Buying a telescope with budget of £1700

[anth]

Hi all

I have a budget of £1700 and want to buy a replacement for my 6" bresser reflector. I have read so many reviews and heard some advice from others but just feel a little confused.

This is what I want.

Great views of double stars, deep sky objects and planets.

Maybe get into a little photography at a later date (so an eq mount is needed) when i have more cash.

Do i go for a refractor or SGT?

I was considering the celestron c9.25 or the meade 5000 apo.

My priority would be just viewing at the moment, also I gather eyepieces are an important accessory so which do I go for.

Many thanks

Anthony

[Ags]

No real advice, but getting a C8 or a C9.25 is a dream of mine! If you want to do photography, the C9.25 would be excellent for planetary imaging, but not very good for imaging DSOs.

[brantuk]

If you want to see dso's then a large aperture scope is essential to gather light - dso's tend to be very faint, if you want to photograph them then optical quality, width of field, and focal length play a more important part. So too does the mount - equatorial being the only real option (with highly accurate tracking) as you rightly say.

Celestron optics are superb - I'm sure Meade are good too but I haven't used them. SCT's will give you a longer focal length and sharper focus on planets. Planets give off plenty of light so aperture isn't quite so critical for pics.

It may be a good idea in your case to get a medium sized dob (8"-10") which can later be mounted on an eq. Or, go for a quality refractor on the best eq within budget and trade up as funds allow on the mount.

After my first 6" Newt I went up to an 8" SCT. But I still ended up getting a large dob and a short tube refractor on eq as well, in order to meet very similar objectives to yourself.

Hope I've helped

[Mr Spock]

Ask a dozen people and you will get a dozen different answers!

For me, I would spend the money as I already have - A 250P on an EQ-6 Pro. That would leave you about £450 to buy some decent eyepieces. Experience of my 250mm tells me eyepieces of 13/14mm, 7/8mm, 5mm would be an ideal high quality combination. If you could stretch an extra £50 you could get 14mm, 8mm, and 5mm Radians...

Yeah, that's what I'd do with my cash.

[CGolder]

agree with mr Spock, a big mount and a decent reflector will allow you to do everything well and give you options on photography and visual.

[anth]

Many thanks for your help. Am def going to buy an EQ6 mount. I have heard a few people say that the 250p is difficult to use sometimes as the eyepiece ends up in strange positions - is this true? Also has anybody a celestron c9.25 or a c8? Would this mount handle scopes of this size or bigger?

[Mr Spock]

I have heard a few people say that the 250p is difficult to use sometimes as the eyepiece ends up in strange positions - is this true?

No. They probably haven't figured out the tube can rotate! I like to have my eyepiece on the inside, that way I only need to rotate the tube a little bit either way.

That's as high as it gets. Easily reachable.

[Mick UK]

If i had £1700 and having already owned and still have the following scopes i would deffinately go this route again.

NEQ6 PRO Mount

Skywatcher 80ED Pro

Skywatcher 250PDS

Total - £1650

(although i am absolutely certain i seen somewhere (uk website) selling the 80ed pro for £350 the other night!..i will see if i can find it again)

You can always buy an eye piece as and when your funds become available again.

80ED PERFECT on the NEQ6 for Astrophotography

250PDS..EXCELLENT for visual and imaging galaxies etc.

NEQ6 Pro..what needs to be said?

[Helen]

If you haven't seen these scopes and mounts in the flesh then I think you should before buying! A 10 inch scope on an EQ6 is not exactly grab and go, both bits are heavy/awkward to handle and so you need to be sure you can carry these from where they'll be stored to your observing spot.

Having a big and small scope combination will be good for astrophotography. You can learn your trade with the small scope, while getting great wide fields and then use the big scope later for getting close up, and resolution on planets.

Helen

[Chris H]

If it were me and for what you want to do two scopes would be the way to go. A 10" dobsonian for DSO viewing (will also be pretty damn good on planets and double stars) and a 100mm refractor on a EQ6 mount for planetary viewing plus astro photography. I reckon you could get both these setups within your budget. Just my 2 pence worth.

[Abb]

No. They probably haven't figured out the tube can rotate! I like to have my eyepiece on the inside, that way I only need to rotate the tube a little bit either way.

That's as high as it gets. Easily reachable.

Nice scope!!! You're very right about the tube! I had read that newton's are great for chiropractors business but I learned very early after getting my 4.5" newton that the tube can indeed rotate

I now have an Omni XLT 120 refractor (as well as the newton) and the eyepiece rotates instead of the tube. I may replace the 4.5" newton with either a 200P or one like yours this summer - the Omni is only a few weeks old so it's too soon to replace the 4.5" one

Anthony, you may want to consider a Celestron C6-RGT Advanced Series 6" Refractor Telescope as it's gotten good reviews even for DSO's.....but it's huge (the tube is 50.5" long!)

Good luck!

[ollypenrice]

It is always the photography that makes this frequent question hard to answer. As a couple of folks have already intimated, the small fast refractor is the overwhelmingly attractive choice for learning DS imaging. You can use other systems but they are all significantly more difficult in what is already difficult! For imaging you need a fast focal ratio and a focal length below a metre when using an EQ6 - if you want it to be nice and easy and work (nearly!) every time.

But if you want to see things you need aperture. A relatively inexpensive 10 inch SW Newt will give good views and allow the budget to include a decent small refractor. The William Optics-like scopes around 70mm (eg Ian King's IKI model) are very competent imaging lenses. One of the SW ED80 variants would be even better.

The C9.25 has good optics and is a decent size, is portable, but has too much focal length and too slow an f ratio to make it an attracive beginner's imaging choice. SCTs have other issues for imaging, too, despite the way Meade and Celestron market them as if they were tailor made for the job. They simply are not, though they are good planetary imaging scopes.

As Helen says, do get a look at a 10 inch Newt on an equatorial. It may be too much! On a Dob mount they look a lot smaller and more 'reasonable.'

Finally, I don't know the price of these at FLO but the SW190 Mak-Newt is one of the few scopes that can do visual and photographic work well. It is an excellent astrograph as various forum members prove every week, giving a wide flat field ideal for less expensive cameras like DSLRs. And if you were prepared to compromise on aperture for visual onbserving then either the Meade 127 or SW ED120 refractors give outstanding views and produce good pictures as well. They have that refractor 'something' but you won't get anything like as deep with them.

You need a guisescope for imaging, remember, though the redoubtable Deneb will no doubt tell me off for saying so!!

Olly

[anth]

Wow, many thanks for all the replies, this site IS extremely friendly and helpful! Well I have made my mind up and am goijg to take the plunge this weekend. Its the skywatcher250 on an EQ6 mount. I had a look at the skywatcher site and was blown away by the photographs that it is capable of. I'm not expecting great results being a novice but its good to know what the scope is capable of. So many thanks for all the advice, one last question however. For this size scope what eyepeices would people recommend, and what camera, bearing in mind I will only have around £400 left to spend on these accessories? Many thanks once again :-)

[Mr Spock]

Skywatchers usually come with a decent 25mm and a completely rubbish 10mm.

For me, I mainly use a 13mm for DSO's, a 7mm for detail in globulars/fainter planetary nebs, and 5mm + 4mm for planets.

[MikeP]

Sorry to be late to the party ...

I started with a Skywatcher 250 on an EQ6 Pro. Since then I have bought a Skywatcher ED80, a Celestron C11, a William Optics ZS66, a Skywatcher 300 Flextube dob and a Takahashi TOA130.

The only item I have sold is the Skywatcher 250.

It is a big, awkward OTA to put onto the mount. I agree with Mr Spock that you can rotate the OTA in its tubes but I got fed up having to do that. I'm not very tall, so as often as not, I needed to stand on something to have a comfortable view through the eyepiece. The refractors and SCTs also rotate but all you need to do is rotate the diagonal.

Don't even think about starting out on imaging with a 10" Newtonian - it is hard enough with a small refractor.

My advice? Two stages - first ...Buy a 10" dob (preferably a solid tube one so that you can buy tube rings and a dovetail in the future if you still want to put it on an equatorial mount), some decent eyepieces, star charts etc. and start observing. While enjoying this, learn about astrophotography.

Second, if you have not been put off by cost, buy a mount, small refractor, camera, filters, software etc. Depending on how (or if) you guide, you will need another camera, another refractor or an off-axis guider, possibly a filter wheel. See how it mounts up?

It is an exciting time but easy to make expensive mistakes. You could get the 10" dob for under £400, enjoy astronomy and ask lots more questions to better prepare yourself.

I was offered similar advice when I joined .... I ignored it so feel free to ignore mine Whatever you decide, enjoy your purchases.

Mike

[S.A.M]

I brought a Meade LX90 8 inch SCT, it did all the things I wanted to look in the night sky, it is primary a solar system scope(F10) but does quite well with deep sky objects. Alao you can take it out into the field and use, not too heavy and is fairly compact in size. Something some Dob's cannot do. I have used it for images taken with a DSLR, if you want to image for longer, you would need a wedge. I have heard good reports about Celestrons SCT'S as well. Sometimes it can be confusing what to buy, after sales service is also important if the scope gets broken or damaged. Good luck whatever you choose, having £1,700 to play with is just great.