I want a good telescope

So, i have been mulling over a telescope purchase. It would seem 10" or better is what is needed.

The cost is pretty significant, for sure. I began researching it on a google a little, to see what it would take to build one myself. It seems pretty complicated, for sure, but i have found some designs for telescopes up to 20"

Has anyone here ever tried this? Are there any icebergs out there that you could warn me about?

I want this imaging capability:

www.analyticalsci.com...

Your kidding... right?

From your link those images are the result of expensive equipment, like that 16" Schmidt-Cassegrain goes for 10 large and the photographer probably has years of experience.

The only telescope that I have heard of building yourself would be a Newtonian reflector telescope. I am building an 8" with Dobsonian mount myself, but it will not have any goto capability or tracking so it is no good for taking images.

If you are building a 10" telescope, I would imagine it is a Newtonian reflector. Then you should look into an equatorial mount with tracking drive motor then you can take long exposure images with relatively low cost. Don't expect to be able to take images comparable to the Hubble right off the bat. Astro imaging takes experience and can be expensive, so don't expect too much.

Good luck.

Unless you're familiar with telescopes, I'd recommend starting with a hobbyist telescope. Get familiar with the packages and how things are aimed and tracked and where things are in the sky (you may already know this... I don't know.)

I found that it wasn't always easy to spot things and find them. I also found that Dallas is a lousy place for many telescope observations.

Go cheap first, become an expert with it, and go from there.

I have a 5.4 in. Meade reflector and I am quite pleased with it.

I agree with Byrd. Start cheap, learn the skies and go from there.

I recently bought this one.
Meade DS-2130LNT Reflector Telescope with LNT AutoAlign
List was $599, but they have it on discount for $399. It arrived on my doorstep in about 5 days for $403.

They claim it's capable of the following:

Solar System:
Planets - 8
Moon - 1
Asteroids - 26
Comets - 15
Constellations - 88

Stars :
Named Stars - 79
Double Stars - 395
Variable Stars - 189
SAO Stars - 200

Deep Sky:
Named Objects - 66
Galaxies - 74
Diffuse Nebulae - 31
Planetary Nebulae - 19
Quasars - 11
Caldwell Objects - 109
Messier Objects - 110

Earth Satellites - 50

TOTAL OBJECTS - 1471

We haven't had many nights that were conducive to star gazing, lately. Though, it does make the Moon seem as if it's at your fingertips.

Nice scope for the money, and the AutoStar (find) feature comes in quite handy for a novice such as myself.

Bring on Clear Skies!


$.02

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[edit on 18-6-2007 by 12m8keall2c]

Get the biggest Dob you can afford. Then move into an SC, or Newtonian on a mount with a CCD. Reflectors are really only good for planetary work and splitting double stars. A big dob will give lot's of viewing pleasure and take the time and spend the money to get good eyepieces as they will stay with you as you move up in scopes. Everyone goes for power in the eyepieces but a big wide field eyepiece will give you more "oh wow" factor for casual viewing....

Orion is a good place to start as they have their own house brands as well as the majors....

save money for a good lense.

the wideangle ones with big eyepieces are pretty expensive.

the one i seen was like $450 just for the lense. i bought $100 one cause i was not prepared for that when i went in the store.

lenses are not cheap.

I got a 6" with motor tracking (never use it) and it cost half as much as a high quality lense.

Well, i have done some research.

I agree with Byrd's sentiments, and would keep that in mind. I intend it for a fairly narrow window of use, honestly. Not as interested in stars as planets and moons, and could care less about constellations.

I do some photography as a hobby. Not actively, but i always have a camera around, especially now that there are digitals.

Moon pictures are what interest me the most. Why scour the web looking for a picture that I could take on my own?

We have a 5.4", too. Sister broke it once when star gazing with dad (quite awhile back). Now i just give my money over to the wife/kids and tell myself that i actually get some control. 9 more years till the youngest graduates...will i get to spend my own cash instead of them? If so, perhaps i could get the 12.5" Meade that i want.

Until then, you should search out some of the ones made by people. Pretty impressive.

I just bought the Orion XT10 Intelliscope DOB from my friend, his parkinsons made it too difficult for him. Its Intelliscope has over 14,000 objects in its brain and the dual size 1.25 and 2" eye piece are really nice, expecially when you want those wider views the 2" is the only way to go. Pyrex mirror and crystal clear optics. Light gathering cabilities is 920X Normal vision.

The XT10 IntelliScope features exquisite optics: a 10" (254mm) parabolic mirror 1200mm focal length, f/4.7 figured from low-expansion, U.S.-made Pyrex glass for superior thermal stability. It gathers 56% more light than an 8" mirror, reaching stars as faint as magnitude 15. The steel optical tube, now finished in deep bronze metallic enamel, is equipped with a 2" cast aluminum Crayford-style focuser, a navigation knob for easy slewing, a big 9x50 finder scope, and two Sirius Plössl eyepieces.


Its brand new, only used twice and I saved $500 canadian.
www.company7.com...


If you want to do astro photography, then this is not the one for you.
then you need motor drive....depends what you want to do, how much you want to spend. Like noted lens pieces themselves are very expensive. I expect to spend another $500 in lenses. Also your location is important as ambiant light is a killer to deep sky objects, so amount of use for certain objects is limited no matter how good the scope the ambient light kills the DSO, so then the next question is portability, mine is the lightest in its class and its detachable and portable in to a small car...all things to consider and the biggest one of all...are you gonna be serious or get bored fast?

Remember it is amature astronomy but some two hour exposures of M31 can look incredible,



so although the one thing I wish I could do is long time lapsed exposures, I was not gonna look a gift horse in the mouth in my case so I went for the bargain of the century for a guy like me. I can and did take pictures of saturn, jupitar and venus from the eye piece but long exposures would not be possible.

For the money the Orion XT10 Intelliscope is the best buy for the money in its price range especially for deep sky objects. Unless you want to do astrophotograhy of time lapsed images this is the cats meow...





[edit on 18-6-2007 by junglelord]

Originally posted by bigfatfurrytexan
Not as interested in stars as planets and moons

If your main interest is lunar (that's my interest) or planetary, then you might want to consider an apochromatic refractor. Why pay for a bunch of aperture only suitable for deep sky objects when what you really want is flawless imaging of nearby objects? Here's what I want to replace my 8" catadioptric:

www.televue.com...

Moon pictures are what interest me the most. Why scour the web looking for a picture that I could take on my own?

One of these would be a great choice for that:

www.televue.com...

And remember, no matter what you actually pay up front: a seldom-used telescope is much more expensive than an often-used one.

price / # of viewing sessions = actual cost

Think about what's involved in hauling around a large scope. You're thinking at least 10"? Unless you have a permanent mount, be careful of your back. For the moon, the refractor is definitely the way to go if you've got the bucks.

I'll say it again - get a Dob. You can always place it on a mount down the road. You can hook up a good digital via eyepiece projection to shoot some pics.

I had the luxury of using and taking care of a 21" SC at the local college back in the day. Yup a Sky and Telescope reading astro nerd here. Trust me, a big light bucket and a wide field eyepiece on M11 or some nebulae and you will wonder why you are wasting time on planets.... You need very good "seeing" to really enjoy planetary stuff as the powers needed to resolve any detail are big and any atmospheric turbulence or sub par mounts will have you frustrated.

Moon is very bright - you will need filters so factor that in as well....

Scopes are easy to build if you buy the glass/mirror's already done. A sonotube, a mirror cell, a spider and a focuser and you have a basic scope. Truss tube dobs of major size have always been a big hit with the ATM crown (ATM = amateur telescope makers). For just about most things in astronomy bigger is better and dobs have the price to size ratio in their favor.