Just got the astronomy bug...

....And I've been spending 3+ hours every day for the past week trying to find the right scope. I've always been interested in anything that involves space, and I've decided that since, at the rate we're going, I won't see much space exploration before my expiration date. So I've decided to do some exploring of my own (not that I'll find anything new..).

Currently, I'm looking at a Celestron GoTo telescope, 114mm. Does anyone know whether this will be sufficient for a little bit of beginner astrophotography? If not, any telescope recommendations? Tips for beginners? And by tips I mean in both the photography and astronomy fields. Any info would be greatly appreciated. Also, I love seeing people's astrophotography, so please post some pictures as well .

reply to post by MrFake


It's a great hobby and i hope you have some fun. Also the Moon is fantastic through a telescope


Celestron make great telescopes. I only have a Celestron 70x refractor which is still great for viewing the Moon and planets on a clear night. I can even see Jupiter and it's moons pretty well.

So yeah your choice would be good for a beginner telescope although it all depends on how much you want to spend... if you have the money go abit further a get something of better quality, you can always get different lenses for viewing objects at different distances - eg: 4x or 20x etc.


This one is similar to the one i have and it does a great job

Celestron 70AZ (Refractor)

Something like this would do a better job though;


Celestron 130 EQ (Relfector)


The best option is something electronic or computerised that can track targets, because mine is only very basic it's annoying having to constantly move and adjust the scope due to the planets or moon constantly moving and Earths rotation etc but as i said it all comes down to how much you want to spend on a scope.

Celestron 90LCM(Computerised Refractor)


Good luck and have fun

Awesome, thanks for the tips! My budget is kind of low at the moment, so I think I'm going to just upgrade a fairly good telescope, rather than buying a really good one. And when I have more $$ to spend, I'll just transfer the upgrades to a good scope.

Have you done any astrophotography with your manual scope?

reply to post by MrFake


No not yet, i havent got the right attachments or camera/software, although i do want too. I'm also on a limited budget and really just an amateur astronomer but i am planning to get the right type of camera or lense attachement once i can afford it.

With the scope i have it would probably only be worth taking images of the Moon or maybe the Sun with the right lense and filter, the planets arent the best quality images through mine although as i said depending on the time of year and if it's a clear night Jupiter is good to view. At the start of this year when Venus was close it was good to look at although it was just a white circle, wasnt much detail.

To head down the Astrophotography route there are some minnimum requirements, the first thing you need to know is what you want to be taking pictures of. You can get away with less equipment for objects like the moon and planets but if you want to do DSO(deep space objects) imaging then the hardware like the mounts and tripod need to be bigger, sturdier and accurate. An altazimuth mount like many of the go to scopes are mounted on is not going to be good enough for the longer exposures needed.

But there is no need to run before you can walk, the moon and planets make for a great targets for the beginner while they familiarise themselves with everything.
Get yourself a webcam which can be fairly cheap, try the phillips spc880(it needs an upgrade first, still cheap though) or if you have a dslr camera already that's a good start.

There are many good options to take it just depends on budget and location.

Another thing I will add is the 114mm celestron you mentioned would be a great beginners scope for visual use, you will get good views of the planets and the larger DSO's. But I would sacrifice the goto mount for a larger arpeture scope or an equatorial mount if you can.
Is it one of these?

Like I said, it depends on your budget and what you are hoping for in the short term, no matter what you start with a year later you will want to double your original budget for an upgrade whether you need to or not.