Cheep n Cheerful

[Nebulosity]

Good evening,

I am considering getting a second telescope that I can pretty much leave in the boot of my car and take around with me to observing sessions. This would be a convnience as there is an astronomy club not being too far from my other commitments.

What I need is a reasonable aperture telescope suitable for both palnetary and deepsky use, it needs to be fairly rugged, portable and one that is cheap and cheerfull - so I am not asking for much.

As such I dont want to spend too much money, infact I dont really want to spend more than about £120. I have noticed the SKYWATCHER SKYHAWK-1145PM TELESCOPE (f/5) or a small refractor for my budget.

Please can you advise me on how to spend my pocket money ?

Thanks in advance.

[FLO]

Hi Nebulosity,

Welcome to SGL

Newtonians do not make good knock-about scopes; you would be forever re-collimating it!

One of the Skywatcher Evostar or Startravel range of refractors would serve you well:

http://www.firstlightoptics.com/products.php?cat=50

http://www.firstlightoptics.com/products.php?cat=51

They also come up second-hand quite often...

[GordonCopestake]

Go for the 4" short tube refractor if you can afford it, great scope and the extra aperture helps. No collimation and fast cool down

[The Warthog]

You might want to check the used market for a smaller Mak. Very portable.

[richard42]

on the same sort of thing which is the best very cheap scope for planets moon?