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I'm Green !

Ian_A

By Ian_A
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Ian_A

Ian_A

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Hi all,

I've been given a 3" newtonion....very cheep model, but it's restarted my interest... and now i want more and i'm looking to by a much better telescope....Hence in my search for reviews and information i found this forum and i'm very glad to be part and hope to contribute what i know...which is not much at the moment ! haha

I've been looking at an Orion Europa 200 but like the look of the Skywatcher skyline 200p flextube auto !

I understand that the alignment of the primary mirror and secondary is important, and with the telescopic....have there been any issues ?

Any other telescopes i should be thinking about...primary hope is to use it for photography...i like to take planets and deep space, but i understand i can't do both...or can I ??

thanks

Ian

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JamesM

JamesM

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Hi Ian,

Well, the flextube has had some good reviews and would appear to be a good performer and I haven't read of any difficulties with regard to alignment. Orion Optics are also good and of course allow you more control over the quality of the components purchased by allowing you to upgrade the mirror, focuser etc. Remember that all reflectors need their primary mirrors to be collimated with the secondary mirror irrespective of brand or size.

On the astrophotography point, the dobsonian (flextube) will not be suitable for this aspect of astronomy. It does not have sufficient tracking abilities having an alt-azimuth mount design. However, the Orion is more suitable being on a german equatorial mount (GEM) with the RA axis being aligned in the same direction as the stars etc.

Hope that helps

James

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glowjet

glowjet

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Hi Ian,

A very warm welcome to SGL, as far as I am aware, if you want to become involved in Astro photography you will need deep pockets, and if you want to cover deep space and planetary you should ideally have two scopes, long focal length for planets, short focal length for DSO and an equatorial driven mount of sound quality to take all the additional gear you will require, having said all that you can derive much pleasure in taking photos with a digicam at the eye piece, afocal photography, as to the types of scopes there will be many forum members in a better position who can advise you on this issue, enjoy the forum.

John.

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Ian_A

Ian_A

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Hi Ian,

On the astrophotography point, the dobsonian (flextube) will not be suitable for this aspect of astronomy. It does not have sufficient tracking abilities having an alt-azimuth mount design. However, the Orion is more suitable being on a german equatorial mount (GEM) with the RA axis being aligned in the same direction as the stars etc.

Hope that helps

James

Thanks for the information, but does the AUTO have FULL tracking ? I feel i have soooo many questions and don't know where to start....hahaha

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brantuk

brantuk

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Hi Ian and welcome to SGL :)

The auto has full ALT/AZ tracking which is very different to EQ tracking. With alt/az the scope tilts up and down for altitude and the base swivels round in azimuth. It's a straight up/down/left/right movement relative to the ground.

An eq mount on the other hand has to be aligned with polaris at the same angle as your latitude on Earth. The two axes then move in right ascension (RA) and declination (DEC). This enables the scope to follow the precise movement of the stars in a single plane (RA).

Two totally different methods of tracking - EQ being the one used mostly for photography. You can take snaps using alt/az but it's limited to solar system objects and short exposure due lack of accuracy caused by movement in two planes.

Hope that helps :)

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Ian_A

Ian_A

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Ah ! Now i understand how it works thx for the education !

The cost of an EQ5 is quite high....I visited Orion's factory the other day, and was advised that to do AP, i would need an EQ mount wih either 8" or 10" Europa, but thats 800-1000GBP.....Getting that past the wife will be hard ! !

So i was hoping that the Auto Dod would be a compromise, but would do the trick with a webcam and software ?? Any advice ?

I also with i could get the tracking on a NON flexi dob ! I don't need the ability to colapse it, but i don't see any offer of a 250p Skywatcher with tracking ! shame !

cheers

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glowjet

glowjet

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I may be wrong but I believe the Auto Dobs have only been available on the market for a short while, perhaps if you address your questions in the imaging section, some of the members may have already been experimenting on the photographic side and may be able to through some more light on the issue for you.

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