Help.. buying advice needed

Firstly, I know bugger all about astronomy.. apart from space is big... etc

However, my wife who is from Montana (you would not believe the starscape
there) knows quite a bit about it. She's always wanted a good telescope but
has never been able to afford one worth buying. I'd like to buy her one
for her birthday ithout asking her and spoiling the surprise.

Being of the "you get what you pay for" frame of mind, I'd like to find a
decent spec telescope that won't limit her or our son as he gets older.

What should I be looking for ?

Would like it to be computer controlled and have ability to do photography.

Computer cotrolled - just need a low end laptop ?
photography - have a canon SLR cameral, will that work ?

Ye, I know it's vague, but any info would be welcome.

Thanks
Adrian

Originally Posted by Adrian Parker

Firstly, I know bugger all about astronomy.. apart from space is big... etc

However, my wife who is from Montana (you would not believe the starscape
there) knows quite a bit about it. She's always wanted a good telescope but
has never been able to afford one worth buying. I'd like to buy her one
for her birthday ithout asking her and spoiling the surprise.

Being of the "you get what you pay for" frame of mind, I'd like to find a
decent spec telescope that won't limit her or our son as he gets older.

What should I be looking for ?

Would like it to be computer controlled and have ability to do photography.

Computer cotrolled - just need a low end laptop ?
photography - have a canon SLR cameral, will that work ?

Ye, I know it's vague, but any info would be welcome.

Thanks
Adrian

You don't say what your wife is interested in skywise - planets/ deepsky? If universal try value Dobs from http://www.telescopehouse.co.uk/

Nytecam 51N 0.1W

"Adrian Parker" wrote in message
. uk...

SNIP
She's always wanted a good telescope but has never been able to afford one
worth buying. I'd like to buy her one for her birthday ithout asking her
and spoiling the surprise.

Being of the "you get what you pay for" frame of mind, I'd like to find a
decent spec telescope that won't limit her or our son as he gets older.

What should I be looking for ?

Would like it to be computer controlled and have ability to do
photography.

Computer cotrolled - just need a low end laptop ?
photography - have a canon SLR cameral, will that work ?

What would she be happiest looking at, Deep Space, Planets or both?
How much are you happy to spend?

When you say "computer controlled": GOTO telescopes manufactured by
companies such as Meade and Celestron have dedicated computer handsets to
control the telescope. They can also be linked to a laptop with the correct
cable. If you're taking pictures with a webcam or dedicated imager you'll be
needing a laptop anyway.

What type of photography? Planets, moon and sun are best achieved with a
decent webcam (or similar) and can be obtained with a lower end mount/drive
due to the short exposures required. Deep Sky photography requires a better
(cue: more expensive) mount and drives. Your Canon SLR camera is capable of
astrophotography but you'd be better off with either a dedicated astro
imager or a Digital SLR as they're both more sensitive and linear compared
to film.

Like buying a car, any end choice will be a mix of objective and subjective
opinion.
Very generally speaking: Newtonian telescopes are better for deep space
work, offering larger aperture for your buck and tend to be larger and
heavier. Refractors tend to be happier with the solar system and tend to be
easier to carry; lighter with smaller apertures due to the cost of quality
optics but offer higher levels of contrast with no central obstruction.
SCT's offer a happy compromise in weight, aperture and cost. There are
exceptions to this, i.e. Some fantastic deep sky photography can be obtained
with small (fast) refractors but generally the above will serve you well.

I use a Meade LX90 http://www.meade.com/lx90/index.html
Amongst other things the Meade LX200 offers a better drive system
http://www.meade.com/lx200gps/8_10_lx200gps.html

The LX90 was a compromise on cost but I'm still very happy with it.

Hope this helps a little.

Regards


Chris

Have you picked up any clues from her? What would she like to look at
most?

If mostly moon and planets then most here would suggest a refractor.

If mostly deep sky stuff, then reflectors give you more aperture per £
(and aperture is king in this regard). Whether you should choose SCT,
Newt or Dob kind of depends on the budget more than anything...

If you think general purpose is "safest", then you'll get as many
suggestions as there are scopes on this forum :-/

Taking a total guess - how about an Orion 80ED? Nice simple refractor
that's nearly as good as some APO's costing a lot more. It has a good
focal length for planets (with barlow) and is good for wide(ish) field
work on clusters etc. A bit limited for DSO's, but the prominent ones
all show up well. You're looking at the thick end of £500 with tripod
and a couple of decent eyepieces.

Don't bother with goto. If the missus knows her skies, she can teach
the sprog (and you :-) how to star-hop with this kind of setup.

Cheers
Beats

What's your budget? Astrophotography can expensive.
Where do you live? How's the light pollution? Do you have a car and
the ability to drive to a dark site?
Are you and/or your wife able to manage a bulky and/or heavy telescope?

Thanks,
Greg

Thanks for the replys guys..

I'd say that although planets are good to look at, she would want to be able
to see deep space objects too. So (from what I've read so far), the Meade
LX90 looks like a good bet. The reason I specified GOTO is that my eyesight
is quite poor, so sky hopping would be at best difficult for me even though
my missus wouldn't have a problem with it. We live in Telford, Shropshire
which has some pretty dark areas once you get out of town.. As long as we
can hook a camera (of some kind) up to the scope, we can get that later once
we get used to it.

Again, thanks for the help
Adrian

"Adrian Parker" wrote in message
. uk...
Firstly, I know bugger all about astronomy.. apart from space is big...
etc

However, my wife who is from Montana (you would not believe the starscape
there) knows quite a bit about it. She's always wanted a good telescope
but has never been able to afford one worth buying. I'd like to buy her
one for her birthday ithout asking her and spoiling the surprise.

Being of the "you get what you pay for" frame of mind, I'd like to find a
decent spec telescope that won't limit her or our son as he gets older.

What should I be looking for ?

Would like it to be computer controlled and have ability to do
photography.

Computer cotrolled - just need a low end laptop ?
photography - have a canon SLR cameral, will that work ?

Ye, I know it's vague, but any info would be welcome.

Thanks
Adrian

Adrian,

nearly everyone here will recognise the thought processes you are going
through at this stage. The goto on LX90's will still require visual
acuity to "put it right" after slew (unless you manage to get setup
absolutely spot on every time out - AND the mechanics are way up on the
bell curve of quality for such a device).

Put it this way. Once you outgrow the LX90, the only option is to sell
it. Once you outgrow a tripod-mounted 80ED (or similar refractor), you
have more options available to you - like buying a better mount, or
using it as a guide scope on a better SCT (e.g. LX200GPS or even an
LX200 classic).

Just food for thought...

Cheers
Beats

Could anyone give a few pointers to starter scopes around the £300 and
£500 mark ? The Meade LX90 look superb, with a nice price to match !

I currently have a home made 4.5 inch dob, and my main issue is a
complete lack of understanding of what is where in the sky. I'm going to
hopefully rectify that with an OU course and a read of turn left at Orion.

It also doesn't help that I am a complete wimp in terms of wanting to
stand outside in the freezing cold, despite having wonderfully dark
skies being near the coast. Maybe I should take the advice in a book I
read, which says the first piece of equipment you should buy is an extra
pair of socks to wear !

On Sun, 15 Jan 2006 16:56:41 +0000, Interstellar OverDrive
wrote:

Hi Syd,

Could anyone give a few pointers to starter scopes around the £300 and
£500 mark ? The Meade LX90 look superb, with a nice price to match !

There are so many different type of 'scopes that is really depends on
what you want to observe and how good your night sky is. The Meade
range are good, although not the cheapest and there are many other
makes that are satisfactory. It really does depend on your
requirements, which is possibly why no-one has answered you post until
now.

I currently have a home made 4.5 inch dob, and my main issue is a
complete lack of understanding of what is where in the sky. I'm going to
hopefully rectify that with an OU course and a read of turn left at Orion.

Many like Turn Left at Orion, I find it a bit too basic. Go to your
library and see what they have; mine has a huge range of books on
astronomy and a lot aimed at beginners.

It also doesn't help that I am a complete wimp in terms of wanting to
stand outside in the freezing cold, despite having wonderfully dark
skies being near the coast. Maybe I should take the advice in a book I
read, which says the first piece of equipment you should buy is an extra
pair of socks to wear !

Yes, it does get cold out there and you have to insulate yourself. I
use a pair of aprez ski boots, a really thick windproof alpine type
jacket and a thick hat and I almost never get cold, even in freezing
conditions.

Regards

- Mike