Telescope for a beginner

Are there any star parties near you? I go to the Kielder one myself, and love it up there.
I am a visual observer myself, and maybe one day get into the photography side of it, but not yet.

I do not see astronomy as amazing details, thats the next step when you want more. I love beautiful globular and even open clusters. Saturn is without a doubt the most beautiful object in the sky, and even the moon itself.

You seem against Visual astronomy Pinter, but don't forget, thats where most people started. I would recommend the OP goes to a local astronomy meet, finds someone with a scope in the back garden, or attends a starparty as a visitor.

A group of astronomers shivering in a field are friends to all :D. You will need a damn good set of thermals, and a hat made of something that used to be alive of course!
 
Not at all against visual astronomy, but yes I am more into astro photography.

I am just trying to make sure the OP does not spend hard earned on the scope only to find that what he is looking at no way resembles the photos on the box it came in.
 
Pinter75 said:
Not at all against visual astronomy, but yes I am more into astro photography.

I am just trying to make sure the OP does not spend hard earned on the scope only to find that what he is looking at no way resembles the photos on the box it came in.
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Very true! One more reason why visitng a starparty gives you an excellent idea of where your cash is going!

OP, don;t forget, this is a winter hobby!!!!

Seriously. Kielder in the spring went down to -11. Fantastic clear skies though!
 
Some interesting pictures here, I love it how many images of planets actually do look so completely alien. I have seen many pictures and thought they have been computer generated because they are such amazing shapes and few colors.

After the Perseids I have been very tempted to try some more astronomy.
 
I have had a look around and i don't think there is much near Northampton as there are no shops either.

I was looking at the SKYWATCHER EXPLORER 200P and i am tempted by that. What sort of camera would i need to connect up to start taking photos then? Are they specialised ones?
 
Anything really, but it will dictate what you can take pictures of. Many people use cheap webcams to obtain images of planets (such as pinters awesome shots above:)) The reason for this is that planets are very bright, they only need short exposure times. Therefore, you can take multiple exposures of planets and use software to stack these shots producing a clear image. (i.e. the 'noise' on the image is random, so eventually, if you combine many shots together the noise will cancel out, leaving the non random element behind - the image of the planet)

If you have a DSLR then you can use an inexpensive T mount I think. This will allow you to photograph deep sky objects - nebulas, galaxies etc. These are very faint objects in the sky, and therefore require sensitive equipment, i.e the DSLR. This is where you need a tracking mount as it will need one or more long exposures combined with software again.

The shots I took were shorter exposures and not stacks because I haven't quite got the knack of aligning the telescope properly, and I could only take shots up to a minute or so before the stars started trailing. But that's enough to pick up that level of detail.

If you were getting more serious you could remove the infra red filter from your SLR, making it more sensitive to a wider spectrum of light, combined with filters there are many many things you can do.

Finally you can use CCD's which are expensive and I don't know much about them:p Monochrome CCD's are available which can be used with coloured filters to produce a colour image, i.e expose one red, one green and one blue image. Combine these three channels in photoshop and you have a colour image. Add in additional information by using filters that isolate different elements, and you can combine these to create the kinds of stunning images you usually see. They're not so much fake, but it may be a case that some of the stuff you see is outside the visible spectrum of light and has been assigned a colour. Google around and you'll find some stunning photos, some are months in the making with photos taken on many occasions for the perfect conditions and exposing for different things, then all combined at the end in to one image.


Hope that all makes sense...


Anyway, basically if you have a DSLR that's great:) If you don't then a webcam is a cheap way of looking at the planets, and pinters got that method nailed:p
 
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That's brilliant. Thank you.

I do have a DSLR.

The Skywatcher 200p Dob says that it has a direct DSLR connection, so is it just a case of it being difficult to keep object in view meaning that it is difficult to photograph them?

At the moment, i am not really looking at imaging, i think that i would like to start viewing first and the the hang of finding objects manually, then when i fell confident and have the money, i would look to upgrade the mount.

Is this an OK way to do things?
 
Yup. Exactly the way I have done it. I still have a manual mount, and now feel the urge to gt the HEQ5 with all the bells and whistles. It is an expensive hobby. SGL has plenty of people selling 2nd hand gear, good way to get new eyepieces, as we all take utmost care of our kit!
I would recommend buying from here:
http://www.firstlightoptics.com/
Steve and James are top class guys and if you ring them up, will sort you out with everything you need. They are both amateur astronomers themselves, so know the score.
 
Yep that's where i am looking at getting the kit from. Hopefully i can have it ordered today.

I am looking at getting;

Skywatcher Skyliner 200P Dobsonian
Skywatcher Deluxe 2x Barlow
Cheshire Collimating Eyepiece

,at first.

Is there anything else that is essential? Hopefully not too expensive as i will upgrade the expensive things gradually.
 
For a beginner i dont think you can go wrong with the 130p. Its just over £100 and for the rest of the cash you can get yourself some nice eyepieces.
Its a great little scope and easy to set up and move about. I Also have the 200p GOTO which is a bit of a beast and needs a fair amount of time setting up.
 
Save up and get an eyepiece set if you are feeling lazy. Or buy individual 2nd hand lenses. You will want more. A lot more. A crazy amount of more.
 
OK thanks guys.

was looking at getting a set too, but i think i will wait until i can use the SGL equivalent MM and see what goodies people are getting rid of.
 
Sounds great:)

I take it this is with the eq5 mount?

I believe this will add motor drive to it so you can take longer exposures later down the line. Have no experience of t though so better to ask when ordering if the mounts easy to ugrade when you want to try some photography.

http://www.firstlightoptics.com/proddetail.php?prod=singlemotoreq5

not too expensive... You can add a goto kit for £300 or so too.

have fun!
 
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No one seems to have mentioned location? Surely if you're in any sort of a built up area, you're at a big disadvantage due to light polution?

Can you guys with good telescopes comment on if this is an issue or not really?
 
Yup location is a big issue... I lived in high wycombe which suffers from quite a bit of light pollution, was still able to get the shots I posted earlier though. I'm now in rural Oxfordshire and things have improved a lot.

Op that dob looks good:) have you downloaded stellarium yet? It's great as it allows you to fast forward in time- you can plan out what you want to view when it arrives! Fiddle around with the settings and you can get it to display all the planets and nebulas etc that you'd want to see.
 
Stupot_ said:
Yup location is a big issue... I lived in high wycombe which suffers from quite a bit of light pollution, was still able to get the shots I posted earlier though. I'm now in rural Oxfordshire and things have improved a lot.

Op that dob looks good:) have you downloaded stellarium yet? It's great as it allows you to fast forward in time- you can plan out what you want to view when it arrives! Fiddle around with the settings and you can get it to display all the planets and nebulas etc that you'd want to see.
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LOL! When I was young, I lived on Cressex Road (High Wycombe). Using my cheap and chearful telescope (only 2-3inches) I could see Saturn and Jupiter :)
 
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