Help on choosing a telescope please

[Rorth72]

Hi to everyone

I am new to this forum but I am sooo confused. I have been interested in astronomy for many years and I am finally in a position to buy a telescope. I have saved up and have a budget of about £1500 (but can go up to £2000).

I live in a pretty dark area with not too much light pollution. What I am looking for is a telescope that is portable, is able to look at the moon, planets and DSO. I want also to be able to use GOTO and track objects, and GPS might be a bonus?, so I can experiment with photography (my girlfriend is into photography and has a Canon EOS 500D which she says I can borrow ). I would like a telescope that doesn't require too much maintenance and doesn't suffer too much from dew as I will be storing the telescope in the house and then taking it out into the garden/or transporting it in my car (I have an old Ford Mondeo Estate).

From reading around the last few weeks I know that aperture seems to be king. Am I right in thinking 6" is the minimum I would need and about 10" the maximum?

I so hope someone can help me with regard to some models they could recommend, as my head is going to explode if I read much more. I just so want to get out there and start observing and experimenting

Thanks in advance!

[daffodil]

hi

welcome to the forum

[ollypenrice]

Hi,

It would all be pretty easy if it were not for the photography. In visual use you have lots of attractive possibilities and aperture is, if not King, then at least Prince!

You could look at 8 inch SCTs like the Celestron on a variety of mounts, fork, single arm or equatorial. You could look at the Skywatcher 8 or 10 inch go-to Dobs. You could look at 8 or 10 inch Newtonians on decent Equatorial mounts like the HEQ5 Pro or NEQ6.

For convenience an 8 inch SCT on a computerized alt azimuth mount is incredibly friendly, being compact and easy to set up and use, the eyepiece remaining in a logical place.

But... photography. Ah. Read the marketing blurbs and you think, I could put the SCT on a wedge and do deep sky phoptography. And here theory and practice part company. This system does not work for many people though some manage it. I wouldn't touch it with a long pole myself, having tried it.

In photography, especially as a beginner you need;

German equatorial mount, HEQ5 Pro minimum.

Short focal length ideally around 650mm or less for easy guiding.

Fast focal ratio ideally F6 or below.

In a nutshell, a small telescope, ideally a refractor, because in imaging aperture is absolutely not king, prince or even jack... Indeed you can take great astrophotos with camera lenses provided you have a decent tracking mount.

The only setup I can think of that can do both would be something like the Skywatcher 200P on an HEQ5 Pro or NEQ6. The bigger mount is better but takes more carrying. You could also buy an autoguiding setup and remain in budget.

What I would do is read Steve Richards' book Making Ever Photon Count available from the sponsor and decide if deep sky phpotogrqphy is what you want to do. It is complicated and greatly limits your choice of kit from a visual observing point of view.

Olly

ollypenrice's Photos

[dweller25]

Wecolme to SGL.

Wise words from Olly.

If you are really serious then start with a good equatorial mount with GOTO - that would be a NEQ6 .....

Skywatcher - Skywatcher NEQ6 PRO Synscan

Then for visual add an 8" reflector .....

Reflectors - Skywatcher Explorer 200P OTA

For photography you can use a scope like this on the above equatorial mount ....

William Optics - William Optics Megrez 90 APO

HTH

[Uranium235]

^^ What Olly said

But you might want to get your own camera eventually, I dont think your GF will be too chuffed if you got dust inside it

[nightfisher]

right, im gonna second some advice and offer an alternative:

the most important thing you might get is the mount at least a HEQ5 pro, then you have future proofed the mount side of it!

to do decent visual and imaging, will more than likely need to scopes, aperture for visual and a small refractor for imaging, however if you got a maksutov of say 6" that would be a great visual scope and at a push you could do some nice images to get started, then at at a later date you might get a little ED refractor for proper imaging

[Rorth72]

Thank you everyone for your replies. If I wasn't to go down the route of photography for now, and just buy a visual telescope to start and learn the sky, would a Skywatcher dobsonian be best? Also is a 10" too big to cart in and out of the house, what would your recommendations be between a 10" and 8" - is there a big difference in what you can see between the sizes? And is a solid tube best?

Also.. I quite like the look of the Meade LT-8ACF. I think it is now a toss up between these three scopes. Which ever scope I buy, it will be something that I will want to store indoors, and then take out into the garden for a nice easy set up for me to explore the skies. I can always think about photography after I have learned the skies :-)

[nicnac]

bigger the apperture, better light grasp

i would say that reflectors on EQ mounts would be the best "general" use telescope

DOBs are good, not for imaging though unless,

Dobsonians - Skywatcher Skyliner 250PX Dobsonian

getting this (or something similar) for now for visual

(the 8" version is good too)

Dobsonians - Skywatcher Skyliner 200P Dobsonian

and getting an EQ mount later for imaging

something like

Skywatcher - Skywatcher EQ6 Syntrek

or

Celestron - Celestron CGEM GOTO

(i prefer celestron mounts)

[Rorth72]

Is the Skyliner 250PX portable enough to quickly take into and out of the house, and can it be mounted on an equatorial mount at a later date?

[nicnac]

it will be cumbersome but i dont think they are that heavy, i know a 10 has been squeezed into a fiesta though

[Rorth72]

Maybe an 8" to start me off then Excited now.. but grr the 8" is out of stock till mid April. Just my luck