DS-2114ATS: How good is it?

Hello,

I have never used a telescope before. I was planning to buy Meade DS-2114ATS
..

Is it good enough for a starter? I live in NY considering the light
pollution what stellar objects can I observe through it?


Thanks
Kiran

"kiran" wrote in message news:9hT5d.4771$sP2.1019@trndny04...

I have never used a telescope before. I was planning to buy Meade DS-2114ATS.

Is it good enough for a starter?

I think that there are better telescopes available for the price.
This particular model has a "relay lens" that people have generally
found unsatisfactory, so I suggest that you avoid it. As an example,
a different telescope of the same basic class that should give you
better results is the Celestron NexStar 130GT:

http://www.optcorp.com/cart/ProductD...ProductID=2879

Probably the most basic questions to ask first a

1) How much money do you think you'd be willing to spend? And how
susceptible are you to suggestions? ;-) Not that money is necessarily
the most important thing, but we all have limits.

2) How important do you consider "GoTo" (AutoStar in your example)
capability? This may be difficult for you to answer since you haven't
used a telescope before, but try to give a sense of how willing you'd
be to consider a telescope that does not locate objects for you. What
you'd get for trading off the convenience of automation is better
views of celestial objects for the same cost.

I live in NY considering the light
pollution what stellar objects can I observe through it?

Depending on the specifics of your observing location, you may be able
to see quite a bit, with some luck and a telescope of sufficiently
large aperture. When the Moon is not in the sky, how many stars can
you normally see, with some effort? Several? Dozens? Hundreds? If
you're familiar with some of the constellations, which ones can you
actually see? This will vary from night to night, but try to envision
an "average" night at your location.


- Robert Cook

Thanks Robert.

Yea money is one of the key factor. I have an opportunity of getting a Meade
DS-2114ATS for less than 50% of its actually price from a known source(which
guarantees its quality).

I want to develop my interest in stellar observation. From what I heard
locating start manually could be a pains taking job for starters.

so price + some automation is my consideration for this particular telescope
model. But I don't know about its performance.

Once I get hang of things I am planning to invest a good amount for a better
equipment.

Thanks,
Kiran


"Robert Cook" wrote in message
om...
"kiran" wrote in message
news:9hT5d.4771$sP2.1019@trndny04...

I have never used a telescope before. I was planning to buy Meade
DS-2114ATS.

Is it good enough for a starter?

I think that there are better telescopes available for the price.
This particular model has a "relay lens" that people have generally
found unsatisfactory, so I suggest that you avoid it. As an example,
a different telescope of the same basic class that should give you
better results is the Celestron NexStar 130GT:

http://www.optcorp.com/cart/ProductD...ProductID=2879

Probably the most basic questions to ask first a

1) How much money do you think you'd be willing to spend? And how
susceptible are you to suggestions? ;-) Not that money is necessarily
the most important thing, but we all have limits.

2) How important do you consider "GoTo" (AutoStar in your example)
capability? This may be difficult for you to answer since you haven't
used a telescope before, but try to give a sense of how willing you'd
be to consider a telescope that does not locate objects for you. What
you'd get for trading off the convenience of automation is better
views of celestial objects for the same cost.

I live in NY considering the light
pollution what stellar objects can I observe through it?

Depending on the specifics of your observing location, you may be able
to see quite a bit, with some luck and a telescope of sufficiently
large aperture. When the Moon is not in the sky, how many stars can
you normally see, with some effort? Several? Dozens? Hundreds? If
you're familiar with some of the constellations, which ones can you
actually see? This will vary from night to night, but try to envision
an "average" night at your location.


- Robert Cook

I've had one for about a year. I've never been able to properly
collimate it even with my laser collimeter. Thank God it's not my
only or primary scope.

On Mon, 27 Sep 2004 12:00:05 GMT, "kiran"
wrote:

Hello,

I have never used a telescope before. I was planning to buy Meade DS-2114ATS
.

Is it good enough for a starter? I live in NY considering the light
pollution what stellar objects can I observe through it?


Thanks
Kiran

"kiran" wrote in
news:ckn6d.3849$6f.1866@trndny02:

Thanks Robert.

Yea money is one of the key factor. I have an opportunity of getting a
Meade DS-2114ATS for less than 50% of its actually price from a known
source(which guarantees its quality).

There may be a very good reason it is available at less than 50% of its
original price. A good telescope will not depreciate very much at all.

I want to develop my interest in stellar observation. From what I
heard locating start manually could be a pains taking job for
starters.

When you say "stellar" do you mean that you only want to look at stars, or
are you also interested in galaxies, planetary nebulae, globular clusters
and other deep space objects?

so price + some automation is my consideration for this particular
telescope model. But I don't know about its performance.

Low price generally = poor automation.

Once I get hang of things I am planning to invest a good amount for a
better equipment.

Starting out with a poor quality scope often discourages you from pursuing
the hobby to the point where you would be willing to invest more. You
might want to consider finding a local astronomy club and seeing if they
have scopes avaialable for rent.

kiran wrote:
Hello,

I have never used a telescope before. I was planning to buy Meade DS-2114ATS
.

Is it good enough for a starter? I live in NY considering the light
pollution what stellar objects can I observe through it?

No, it's not. I wouldn't suggest it. Try the first scope here (for
$249 shipped).

http://www.seansastronomyshop.com/in...elescopes.html


-tom

"kiran" wrote in message news:ckn6d.3849$6f.1866@trndny02...

Yea money is one of the key factor. I have an opportunity of getting a Meade
DS-2114ATS for less than 50% of its actually price

Out of curiosity, how much is it exactly? Is it used, and are you
buying it from someone you know (who might let you look through it
first)?

from a known source(which
guarantees its quality).

This could have a number of meanings. All I can tell you is that this
telescope's basic design is compromised in a manner that many amateur
astronomers find questionable. The issues are not only optical
quality, but the difficulty of keeping it well tuned, especially for
beginners. It should still be able to give you interesting views of
celestial objects, though, so if you end up buying it, don't let
anyone discourage you from getting the most out of it--after all, many
of us started out with lesser equipment. I'm just letting you know
what you're getting into, that's all. :-)

I want to develop my interest in stellar observation.

As Paul pointed out, there are many objects other than stars. Most of
them either consist of stars or involve stars in some other way, but
they are of a different nature in terms of observing. Then there are
the Moon, Sun (do NOT observe without a special solar filter!), and
planets, of course.

From what I heard
locating start manually could be a pains taking job for starters.

It can be a pain at times, although it involves some skills and
knowledge that you'll need to develop no matter what kind of telescope
you own. For example, GoTo telescopes are not always going to place
an object at the dead center of your eyepiece's field of view, so you
may need to be able to navigate within your field of view in order to
find certain objects, such as the smaller planetary nebulae and
Neptune. You will also need to be able to manually locate a number of
stars in order to set up (align) a GoTo scope every time you use it.
It can be quite frustrating if you're not yet familiar with the sky,
pick the wrong alignment star, and are not exactly sure about what
you're supposed to see. In addition, there may be electrical and
mechanical issues with which to contend, along with the cost of AA
batteries in the smaller GoTo telescopes (rechargeable cells or power
packs would help, but that's still money allocated to something other
than the optics).

This is not to say that GoTo is necessarily more trouble than it is
worth. For some amateur astronomers of any level of experience, it's
a convenience that can greatly enhance their enjoyment of this hobby
if they don't like looking for objects all the time, and beginners who
are good at using gizmos could be spared the potential frustration of
learning how to "star-hop" at such an early stage. I had mentioned
that similar skills and knowledge would be required in any case, but
for some people, the part that's in between recognizing a few major
stars and finding objects within a narrow field of view is far more
difficult to master, while for others, it can be a challenge that
actually makes the views of celestial objects more rewarding when
you're starting out. Everyone is different, but non-GoTo beginners
also benefit from superior views, since more of their limited budget
went into their optics, mainly in the form of larger apertures.
Relatively large apertures are helpful for all beginners, because most
objects simply aren't easy to see, especially under light pollution.
Needless to say, there is no "free lunch."

If you want me to go even further into the gory--but quite
practical--details, there is also the mundane but often serious issue
of vibration. Most small, inexpensive telescopes (including automated
ones) come with flimsy mounts and tripods, which can make something as
fundamental as focusing quite a chore, if not impractical. And my
understanding is that the Meade DS-2114ATS has a plastic focuser that
may not be very nice to use, in the first place. In contrast, the
most cost-effective type of telescope is a "Dob" (a Newtonian
reflector on a Dobsonian mount). These telescopes are generally not
automated, but they provide large apertures for their price, and are
exceptionally stable (free from vibration) and easy to use. Of
course, only you can decide which features are more important to you.
Obviously, I tend to favor larger apertures with no GoTo automation,
but then again I'm a very patient, systematic person, and from my
backyard I can see the Milky Way and plenty of stars; if you can't see
much from where you plan to observe most of the time, then I think
that GoTo would be very helpful. Ah, the tyranny of choice! ;-)

so price + some automation is my consideration for this particular telescope
model. But I don't know about its performance.

Hopefully, those who have firsthand experience with this model will
chime in.

Once I get hang of things I am planning to invest a good amount for a better
equipment.

If the issue at hand is determining whether you have sufficient
interest in amateur astronomy, that would be one thing, but if you
already plan to invest in better equipment and the issue is merely
learning the ropes, then you might as well buy better equipment
now--let's face it, for basic visual observation, beginners need good
equipment more than experts do. You could save money by not buying
equipment that you would likely want to replace anyway (assuming that
it didn't prematurely kill your interest through needless
frustration). If you get a nice telescope and discover that you're
really not interested in amateur astronomy enough to continue, then
you could recoup most of your investment by selling it. This strategy
seems to make sense to me, but if anyone thinks that I'm
(unintentionally) leading Kiran astray here, please let me know.


- Robert Cook

vic20owner wrote in message ...

kiran wrote:

I have never used a telescope before. I was planning to buy Meade DS-2114ATS.

Is it good enough for a starter?

No, it's not.

Succinctly put, and personally, I agree.

I wouldn't suggest it. Try the first scope here (for
$249 shipped).

http://www.seansastronomyshop.com/in...elescopes.html

For only $50 more, the 8" Dob seems to be a better deal, in my opinion.


- Robert Cook

Hey Kiran . . . I e-mailse you at your Yahoo account. . . .


Clear Skies, Roger ?:^)