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Seeking some advice

Carl M

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Carl M

Carl M

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Hey, I'm Carl and I'm quite new to astronomy and recently just got intrigued while reading a book in a free study period. My query is that I'm kinda stuck at which sort of telescope I should get, could anybody give me a reference for one? I was thinking of getting one of those ones with a motor which knows the sky, however is it possible to take pictures with these? I live in quite a less populated area of the UK (The Fens) aswell which I hope helps with the quality of images.

Any help is much appreciated, cheers!:)

~Carl~

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sixela

sixela

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I think that you need to set your priorities first. Sure, you can have lots of aperture, GoTo, a stable mount, etc. but it'll cost you a lot and yield a scope so impractical you may rarely set it up (and may make you wait for hours before it yields good images).

Even if you eventually end up with the Scope that Does Everything, it may be cheaper on the long run to explore what you want exactly using a first scope that doesn't cost an arm and a leg and can be resold fairly easily.

As for astrophotography, it's really at least three different hobbies, each with different requirements, and you'll spend hours on an object and hours still behind a PC to get the most out of your raw imagery. It's not "oh, by the way, does it take a camera? Click!"

Set a budget first. Then set priorities, determine under what conditions you want to observe, ask questions, try to find a star party in your neighbourhood, etc.

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Carl M

Carl M

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Ah right, I guess ill have to work my way up through buying the equipment for the photography, dont think my mum will spend all that on xmas for me :) any recommendations of a starter scope at about £200-300, also is there a website that has some accessories that I may need, I heard about barlow eye pieces? Are they something I should get aswell?

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sixela

sixela

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You have something "in between" in scopes with digital setting circles, like the Orion Skyquest XT8i Intelliscope, but even there you're looking at more money (GBP 530 or so for the 200mm Dob). These scopes are "PushTo", they'll tell you where to push the scope to centre an object but won't track automatically once you've acquired it.

There's no free lunch. If you want automatic object location, you'll have to sacrifice something else (usually aperture).

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Carl M

Carl M

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Cheers for the help lads, I'm stuck now choosing between these which are around £200-£250: Meade ETX 80, Meade DS2080 and the 8" Dob but does the dob come without a mount? And are the Meade scopes any good for looking planets and maybe galaxies? :)

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pvaz

pvaz

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Yes it does. A dobsonian is a "Newtonion Reflector Telescope" on a "Dobson mount". A dobson mount is very simple, cheap but very sturdy (essential at high mags), that allows you to put all the money towards the reflector scope on it. At a later date you can buy another type of mount and use the telescope tube on it.

The meade scopes will be very limited on galaxies (because of the lower aperture of the 2 scopes you mentioned, nothing to do with the brand itself)

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Carl M

Carl M

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Ah right thanks, I think i'll go for one of those then and learn the sky manually instead of having a goto, as ive seen that the goto mount takes up a lot of the price! Then after I have the scope I would just need some accessories like: 2x Barlows? Turn left at Orion?, Red light? Any others that you recommend?

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HappySachs

HappySachs

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Check out the stickied thread at the top of the page titled: top 10 useful inexpensive things.

My number one tip is making sure you have enough clothes, seems silly but if you get cold you will become distracted and miserable. Last time I went out I wore six layers and two pairs of socks and a hat that covered my ears. After an hour and a half of standing around I was still just about comfortably warm.

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sn00p

sn00p

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Forget the ETX80 i had one of these but lets just say the views are less than impressive.... at maximum useful magnification saturn was so small you could barely make out the rings (admitadely side on). Im talking less than the size of a 5p held at full arms length with a thin pencil line through the middle. The moon looked "nice". Now moving up to skymax127 i see subtle shading and bands on saturn 10p coin held at arms length. Jupiter £2 coin at arms length with defined bands and great red spot (not much more than a dot) but jupiters moons look little more than 4 bright stars quite yellow. The moon is beautiful (real knock your socks off sight along the terminator). However just about anything else is a little less wow... Lots of the messiers are merely a slight puff of distant smoke. Sorry not trying to put you off but im guessing you see pictures on web and magazines etc and expect to see this from amateur telescope... dont be too disapointed. Do yourself a favour and get to Lidls. Buy yourself a set of there "RockTrail" 10x50 (BAK4) Binnoculars. Less than £15. They are actually great binnoculars for the price and the same as the re-branded £30 bresser/meade bins... This will give you an "insight" of what to expect.

Dont get me wrong the ETX series are great scopes but being a newb its all about the wow factor... your going to want to see the moon up so close you can touch it. Mars, Saturn and Jupiter with subtle detailing... You will not get that with the ETX80. What you will get is a "nice" view of the beehive, andromeda and M45 where you want a nice low mag wide field perspective... Just be warned it will still look just like stars but a nice close knit little group of them, so crisp and twinkly...

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andrew63

andrew63

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If you want a goto scope, you could look at getting a used ETX90 for a couple of hundred pounds or nexstar 4se - these are a different animal than etx80 and will give good views of the planets and moon, they come up on astro buy and sell site which is very good.

regards, andrew

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