I have only recently been interested in looking at the stars. I am considering purchasing a telescope. My budget is approx $700-$800. I live in inner sydney and rarely will get the chance to get away to quieter parts of the city with better light. I am 30 years of age. I have the following questions:
1. I am considering a Newtonian Reflector telescope. I think I prefer something on a tripod..?
2. Will it be possible to view planets/nebulae from my front balcony as opposed to going to an open park?
3. What telescope would you recommend for the price range listed above.
I live in inner sydney and rarely will get the chance to get away to quieter parts of the city with better light.
Is the emphasis on "rarely" or "will" in that statement?
Quote:
1. I am considering a Newtonian Reflector telescope. I think I prefer something on a tripod..?
We all thought we preferred something on a tripod before we tried out some scopes. Spend 1 hour observing with an 8 or 10" on a Dobsonian mount, and then the same again with a similar scope on an EQ mount on a tripod, and you will turn 180 on that one.
Quote:
2. Will it be possible to view planets/nebulae from my front balcony as opposed to going to an open park?
Yes but from badly light polluted city skies they will look rather pathetic. Cities are good for observing planets and the Moon and double stars. Not so good on deep sky.
Quote:
3. What telescope would you recommend for the price range listed above.
At that price level, 8 or 10" Dobsonian. No question about it.
Good pair of binoculars are a must unless you are going to ignore stars and deep sky altogether and observe planets exclusively. Something with low power for hand-holding, between 7 and 10x.
The best thing to do before you buy a scope is find your local Astronomy Club or Society and go along to one of their viewing nights. That way you will get a chance to see different types of scope and what you can expect from them.
If your budget is $700 - $800 I would recommend an 8" or 10" Dobsonian plus accesories such as a telrad, planisphere and a copy of Astronomy 2007. If you don't have a good pair of 7 x 50 or 10 x 50 binoculars then add those in too.
Tripod mounting an 8" or 10" Newtonian would add to the cost, I would suggest starting with a Dobsonian as it will be easier to use as a beginner.
From Sydney I would expect you will get alot of light pollution which will deeply cut into your seeing. However whereever you use your scope don't expect to see what you see in colour photos in books or on web sites. These are stacked multiple images of long exposure and our eyes just cannot see that well. Nebulae will appear black and white and stars will always just be points of light.
any specifis reason why you'd want a tripod? just going by one of the sydney suppliers for example (andrewscom.com.au). for your price range you have given you can buy a GS600 which is a 8 inch f4 reflector on a sv1 mount. now the sv1 mount apears to be the equivilent to a eq5 tho probably not as well made which means it will be a bit wobbly and there is no drive to the mount so you will have to move it manually while the optical tube its self seems quite reasonable... you will need a flat area and the mount will need to be polar aligned.
however on teh same site you can get a 10 inch dobsonian mounted reflector (GS880). the dobsonian base is alot more sturdy and moves in a basic up/down and left right motion. this means you just plonk it down anywhere and just use it, no polar aligning needed. because this scope has an extra 2 inches of aperture you will see more too.
in an 8" i can see the cassini division inteh rings of saturn and on a good nigths seeing i have in teh past i have seen banding in colors. you will also pick out a few moons... couldnt ask for too much more really
Which way does your balcony face? North-East is the best view to be able to view the planets.
The moon and planets can/will look FANTASTIC in an 8" or 10" dob, but the quality of the view will be dependant on:
1) The seeing (atmospheric turbulance). Some nights it's better than others. Some nights it's downright horrible and you can hardly bring it to focus.
2) Collimation (especially with a reflector). You need to learn how to do this!
3) Cool-down time. Leave your dob out for an hour or so before you plan to use it, this will help the views.
Can you make it to IISAC2007? It would be a fantastic chance to:
1) Get out under some dark skies
2) Look through many different types and sizes of telescopes
3) Meet and make some friends in the same hobby!
4) Win some lucky door prizes! A 10" dob is one of the prizes!
I use an 8" Bintel Dob. With this I can see spectacular views of Nebulae. Orion being the quickest and easiest to find even with poor seeing conditions.
I have also observed Saturn, through an 8" Dob you will be able to see the planet, it's rings and make out the Casini division as well as some moons. You do get a little colour through the eyepiece.
The view of our moon is nothing short of amazing. You can spend hours exploring craters and other formations on the moon surface.
It really is worth taking your scope to dark locations when you can and with a Dob this is a breeze because setup time is quick! You just pull out the base, then the scope and you're done. Maybe a few minutes to get your finderscope alligned and sort out your eyepieces.
I found an 8" Dob the way to go because of transportability. See the picture below.
If your budget is $700 - $800 I would recommend an 8" or 10" Dobsonian plus accesories such as a telrad, planisphere and a copy of Astronomy 2007. If you don't have a good pair of 7 x 50 or 10 x 50 binoculars then add those in too.
I agree with all of the above, except Astronomy 2007. I'd forget about it. It is mainly solar system stuff, full of tables and numbers (for 2007 only), not much fun for a newcomer to the hobby IMO. There are only a handful of really interesting objects in solar system and they are easy to find because they scream out at you saying LOOK AT ME! Ellyard and Tirion's Southern Sky Guide would be a much better investment for around the same low cost. It covers all the bright, and some not so bright, deep sky objects and will last for many years to come (not just 2007).
Wow! A wealth of information! I'm glad I joined this forum
I wont be able to make it to IISAC but will certainly find a club nearby (cronulla) to check some of the gear out before buying. Sounds like a dob is the go. Thanks for all the valuable info guys
If you have to observe from a balcony then expect some vibrations in the view. People go to great trouble to remove this by installing pier mounts but if you are just putting it down on the balcony expect the scope to vibrate every time you move. This will get worse the higher the magnification of course.
The advice to cool your scope is essential BUT, again, if you are observing from a balcony (fair bet its concrete) it will be hot and cause thermals that will cause degredation of your image.
Final message, try to observe from a grassy area and avoid observing across hot roofs as they give off thermals as well.
The ETX 90 looks nice but you'd wind up being disappointed with it in a light polluted area. The ETX 90 is a small telescope at 3.5 inch aperture, it's also f/14 or something close to that which means lot's of very dim objects if you can see them at all. It's really a computerised GOTO spotting scope!
I'd still recommend you go for an 8" or 10" Dobsonian given your budget. You will see alot with 8" or 10" of aperture, so much more than you could even compare with a 3.5" scope.
Koolia, as the old saying goes, size does matter, the larger the scope the more detail it will bring out and the fainter the objects you will see. I don't own a dob so I'm not one of the biassed dobber hoard, I have an LX90 a bigger brother GoTo style (8 inch aperture) to the ETX90 you are contemplating, but my advice is to buy a dob, they simply represent the best performance for your dollar. If you buy a 90mm scope, the first time you compare something with decent aperture you will be disappointed. Once you have looked through a dob and swung it around the sky you will understand why they are so popular. If you have $800, then a dob in the 8 to 12 inch range is within your budget, the 12 inch ultimately would be the best choice but may be a little large to fit in your car for transport. You can see colour on some objects as ving stated, jupiter on good nights shows some colour as does Saturn and Mars. There are also many coloured stars out there from deep blood red to yellows and blues.
to IIS koolio!
Cities are good for observing planets and the Moon and double stars. Not so good on deep sky.
Ellyard and Tirion's Southern Sky Guide would be a much better investment for around the same low cost. It covers all the bright, and some not so bright, deep sky objects and will last for many years to come (not just 2007).
