Telescope starter stuff

[sammy1404]

Hi

I recently made a thread for help on getting a new scope. I just ordered mine today for £380 it is a skywatcher skyliner 250px (10 inch) dobsonian. Should be arriving on thursday or Friday so I'll give my first review/ report of it then with some images and when I get some clear skies I'll review it then.

I'm looking into buying my first accesories for the scope and wanted some advise as to what I should get I.e what you all class as essentials or just very good accessories.

I'm currently looking at a sun filter, eyepiece pack, 8-23mm zoom eyepiece (1.25"), dslr camera adaptor, a telrad or red dot finder, a laser pointer (for point at objects in the night sky) and a laser collimator. I'm not going to get all that but it's just things I'm currently viewing.

If any of you could help suggest some things I would need or should get and maybe tell me what out of my list may be good.

Many thanks

sammy

[Horus]

Hi Sammy, Im in that no mans land trying to decide which scope to get. I too want to use my DSLR camera and have been pointed in the direction of the Celestron 4SE for around the same price. What made you go for the Dobsonion ?

Richard

[nightfisher]

you mention eye piece pack.....would advise getting individual ep`s, then you can choose the ones you really want

[John]

This is going to sound rather dull but I'd just get 2 items:

- a collimation tool such as a cheshire eyepiece

- a good set of sky charts and introduction to the night sky

It's just so easy to buy stuff you don't end up using and miss stuff that you do actually need - but you won't know what the latter is until you have some experience of using the scope and have developed your views on where you want to go with the hobby.

The buy & sell section is full of stuff that "seemed a good idea at the time" !.

[astrokat]

if you do find using a finder scope hard i would get a red dot finder the regel is good i dont get on well with the finder so i uses the rdf then uses the finder scope to center the object im looking for in the eye piece

get a copy of the pocket sky atlas well help you get round the sky

good luck

[Stardust]

I like the Telrads, an eyepiece set is bound to have a few you wont/cant use and I'm not sure the zoom would do your scope any favours. I think I'd take some time with a 26-30mm 2" eyepiece in that scope, does it come with something like that?.

[sammy1404]

thanks guys for the info!

@ supercharged... i went for the dobsonian in the end because soooo many people told me how good scopes they are for beginners and i agree after trying one out along with an equitorial, but apparently dobs arent as good for photography so you may want to consider that, still possible but i think its more of a struggle, im mostly just gonna be shoving the lense to the eyepiece and hoping for the best lol.

[Astro_Baby]

Things you'll need almost for sure are;

A dew shield for the scope ( you can make one from a camping mat or buy one, I bought one cos I like stuff to look right . )

A Cheshire collimator to collimate the scope, it's a kind of maintenance the scope will need periodically.

A red light torch, people often suggest making one but frankly by the time you have messed about it's as easy to buy one.

Some form of star navigation.....a planisphere or a book called 'turn left at orion' is very well rated.

Those are the must haves I would say.

Eyepieces I would leave alone until you have some eye time in with the eyepieces that come with the scope and you have a better idea of what you want. I'd leave camera adapters out of the mix as well to start with.

You may find the standard optical finder is hard work and so I would suggest get the scope and get some use first and then decide, if you find the finrscope is tough going then get either a red dot finder or a right angled optical finder.

To make your mind up on this stuff you really do need some practice with the scope first otherwise you will end up buying all kinds of gear you don't really need.

[sammy1404]

thanks for the help guys

@ supercharged... i went for the dobsonian in the end because so many people both on here and elsewhere (not another forum, im not a traitor ) said they are great scopes for beginners like myself mostly because of the ease of moving the telescope around. I tried one too (in daylight so just moving it around etc) and found it really ease where as the equitorial took a bit of getting used to but they werent too bad. Also the dobs are a lot cheaper because all the money is going to the scope rather than the mount like with eq's so you can afford the larger aperture for example i got a 10 inch dob for £380 where as that on an eq would have cost something like £800 (just a guess so dont quote me on that). As i said when it arrives im going to review it so if you want i can let you know what its like hopefully including what i have seen with it if this damned cloud goes

Oh and apparently Dobs arent as good for photography, no idea why think its to do with the mount stuff, might want to ask someone about that if you want to do serious photography but they are still good enough for basic stuff.

[sammy1404]

it comes with: "Eyepieces Supplied (1.25"): 10mm & 25mm "

[John]

Hi Sammy, Im in that no mans land trying to decide which scope to get. I too want to use my DSLR camera and have been pointed in the direction of the Celestron 4SE for around the same price. What made you go for the Dobsonion ?

Richard

From the point of view of visual observing, a 10" dobsonian captures 600% more light than a 4" scope - this will make a really substantial difference to what can be seen, especially with deep sky objects.

The dobsonian is not suitable for astro-photography really though as has been pointed out.

[Capricorn]

Just to get it home: Dobsonians and astrophotography are not on. You cannot do it.

Try the scope with the eyepieces you have, not sure how good a set is as individual ones aren't that expensive and a set has to cover people with Mak's and people with f/5 Dobs. You probably only need half of what is supplied. Question is which ones.

You have a 10mm and 25mm. the 25 will give wide views then perhaps 15, 10, 8mm.

Depending on the f number you may have to consider the more premium eyepieces other then the stock inexpensive plossl's.

You will need a collimator.

Sun filter? What type? If for the eyepiece then forget. Far too dangerous.

[sammy1404]

im not sure what sun filter i was just saying it because i have no idea, just something i can use to view the sun. Out of interest what is better a lower f rating like f/4.5 or high like f/5.5 ? i think my scope is f/5.

[Astro_Baby]

There is no 'better' F ratio as such. They serve different purposes. Astroimagers generally prefer a fast scope ( which has a lower F number ) whereas for visual it doesn't really matter with some scopes such as Maksutov design scopes running up to f15.

As the f number gets lower, and the scope gets faster, the scope becomes increasingly more demanding on the precision of it set up and any eyepieces. Down to F5 it's ok but much below f5 and it starts to get hairy and horrible without very expensive eyepieces. Some would say below f6 it gets demanding and that's true enough but all but the very cheapest eyepieces will work tolerably well down to f5

By the way the f ratio is calculated from focal length ( basically how long the scope is ) divided by aperture (the diameter of the main optical element )

[brantuk]

Eventually you'll want some good quality wide angle 2" eye pieces so don't dive into any of the eye piece sets. Best get to know the scope and supplied ep's first and join an astro soc. You'll get to borrow one or two ep's from members to try out so you'll get to know the type and brand that suits you

[umadog]

Collimation:

Collimation

First get yourself a Cheshire/sight tube such as that made by Orion. That will help you centre the secondary and is sufficient to achieve axial alignment. I've heard bad things about the cheaper laser collimators. The Catseye gear is very highly thought of. I own a Blackcat (which is a Cheshire without the sight-tube) and an XLK auto-collimator. I recomend you read:

Telescope Reviews: Concise thread about autocollimators+improvements

That is the best thread I've ever read on how to collimate a reflector. The guy really, really, knows his stuff.

Star chart:

Sky & Telescope Pocket Sky Atlas

Useful books:

Turn Left At Orion

Nightwatch

I agree that you would be better off buying eyepieces slowly. That way you can buy what best fits your needs. You don't save much money from the kits (at least the Meade kits I looked at), however you can get good deals on second hand stuff. Televue make excellent optics but their higher-end stuff is very pricey. The Televue Plossls are well thought of and not unreasonably expensive. Scopes faster than about F5 (I think yours is F4.7) are picky with eyepieces. Poor quality eyepieces will exhibit astigmatism in the outer 1/3 or so of the field of view. It pays to buy nice eyepieces which won't exhibit this.

[tuc]

This is classed as a good accessory and not an essential: When I bought my Dob I attempted to purchase a padded carrying case and the clerk at the store talked me out of it, saying that I didn`t need it. There have been so many times I wished I had bought it.