - It's worth saving the pennies to get a 6" Newtonian on an equatorial mount. Around £200 will get you a very reasonable one second hand (or around £300 brand new). With only a £100 budget I'd go for a reasonable pair of binocs and the "Turn Left at Orion" book for an immediate start.

Meantime join your local astro soc. They'll be more than happy to let you have a look through the different types of scopes which'll give you more idea of what you can expect to see and what you want to buy.

As for the weather - I'm afraid that what you see (or don't see) is what you get lol.

All the best

[alfingido]

You asked what sort of views will you get with a scope... well, my first bit of advice would be to get "Turn Left at Orion" It will show you how to starhop, what to look at, and more importantly, what it will look like to you. Just remember, everything you see with a small telescope will be black and white ( ok, and a lot of grey)

So, thats 20% of your budget gone already!

If I were you, I would save up a bit more to give you more of a choice.

Both the scopes you linked to were on an EQ mount. Personally, I found manually using an EQ mount to be very fiddly, there are better solutions out there, a Dobsonian comes to mind!!

You get better bang for your buck with a Dob, especially as you go up in aperture, but whatever your choice, I would aim for a 150mm ( 6") aperture as minimum for a reflector, or a 3-4 inch ( 80-100mm) refractor.

My choice would be a Skywatcher Skyliner 150p at about £175. Look in the for sale section, you may get one cheaper

Good luck

Allan

[derekm]

A few posts have suggested binoculars and I know that this is "the official party line" for newbies, but personally, if you don't already have a pair, I would say don't go and buy some especially for astronomy. You will be more disappointed than with a small refractor, as at least the small refractor will stay still. Also binos the diameter of a small refractor are not cheap and will more than eat up your entry budget.

A Dob of minimum 6" will give instant WOW (for a newbie) and continuing interest. As previously stated, I would go for 8" myself. The bulk is not much greater, but the light grasp is. Collecting photons is the name of the game.

[derekm]

Another point regarding EQ mounts. In daylight, they seem easy to understand, but in the dark, can be quite frustrating when you have to pass the OTA from one side of the mount to the other. Also, you will frequently have to turn the OTA in it's mounting rings to keep the eyepiece at a sensible angle. It's quite a hassle in the dark and as a newbie you'll want to be flitting all over the sky.

Nothing is for free! With the EQ you can track, manually or under power, but you have the above hassles as compensation!

[cRazi_man]

Thanks for your thoughts guys.

I'm having to go back to square one and researching all this again.

Getting a dob seems to bump up the price quickly (Skywatcher Skyliner 150P Dobsonian 6" for £180). Also would I not need to spend more on eye-pieces to get the most out of this? (or will that be the case with the Skywatcher Explorer 130 too?).

If I stick to a budget of £130 max, isn't the Skywatcher Explorer 130 the best hardware for that price?

(Also, I hate you guys for tempting me to spend more.....coz I'm considering it now :-P)

[insomnia]

There is a lovely SW 130 up for grabs in the for sale section. Only 100 squid

[LukeSkywatcher]

Well dad had a 130p Heritage from me for Christmas, and he's already considering an upgrade to a 250mm dob. lol!

Your dad sure dont mess around, does he!!!!

I bought myself the Heritage 130P for Christmas and am still just getting used to it.LOVING IT.