Confused Beginner

[corkwhit]

After years of staring at the night sky with the naked eye, I am now in a position to buy my 1st scope ( yippee!).

I have trawled the net for weeks( hence finding this great site) looking for reviews etc on what is best for beginners and of course I have become totally confused as what to spend my hard earned on.
Looking to spend around the $700 mark

I thought I had settled on a 8" Dobsonian, but of course I have done some more trawling since and Newtonians are also appealing.

I have read advice about joing a local club to try different scopes, but being a shift worker makes that difficult.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated

Regards
Dave

[Paddy]

Hi Dave and welcome to IIS!

When you say Newtonians are also appealing, I am assuming that you are saying that an equatorially mounted Newtonian appeals in a way that a dob mounted newt doesn't. It might help if you clarify that. I would assume that you might be referring to doing imaging at some point. If you plan to stick with visual observing, a dob is the way to go - much simpler to transport, set up and operate.

[corkwhit]

Hi patrick, thanks for the welcome.

as a "total beginner", when I refeerred to the Newtonian, Tripod mounted scope is what I am referring to.

At this point I have not even entertained the idea of imaging, so I think I will definitly be a visual observer for some time.
thanks for the advice

regards
Dave
:)

[Brian W]

Hi, confusion is normal. I started with what you call a tri-pod mounted reflector and it taught me a lot. then I moved to a dob mounted reflector and it taught me that a dob mounted reflector was a lot easier to use.

WARNING THE ABOVE IS A PERSONAL OPINION AND OTHERS MAY HAVE AN EQUALLY VALID OPPOSING OPINION.

T 8" reflector, on any mount you choose, will be a terrific scope to begin with. it is one of the most popular sizes for the simple reason it does everything well.

Have fun.
Brian

[barx1963]

Hi Dave
As one who has owned both an EQ mounted Newtonion and a Dob mounted Newtonion, always go for the dob.
Remember, aperture is king in this game, and you get way more inches for your $$$ with a dob. 8" dobs are just so cheap at the moment.
I had my 130mm eq mounted scope for 2 years, with a couple of weeks of having an 8" I had doubled my number of observed targets simply because they are easy to use. Only problem is beware! aperture fever will soon strike!!;)

[steve000]

It depends..

i knew i wanted to image, I piled in and got a EQ mount 6" newt (Tripod)
I found out that i needed a motor to image properly... Gave up on that idea and bought a GOTO EQ6 tripod and new scope. imaging solved, for a cost of $2600.

EPIC LEARNING CURVE!

My recommendation is
Buy the DOB, preferably a collapsible as its easier to transport and setup. Skywatcher make good ones.

If you want to do imaging, start on the planets. you need a Barlow lens, 2x will do.
A webcam and a adapter to connect the webcam to the eyepeice. This is what I have
http://www.morgancomputers.co.uk/shop/detail.asp?ProductID=6552&CategoryID=556&SubCategoryID=

Ohh and a laptop of some sort.

Connect it all together, look at a planet and start learning.

The result attached, I did this with my 6" scope on the manual guiding EQ.. You just need to follow the planet for a couple of minutes, taking a video, then you stack it in registax.. Seach on here, there is a good how to for registax.


Once you are happy with imaging the planets and you are sure you want to stay in the game, get a mortgage and go nuts :P DSLR, Guidescopes, Computers, Larger scopes, observatories...... it all costs money but is worth it in the end.

[ballaratdragons]

Hi David and welcome.

The item you call 'Tripod' is commonly known as a mount.

I am an avid EQ6 mount user.
As much as I really like my EQ mount, and use it all the time, it is not a great tool for visual work with a Reflector unless you are a 9 foot tall contortionist! :lol:

The problem of doing visual work with a Reflector on an EQ mount is that the eyepiece will often end up where you can't reach it even on a stepladder!
It may be pointing directly straight up or down. Sideways isn't too bad.

EQ mounted Reflectors come into their own with Astrophotography because they track with the sky and the camera is in the Focuser and it doesn't care if its upside-down.

Some people do visual with Reflectors on EQ mounts, but some also have the ability to rotate the telescope in its mountings rings which allows you too have the eyepiece wherever you want.

To do visual with an EQ mount you really need to use a Refractor or a Catadioptric (SCT, Maksutov, etc) style scope.

But if you really want a refelector, a Dobsonian mounted Telescope is sooooo much easier to use. :thumbsup:

[M54]

Hi Dave,
:welcome:

In my opinion an 8 or 10 inch Dob is an awesome start.:)

[GeoffW1]

Hi,

I agree. My learning curve has included 2 Dobs, 2 refractors, a Alt-Az mount and an EQ mount.

For your first, get a 200mm (I refuse to use inches, I'm progressive :rofl:) or a 250mm Dob (a Newtonian on a Dob mount). The first is transportable without much bother. The larger might be better for you in a collapsible truss tube design.

Cheers

[Pinwheel]

My 2 bobs worth is I have a EQ6 203mm Newt & had never heard of a DOB til I joined IIS. Having said that I find my scope a joy to use. Like any new toy, you will learn to use it and love every minute. Dob are easy but EQ newts are more practical.

No offense to any politically minded DOB party. :rofl: