buying first telescope

[larry forman]

I am a senior physics teacher wanting to put astronomy into the course. Iwould like to take photos of stellar bodies and have a budget of up to $3000 australian. I am seeking help in what to buy i have no knowledge and limited experience and students will also be using the equipment, so something simple to operate would be an advantage:help:

[rmcpb]

Not really my kettle of fish but if I was going to get into astrophotography on a "reasonable" budget and want to keep it simple, I would be looking at the Meade ETX series with a Meade DSI camera attached as well as a laptop to run it all. That would chew up your budget pretty well but be as simple as possible to set up and use.

BTW welcome to IIS :)

[Zuts]

Mount EQ6
Scope ED80 refractor (Skywatcher or Saxon)
Guide Scope SW80 (achromatic [cheap] refractor)
Guide Cam QHY5
Camera Canon EOS 350D second hand

The above is around $3,500. The only way to get this down would be to get a HEQ5 which has less carrying capacity and swap the ED80 for say a 6 inch reflector OTA which would have to be modified to reach focus. The camera could be replaced with a cheap Meade DSI I or a planetary cam Celestron Nextimage etc but if you are serious go the Canon.

Extras

You will need to put aside 500 to 1,500 for the following

Reticle eyepiece, for drift aigning
Battery pack, to power the mount
Laptop, to control the guide camera and autoguide
remote shutter control (bulb unit), so no vibration when clicking shutter
side by side vixen dovetail, to mount imaging and guidescope side by side
extension tube, to allow guide camera to come to focus
Field flattener, to reduce field curvature of cheap ED80 imaging scope

Since this is a very long list i would recommend obviously ignoring it until you join an astronomy group and go and have a look see at what people are actually using.

Cheers
Paul

[bmitchell82]

... Yep thats about it. :D with that 350D for 300 hey zuts :D hehehe That will give you good shots and be stable.!

[rmcpb]

Good one fellas BUT he asked for a system that would be simple and easily set up by students not one for show stopper shots.

[bmitchell82]

Though its the same argument every time, whats the easiest way to disharten people.? give them !#@!p! at least with that system you might have a few minutes setup time but the view's will interest people.

Currently i run with the SBIG 402ME... great camera for guiding but its what my uni brought without looking into it too much and well.. the results speak for themself. Sensitive as hell great for guiding average for imaging. the Cannon 350D will work and work well, and hey if he is at a school who knows what they have lying around.

that system that was posted earlier will be a corker, will produce good reliable and repeatable images.

Unlike us students grab hold of things and move them around, if you have a good sturdy telescope then your fine, get anything less than sturdy and well..... I know about these things

[Ian Robinson]

Go for a newtonian on decent german equatorial mount (need not have GOTO) but dual axis drives are a BIG PLUS.

Will cost you more for the GEM than the optical tube assembly + a paracorr + some eyepieces.

Places to start looking are :
http://www.astro-optical.com.au/telescopes.html
https://www.bintelshop.com.au/welcome.htm GEMS
https://www.bintelshop.com.au/welcome.htm Scopes
lot to be said for buying a Dob (a 10" or 12") and putting the optical tube on a good GEM , you could manage that for under $3k (and you'd get it tax excempt as a school too. (that money will buy the Paracorr coma corrector).
Even better get an assembled optical tube (Newtonian) no dob mount and a separate GEM.

If you want near as humanly possible to perfect tracking --- it's a hard call if your total budget scope + gem is $3k unless you get it all second hand.

For you I'd steer clear of refractors (too limited and way too easy for the children to nick).

There are low lux video sys's that can be put a prime focus or at the end of an eyepiece for eyepiece projection of magnified objects (planets, moon etc) for displaying images on multiple TVs or displays too - worth looking at for your science dept.

APERTURE APERTURE APERTURE ..... more the better.

[Zuts]

This is hardly a top end system. One I am assuming he is not interested in planetary and two wants something which can be added to as time and funds permit; as opposed to recommending a DOB and afocal imaging of planets through an eyepiece.

Unfortunately imaging is not a simple business and there is a bare minimum required to produce acceptable results. Since i assumed he is serious I recommended a guide scope as if he is going to teach students anything then he will need one unless he thinks they will be happy with 10 second subs.

Also, the equipment I recommended is quite cheap as far as imaging goes.

(1) EQ6 or HEQ5 at 1,500 to 2,100 as opposed to a G8 or G11 for 3,500 to 6,000 AUD.

(2) EOS 350D at around 350 AUD as opposed to say a 450D at 900 AUD a QHY8 at 2,500 AUD or say a SBIG 2000 XCM at around 3,500 AUD.

(3) An ED80 at around 500 AUD as opposed to say a WO 80mm at over 1,000 AUD or even a TAK FS102 at 4,000 AUD. There is no way I would recommend an Achro for imaging. I also gave the option of a 6 inch newt for around 300 AUD.

(4) The guide cam i beleive is necessary for serious imaging and the Q guider is about the cheapest. I also gave the option of a Meade DSI 1 for around 150AUD second hand but I would go the Q guider.

The rest of the stuff unfortunately is equired. You need a laptop, a battery a field flattener and so on...

Finally I recommended that he actually forget about it and go and visit an astronomy club to see first hand what people are actually using.

Cheers
Paul

[rmcpb]

Paul,

Point made but there are lots of people who have a simple system and produce photos that make them very happy.

Your last point of going to an astro society is probably the best advice given so far if there is one handy.

Cheers