Telescope Advice

Just need a little advice on telescopes. Im a pure amateur and use programs like Stellarium and MS WorldWide etc but I will be getting a telescope next month. The one I have seen and think may be good is the Celestron Astromaster 130EQ www.telescopeplanet.co.uk...

Just wanted to get some opinions from people who may have used this or can maybe recommend something. My budget is no more that £160 and I have a basic understanding of telescopes...

Cheers

Just get the biggest mirror you can afford. Dont worry about gadgets. Mirror size is the most important thing.

reply to post by robwerden


do you think the one I have seen is a good one....the reviews seem to be a bit mixed but I like it as long as I can see the planets quite clearly and I can also take pictures by mounting my camera on it...

reply to post by booda


I'd go with a bigger aperture. Also taking photos with these is NOT as simple as you think.

Do more research. Seriously.

I'm not much of an astronomer yet, but that's because I too wanted to purchase a 'scope and realised that what I could afford just wasn't good enough to do it properly.

I did a lot of research and came to the conclusion that mirror size was the most important factor.

As far as telescope "type" is concerned...if I had the money (not), I would get a "Dobsonian" type scope with the biggest mirror possible.

The one you have linked to is certainly an "entry-level" model and will surely leave a lot to be desired.

Try "Ebay" and search for a "Seben Big Boss", much better value if that is the kind of budget you have.

Forget the gizmos and gadgets for now although a basic set of filters and lenses would be worthwhile.

Try doing what I did and spend a complete evening searching online. I made a bookmark folder and just filled it with all my finds. Easy to do comparisons at leisure.

I still don't have a scope of my own and will even consider making one from a kit. Much better value and the learning process will give me valuable knowledge.

I would also recommend spending a bit more and get something that will last you for years. I feel the model you showed us would leave you wanting more!

Never mind what it looks like and all the extras.....biggest mirror possible.

Have you joined an astronomy club yet? It's the best way to get real advice and a hands-on approach to what's available for different budgets.

Here's a couple of Ebay links for ya....the "Big-Boss" and a very nice "Dobsonian"...good luck in your searching and squinting my friend.

Seben "Big-Boss" 6" inc USB eyepiece + motor

VERY nice Dobsonian - 305mm mirror



[edit on 22/12/2008 by nerbot]

reply to post by nerbot


mate - thanks for the advice.....much appreciated....

reply to post by Anonymous ATS


whats the difficulty in taking pictures....isnt it a simple case of attaching the camera when focused and pressing the button....excuse my ignorance...

Here are a couple of older threads with some informative info.

Choosing a decent amateur backyard telescope

telescopes, question for astronomers, pro or am

whats the difficulty in taking pictures....isnt it a simple case of attaching the camera when focused and pressing the button

Ha, ha. I wish.

Depends on what exactly you're trying to capture.

Astrophotography usually requires a longer exposure time to get decent photos, and this usually involves getting an equatorial mount, as well...

astropix.com
To shoot astrophotos longer than about
15 - 30 seconds it is necessary to place the camera on an "equatorial" mount that is aligned with the north celestial pole to compensate for the Earth's rotation...
This type of mounting allows the telescope and camera to track or exactly follow the sky as the stars appear to move across the sky as the Earth turns underneath them.

Hi I just bought a scope off ebay for £89 cgi.ebay.co.uk... . I have found it to be very good quality and construction for the money and I have taken some film of the moon through it. uk.youtube.com... and uk.youtube.com... and uk.youtube.com... hope this helps.

Best thing to do is to see if there is a telescope club in your town or city . In fact some of the bigger science / telescope shops have there own telescope clubs . Quite often you can go out with them on there designated nights , no telescope required , and see first hand what the various telescopes are capable of , as well as have a lot of your questions answered .
Also pick yourself up a good Planishpere
Good luck

Also if you plan to take pictures you will find it very helpful to make sure that your telescope has a tracking system built into your telescope , remember you need exposer time for the pic to snap and lets not forget the earth and the stelar objects are all moving all the time . A tracking system will help keep your telescope focused on the desired object well everything is moving in there respective orbits

[edit on 22-12-2008 by Max_TO]

[edit on 22-12-2008 by Max_TO]

reply to post by tarifa37


Sweet deal, there tarifa' .

And your vids help to illustrate the need for an equatorial mount.
You can see how quickly a small field of view will 'fly by'.
(Of course that's the Earth turning you away from your target)


Also wanted to add two tips I learned the hard way.

Get a sturdy tripod and a camera with a remote shutter release.

reply to post by tarifa37


reply to post by tarifa37


Quality vids Tarifa, you have given me the motivation to get a telescope. Also, good tune in the 2nd vid!

I reckon I'm gonna do some research and buy a bad boy, ideally I would want a bit more detail when looking at the moon than in your vids... I have no idea if this is possible so please don't laugh at my inexperience. I'm by no means knocking your vids man, they are awesome... ever seen anything weird? Are you located in Tarifa? I imagine the possibility to see due to lack of light pollution is pretty good there.

Originally posted by booda
reply to post by Anonymous ATS

 

whats the difficulty in taking pictures....isnt it a simple case of attaching the camera when focused and pressing the button....excuse my ignorance...

If you're skilled, and I mean really skilled, you might be able to use a modified webcam to take decent photos of saturn and jupiter without tracking, just constantly reposition as it goes out of view and stack the best video frames afterwards. Here's an example image done without tracking using that technique:
www.weasner.com...
Don't expect that level of quality to come quickly or easily though, it's a challenge even with a good robotically tracking mount, and downright frustrating without. Also, this only works for saturn, jupiter, and maybe the moon (Venus too, but it's just a plain white ball that goes through phases, I rarely bother to photograph it). Photography is hard (especially deep sky) and decent equipment is expensive. I agree with the other posters and recommend that you get as big an aperture as your budget will allow.

[edit on 22-12-2008 by ngchunter]

Ive been an amateur astronomer now, for 21 years... depends on what you wish to look at.. the bigger the mirror, or scope, the more you see. remember though..you will not see colors of galaxy's nebulae..that is light building up on film, while the object is being tracked across the sky, via a german equatorial mount with a timed motor..howver, stars and planets will reveal LOTS of detail... that 130 mdel yuor looknig at, isnt anyting special, i mean for a good starting scope its ok.. general rule of thumb for reflector scopes, is 8 inches.. 10 inches is better, anyting over 16 isnt advisable, because of the water in earth's atmoshere,..yuode just be magnifying turbulance... refractors (the long thin scopes) give the clearerst views, but yuo wont find them over 5 inches... because thier to big to really be on a mount of anykind and their expensive..
eyepices.... invest alittle in 7.5 mm, 9 mm, ect the lower the mm, the closer the object is, the higher the number, the fartehr away it appears..
You dont necessarily need a motor with Goto technology... i aways did thigns the old fashioned way... a good star atlas, that goes to the lowest magnitude yuo can find, then simply starhop...to yuor object...
IN jsut about every case, for galaxy's, nebulae, planetary nebuale, yuo are going to require an O III filter, or skyglow looks good too, fitler sout most of the artifical light around you..and for dark or emmison nebulase, like the horsehead, Rossatta nebuale(hydrogen nebuales) yuor going to require a a special fitler for that ...they run for about $100 a piece..
the skyglow, yuo can get at a reasonable price, form Orion telescopes...
happy hunting

reply to post by and14263


Hi, the detail is a lot better in the flesh than through the cheap digital camcorder that i was using to film the moon .I also had the digital 4x zoom which gets you in closer but the picture quality suffers.

Here's some video I shot with a monochromatic electronic eyepiece of the moon through my 8" Schmidt-Cassegrain. I think it's a fairly accurate representation of what you can expect to see in real life when looking at the moon through a moderate size reflector like mine. This was shot using three different magnifications which roughly equate to view at 70x, 100x, and 200x. To the OP, bear in mind that the size of the scope's aperture determines quality, not magnification. High magnification is only useful if you have a scope big enough to resolve objects at that magnification, and even then you need a steady atmosphere. You can see the turbulence that was in the air quite clearly in my video.


[edit on 23-12-2008 by ngchunter]

It might be worth buying this book. It was very helpful for me for choosing the right telescope and widening my knowledge on other aspects of astronomy

There are some equally enlighting books on there at the mo as well

Hope its helps

Link