Telescopes for school

[simon955]

Having talked to my head of department (science) I might of scored upto £1000 worth of department budget to spend on equipment. I would like to as the SGL comunity for advice on what they think i should be looking to get. I will need 2 scopes at least, might include a Ha scope for day use. Scopes will be for visual use mainly with some planetary imaging (using my cameras).

My thoughts so far are

A PST or the 35mm lunt Ha scope

6-8" dob

Something EQ mounted

Thanks for your suggestions.

[Bizibilder]

How about the PST which is around £500, a Skywatcher Skyliner 150P Dobsonian @ £179 and a Skywatcher Evostar 102 (EQ3-2) @ £270. I make that £950 in round numbers.

That gives you two useful night scopes (after school in the winter months) and the solar scope. Also you have a Dob (altazimuth) and an EQ (equatioial) mount as well as the refractor / reflector combination. This could lead to much discussion of pro's and con's as well as "which is better" for different tasks (the 150 Dob and refractor are reasonably "equivalent"). You could also use the EQ mount for wide field with just the camera and lens. A motor for driving it would only be £77 extra (do a deal and the whole lot could be under budget!)

Having the two scopes available will also cut down on "waiting" time for the pupils and the less of that the better!! (I work with them too!!)

Hope this helps.

[simon955]

Thats pretty much what I had in mind, would like to get a goto system, maybe the 2nd hand market will find me one within the budget.

Thanks for suggestions.

[Bizibilder]

Why goto? A Telrad finder (£34) is easy to fit and very easy to use - the pupils could print off their own star maps with pre- set Telrad circles on them (use Cartes du Ceil - free software to do this) and then use these to find objects. They really are good. This way they would learn how to find their way around the sky as well as map skills (geog) and some ICT and a bit of maths - coordinates, etc (great for cross curricular!). If someone has a DSLR then 1min exposures on an unguided mount will AMAZE them!!

[simon955]

I'll have a look into the telrad circles havent used them myself. Thanks for the ideas.

[Carbon Brush]

A bit off Baader solar film could allow daytime 'white' solar viewing on one of yuor 'astro' scopes.

Get the shop to throw it in free with a scope?

[ollypenrice]

I wouldn't go near any kind of home made solar filter. You'd be asking for litigation even without an accident.

Olly

[beetlejuice]

I wouldn't go near any kind of home made solar filter. You'd be asking for litigation even without an accident.

Olly

Sad but true. No need to encourage the ambulance chasing shyster lawyers.

[Bizibilder]

No need for solar filters as you have the PST! - I assume you can take pics through one? I have never seen one so I can't really comment.