Celestron NexStar 127 SLT

[jsvaidya]

We have finalised on this one- as the first scope. I don't expect to find too much time - so I am worried that I would get frustrated without a GOTO and therefore such a telescope would fall out of use.

Q: Will this be a satisfactory/exciting enough? (for £359) in terms of planets and at least some deep sky objects?

Q: Will I be able to take some good photos with my Canon 500D SLR?

Jayant

[Dave S]

Hi Jayant

This scope is well suited for planetary stuff and bright deep sky objects such as M42, M31 etc.

You will be able (using a t-mount adapter) to take shots of lunar and bright planets. It is possible to shoot some bright dso's but you will have to take lots of short exposure shots and stack them. Be prepared to tear your hair out if you try this.

This link shows a shot of the moon using my skymax 102 which is a very similar scope. This shows roughly what you can do with the scope you have chosen.

http://stargazerslounge.com/observing-lunar-solar/122404-first-light.html

Dave...

[rowan46]

it will give good views of planets and the go to on the nexstar is pretty straightforward you may find a webcam will give better pics of the planets theres a thread about phillips spc880 going cheap at morgans

[John]

Welcome to SGL !

Your first Q is really hard to answer as we don't know you or what you will find satisfying / exciting. At the end of the day it's a 5" scope so will show nice views of the brighter planets and deep sky objects and very nice views of the moon.

A common reaction is that even the larger planets (Jupiter, Saturn and Venus sometimes) don't look that big and that anything other than the brightest deep sky objects look, er, rather faint. If you can get past that and look for the subtle details in the objects and consider that what you are seeing is millions, billions or even trillions of miles away, then you will be excited I think

And probably then get "aperture fever" like the rest of us did .......