ETX 105 good scope? :)

Hello fellow astronomers,

I'm based in Bristol. I am seriously considering a scope (my first)
after wanting one for some years. I only just graduated and landed a
job so my budget is pretty modest. However, I think I can grab a Meade
ETX 105 without a problem. I'm looking for something that's going to be
a bit portable and something I can use to start checking out deep space
objects, nebs and galaxies (damn that is exciting), is it a good choice?
Will I look back and be happy I purchased it?

I know it's all a bit abstract , you get what you pay for , and it
depends on 'what you want' essentially, and this is all true, I guess I
just want some professional uk duders opinions on whether this scope is
good, and will make me happy!

Thanks all!

--
One framework to rule them all...

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!!: !!! !!: :!! !!: :!! !!: !!: !!! !:!
:: : ::: :: :: :: : : : : : :.:: : ::.: :

n3crius .net programmer (c#/asp.net)

"n3crius" wrote in message
...
Hello fellow astronomers,

I'm based in Bristol. I am seriously considering a scope (my first)
after wanting one for some years. I only just graduated and landed a
job so my budget is pretty modest. However, I think I can grab a Meade

I'm mighty impressed if you can get a Meade 105 ETX on a modest budget !

Dr DNA wrote:
"n3crius" wrote in message
...

Hello fellow astronomers,

I'm based in Bristol. I am seriously considering a scope (my first)
after wanting one for some years. I only just graduated and landed a
job so my budget is pretty modest. However, I think I can grab a Meade


I'm mighty impressed if you can get a Meade 105 ETX on a modest budget !




Kinda thought I might get that comment! I dunno, I always been
realistic about astronomy I suppose. I mean sure I'd have loved to get
a scope for years now but I've always said I might as well wait until I
can get something that's gonna rock (for a newb!), so I'm kinda aiming
at low end, but still, something that's gonna be... proper, something I
can actually see stuff with clearly. I don't know if I'm making sense
here to be honest.
I don't earn a bad wage for a grad, probably avg, but I don't go out
spending on beer, and I use a mountain bike not a car, so I think these
differences in my appraoch to my lifestyle warrant me a fairly decent
telescope.

Anyway, back to the original questions.. any thoughts? And thanks for
the reply.

--
One framework to rule them all...

@@@ @@@ @@@@@@ @@@@@@@ @@@@@@@ @@@ @@@ @@@ @@@@@@
@@!@!@@@ @@! !@@ @@! @@@ @@! @@! @@@ !@@
@!@@!!@! @!!!: !@! @!@!!@! !!@ @!@ !@! !@@!!
!!: !!! !!: :!! !!: :!! !!: !!: !!! !:!
:: : ::: :: :: :: : : : : : :.:: : ::.: :

n3crius .net programmer (c#/asp.net)

Don't worry, it was only jealousy ! I hope you're getting insurance for it,
you don't want to fall off cycling up Park Street with it on your back.

I've no real idea about the telescope, it sounds pretty good to me.

"n3crius" wrote in message
...
Hello fellow astronomers,

I'm based in Bristol. I am seriously considering a scope (my first)
after wanting one for some years. I only just graduated and landed a
job so my budget is pretty modest. However, I think I can grab a Meade
ETX 105 without a problem. I'm looking for something that's going to be
a bit portable and something I can use to start checking out deep space
objects, nebs and galaxies (damn that is exciting), is it a good choice?
Will I look back and be happy I purchased it?

I have one, and the 105 is certainly (trans)portable. BUT, it's an f14
aperture, (1470mm focal length), so in brightness terms it's a bit slow and deep
space objects in this light polluted island of ours will not be easy. You could
take it into mid-Wales which is much darker than most of England, and you might
be lucky to see DSOs. Even with a 40mm eyepiece the field of view is still
quite narrow, and because of the 1470mm focal length, star clusters may extend
more than the field of view.
Try visiting an astronomy club (on a viewing night) and get their help on
viewing DSOs. The ETX series is good for some easy planets, and the moon.
Mounted 7x50 binocs might be better for DSOs! I've been impressed by the
comparison!
The ETX GoTo works, and at least I've learnt many more star names since having
mine.
--
M Stewart
Milton Keynes, UK
www.megalith.freeserve.co.uk/oddimage.htm
http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/ms1938/

You will pick up a good second-hand one at www.ukastroads.co.uk

I think the ETX105 is a good telescope. It is compact and the GOTO works
really well. I personally would not recommend any non GOTO scope to a
begineer because you wlil never find anything.

In our light polluted sky the GOTO will be your saviour because you will
find those objects. From Southampton on a clear night, under quite polluted
skies I managed to see M1 in an ETX-90.

Your best bet is to try visit a local astronomy group and look through the
various telescopes. Unfortunately size does matter so be warned if you look
through a large telescope and then go back to a smaller telescope.

Hope this helps,
Lilian

On Wed, 10 Mar 2004 01:35:03 -0000, "Lilian"
wrote:

I think the ETX105 is a good telescope. It is compact and the GOTO works
really well. I personally would not recommend any non GOTO scope to a
begineer because you wlil never find anything.

GOTO hasn't been around for ever and we were all beginners once!
--
Pete Lawrence
http://www.pbl33.co.uk
Home of the Lunar Parallax Demonstration Project

I haven't used a GOTO scope but my experience with a non-GOTO scope as a
beginner might be useful to you.

I have an Orion Optics 6" Newtonian on a GEM mount. Finding stuff was quite
hard to begin with which I found frustrating. But you do get the hang of it
and it's rewarding when it comes together. I guess it could be compared to
learning golf or another sport. It feels odd and clumsy when you start, but
when it starts to click it feels good :O) Saying that, there is stuff I
can't find and to be fair, it's still irritating.

I wouldn't say my scope is very portable and the awkwardness of a scope can
put me off using it some evenings. To that end the dinky ETX would be great.
That said, sometimes I wish it had greater light gathering power than 6".
You mightl quickly want more than the 105mm if you like deep sky stuff too.

The problem with astronomy is expectations, the large range of scopes
available and the fact that different scopes are better at different things.
I was afflicted by choice paralysis for way too long - my advice is to not
think about it too much. You could always buy a cheap Dob at a later date.

Good luck,

Ash

"Pete Lawrence" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 10 Mar 2004 01:35:03 -0000, "Lilian"
wrote:

I think the ETX105 is a good telescope. It is compact and the GOTO works
really well. I personally would not recommend any non GOTO scope to a
begineer because you wlil never find anything.

GOTO hasn't been around for ever and we were all beginners once!
--
Pete Lawrence
http://www.pbl33.co.uk
Home of the Lunar Parallax Demonstration Project

Pete Lawrence wrote:

On Wed, 10 Mar 2004 01:35:03 -0000, "Lilian"
wrote:

I think the ETX105 is a good telescope. It is compact and the GOTO works
really well. I personally would not recommend any non GOTO scope to a
begineer because you wlil never find anything.

GOTO hasn't been around for ever and we were all beginners once!

Trouble is the wastage rate. How many beginners are still at the
eyepiece 5 years later? I suspect there are likely to be many more in
the goto age than before it.

An offsetting effect is that we are richer (or less shy of getting
into debt) and there may be many more impulse purchases than say 20 or
30 years ago. The scope lanuishes in the cupboard, not because it
won't point at the ring nebula but because the ring nebula doesn't
look as exciting as the expectatations.

--
Martin Frey
http://www.hadastro.org.uk
N 51 02 E 0 47

On Wed, 10 Mar 2004 16:15:07 +0000, Martin Frey
wrote:

Pete Lawrence wrote:

On Wed, 10 Mar 2004 01:35:03 -0000, "Lilian"
wrote:

I think the ETX105 is a good telescope. It is compact and the GOTO works
really well. I personally would not recommend any non GOTO scope to a
begineer because you wlil never find anything.

GOTO hasn't been around for ever and we were all beginners once!

Trouble is the wastage rate. How many beginners are still at the
eyepiece 5 years later? I suspect there are likely to be many more in
the goto age than before it.

An offsetting effect is that we are richer (or less shy of getting
into debt) and there may be many more impulse purchases than say 20 or
30 years ago. The scope lanuishes in the cupboard, not because it
won't point at the ring nebula but because the ring nebula doesn't
look as exciting as the expectatations.

I was commenting on the statement that as a beginner "you will never
find anything without GOTO".

If you're unable to put in the effort to learn a bit of manual
finding, then the hobby is going to give back less IMHO (actually I
know that this isn't just my IMHO because of comments made to me by
GOTO'ers who've turned the computer off and thoroughly enjoyed the
learning experience). Ultimately if the hobby gives back less, the
wastage rate is still going to be high.

Seems to me that putting in a bit of effort is looked on as being a
bit elitist these days - which is a great pity because it's not. It's
simply putting in a bit of effort! If you took up fly fishing and
couldn't get to grips with it, would it be acceptable to use a trawl
net (or perhaps dynamite). You'd certainly get fast results and open
up the hobby to everyone ;-)

Having said this, there is a place for GOTO. It's great for CCD
imagers who want to locate really faint objects that they can't see
visually. It's also useful for people who live under heavily light
polluted skies. However, the question must be asked as to whether
such views are likely to show much anyway. The real plus points for
the little ETX scopes is that they are portable enough to pick up and
take to a dark site.

--
Pete Lawrence
http://www.pbl33.co.uk
Home of the Lunar Parallax Demonstration Project