Telescope for a beginner

Jakstaar2007 · 15 Aug 2010 at 00:42

Hi all,
I have always been interested in getting into astronomy and would like to finally invest in a telescope.

I have had a read around and have decided that i think i'd prefer a manual one over a GOTO one to get better quality visuals for my money.

I would like to spend around £200-£300 at most as i am only a beginner and have seen and read on StargazersLounge that the Skywatcher Skyliner 200P Dobsonian is a good telescope.

Does anyone have any recommendations for my price range? I would like to observe planets and nebulae if possible in as best quality as possible for the price range, hence why i am willing to spend the extra time and effort on a manual telescope.

Thanks for the advice in advance

Stupot_ · 15 Aug 2010 at 01:41

Have a very limited knowlege! But i'll chip in...

I have a skywatcher explorer 200 with HEQ5 mount. Seems pretty well built, and same size as the one you were recommended (8") so can expect similar viewing. I've seen jupiter and moons, star clusters, galaxies (could very faintly make out spiral galaxy), and nebulae, in pretty poor lighting conditions.

Are you interested in taking photographs? If you are you're going to need a motorized mount (the HEQ5 alone costs £380 or so I think) so that's a bit out of your range, but I'm sure there are cheaper alternatives. A motorized equatorial mount will also prevent you from losing anything in the frame (things move quickly, look at a planet and it will have probably crossed the frame in a minute or so). Equatorial mounts are aligned so their axis is parallel with the earths. Therefore, when the scope spins round the axis in the opposite direction to the earths travel, the effect of the earths spinning is cancelled out and objects remain in the telescopes view.

Here are my first shots taken through the telescope (with a homemade adapter! Moon shots aren't through telescope)

Really should try some more as these were in poor conditions and I didn't know what I was doing...

http://s74.photobucket.com/albums/i263/stuartcuss/Astrophotography/

Jakstaar2007 · 15 Aug 2010 at 09:07

Thanks very much for the info. Will have a look around to ones with motorised mounts too.

Not sure how much imaging i would actually do however, so it may be worth upgrading gradually when i learn more.

Great pictures by the way!

Cheers

ElliorR · 15 Aug 2010 at 09:33

Sometimes I think I should move out of town to lose all the ambient light. I love astronomy but haven't got a telescope as it'd be a waste of money. I'd even be prepared to give up my nice and fast broadband, for "upto 20 mb if the cables were running downhill" ******** from BT.

Those photo's are great and if I had taken them I'd be pretty happy considering.

PhillyDee · 15 Aug 2010 at 09:53

i have the 200p on an eq5 mount. Its a good scope, if a little large! This is an expensive hobby mind! I spent £300 just to upgrade the focusser last year, and i do want to spend around £800 on a new goto mount (heq5). Its a fantastic hobby and very rewarding.

stulid · 15 Aug 2010 at 10:18

your better off looking in an astronomy magazine at a beginners guide, £130 or less will get you a very decent Celestron or Meade scope.

Jakstaar2007 · 15 Aug 2010 at 10:22

I have had a read of the Stargazer Lounge forum and lots of people on there are recommending the 200p to beginners. From what i have been reading, the cheaper ones will only just let you see planets?

stulid · 15 Aug 2010 at 10:27

Jakstaar2007 said:
I have had a read of the Stargazer Lounge forum and lots of people on there are recommending the 200p to beginners. From what i have been reading, the cheaper ones will only just let you see planets?

Just planets? Wow. So no stars, moons, nebula? That's some strange filter they must be using.

Jakstaar2007 · 15 Aug 2010 at 10:55

I meant objects in the solar system. But for DSO they aren't great apparently.

Efour · 15 Aug 2010 at 11:11

as a beginner id use toilet or kitchen role tubes

ThriceNightly · 15 Aug 2010 at 11:22

are there any live webcams available for any high powered telescopes.

ones which the user can take control of?

Pinter75 · 15 Aug 2010 at 11:39

ThriceNightly said:
are there any live webcams available for any high powered telescopes.

ones which the user can take control of?

Yes use a Phillips toucam pro. Then one for the stacking programs to align and combine the frames to equate a long exposure.

I did this using my 10" Meade LX200R with a toucam.

As for Goto scopes not being very good, I can disagree strongly.

I have has the Celestron SLT and GT scopes and managed to track Jupiter long enough to bring out the bands and red spot.

Telescopes are proove that you get what you pay for. The little goto scopes and about £300 but I have picked them up on the bay for £140 and they are great.

I have a Celeston Nexstar 4GT as my quick setup scope - £500

And the permanent Meade LX200R 10" SCT GPS SMT - £4000

The difference between the 2 is astounding.

I started on a Nexstar 114GT and got some really good results with it. Like this 102SLT Goto scope, I shot this.

Stupot_ · 15 Aug 2010 at 11:52

It's pretty basic really

the larger the scope> the more light it gathers> the more objects you see

You could get a goto scope but that would max out your budget. I think stargazer lounge were correct to recommend you a large aperture scope to get you started. It's not difficult to navigate the sky using charts rather than pressing a couple of buttons. I think it's more rewarding too.

A good program to look at the night sky is stellarium, it's free. Chuck it on a laptop and take it outside with you (but be careful of a bright screen ruining your vision!)

Pinter75 · 15 Aug 2010 at 11:54

Jakstaar2007 said:
I have had a read of the Stargazer Lounge forum and lots of people on there are recommending the 200p to beginners. From what i have been reading, the cheaper ones will only just let you see planets?

Does not matter how big or exensive your scope it, you will only see bright dots regardless.

The difference between a 4" and a 10" scope is the brightness of that dot.

You will only get details out of messier and deep space objects with long exposure photography.

Jakstaar2007 · 15 Aug 2010 at 11:55

The Celestron NexStar 130 SLT looks good and is only a little bit more.

Would you say that this is better than the Skywatcher 200p Dob?

Jakstaar2007 · 15 Aug 2010 at 11:59

Pinter75 said:
Does not matter how big or exensive your scope it, you will only see bright dots regardless.

The difference between a 4" and a 10" scope is the brightness of that dot.

You will only get details out of messier and deep space objects with long exposure photography.

Really? So it will still look just like a bright star?

I was not expecting huge clear images of objects, but i was under the impression that you would be able to see the line of Jupiter and if you're lucky the rings of Saturn faintly when looking through a telescope?

Pinter75 · 15 Aug 2010 at 12:06

Jakstaar2007 said:
Really? So it will still look just like a bright star?

I was not expecting huge clear images of objects, but i was under the impression that you would be able to see the line of Jupiter and if you're lucky the rings of Saturn faintly when looking through a telescope?

You will see the rings of Saturn, but with a big scope 8" > They will look like a white circle. Don't expect to see details, all you will see are different sized dots.

Attach a camera and everything changes!

As for what is better Skywatcher or Celestron, I can't comment. I have experience with Celestron or Meade scopes only, and the GOTO variety. Only because I can hook them to a PC running planitarium software for a digital style observatory.

Jakstaar2007 · 15 Aug 2010 at 12:16

OK then. Thanks for the help guys.
I will have to have a rethink as to which to get.

Cheers

Stupot_ · 15 Aug 2010 at 19:00

Pinter75 said:
Does not matter how big or exensive your scope it, you will only see bright dots regardless.

The difference between a 4" and a 10" scope is the brightness of that dot.

You will only get details out of messier and deep space objects with long exposure photography.

I don't agree with that

I can see Andromeda as a grey smudge with a bright centre, could just about make out the arms of the spiral galaxy if I looked out the corner of my eye, could see the ring of the ring nebula and could resolve stars in clusters with my explorer 200. Attaching a camera will allow you to record colours etc, but don't be put off OP, I was blown away when I first looked through my scope

Jupiters a good one to start with as well as the moon of course. This was all in a light polluted area too (high wycombe)

Having said that I do feel you can get more benefit from photography, which is where buying a motorised equatorial mount will help.

Something like this is upgradeable (you can add motors later so it will track the stars) and really heavy duty. Maybe worth a look. It's basically the same as mine without the motor drive.

Anyway, either way keep on reading, and you'll probably find a lot more information on a dedicated astronomy forum.

Pinter75 · 15 Aug 2010 at 19:06

Yes you will see bright Messiers as a smudge, but I was simply saying that you won't see amazing details with the naked eye.

I too have seen Andromeda, as a light grey smudge, Capture it through a camera and you will bring out all the colours etc...