Traveling Scope

[oreed]

Hi,

I am looking for my first scope (as are many people here), for around £250, I would like to easily use the scope at home or use whilst traveling around in my motorhome. My main usage would be for observing and photographing (canon 550D), moons and planets but would like to dip my toe in a little distant object viewing. Reading the reviews the Skywatcher 200p Dob is an ideal starter scope, however I am unsure that this will travel well in my motorhome. I have been looking at the Skywatcher Explorer 150p (EQ3-2) but thought this again would be to big and bulky to transport. Therefore thinking about size, traveling around and taking photos I had thought about the Skywatcher Skymax 102 SynScan Az GoTo or the Skymax 127 SupaTrak Auto (both of these are around £280).

Any comments or suggestions would be welcomed and get my head out of this merry-go-round of scopes.

cheers,

O.

[E621Keith]

If you want a compact travel scope, have a look at the Meade ETX80. It is very compact, great for travelling and just fit your budget of £250. I used its predecessor ETX70 a few years ago and it was decent scope apart from the noise. This scope can be store in a medium sized back pack.

[Carbon Brush]

Where to start? Astrophotography with a DSLR is not that easy. Maybe leave this bit till you get more experience. If the scope is going to be bounced around a vehicle, you are better off avoiding 'ordinary' newtonian reflectors because of collimation - as well as bulk. This puts you into the realm of the 'complex' SCT type scopes, or a refactor. Either are available with goto mounts, which you seem keen to use. Just bear in mind that a goto mount in this price group is more of a 'sort of over there' rather than precise pointing. Also it will not be that good for long exposure photography. I would try to find some aperture in the budget. A 127 or 150 dia SCT is not that big or heavy. I have an ETX90 and find this 'dims' as the magnification goes up, so it tends to be a quick grab & look only scope. Not an easy choice and we all have different opinions. Good luck and hope this helps.

[rowan46]

the problem is your requirement to do astro photography this needs a rock steady mount, you can image planets using a webcam but these are not good for dso's where you need long exposures, steady tracking and a gem mount to offset the earths tilt. may I suggest you leave deep sky imaging till you get better aquainted with its difficulties and costs. This book is an excellent introduction to imaging and will help you decide if its for you as imaging does require a fairly significant outlay Books - Making Every Photon Count - Steve Richards as for a telescope a dobsonion is a good choice and would be easily tranportable in a motor home as it splits into 2 parts this one is probably more transportable and should give adequate views of most things Dobsonians - Skywatcher Skyliner 150P Dobsonian by the way welcome to sgl

[Dave S]

I disagree with david about the 'sort of over there' accuracy of the skymax goto's. I have found that a little care when aligning gives quite accurate results. I will agree that for imaging the skymax alt az goto's are not going to give you epic results. I have the skymax 102 for the exact reasons stated. I need to load up with camping kit and other stuff so size and weight is critical. Optically the 102 and 127 are excellent and give really good clear views. For imaging in reality you need to go a different route which may not suit the motorhome environment. But for grab and go the Skymax's can't be faulted. I tried out the etx80 when choosing mine but found the tripod a bit too flimsy.

Dave...

[oreed]

Thanks Keith, David, Rowan and Dave,

I agree about the noise of the motors you mention Keith, and the idea of a small and compact telescope is appealing.

David thanks for your thoughts regarding astro photography this has made me think a little more about this aspect.

Rowan, you suggest the 150p dob, however isn't there an issue here with making sure you are on level ground, with my requirements wouldn't a tripod option be more suitable with traveling around in a van, up in the highlands of scotland or in the French Alps etc. Also I am concerned of having the dob, this long tube with a couple of mirrors in it bouncing around in the back of my van, at least with a Skymax I could easily store into a foam protective box.

David you have also confirmed the comments of Rowans regarding photography and the Skymax but have encouraged me regarding this telescope for traveling and moving around.

Can I ask you all, the Skymax allows for terrestrial observations, daft question coming up... Does the GOTO system work in a manual mode so for instance if observing a distant peak or summit can I move the telescope manually or do I have to use the remote control function?

Also if you where in my position and wanted to get into the astrophotography, on-the-go as to were would you suggest any other telescope or system.

[rowan46]

Its a fair point about the dob. you see a lot of them at star camps however and many people travel with them to dark sites. but to answer yhe question about the skymax there is no manual mode for them you need to use the buttons on the handset. Its not that difficult. there is a system called astrozap that is very portable for imaging with dslr's the reason it has not been mentioned is that its well outside your budget. and it may be although i am not an expert on imaging that you could mount a dslr on a eq3-2 or neq3 although that is also above your budget

[oreed]

Thanks again Rowan,

I am starting to question my choices, possibly reexamine the explorer 130p (AZ GOto) or 150p (eq3-2) but also what about looking at refractors such as the SW Startravel 102, this looks good for astrophotography and terrestrial photography.

[rowan46]

I've just noticed I said astrozap I actually meant astrotrack the former is a dewshield

[oreed]

David, I am interested in the Skymax 102 scope but am getting cold feet about the F12.7, can you give me your thought on this.

cheers,

O.

[rowan46]

cheap refractors exhibit false colour on bright objects as the different colours in light are refracted at different angles. good apochromatic refractors don't exhibit this problem but they are the most expensive telescope per inch of apparture.

[Dave S]

I like the skymax 102 and bought it because of it's small size and portability it's a cracking scope but if you want to do any seroius imaging F12 is not going to cut it. The rest of the guys will know better than myself and will point you to the exact kit, but if you want portability there a re number of short tube refractors available.

The 102 will do good lunar/planetary/bright dso imaging though.

This is one of the moon I took a couple of weeks ago with the alt-az 102.

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

I have also done M42 semi succesfully the issues being with the mount and tracking not with the scope itself.

Dave...

[rowan46]

Has anybody mentioned planetary imaging with a webcam? you will get decent pics of the planets with a webcam and some can be modded for long exposure tracking is not so critical in webcams because they take hundreds of pics which are then stacked to bring out the detail

[oreed]

David would it be possible to post a picture of your alt-az 102 set-up? Is this a small alt-az that fit to a standard tripod, I am a little unsure and can't visualise.

cheers,

O.

P.S. Nice image of the Moon.

[Dave S]

This picture in this link is exactly as the scope comes and as I have it. The tripod is integral with the mount.

: Rother Valley Optics Telescopes, Binoculars & Accessories

Dave...

[oreed]

Thanks Dave, sorry when you said alt az I thought you might have had a slightly different set-up.

[Dave S]

Nope. Nothing special just what came in the box. I have however just bought a longer dovetail bar to try to balance the scope with the camera on as it doesn't track smoothly when trying to image.

Dave...

[oreed]

Again sorry to be the fool here. I was reading on the Skymax 127 members group that the SyncScan GOTO is not a GEM, i.e. arc tracking. Am I to understand that it finds the point in the sky you are wanting to observe..and then what.... does it not move and keep pace with the planet relative to that object?

[Dave S]

Whilst it is not an EQ type of mount i.e it doesn't track in an arc it does track the object by having two motors one for left/right and one for up down ( azimuth and altitude)

Do check which you are intending to get as there are two variants there is the Supatrack Alt Az which tracks but does not have the GOTO capability i.e you manually locate the object then it tracks it. There is also (like mine) the Synscan GOTO alt az which locates the object you choose then tracks it.

Dave...

[oreed]

Well having gone around the houses as it were, I have decided to wait an extra month or two, increase the budget and go for the Skymax 127 AZ GOTO, so watch this space and thanks for all the help and advice.

[oreed]

Well after another week of being on the merry-go-round of scopes I have gone for the Celestron 130 SLT. I realised that I did what a greater aperture and found a good deal for under £300!

[rowan46]

have you bought it yet?

[oreed]

why whats your thoughts?

[rowan46]

this one is pretty much the same scope Reflectors - Skywatcher Explorer 130P SynScan AZ GOTO and its a bit cheaper both are made in china by a firm called synta which owns both companies

[oreed]

Thanks and yes I realise that (£20 less from the SW 130p Synscan on scopesnskies), reading a few reviews the build is slightly better with the Celestron, the finder scope red dot and the GOTO system is more user friendly even though the SW has a great number of objects stored.

I am sure they are both very similar but thanks for your thoughts.