Advice on telescopes

Hi folks,
I know asking for advice about which telescope to buy is like asking how
long is a piece of string, but I would be grateful for any pointers.
I used to be into astronomy 35 years ago, and have an old 3in refractor. I
really want to take it up actively again, but am getting a bit overwhelmed
by the shear number of scopes and mounts available. Is it worth getting one
of the computerised goto systems for example? Some of the celestron models
look good, but in some reviews they get slated for their build quality, with
people having to return them more than once.
I have a budget of about £600.
Many thanks in advance
Mike

Michael Cunningham wrote:

Hi folks,
I know asking for advice about which telescope to buy is like asking how
long is a piece of string, but I would be grateful for any pointers.
I used to be into astronomy 35 years ago, and have an old 3in refractor. I
really want to take it up actively again, but am getting a bit overwhelmed
by the shear number of scopes and mounts available. Is it worth getting one
of the computerised goto systems for example? Some of the celestron models
look good, but in some reviews they get slated for their build quality, with
people having to return them more than once.
I have a budget of about £600.
Many thanks in advance
Mike

I didn't take this advice myself, but it's generally considered a good
idea to visit you local astronomy group, or go to a Star Party, where
they'll usually let you have a look through the scopes that are there. I
tried a few cheaper scopes myself, before coming to my own conclusion.

Firstly, the best scope is the one you'll use, or use the most. So look
at your own situation, ability to lug it into the garden, for example.

Personally I feel the Goto mounts take away some of the fun of the
hobby. If you're into learning about the sky, then it could be better to
really learn it, and find your own way around. There could be a question
over reliability on the cheaper units anyway (£600 would be considered
so). Probably more useful if you want to try imaging.

The best 'bang for bucks' are the Dobsonian mounted reflectors. You'll
get a very reasonable scope on a Dob' mount for £600. I have a 6"
SkyWatcher myself, but you might get a 10" or even a 12" for your
budget, which should give pretty good views of many objects.

I also tried a 5" Mak, but didn't get on with it as well, it certainly
didn't have as good a viewing as the Dob, but I ended up selling it.

Looking back, I regret spending the money on the Mak, and wished I'd got
a larger Dob instead. It's much more interesting, for me, to locate
objects in the sky, and the brighter, sharper, images from the Dob are
worth the extra effort.

In the end though, you'll need to decide where your own priorities are,
and where you want to put your budget - mount or tube, or average the
two. The general 'you get what you pay for' rule applies of course. I
still feel that a decent sized Dobsonian mounted scope will offer the
best general purpose views that should keep you interested, and of
course there's little to go wrong, so it'll last for many years. A poor
scope, or a poor mount, is just likely to end up collecting dust.

It could also be worth considering a couple of decent eyepieces in the
budget too - most of the supplied ones are mediocre. You can get an
occasional bargain. I got an Antares 32mm eyepiece, which was pretty
cheap, and performs very well.

--
Andy Hewitt
http://web.me.com/andrewhewitt1/

Thanks Andy, much appreciated.
Mike
"Andy Hewitt" wrote in message
...
Michael Cunningham wrote:

Hi folks,
I know asking for advice about which telescope to buy is like asking how
long is a piece of string, but I would be grateful for any pointers.
I used to be into astronomy 35 years ago, and have an old 3in refractor.
I
really want to take it up actively again, but am getting a bit
overwhelmed
by the shear number of scopes and mounts available. Is it worth getting
one
of the computerised goto systems for example? Some of the celestron
models
look good, but in some reviews they get slated for their build quality,
with
people having to return them more than once.
I have a budget of about £600.
Many thanks in advance
Mike

I didn't take this advice myself, but it's generally considered a good
idea to visit you local astronomy group, or go to a Star Party, where
they'll usually let you have a look through the scopes that are there. I
tried a few cheaper scopes myself, before coming to my own conclusion.

Firstly, the best scope is the one you'll use, or use the most. So look
at your own situation, ability to lug it into the garden, for example.

Personally I feel the Goto mounts take away some of the fun of the
hobby. If you're into learning about the sky, then it could be better to
really learn it, and find your own way around. There could be a question
over reliability on the cheaper units anyway (£600 would be considered
so). Probably more useful if you want to try imaging.

The best 'bang for bucks' are the Dobsonian mounted reflectors. You'll
get a very reasonable scope on a Dob' mount for £600. I have a 6"
SkyWatcher myself, but you might get a 10" or even a 12" for your
budget, which should give pretty good views of many objects.

I also tried a 5" Mak, but didn't get on with it as well, it certainly
didn't have as good a viewing as the Dob, but I ended up selling it.

Looking back, I regret spending the money on the Mak, and wished I'd got
a larger Dob instead. It's much more interesting, for me, to locate
objects in the sky, and the brighter, sharper, images from the Dob are
worth the extra effort.

In the end though, you'll need to decide where your own priorities are,
and where you want to put your budget - mount or tube, or average the
two. The general 'you get what you pay for' rule applies of course. I
still feel that a decent sized Dobsonian mounted scope will offer the
best general purpose views that should keep you interested, and of
course there's little to go wrong, so it'll last for many years. A poor
scope, or a poor mount, is just likely to end up collecting dust.

It could also be worth considering a couple of decent eyepieces in the
budget too - most of the supplied ones are mediocre. You can get an
occasional bargain. I got an Antares 32mm eyepiece, which was pretty
cheap, and performs very well.

--
Andy Hewitt
http://web.me.com/andrewhewitt1/

On Sat, 3 Oct 2009 10:47:55 +0100, Michael Cunningham wrote:
Hi folks,
I know asking for advice about which telescope to buy is like asking how
long is a piece of string, but I would be grateful for any pointers.
I used to be into astronomy 35 years ago, and have an old 3in refractor. I
really want to take it up actively again, but am getting a bit overwhelmed
by the shear number of scopes and mounts available. Is it worth getting one
of the computerised goto systems for example? Some of the celestron models
look good, but in some reviews they get slated for their build quality, with
people having to return them more than once.
I have a budget of about £600.
Many thanks in advance
Mike


The first thing I'd do is buy a book called "Turn Left at Orion". One thing
this will tell you is that apart from the moon, planets and double stars, most
of the "stuff" you'll be looking at will appear as fuzzy blobs - and not as
the sort of colour images you see from Hubble, on TV (but I presume you know
that already).

When I started, I found it terribly difficult and frustrating to try to
eyeball the telescope to point at the things I wanted to see. Star-hopping
is all very well if you have a dark enough sky that the target stars are
actually visible in the first place: so you can even make out the constellations
and point thet 'scope at the right starting star.
Compare that with a computerised GOTO scope. Once you've spent half an hour
each evening setting it up (and maybe hooking it up to a laptop / PC) you can
just point and shoot to a specific object and get it pretty much in the view.
Although (as above) most of them turn out to be just fuzzy blobs, no matter
how big a 'scope you buy.

Thanks Pete,
at the end of the day I've decided on a skywatcher explorer 200 witheq5
mount and synscan goto system. It arrives in 2 days, can't wait!!!
Cheers
Mike
"pete" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 3 Oct 2009 10:47:55 +0100, Michael Cunningham wrote:
Hi folks,
I know asking for advice about which telescope to buy is like asking how
long is a piece of string, but I would be grateful for any pointers.
I used to be into astronomy 35 years ago, and have an old 3in refractor.
I
really want to take it up actively again, but am getting a bit
overwhelmed
by the shear number of scopes and mounts available. Is it worth getting
one
of the computerised goto systems for example? Some of the celestron
models
look good, but in some reviews they get slated for their build quality,
with
people having to return them more than once.
I have a budget of about £600.
Many thanks in advance
Mike


The first thing I'd do is buy a book called "Turn Left at Orion". One
thing
this will tell you is that apart from the moon, planets and double stars,
most
of the "stuff" you'll be looking at will appear as fuzzy blobs - and not
as
the sort of colour images you see from Hubble, on TV (but I presume you
know
that already).

When I started, I found it terribly difficult and frustrating to try to
eyeball the telescope to point at the things I wanted to see. Star-hopping
is all very well if you have a dark enough sky that the target stars are
actually visible in the first place: so you can even make out the
constellations
and point thet 'scope at the right starting star.
Compare that with a computerised GOTO scope. Once you've spent half an
hour
each evening setting it up (and maybe hooking it up to a laptop / PC) you
can
just point and shoot to a specific object and get it pretty much in the
view.
Although (as above) most of them turn out to be just fuzzy blobs, no
matter
how big a 'scope you buy.

"Michael Cunningham" wrote in message
...
Thanks Pete,
at the end of the day I've decided on a skywatcher explorer 200 witheq5
mount and synscan goto system. It arrives in 2 days, can't wait!!!
Cheers
Mike
[trim]

Well, that explains the change from clear skies every night to endless rain
and cloud...

....though technically, this isn't supposed to happen until you actually
receive the beast.

--
Mike Dworetsky

(Remove pants sp*mbl*ck to reply)

"Michael Cunningham" wrote in message
...
Thanks Pete,
at the end of the day I've decided on a skywatcher explorer 200 witheq5
mount and synscan goto system. It arrives in 2 days, can't wait!!!

Mike, great to hear you've ordered - as Mike D says, shame about the
weather...

Could you be so kind as to let me know via this thread how it works when you
get it.
I'm still trying to decide between that, and a Celestron C8-N GT

Basically I'm after an 8" - so its light enough to be portable into the
moors from home (scarbro') but still be study enough to do imaging.

Best wishes

Kev Lawrence

On Tue, 6 Oct 2009 11:17:24 +0100, Kev Lawrence wrote:


"Michael Cunningham" wrote in message
...
Thanks Pete,
at the end of the day I've decided on a skywatcher explorer 200 witheq5
mount and synscan goto system. It arrives in 2 days, can't wait!!!

Mike, great to hear you've ordered - as Mike D says, shame about the
weather...

Could you be so kind as to let me know via this thread how it works when you
get it.
I'm still trying to decide between that, and a Celestron C8-N GT

Basically I'm after an 8" - so its light enough to be portable into the
moors from home (scarbro') but still be study enough to do imaging.

I've got a supermarket 3" reflector. It was cheap enough to chuck out
if I found I didn't have much interest in the end. I know it's a poor
telescope and terrestrial images are worse in it than the binoculars.
About a month ago I had a look at Jupiter and the neighbour also had a
look and said he could see four moons. I almost shoved him out of the
way to have a look, while wondering how he knew 4 were visible, and
there they were. I'd though they were just aberrations from the cheap
telescope when I saw them when I set it up.

That made me decide to get a better one and I've ended up ordering a
Celestron Advanced C9.25-SGT-XLT which should be here in the next
couple of days. I was going to go for an 8 inch Skywatcher Explorer too
but I have a damaged spine and bending down to the eyepiece is
extremely painful and I hope to be able to sit comfortably with this
one. Also the eyepiece rotating around the scope as you moved across
the sky was very annoying and I'd have to rotate the tube in it's
mounting so that I could still look.

I've got a free camera with mine, which I've upgraded to the autoguider
one, so I can play with photography and hopefully see more eventually.
I'm in the country in North Yorkshire and I'm not planning on taking it
anywhere so went for the 9.25 inch instead of the 8 inch.

--
Regards - Rodney Pont
The from address exists but is mostly dumped,
please send any emails to the address below
e-mail ngpsm4 (at) infohitsystems (dot) ltd (dot) uk

Hi Kev,
Will do. Due to arrive tomorrow, but here in Burnley is persisting down and
it looks like it's set for a couple days so may be a while before I can
seriously road test it. My appologies to everyone in the north of England
for annoying the rain Gods!
Mike
"Kev Lawrence" wrote in message
...

"Michael Cunningham" wrote in message
...
Thanks Pete,
at the end of the day I've decided on a skywatcher explorer 200 witheq5
mount and synscan goto system. It arrives in 2 days, can't wait!!!

Mike, great to hear you've ordered - as Mike D says, shame about the
weather...

Could you be so kind as to let me know via this thread how it works when
you get it.
I'm still trying to decide between that, and a Celestron C8-N GT

Basically I'm after an 8" - so its light enough to be portable into the
moors from home (scarbro') but still be study enough to do imaging.

Best wishes

Kev Lawrence

On Tue, 6 Oct 2009 15:59:43 +0100, Michael Cunningham wrote:

Hi Kev,
Will do. Due to arrive tomorrow, but here in Burnley is persisting down and
it looks like it's set for a couple days so may be a while before I can
seriously road test it. My appologies to everyone in the north of England
for annoying the rain Gods!

It's persisting down in the east here as well but is looking good for
tomorrow and Thursday nights. Can't remember what it said about over
there in the far west but I'll keep my fingers crossed for you :-)

--
Regards - Rodney Pont
The from address exists but is mostly dumped,
please send any emails to the address below
e-mail ngpsm4 (at) infohitsystems (dot) ltd (dot) uk