Greetings from the deep south

[acropolite]

Greetings all from Tas. :cold: After looking around another forum for info on what to buy :astron: iceman pointed me to this site. It's nice to see a bunch of people so passionate about their hobbyand so willing to share and help others. I've always been interested in astronomy but never done anything about it. What finally kicked me into action was seeing a bright satellite trundle across the sky at night then finding it was the ISS from the Heavens Above site. Last week I spotted Saturn with my binoculars and could just make out the rings; next Jupiter and now I've got the bug and subject to ministerial approval .:eyepop: I hope to buy something in the not too distant future. I was thinking of the Meade LX90 but dobs seem to be very popular and heaps cheaper so any suggestions would be appreciated.

[Striker]

Welcome Phil.......I suggest you sell all your possessions and buy a Meade LX200 16".........I'm sure everyone else here would agree with me on this one....hehehe

[[1ponders]]

:gday: Howdy Phil, let me be the first to welcome you and try to convert you to the wonderful world of meade tracking and goto. If you've already got a Canon EOS 20D then you are going to *hafto* get into digital imagery. Here let me help you get a second and third mortgage on your house :D.

Seriously though don't listen to Tony, you'll know him when you meet him...Hi Tony:P...but seriously, if you're just starting and you want to get your socks blown off then appeture rules. I don't own one but sometimes I would like to, especially when the clouds only break for 30 minutes or so, think about (I don't believe I'm saying this :) ) a :whistle: :whistle: :whistle: DOB . If you want to get into some imagery and you've already got a great start, think about tracking (goto not essential). I'm sure others here will happily give their two dobs worth. Usually the 8" or 10" but sometimes its the 10" or 12":lol2:


Ask yourself, "what do I want to look at/do?"

[[1ponders]]

Ha Ha Tony Gotcha :P

[Orion]

Hi Phil and wellcome.
Dobs are user friendly but if money is no problem go with the Meade.

[acropolite]

:2thumbs: Nice one Tony; I've already eyeballed the Meades, I thought the LX90 at first but then maybe the Lx200 (8"), where does it end. I read somewhere that the LX90 optics are as good as the same size Lx200, but the LX200 mechanics and tracking are heavier duty and more accurate. I think I could get the LX90 past the minister but I'm not sure about the equivalent size LX200. Maybe I could just tell her it cost $200. I bought the 20D with astronomy in mind, a week later Canon announced the EOS20DA optomised for astronomy. Fortunately my partner also has a fascination for the night skies.

[ballaratdragons]

Hi Dob, oops! I mean Hi Phil.

I own a 12" dob and it's o.k. I suppose (chuckle).

I would like to put my house in hock and get a megasaurus Meade but my dog likes eating the sheep, so I can't sell up and move.

I have not gotten into photoastrography shooting yet so I have no idea about anything other than bloody big Dobbers.

They are easy to move around the sky, reasonably easy to move from inside to outside and back again (very easy and quick to move inside when the fog rushes in) and they look damn impressive when the neighbours call in: "Good grief, look at the size of that thing" (the scope).

Seriously, a Dobber is very easy to use.

Can't speak about Go-to's and tracking scopes coz they got computer thingies and motor bits and that stuff scares me.

Hope I've helped :P

[[1ponders]]

Phil the OTA of the LX90 and LX200 are the same so there will be no difference in optics, however the worm gears are smaller on the LX90 and you can't drive it with a laptop but you can autoguide. Check out http://www.meade.com/catalog/index.html .

Other than no GPS and the other modern fandangles they are much the same scope.

[RAJAH235]

Hi Phil and welcome to the *NUT HOUSE*, aka "Striker's Place".
As has been said many times before by all including me, is *APERTURE WINS*. The final choice is yours alone, and it all depends on what you want to do in this facinating hobby and how deep your pockets are!
ps. It also helps if you're in with the local weather gods. :thumbsup:
pps. I think you'll find that the LX200's have bronze gears, while the lower cost units have aluminium. L.

[ballaratdragons]

The local 'Weather Gods' report back to the 'Silence Gods' and they get very annoyed at all those noisy motor driven gizmo's whirring and buzzing and such. Then they report back to the 'Weather Gods' and tell them to spoil our viewing with clouds because of all the Meades and Celestrons making a racket!

So in reality, us peace loving silent Dobber users are punished for all the noise from over-priced, over-gadgetry, noisy computer run motor drives.

Don't add to the problem, GO DOB! and make the Gods happy.

[RAJAH235]

COFFEE ANYONE?

[ving]

white and two sugars thank rajah :P

put simply, If you will be wanting to do some serious photography of DSOs then you WILL need tracking. If however your interest in astronomy is purely observational then you would be crazy to not go the dobsonian reflector for the extra aperture you will get for the price... and that it in a nut shell.
"just the facts m'am!" :P

[acropolite]

I think I'm swinging towards a dob. Late last night the minister for household affairs was briefed on the wealth of info available on the Web, particularly regarding telescopes. Her reply was fast and to the point. ... :eek: "Telescope.... You don't need a telescope" I think I'll probably get a dob first then hatch a devious plan :evil: to fund an LX200.
She's a good woman really; after all she puts up with me. :face:

[Dave47tuc]

:welcome: Phil,

The same old ??:confused: What to buy:confuse3:

If you into observing only or even photography save your pennys and buy this scope
http://www.globaldialog.com/~obsessiontscp/18page.html
:eyepop: :eyepop: :P

Whatever you decide buy one that you will use often:)


:cheers:

[Mick]

Hello Phil D and welcome to this forum. Good luck with your search. Paul, you can drive the LX90 with a laptop no problems.
:astron:

[rumples riot]

Just a few points, a goto scope such as the Lx90 or Lx200 are great for just setting up and viewing the night sky. They are also good for astrophotgraphy. With the goto you can simply order up what object you want to look at and it will slew onto the target. A dob on the other hand does not have this ability and you will be forced to learn where something is the hard way. I have been through this and now am glad I bought the LX200 (now on my 5th scope in 30 years).

The 8" L90 is a good scope; a mate of mine has one and when compared side by side I was able to view objects with lower magnitudes, but only just.

Added to this, it is way lighter and costs a lot less. It does not have the convenience of the GPS but that is a small thing.

All Meade scopes have plastic gears now. So slewing must be done carefully. Never had a problem with mine, but I have heard of some people having trouble with the gears. Balance is the key with this scope.

A dob will get you started but I recommend the L90. Take the "chief" to a viewing night and see if you can look through a Lx90. She will be sold and you will get the scope you want. Everything revolves around price and what you want to do with the scope. If your budget is limited go for the dob, you can always sell it later and get the Meade or celestron.

Anyway just my opinion.

[Starkler]

A dob can be retro fitted with DSC and still come out way under the price of the goto scope. The main difference is you push the scope to target and you dont have tracking.

[[1ponders]]

Sorry about that Phil but Mick is correct. Thanks for pointing that out Mick. I must have been thinking of the posting silvie made the other week about not being able to do this with her LX55. As soon as I looked at the photo of the LX90 fork base I went :doh::P

[mick pinner]

Hi Phil and welcome,
After reading the replies l noticed something was missing, the good old eq mount, be it carrying either a reflector or refractor.
Apart from one or two other scopes the members seem to be either dob people or as l am at the moment a Meade owner but be aware that there are many more scopes out there to fill the void between these two alternatives.
An eq mount will initially give you a stable system providing you match the rating to the scope size (very important), you will learn to find objects manually using the long forgotten setting circles and then at a later stage you can add a go-to system when you can afford it.
Just another point of view to confuse.
Mick

[RAJAH235]

Plastic gears now eh! Now there's something I thought I'd never see on a Meade t'scope. Should be a bit quieter tho! Wear factor not included. The new breed of Meade's should prove to be O.K. 4 of our members have them,(LX200-10"+12"), and are very happy with performance and features.
Ving, YOU are NOT LEGALLY ENTITLED to use MY quote, as YOU were NOT even born then! :P :P
Give it back!

[acropolite]

Thanks for the info guys, sounds like I've reopened old wounds with the dobs/goto debate. I dug out an old Bushnell spotting scope :astron: from the cupboard, 60mm refractor with 25x magnification and a really nice prismatic focussing. I have McGuivered up a mount for the Bushnell on my camera tripod. I can see saturn nicely as a ball with a ring around the outside. Attached is a moon photo taken with the EOS, it's a bit shaky as I just held the EOS close to the eyepiece and fired the shutter. I suspect I will get some really nice images with a couple of hours spent making a camera adapter. I'm hoping H.R.H. Liz will see my dilemma and approve some serious funding for something decent. I am curious to know if you can get spare parts for the meade or if it's a trip back to the US for service.

[coxellis]

Hiya, dunno what prices/ choice of scopes is like down-under, but there has been little or no mention of medium sized newts on GEMs. I have a newt with a refractor on the back all on a heavy equatorial mount. It will keep a star centred all night, has goto, enough aperture to get reasonable views of planets and deep sky and, in real terms, only cost me the decoration of two rooms as 'er indoors pennance. The mount wasn't originally goto, I did the mod myself, total cost about £120 (what's that in Aus dollars?)

Andy

[acropolite]

Andy, Interesting to see your comments. H.R.H. Liz used to live in UK. 120 UK pounds would be around 291 dollars OZ. I am interested in your setup can you post or email some details.

Thanx

Phil

[ballaratdragons]

EQ?

I hated my EQ mount.

Too hard to see in the EP at some of the angles! Got to be a contortionist.

[iceman]

That's where you need rings so you can twist the OTA to get a better viewing position.

If I had the money, i'd definitely put my 10" OTA on an EQ6 skyscan.

[coxellis]

A valid point - rings are a bonus, but my setup's pretty finely balanced, so yes, regularly do have to be a bit of contortionist.

For me (as an astroimager) the choice was simple - I wanted a fast (f5) scope, something that would track for 4 hours without me needing to be there, enough aperture to pick up dim targets and less than £800 (2000 oz dollars?) which was all I had available at the time. I couldn't afford an LX90 or LX200 and anyway I'd have needed a wedge to avoid field rotation and the focal ratio of scts was generally not good enough for what I needed. An achromat wasn't going to be up to the job either which left either a semi-apo or a newt (either on an eq mount). Simply on the bang for your buck factor, I chose the newt. I've supplemented it with a 80mm semi apo for widefield shots since - and I've been through a few - but I've never been unhappy with the Newt or the eq mount.

Visually, I've looked through a few big dobs and they are unbeatable, but for photography, the best mounts are still considered to be EQ's - i.e., Losmandy, AstroPhysics and Paramount. Virtually every astroimager I know uses an EQ - OK some use LX200s on wedges.

This is a shot of my setup, being guided for a shot of M109 I posted in the image gallery.

http://www.coxellis.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/astroimg/images/site/kitpic1.jpg

The scope is a SkyWatcher 200 on an HEQ5. As it comes it doesn't support PEC, guiding and GoTo, but I moddified it using a kit I bought from Germany for £120.

Andy

[acropolite]

Good news. :) Last night H.R.H. (Her Royal Householdness) Liz gave planning approval to buy an LX200 8", when funds permit. However, I have hatched a devious plan. It's my birthday next month and a 10 inch dob is well within the budget right now. I am only stumbling about the sky, so GOTO isn't necessary.... yet. We have a shack (holiday house) on the east coast of Tas (maybe I can have another dot on the map!) where the seeing is fantastic, no power, no streetlights and when I can afford the LX200 the dob can go live at the shack. So, given that I want to buy a 10 inch dob and know very little, which brand, what eyepieces and as there are basically no telescope outlets in Tas where is the best place to buy.

[[1ponders]]

You won't reget getting the 8"LX when you do. If bigomy wasn't illegal I'd marry mine. :P

[ballaratdragons]

Phil,

Brand names don't matter much any more as most of them come out of the same factories, Guan Sheng(Taiwan) and Synta(China).

Guan Sheng is the better of the 2.

So when you price Dobs ask for the GS range.

If you want the best prices in Oz you will have to order from Sydney like the rest of us. Andrews and Bintel are the best 2. The prices on their website are way out of date though.Mombat just ordered a 10" from Andrews for $649 plus delivery.

As far as EP's, you will be supplied with a set with the scope (Plossl's) but it is worth ordering a GS SuperView 2" as well. Probably the 30mm.

[acropolite]

Thanx Guys,
Still have some work to do on H.R.H. Liz who insisted on reading the forums and looking at the member photos. When I put the "dob now LX later" proposal, her comment was "I'd rather wait and just get the good one".... Bugger. :sad: I'll think I'll just order a GS dobs from Andrews, they seem to have the cheapest price, then face the music. :whistle: I've really learned a lot in the past couple of days, coming to this forum is like finding a long lost extended family (some of whom are complete nutters.... that's you striker!). I made a neat camera mount for the EOS to fit the Bushnell but alas now the tripod's far too wobbly and my moonshots are no better. I'll ring Andrews today. My biggest fear is freight to Tas as the couriers down here have a habit of smashing anything heavy or fragile.

[rmcpb]

Phil,

My comment to counter the "I'd rather wait and just get the good one" comment is that they are both terrific scopes but with the dob you will really learn your way around the sky and not just become one of the dial up brigade.

A story I have heard often is about the fella with a new go to who, at a star party, made great noises about not being able to get the Andromeda Galaxy up, it was fuzzy!! He kept complaining until someone pointed out that it was actually behind a tree from his position at the time.

While not all go to people are like that it is really important that you really get to know the sky, then a go to will really come into its own when you can drive it with some authority.

Just my two bobs worth.

[RAJAH235]

DIAL-UP BRIGADE? DIAL-UP BRIGADE, Indeed. Rob Please don't say that to any of OUR members with one. Take your life in your own hands you do. Most had DOBs before buying the COFFEE MAKERS. Some still use their DOBs occassionally. Most do know their way around the sky. Some...well. That's, I think why they went that way. Their choice. Me, I'll stick with my Meade 10" DOB and be QUIETLY happy. :thumbsup: L.

[ballaratdragons]

Phil,

Just so HRH knows what you are on about:

A Dob will teach you the sky and how to find things.

It is also a relatively small outlay for an expensive hobby and dobs are a great way to find out if you are going to stick with it.

If you find that you don't stick, then you have not spent 20 gazillion dollars on a whole heap of gear. The dob should be fairly easy to sell, or store away for special occasions: comets etc.

If you are still into it as time goes by (12 months or so) then you can look at upgrading.

There are some who buy expensive gear and don't stick with it. We have had people contact our Astro society asking if we want to buy their scopes (top of the range & supermarket models) as they have lost interest, or just don't use it as much as they thought they would.

Hope that helps clear things up a bit! :thumbsup:

[acropolite]

I'm still kicking tyres, HRH Liz took one look at a forum photo of a dob and said "What, :eyepop: that ugly thing; where are you going to put it" ; Then "Why don't you get a better one". She has agreed in principle to a Meade LX90 for cosmetic reasons.... I just hope she doesn't realise there's a mirror inside! Last night HRH Liz also found Jupiter by herself :astron: then came running in like an excited little kid having found three of it's moons as well. I gave her a mag with a story on the mythology behind the pleiades which she devoured. I still favour a dob but may end up with the LX90.

[Starkler]

Oi ! Dobs are a thing of beauty

This woman is hugging hers :)

http://www.globaldialog.com/~obsessiontscp/15Donnabig.jpg

[gaa_ian]

Either way Phil ...the Lx90 or the 10" dob, you will be a happy camper :cool:
I use both & like them equally, if you are going to buy a dob though, & space/size is not an issue, go for the 12", appature rules :P

[iceman]

rofl geoff! :)

I am soooo looking forward to the SPSP.. my camera will be clicking away feverishly.