new to astronomy

[sprattzvx]

hi all.
great site. been interested in stargazing forever, its a real buzz thinking about the dimensions and absolute brute force of events happening in space. and the time scale..wow. but a cosmic micro second is longer then the entire history of mankind.
anyway, im getting into this now, playing with cars and electronics seems to be eating all my spare time(after family of course). i can do this with the missus and kids, think they`ll love it. ive never had a decent scope, just ****ty harris scarfe stuff and wotnot. so im gonna buy a decent rig so im not dissapointed, might have a go at some photography later. after some research, i have dicided to go for something like this.http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Skywatcher-10-Dobsonian-Telescope-SW880-RRP-1015-/190603144861?pt=AU_Cameras_Telescop es_Binoculars&hash=item2c60d52e9d

i really want to have good detail of the moon surface, and some deeper stuff like planetary rings etc. do you think this is up to the task?
cheers,
ken.

[The_bluester]

Hi Ken and welcome from another relative newie.

From what I have seen on IIS and around the net in general. The advice usually given seems to be "Look at everything then buy the biggest dobson you can handle and can afford"

With a 10" you should be well and truly blown away by what you can see on the moon and see some really nice planetary detail. Right now the easiest and obvious target is Jupiter, rising early in the evening.

I know how what you mean about cars eating spare time. This is my toy http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1DkF08pfeEI and I shudder to think how many hours have gone into it, well over a thousand. Another hundred or so to go in over Christmas as it is time for a tidy up!

[sprattzvx]

looks like your having a ball with that toy mate. looks like a handfull. what is it? couldnt pick it, but sounds very RB like. whatever it is, its got some serious boost up it:thumbsup:
like you said, the general consensus seems to be big dobson. figure the scope should come with everything i need for some basic viewing, and build from there with accessories.
or, i could settle for an 8 inch dob, and some accessories like the beginners kits suggested in other posts. i really like the idea of automated tracking, allowing more time for viewing enjoyment, less time searching/adjusting.
ken.

[Paddy]

Hi Ken and welcome to IIS!

A 10" dob is a great instrument - you will certainly see lots of detail on Jupiter, Saturn's rings and you'll be dazzled - literally - by the moon. Reasonably portable across the back seat of most cars and not too heavy to lift if you don't have back problems. You'd need to get an EQ mount for imaging down the track - if you go down this path, the cost of the scope is the least of it.

It is also good for lots of deep sky objects - nebulae, clusters and galaxies.

BUT - be aware of the following limitations for your best chance of happiness.
A) You will see a lot on jupiter, but it won't fill the eyepiece. It will look small - your maximum magnification most nights with any scope is 250-300X due to atmospheric instability. You will need to see the detail on a small spot.

B) Deep sky objects will be in grey. No matter how big the scope, most DSOs will need your night vision cells which don't code for colour. Still spectacular, but not colourful like photos. You will however see coloured stars which are stunning.

If you're OK with these limits, a 10" dob will keep you happy for years.

Always a good idea to have a look through a scope first to get the picture. Where in SA are you? There may be a club or IIS members nearby.

BTW I would check out vendors like Bintel (https://www.bintelshop.com.au/welcome.htm) or Andrews (http://www.andrewscom.com.au/site-section-10.htm) or OZscopes rather than ebay. They all seem to have good follow up service and the prices are good. The generic GSO or Bintel dobs have the same optics as the branded version and can be a fair bit cheaper.

Good luck!

[The_bluester]

Not a bad pick. It is a HR31 Skyline coupe with an RB20DET engine with a small turbo and around 18PSI of boost. 25 years old and hand rebuilt by me a couple of years ago. Depending on what you believe about loss in the driveline it has somewhere between 350 and 400 horsepower so it is a bit of a handful on cold tyres and an absolute demon in the rain. Wheelspin in fourth gear at 150KMH keeps your mind on the job!

As for the scopes, it well and truly blows the budget out but I really really enjoy my CPC925. The tracking makes obersving a real breeze. I often manually slew to the more obvious objects rather than letting the goto do it for me, and once there the tracking makes it a snap to spend ages at the eyepiece. Maybe one of the goto dobs would be a similar experience.

[traveller]

Welcome to IIS Ken,
I only joined recently and found this site to be very friendly and informative.
Re your question about telescope, what is your budget? $1000? $5000? What do you want to do? Casual observing? Taking it out to star parties or imaging?
IF you are starting out a Dob is great, but it has limitations, such as its size and lack of Goto and tracking (newer Dobs have these, at increased $$ of course).
I did a bit of research before I bought my C8SE, its great, very portable, 5 mins to set up and good to do very basic planetary imaging. The only limitation is the single arm mount. Don't get me wrong, Dobs are great, but its not the most easy to lug around. Celestrons in Aust are horribly overpriced, but this forum has a trades section which good set ups come up quite often, at least you know the scoep comes from someone with similar interest and looked after their equipment properly.
Good luck with your choices.
Bo

[sprattzvx]

size doesnt really concern me. from the limited research ive done, the dob will give the best viewing for the money. the bintel models look good for the price. if the 10" is awesome, then the 12 bintel for under 900 would have to be pretty special.
the scope will be used on my front lawn initially(i live in a rural area on the edge of town), and packed into the car for all night viewing on warm summer nights at the top of the small mountain 3km from home. so viewing in detail is the main aim, but would be nice to take home some snaps of the nights views aswell.
is it not possible to get fair landscape type pics of the moon using the large dobson and a dslr or webcam? is it the tracking that is the issue? looks like the dobson with goto 8" is around 1600. bit out of my range for a first scope. hmm so much to choose from. dont wanna be selling the scope in a few months to up-grade.
thanks for the advice guys, appreciated.
ken.

[The_bluester]

I have not tried it but I reckon with the exposure times you would be looking at for the moon you should be able to get shots with a stationary scope.

[bmitchell82]

the 12" telescope if you can afford it and fit it in your car with family is the best way to roll, you wont be selling it next week put it thish way!

Ive had a 10" dobsonian now for 3 odd years and its worked flawlessly! Remember aperature rules irrispective of if its visual or photographic terms!

If you want to do a bit of photography, generally with a 10" telescope you will only need half a second to expose it enough, 1 second should blow out a normal DSLR other wise go with a webcamera, there is a guy who was selling them around on this site if i remember correctly 100 bucks or so and some great work has been done with them.

If you really get serious with astrophotography though, its a totally different ball game! :) lets just wait for a good 6 months before you start trundling down that steep slope to sleepless nights and days if you have kids!

Brendan:thumbsup:

[bmitchell82]

Paul had a look at your little vid :) looks fun, but then i happend to stumble across the 4WD V8 datsun.... GOOD LORD......that would be a insane ride!

[The_bluester]

Ah, the purple and green one? That would be the car known as "Viagra"

That car is the heavy artillery of the hillclimb world with somewhere on the high side of 600 horsepower! Last year it was seen to romp away from a retired V8 supercar in a straight line at Phillip Island.

If you look at the badge on the bootlid it has been remade to read 600Z instead of 260Z (The numbers on old Datsun badges usually relating to engine size, so a 260Z was fitted with a 2.6L engine)

[bmitchell82]

it was just a incar view... the thing was insanity and it wouldn't serprize me one single bit if it pulled away from a V8 super car. at possibly half the weight and 4WD you you can just put down far more power to the ground and having driven High proformance 4WD cars... they stick something fierce around corners! I even had a low proformance Magna AWD and i could hold it flat to the floor round corners and only just get a squeek out of the tyres, if i did the same in my VRSS it would have been haning out like a japanese drift king :D Ahhh, im glad i have passed those days :) its out in a field many KM's from civilization!

[Poita]

Ah, I remember fondly my old datsun bluebird with FJ20 turbo refit.

Telescopes are much cheaper, quieter and get you arrested far less often.

Grab a 12" Dob, forget about photography except for the moon, play with it for 6-12 months or better yet, get to some star parties/ viewing nights, there are plenty in SA, then you will get a feel for what you can see and what you enjoy.
You will pr

[The_bluester]

I console myself with the thought that my competition budget and development spend would still not set me up with a really good AP setup! Mine is a track only car so issues with the coppers are not a problem for me.

[sprattzvx]

hi again guys. been looking at this with curiosity.
Celestron AstroMaster 130EQ MD Reflector
some reports are of low quality, others are good.. but its advertised as goto with tracking, so maybe ok for introductory viewing and ap.
currently on sale for 400. pretty cheap, free postage, down from 500.
its either that, or the 8 inch dob. missus talked me into something cheaper at first, rather then straight for the 12 incher.

[barx1963]

Unless I am mistaken the MD in the name means motor drive and is not a go to. The motor drive allows the scope to track objects with moderate accuracy but you have to find them first! They look nice but you have to polar align which is hard to do as a beginner (trust me I know!) and the mounts movements are definitely not intuitive. Also the aperture is small, and in this caper aperture rules.
I purchased the Saxon equvalent of this as my first scope and it sits in the corner not used. I refuse to sell it on as I know any beginner would be as disappointed as I was with it.
Go with your original choice of a 10" dob. If you really are desperate for go to, by all means get it, but remember you sacrifice $$ that may have been spent on better eyepieces and more aperture.
Bintel are doing 10" dobs for $700 atm. They provide excellent service. Andrews also do a fine job and both will ship to you very quickly.

Malcolm