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My First Scope


Guest PM140

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Guest PM140

Hi all,


 


Quite by chance I stumbled on this forum whilst researching for my first telescope; finding a local community close to home (Nottingham) is a really plus and hopefully I can get to some of your meets when I'm setup up :-)


 


Currently my astronomy activities have been limited to using Star Walk on the iPad and a few shots of the moon with my Canon 550D and 55-250mm lense.


 


I'm particularly interested in the imaging side, the moon, plants, DSOs (if possible on my budget) and general sky gazing. I'm a complete newbie when it comes to find objects in the sky so I like the look of the GOTO mounts. Also something compact / lightweight so I can stick it in the car.


 


I contacted Rother Valley Optics and they recommended the Celeston Nexstar 127 SLT (£400), which is pretty much bang on the top of my budget. They said I would need a T - mount, additional £15.


 


My question is, does this look like a good starting point, are there any other scopes I should consider, maybe a fraction less price wise ?


 


Thanks in anticipation,


 


Peter


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Hi Peter and first off, let me welcome you to EMS.


 


:)


 


I see you are going and jumping right in the deep end and starting off down the road to stress, financial ruin and learning a few new swear words that you never thought you knew (only joking).


 


Astro photography (AP) is rewarding but can be expensive.  Granted, these things can be done on the cheap but you soon start seeing more and more kit, and the cost soon rises.


 


I don't want to curb your enthusiasm but I don't want to tell you everything can be done cheaply and lead you up the garden path.  Doing things cheaply and buying the 1st thing you see often leads to lack of enthusiasm when it does not produce the results you think you can get, which ultimately leads to underused kit and a waste or money.  Also, you have to factor in what it is you want get, if its the planets, you normally need a slow telescope in the region of F10 upwards, if you want to bag DSO's, then you need a fast scope in the region of F5 and below, you can image DSO's with a slow scope but will need longer exposures, which ultimately means you need to buy a reducer (more expense), or a fab mount that can track accurately for 5 minutes plus.


 


For AP, £400 is not a lot, by wanting GOTO, all your money is going right into the computer wizardry, then there is the scope, the adapters, the camera, the remote shutter release, the batteries to power the mount and the camera, the dew kit so you don't get dew on your optics and that's just what I can think of in 30 seconds!


 


Most people spend upwards of £400 on the mount alone never mind both.


 


As you can tell, I`m not an imager, I do visual only (other wise know as a dirty visual monkey and I think we are a dieing bread :) ), so will leave the finer points to the AP guys and gals.


 


One thing i do know, the mount is everything, an expensive telescope on a poor mount will produce poor results.


 


Anyway, hope I have not put you off, might be worth you popping along to a meet, see what every body else has, ask how much it cost ETC, that will give you a better understanding of what you may want to do.


 


In the meantime, I hope you enjoy the forum.


Edited by Daz Type-R
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Welcome to EMS.


 


I cannot add to much to what Daz has already said.


 


It all depends on what your expectations are, most imagers use a EQ mount similar to the EQ5 or better still the EQ6, the 127SLT that Rother Valley has told you about  has got a ALT/AZ mount. I'm not saying you cannot image with it, but you will not get long exposures and your images will be pretty basic compared to the nice images I would imagine you have been looking at.


 


The 127SLT will be OK for planets and Lunar as these are bright objects and only need short exposure times.


 


At the end of the day £400 is not a lot for AP.


Edited by Doc
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Guest PM140

Thanks for the quick responses guys!


 


Always useful to get a reality check before handing over hard earned cash.


 


It feels like going down the EQ5 / 6 route is a touch advanced for a complete newbie like myself at the moment and fast heading in the direction of requiring more cash to get going.


 


I'm just looking for a first step on the (AP) ladder to have the ability to look at objects and photograph them. I appreciate I'm not going to get close to some of the shots you see online, but can trade that for a lower entry cost and consider upgrading if I'm still going in a year or so's time :-)


 


Good thought DTR about attending a meet to see what kit other people have. I'll check out when the next one is.


 


Regards,


Peter


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Hi welcome along, can't add much to what has been said as I'm a "dirty visual monkey" as well. But webcams can be an inexpensive way of imaging the planets and luna.

Good luck hope to see you at a meet one day (night).

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Welcome to EMS Peter.


 


You have come to the right place to get help. I am also visual only, but feel that your budget will only really get you a visual setup which may just allow some simple lunar imaging. Solar may also be an option with suitable and fairly inexpensive filters.


 


As stated above, get to some meets and see other peoples equipment before taking the plunge. That will give you a much better insight into what will suit your needs and budget.


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Hi Peter, welcome to EMS.


 


I can only agree with the above comments. I suspect you would have a whole load of problems with the basic Alt/Az mount. The fact they are only a single side arm makes them wobble and vibrate for visual, let alone imaging. The focal length of the 127 would also be challenging for someone new to AP. 


 


A good few imagers get good and sometimes great images from a short focal length refractor like the Skywatcher ED80, but these are on decent mounts that are capable of giving accurate tracking and sturdy enough to prevent vibration.


You really can't spend enough time researching your options, reading reviews and asking questions. Feel free to ask away on here, folks will be more than willing to give advice.


 


"I do visual only (other wise know as a dirty visual monkey and I think we are a dieing bread  :) )"  


 


I am a visual observer as well, apparently we are toast! :lol:


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Hi Peter


I am an imager (or attempt to be :facepalm: ) and will confirm all of the above -- The mount is everything.


The bits you will also need for DSO stuff will be some form of guiding.


I used a web cam fudged onto the back of an old camera lens with pretty good success in the early days.


Then  as you get drawn into it more and more this becomes inadequate so you advance to a dedicated guide scope with a dedicated guide camera.


So it snowballs.  :rofl: 


Before you know it you are looking at CCD cameras, Narrow Band Filters, OAG's , Filter Wheels.


New mount to carry the extra weight of all that kit and so the circle starts all over again.  :screwloose:  :rofl:  :rofl:

Edited by Graham
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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 4 weeks later...

Hi everyone,


 


A very helpful forum indeed! I have somewhat of a similar issue with buying a new telescope. From what I gather, mount is really important but whether to Go To or not to Go To  is another issue altogether. I and my 9 year old are very interested in gazing at stars and would love to explore other celestial objects, galaxies, nebulae and etc. So I understand a bigger aperture such as a 6 or 8 inch Newtonian reflector since refractors as I read were too expensive! But since mounts are important, the Go To ones get really expensive. So will it be okay to manually operate or will it just put us off the idea of astronomy altogether! (though the idea sounds cumbersome but building knowledge!)It should be easy to assemble and carry around so not even very heavy. But then the idea of astrophotography comes up or should we just leave it till we understand the telescope better?


 


You see in the end we are left completely confused  :wacko:  The forum suggests to come to a meeting and meet other members and I do believe this is a fab idea but it would be difficult to come with kids (especially with all the expensive telescopes and wires awaiting a trip hazard!) and there is a lot of information online which confuses me further. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.


 


Thank you


Mobeen


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For a simple go-to set up, which is light and easy to carry and set up I think you cannot beat the Skywatcher Explorer 130P Synscan Go-to. It's only 5" in aperture so isn't going to show everything but you will get good views of stars, planets, globulars and the occasional galaxy. Just remember you will not see images like the ones you see in magazines, you need really large scopes or take loads of photo's to get images like that.


 


Here is the link to the scope:


 


http://www.firstlightoptics.com/az-goto/skywatcher-explorer-130p-synscan-az-goto.html


 


skywatcher_explorer_130P_AZ_GOTO.jpg


 


Or you could go with a dobsonian telescope, these are manual so no go-to but have a bigger aperture so you will see more deep space stuff, but you need to find it yourself. For the same money you could get the following scope.


 


Skywatcher 200P Dobsonain


 


http://www.firstlightoptics.com/dobsonians/skywatcher-skyliner-200p-dobsonian.html


 


skywatcher_skyliner_200p_dobsonian.jpg


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It depends on budget and how you want to view the heavens. For example, I bought an 8" reflector on a dobsonion base as I wanted to learn the stars and constellations by hand, having a GOTO scope means you only have to learn a few stars (as you need to align the scope) then you tell the scope what you want to look at and it finds it for you, but you pay more money for this GOTO feature!

Without giving your exact address, where abouts in Nottingham are you?

Edited by Daz Type-R
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I can only echo everything said above - but I would add that it's not a big deal looking for objects manually rather than with a goto mount. In fact there are some people in the group who can find objects quicker with a manual mount than I can use a goto lol. So don't worry about it if you initially wish to make a start just looking at the sky.


 


To start imaging you really need to fully appraise yourself of the equipment and techniques. A really good book for this is "Making Every Photon Count" by Steve Richards. It's the imagers bible and discuses everything from entry level gear to advanced astro photography techniques in an easy to read format. Also download a free copy of Stellarium which is a great guide to the sky at your location.


 


http://www.stellarium.org/en_GB/


http://www.firstlightoptics.com/books/making-every-photon-count-steve-richards.html


 


Hope that helps :)


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I live in Nuthall, slightly closer to M1.

 

You are only 10 or so minutes away from me.  If you take a look at my signature below you will see the scope and equipment i have, you will be more than welcome to come round or I bring my kit to you so you can take a look.  There are other who also live close by, perhaps we could arrange a meet up at some point in the near future to help you out, will give this a few days to see if any body else can help and we can look to get something arranged.

 

:)

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Gives me a shout I'll bring the dob. But only as long as there is tea!!☺

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Yeah, the world is a small place indeed! This is very helpful information. We could meet up in the future and right now I am finding that the Dob is the way to go. Ofcourse astrophotography will be an issue but at least the mount will be easier to assemble which many seem to complain about. I was fretting not having the Go To option but from the advice above it doesn't seem as daunting any more.

Many Thanks everyone!

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Dobs are a great hassle free way to go. As will probably have seen most us have normal Dobs and then modify with setting circles and angle finders. Just set the Co ordinates from a half decent phone app, I use skysafari, and away you go. On a good night I can find upwards of 20 objects in a session. Daz has a great how to guide in his signature and is the one I copied as the 8 and 10" use the same base.

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