Help choosing a 'scope for lunar/planatery use

[Mark-mck]

Hi all.

I've had a change of plan regarding my initial set up, i was going for a DSO imaging straight off the mark but being as my dad's shown quite an intrest in astronomy since seeing the moon and Jupiter through my nasty argos jobby (was a crimbo prezzie), i'm heading down that route.

i'm still going with the NEQ6 mount as that'll do me for when i go down the DSO AP route.

would i be looking at a reflector or refractor? i'd still like to get a few images of the planets/moon so i'm guessing i'd need a webcam for that?

Cheers Mark

[Dave-Ryan]

Do you have a budget for this scope?

[Mark-mck]

yeah sorry, budget for the scope is around the £400 mark. the mount is already as good as bought, just the scope i need to sort out

[Dave-Ryan]

I don't own a Mak myself but these are popular amoung planetary viewers/imagers.

Maksutov

The top one is well within your budget and the second one just over.

[drmillrace]

i have a mak127 and love it. Needs a while to cool before use and really works well with a better high power eyepiece.

[ronin]

How about a Wo Megrez 72?

Great scope for visual and you could use it for getting experience at AP.

[Mr Spock]

A Skywatcher 200P DS is £270, which will leave you some cash for decent eyepieces.

If you don't mind lifting a lot of bulk, the 250P is £380. I used to have one and it was excellent - just a bit too big for me to lift around.

You can't beat resolving power for planets, smaller scopes just never have enough even though they may be more contrasty.

[Mark-mck]

i've been thinking about the 200 or 250pds, any idea what the weight of the ota's are? been looking on practically every site i can find them on but none seem to list the weight.

i'm not particularly bothered about the portability of it as it'll be used in the back garden so i wont have that far to carry it, it's just the weight is mounting it on your own doable?

[Mr Spock]

Yes, you can do it yourself. What you need is a block of some kind on the dovetail so it can hang on the mount on it's own weight while you hold it with one hand, and tighten the bolts with the other.

The 250 is about 12Kg I think. I had a 80ED attached to mine and that little lot was 17kg! The 200 is about 10kg.

[valleyman]

i AM 5,2" AND CAN LIFT THE 200 without to much problem. I break the mount down to 3 pieces for lifting in and out, tripod, mount and weights etc.

The 200 pds is F5 so will be good for DSO and it has a piggyback mount for the camera.

[Mark-mck]

Cheers for that Mr Spock.

i think 10 or 12kg should be doable.

[Mark-mck]

i've been reading a few post's about the 200 and 250 and the impression i got was that there huge monstors that weigh about half a ton.

i know they are going to be big but if 12kg is about right for the 250 then i cant see me having and problems as i'm 5' 11" regularly have to hump 25kg+ about at work when i'm in the naughty books (which seems to be quite regularly) so all in all it would seem that the 250 would be the way to go and i wont be getting apprature fever any time soon either lol

[Moonshane]

I completely agree that for visual use, more aperture generally wins for most objects.

with a 10" tube (preferably f5 or slower) you'd have great views of moon, planets and also lots of other things.

I generally prefer my 12" dob for everything (moon and double stars included - aperture really does rule for visual) but the 6" f11 is quite a bit better on planets. the 120mm refractor I have previously but sold was better (or at least 'cleaner') for double stars (and maybe wide field - but use my 15x70s for that now) but that's about all.

[dweller25]

I would go for a 8" F/6 Newt with excellent optics. They are very light and the EQ6 will be a great match. A scope like this will give very good planetary detail.

[twotter]

How about the ever popular TAL100RS?

[ollypenrice]

I would go for a 8" F/6 Newt with excellent optics. They are very light and the EQ6 will be a great match. A scope like this will give very good planetary detail.

Sounds right to me. I would always prefer to do DS imaging with a refractor but you are saying planetary so the Newt will sing for you, I think.

And then you can start deep sky with it as well, which you couldn't with a Mak. Too slow.

Olly

[Mark-mck]

Thanks for everyones imput, would seem the Newt is getting the majority of the votes.

so now the question is 8 or 10" would i be being silly by going for the 10" or would the 8" be plenty big enough?

[Moonshane]

no scope is big enough for visual use! you always want more aperture.

best bet is to get the one you can readily handle and that will get used most

[ken spencer]

I have a 127 Mak which is Fab for planets and Moon and some DSO and its easy to move around. Last week I got the Skywatcher 250 Dob and was a bit worried about the weight and collimation. The great thing is you can split the dob into two parts, mount and scope and is therefore easier to manage. As for collimation, with the baader Laser colli MK 3 it was easy to do.

[brantuk]

I'd suggest a Mak or SCT for planetary imaging. The Meg 72 will be better for imaging dso's (especially wide field) and not so good for planets. But the mount and tracking will be very important (and expensive).

[great_bear]

The trouble with Newts is the diffraction spikes which ruin low-contrast detail. Sure you can see a few belts on Jupiter, but can you see the wispy cloud detail and mottled marks on the surface as you can with my Mak? Maybe you can... In the absence of that, Jupiter looks pretty much the same each time. With my Mak, it's always different and is an interesting object to view.

Low contrast also spoils the dramatic appearance of the moon's terminator.

I've not yet seen Saturn using the improved eyepieces, binoviewer and (vastly) improved diagonal I now have, but I'm expecting it to be good. Others are welcome to look at SGL6.

[Moonshane]

one thing I am really looking forward to at SGL6 is looking through a Mak/SCT at a planet. I am not sure I'll be able to fit in my 6" f11 but if I can it would be great to compare.

[Dave-Ryan]

I agree with Brantuk, a Mak or SCT for planetary imaging and viewing. You need a long focal length scope for planets so a F5 scope is not going to do it.