Telescope advice (again)

[dawson]

Some I know wants to spend £600-£700 on a telescope for their partner as a present, as a surprise.

The partner doesn't have a telescope and is very amateur in astronomy, but I suspect will get quite into it.

They have identified this telescope:

/>http://www.astronomycentre.co.uk/Celestron_Catadioptric_Telescope_SkyProdigy_90_MAK_p/c22091.htm

I suggested that they should maybe think about a scope with an equatorial mount so that they could use it for getting some images of deep sky objects, and have found this on the same website:

/>http://www.astronomycentre.co.uk/Celestron_Newtonian_Telescope_Advanced_C6_NGT_p/c31054.htm

They want it to have a GOTO system.

They live in a dark area so won't need to transport it around too often.

I think they'll want to do some astrophotography when they get the scope.

Any comments / advice?

Thanks

James

[Sheila]

If imaging they r going to need good mount. HEQ5 or NEQ6 minimum , which may puts them above budget. If they go less on the mount they will prob have to upgrade

fairly quickly. So it needs some serious thought as to whether they want to image first.

Sheila

[Brantuk]

A 90mm Mak is a pretty small scope - and most of the money on the Prodigy is going into the mount, electronics, and camera. It'll give very small views of planets and being alt/az won't be much cop for imaging dso's. But the killer for me is that there's not much point having a 40,000 object database if you can't see 99% of them in the eyepiece. It's a gimmick scope/mount combo with not enough aperture for anything of use astronomy wise (IMHO).

The C6 on the other hand is a pretty well established scope/mount combo - a much more realistic scope with good aperture - and on a very capable mount. I started with a 150P (the SW equiv) and it delighted us for 2yrs before we upgraded. The CG5GT goto is excellent allbeit a tad noisy due to the hollow farings. I only sold mine cos I upgraded - but it's capable of taking an 8" OTA for observing and reasonably acceptable dso imaging. It'll take other ota's too (eg short tube wide field appos - better for imaging).

At least the C6 would give them an upgrade path which the prodigy doesn't. The C6 is cheaper here:

http://www.firstligh...-n-gt-goto.html

[Doc]

I agree with Kim the Prodigy Mak is just a gimmick in which you will see maybe 40 out of the 40,000 objects in its database, the reason being the aperture is way to small.

My advice would be ditch the idea of imaging until they are more experienced, forget electrics and buy a 12" dob, your views will be hundred times better then a 90mm Mak.

[dawson]

Thanks for the comments.I'd totally missed the fact that the Mak was only 90mm, I'd got into my head it was a 6 inch. Even more reason not to get that one.

I think having the ability to do some imaging of both local and some deep space objects makes astronomy much more fun. I'd worry the peron the gift is for would get bored pretty soon of naked eye astronomy and want to start playing with imaging, which is why I thought something on an equatorial mount would be better.

Bit thanks again for the comments.

James

[catman161]

My advice would be ditch the idea of imaging until they are more experienced, forget electrics and buy a 12" dob, your views will be hundred times better then a 90mm Mak.

Seconded-Start with proper astronomy and find the objects yourself eh Mick

I think that's part of the fun finding them yourself. Admittedly sometimes frustrating but that feeling of elation when you do find what what you're after is great

[BAZ]

With small GoTo mounts, such as the prodigy, I would be concerned the mount could handle any camera, except for a small webcam.

This is based on personal experience with a Meade ETX80, I got this before I found SGL and EMS. Having tried to mount firstly a DSLR, and then a compact camera, there was no way the mount would drive it, even with weight taped to the tube to balance it, it would not track, it simply didn't have any guts to move it.

It could be an expensive welcome to the dark side with a burnt out mount!

I think if you are serious about imaging, get a decent EQ mount, and a small refractor to start with. The mount is crucial to any success in this, and for that reason alone, is expensive to set up from scratch.

As Felix also mentioned, it may be well worth the effort getting to know your way round the sky first. This is unless you have a goto, which you are able to trust getting you to the target, some of the objects are difficult to find without one.

Most are not visible to our eye's, which is where imaging is able to build up the light gathered, bringing it out in an image. Knowing where an object should be will save no end of frustration when the mount is pointing the wrong way.

[Guest MrsR]

I am totally a beginner but I have spent the last year going round in circles about what to get with a similar budget and the want to do astro photography but I finally decided on a Dob 250 as there is no way I could get a decent enough mount and scope for the budget. My thought process is to buy the best scope for my money and learn the skies, in time I can buy a mount for the Dob - be a big set up but without having enough cash to buy the right scope and the right mount I've settled on the best scope so I can save the cash for the mount while I enjoy the night sky.

Sorry I my advice is useless as I am a beginner but just thought I shout up. X

[Brantuk]

Not useless at all Nikki - the folks Paul is advising are beginners as well so every contribution is highly valued - you're really saying the same thing the others have said - but put in a way a beginner will understand - which could help Paul explain it to them

[Guest MrsR]

Thanks Kim

[dawson]

Yes, thanks all for the advice and words of wisdom.

The budget has gone up to £1000 or £1200 ish (I lied about the scenario to hide the story from the person it is for in case they read this).

They do want, as I suspected, to get into imaging of DSOs, so I agree an equatorial mount is pretty much essential, and while the idea of a big dob has some appeal, it does make that more tricky I'm led to believe.

Do any members have any suggestions of packages for this kind of budget which have an OK scope, a reasonable equatorial mount and a GOTO system?

My friend who I'm posting this on behalf is very grateful for all your help and advice, he is following this thread with interest. If any of you want to communicate with him directly, drop me an email and I'll pass on his email address to you.

Many thanks again.

James

[dawson]

What about either of these:

/>http://www.astroshop.eu/skywatcher-telescope-n-250-1200-pds-explorer-bd-eq-6-pro-synscan-goto/p,19171#tab_bar_1_select

/>http://www.astroshop.eu/celestron-telescope-n-254-1200-advanced-c10-ngt-goto/p,17682

[Daz Type-R]

James.

For imaging, mounts are everything - the better the mount, the better the image, you could have the worlds best scope on a cheap mount, it would wobble, not track properly, a complete waste, so I would recomend throwing more at the mount.

So to pick a few.......

Skywatcher NEQ6 PRO Synscan - £960.00

http://www.firstlightoptics.com/skywatcher-mounts/skywatcher-neq6-pro-synscan.html

Skywatcher HEQ5 PRO Synscan - £760.00

http://www.firstlightoptics.com/skywatcher-mounts/skywatcher-heq5-pro-synscan.html

Celestron CG-5 GT GOTO - £525.00

http://www.firstlightoptics.com/celestron-mounts/celestron-cg-5-gt-goto.html

These are just 3 that I would be looking for when going down the astrophotography route - other people in the know may advise differently.

You will also need to factor everything else in, like filters, t-ring adapters, remote camera shutters etc etc, I`m not in astrophotography so not the best to advise here, but you are running out of budget once everything starts adding up.

Scope wise, lets see if I can find something around the £500-£600 mark, if they are adament it is DSO's they want and not planets (or both) then this will affect the outcome, as a F15 on planets will be awesome, compared to a F4 on planets, you need a fast scope F5 below to best suited to DSO's (hope I have that right)

You could allways get a High F ratio scope sutible for planets and then buy a reducer, bringing it back down to a more DSO friendly F ratio, but again, this is down to cost.

Celestron C6 XLT Optical Tube Assembly - £530.00

http://www.firstlightoptics.com/optical-tube-assemblies/celestron-c6-xlt-optical-tube-assembly.html

Skywatcher Quattro f4 Imaging Newtonian - 8" cheapest @ £395.00 - can go upto 12" (check weight)

http://www.firstlightoptics.com/pro-series/skywatcher-quattro-f4-imaging-newtonian.html

These are just a few of the scopes I could quick (due to being at work), I`m sure somebody else will find some more sutible ones, but this will point you in the right direction.

Happy hunting.

[Guest Kheldar]

HEQ5 Synscan + ED80 - done

[Daz Type-R]

HEQ5 Synscan + ED80 - done

Balls, forgot about the ED80.

Mike (Perki8r) has done some awesome images with the ED80.

[Guest Kheldar]

Balls, forgot about the ED80.

Mike (Perki8r) has done some awesome images with the ED80.

Mike has the ST80 I believe, different beasts

[Daz Type-R]

Double balls.

Sorry.

[dawson]

That's a great start, thank you.

Any good links for the ED80?

James

[Daz Type-R]

http://www.firstlightoptics.com/pro-series/skywatcher-evostar-80ed-ds-pro-ota.html

Looks like you don't get the finder scope with that - just FYI....

[Guest Kheldar]

http://www.firstlightoptics.com/pro-series/skywatcher-evostar-80ed-ds-pro-outfit.html Full Kit

http://www.firstlightoptics.com/pro-series/skywatcher-evostar-80ed-ds-pro-ota.html Reduced Accesory Version

[dawson]

This is really helpful, thank you.

My friend will be along later to check the postings (he's not a stargazers member, but can read the postings).

I think he is going to make a list of options and show the guy who is retiring, so he at least gets something he likes the look of.

Thanks again.

Feel free to post any other options / combinations.

Regards

James

[dawson]

Does this include both of the above at a discount:

/>http://www.firstlightoptics.com/pro-series/skywatcher-evostar-80ed-pro-heq5-pro.html

James

[Guest Kheldar]

Does this include both of the above at a discount:

http://www.firstligh...o-heq5-pro.html

James

Yup

[Brantuk]

HEQ5 Sysnscan good - ED80 - good - but if you can stretch to the ED100 you wouldn't regret it

[Perkil8r]

I have the lowly eq5 non goto no whistles or bells mount and an St80 also a 200p. The 200p can grab some very nice visual and I have managed subs of 90 secs on the eq5 with a fair degree of success. The st80 I can push to just under 2 mins at the moment but I do plan on trying for in excess of that when we get a good windless night. If I had the budget though I would be looking at the HEQ5 with goto of some description and an ED80. Yes it is possible to take some pictures with my kit, and some say they don't come out too bad, but it is very hard work to get everything just so, and the results are not top draw.

in short... heq5 with ed80 = very nice starter set up for imaging that should allow a fair "scope" for carrying on without upgrade for quite some time.