*** The Official Astronomy & Universe Thread ***

Well that Vixen seems to be around the same level as an EQ5, and while it's a great mount even that might struggle with the 250P. It's probably as good as you're going to get with £200 though, and should be fine with "short" exposures (there's a lot of debate on the value of lots of short exposures stacked compared to not as many long exposures stacked) - and if it doesn't work well enough then you could always sell it on for about the same price as you bought it for (maybe more if you're lucky). Depends if you're willing to experiment i guess...
 
bobbarley said:
I love Astronomy. I keep meaning to buy a telescope but I expect a good one will be very expensive? :(
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Define expensive :p

It will be linked to your expectations - if you spend £100 on it and expect to see everything like it is from Hubble then you'll be disappointed. But if you have an idea of what you're going to get then it will be amazing for you. People often say the 200P is a great beginner scope, and while they might be right i view it as a touch on the expensive side. The 150P is great too, and for roughly 2/3 of the price. If you're prepared to go used you can get some great deals for under £150 (lots of TAL scopes, built like tanks).

It also depends on what you want to do with it. Do you want to look, do you want to find or be pointed... do you expect to be able to image? :p

But yeah, if you set even a rough budget then you would find people will be able to put forward suggestions for almost any amount :)
 
About the £100 to £150 mark I would be prepared to pay. It'd be nice to see some of the stars up closer, and the planets when they're close to Earth. You know when you hear Mars is nearby or example.
 
Well the thing about stars is that no matter how good your telescope is they always just look like stars :p

The only star you'll be able to see detail on is Sol, and you'd need Baader film for that (DO NOT POINT A TELESCOPE AT THE SUN WITHOUT IT! ALSO DON'T TRUST THOSE TINY EYEPIECE 'SOLAR FILTERS', THEY'RE RUBBISH AND COULD EASILY KILL YOU, BLIND YOU IF YOU'RE LUCKY). But the good news is that stars aren't the only thing that's up there. Aside from the planets, there's nebulae, galaxies, clusters and a whole host of other objects. A new version of Turn Left at Orion (the Spiral Bound one) was recently released, and that should be required reading for anyone getting into astronomy.

Aside from the used TAL scopes i already mentioned, £150 would get you something like an Astromaster 130EQ, but since they're both equatorial you might find them a bit hard to use which could put you off. I've heard a lot of good things about the Skywatcher Heritage 130p Flextube, which you can get from First Light Optics and is a great beginner scope, and lots of people who got one to begin with still use is a a 'grab and go'. And whatever you get a moon filter and 2x barlow (or eyepieces tailored to your scope) would be worth considering, or at least putting on your to buy list.

Your other option would be binoculars (and a tripod... and maybe deck chair :p), which could be cheaper and are a great way to learn the sky - but obviously don't offer as much magnification/gather as much light. That does allow you to use them to view a whole different range of objects, and it's a good option for people who aren't sure if it's for them and maybe don't want to jump straight in by buying a telescope.

If you're interested then a good next step would be to get yourself on SGL, i haven't found a better all round (i would call Cloudy Nights more specialized ;))astronomy community yet:

http://stargazerslounge.com/
 
NickK said:
Spent a lot of time faffing and being interrupted by a neighbour who left the security light on (even when he was sat next to me - he's a very odd chap).

Played with drift alignment which I'm starting to get the hang of however I only have about a 45deg window east-west so my west alignment is always really really bad but I was quite happy to get something! First time finding andromeda too - the result I'm quite pleased with considering this is the first time in at least a month!

Setup at 9 and finished at 2330. However 30x30secs without guiding gave me this:
andromeda800x600.png
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Awesome :)
 
Scarecrow said:
jup2.jpg


First shot of Jupiter with my new webcam. Not bad to start off with but adding a barlow will help with scale and focus.
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Very nice shot! There are some folks on SGL getting good DSO shots with modified webcams too.

I bought a MS lifecam for the sole purpose of doing some webcam photos but I succumb to the CCD camera before I had chance to mod it.
 
I am looking at webcams atm. Could go up to £100 for the gear i would need. Might look at another eyepiece as well. Would be using it on my 8" dob so not sure of the results.

Thing is, when you get a dob it is drilled in to you that photography will not be possible;)

^^ That jupiter shot is not far off what i see with my scope with a 6" TMB Planetary eyepiece. What kit are you using there Scarecrow?
 
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Im using a 200p on a eq5 GOTO. The shot was with a SPC880NC flashed which i got here. I didnt use a barlow but i have the standard x2 i got with the scope but i am looking for a TeleVue 3x which should make the shot a lot bigger. This will also help with focus as its a pain in the arse at this size. I got this webcam as everyone on SGL raves about it and i must say im over the moon with it at the moment.
This was my first effort so looking to get some great shots in the future.
 
Pighardia said:
I am looking at webcams atm. Could go up to £100 for the gear i would need. Might look at another eyepiece as well. Would be using it on my 8" dob so not sure of the results.

Thing is, when you get a dob it is drilled in to you that photography will not be possible;)

^^ That jupiter shot is not far off what i see with my scope with a 6" TMB Planetary eyepiece. What kit are you using there Scarecrow?
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You should get away with taking pictures at planets but deep sky will be a nightmare as some photos take about 6 yours long. With the webcam in my scope unguided it is out of view within 20 seconds so you will to nudge it a bit to get a minutes video. The problem you will have adding a barlow will have it out of the screen like a flash and getting it on screen will be a pain in the arse. If you are pretty handy keeping it in shot then a minute video should be all you need.
 
Yes it's H-alpha but I thought I would mention that it's Hydrogen as H-Alpha doesn't really sound like much to someone who is unfamiliar with astronomical filters.

I originally tried this in greyscale but the noise becomes much more apparent when stretching the curves.
 
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