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Shaunmcmath
06-06-2017, 09:55 PM
Hi folks. Am a complete beginner and looking for tips on scopes, books and cameras. Wanting to get into the photograpghy side of things. :)

that_guy
06-06-2017, 10:07 PM
sup shaun, if you have time on saturday, theres a meeting a club meeting in ormeau for SAS (southern astronomical society). Everyone theres super helpful to beginners. Do you have any specific things in mind? Planetary imaging, DSO imaging, widefield imaging? Whats your budget?

Nebulous
07-06-2017, 09:27 AM
Hi Shaun,

Do you have any idea of what the answers to the questions that Tony asked above are? You can enjoy the hobby at a great many different levels and budgets - from pretty much zero through to as many tens of thousands of dollars as you care to throw at it.

If you already have a computer all you need to get started is the free Stellarium software and your eyes. If you already have a tripod and a camera that can do time exposures, you can start taking wide field shots immediately. And so on. What do you currently have?

Before you buy any books or telescopes have a read of two of the stickies above - Article: Part 1 and Article: Part 2. Well worth a read. If you do buy books check that they have good coverage of the Southern Hemisphere - many are heavily weighted to Northern Hemisphere observing.

Don’t be tempted to get too fancy too quickly (actually you will be tempted, but do try and get the basics working first!). I started with a basic 80x400 Skywatcher refractor telescope that cost about $300 and it’s still the one I use the most. (Best to avoid the really cheap kid’s stuff though). The view through it is the “right way up”, and the right way round (most astro scopes reverse either up and down or left and right, or both - which can be very confusing for a beginner). It has a simple Alt/Az mount that goes left and right or up and down. It’s light and can be carried outside and used immediately without special setting up. And I can even attach a camera to it. It’s been a wonderful tool to get to know the general overview of the night sky. But you'll get a wide range of different suggestions. There are many perfectly good approaches.

Even with such a modest scope as my 80x400 you can’t see the whole of the Southern Cross at one time, just some of the stars but it’s much easier to find your way around with a relatively low powered telescope. And it won’t be wasted when you buy the next one. Mine is now mounted on top of a bigger one and serves as a finder scope.

Good luck. :)

Chris

cadman342001
09-06-2017, 09:14 AM
Welcome Shaun.

Good advice from Chris there. As a newb to this myself they are the questions people ask and obviously your budget is the crucial part !
I have recently been using a portable tracker (Sky Watcher Star Adventurer) with my existing dslr and tripod for widefield sky images but have sold that as rather than spend money on expensive long lenses I'm going with a sturdy EQ goto mount and scope. The mount takes up to 13.5kg compared to the Star Adventurer's 5kg.

If you don't have any get yourself some binoculars and star map to go with Stellarium and start learning the skies if you don't know them already, if you don't end up with a GoTo mount then you'll need to be able to star hop your way across the sky.

Andy

glend
09-06-2017, 10:25 AM
You can find out alot by dropping into Astro Pete's Cafe in Upper Mt Gravatt, on any Friday at 6pm. They have observing sessions where you can try out different scopes and ask questions.

http://www.astropetes.com.au/

m11
09-06-2017, 02:39 PM
Hi Shaun,

Everyone has provided great information in regards to starting off.

I would recommend you have a look through other's telescopes to get an ideal of size, complexity and ease of use. Other members have provided details of Astro meets that you can also go to.

In acquiring scopes I would recommend having a budget as others as mentioned and be aware that telescopes get pretty big and heavy 10inches and above. Portability becomes an issue, especially if you need to travel to a dark site or a location with less light pollution.

Astrophotography is quite an art and science combined with frustration and a fair amount of money required to get started. You will probably require an equatorial mount eventually to be able to do long exposures.

Different types of telescopes all have their advantages and some things they are better at - refractors, SCT or Newtonian(mount/dob).

I have found the researching quite a lot of fun :)

Regards,

Mel