My sister currently has a small Dick Smith-type refractor (2.5" or 3" maybe?) and enjoys using it. I recently bought her "Heavens Above" because I figure anything in there will be accessible to her refractor.
I am interested in buying her a (better?) small refractor or a reflector or cheaper SCT maybe.
The criteria are:
- that it must be EASILY picked up, moved, unpacked, packed away.
- quick setup
- not too big
- not heavy
- not too expensive (i am buying it so do not want to spend big $$)
she is not able to lift heavy objects (due to an illness) and it will be stored in a relatively unsafe place so must not be too big and obvious.
I think something SMALLER than a 6" dob is in order but I have no idea what is good/bad down at the small end of town...
I guess I was looking in the $200 to $400 range, so the 114mm reflector looks good. although it may be a bit heavy/unwieldy. perhaps a trip to bintel is in order... what a shame...
second-hand is fine, too, so maybe I should keep my eyes peeled on the classified sections on IIS.
I know it may be pricey. I have one of these & I love it. Small & compact, put in a backpack & decent photo tripod and of you go. And fantastic quality. Whips the pants off anything else in that size.
Can be used for both astro & terrestirial viewing.
It was the first scope I bought because I couldn't afford the 8" then. I'm really glad I didn't get the 8" now, .
Even though it's got an eq. mount, I mainly use it on a photo tripod. So easy to use.
in stock for $299 whilst it's as much as $495 elsewhere. Might be worth a shot. It's in the Skywatcher refractors section (in case that wasn't obvious)
Just one note on fast achromatic fast refractors like these, they suffer greatly from chromatic aberration. They give nice wide field views, but crank up the power & every object has a very obvious rainbow around it which becomes worse the higher the power used. Not much good for the planets.
Don't get me wrong with the suggestion made by PCH, just know what you are getting & its limitations.
You can go for a 114 which are quite cheap. All I would suggest then is consider changing its eq mount, which usually are poor, for a dob mount, which you can easily make, paint & be using inside of a weekend for less than fifty bucks, & the scope will be much more user friendly. I've done this for both a little cousin & a school's 114 just recently, post No. 1:
thanks for the replies, everyone. Been incommunicado for a couple of days.
The C5 may be a bit pricey- she is only my sister, after all...
the refractor may be an option, although I take on board mental4astro's comments.
I quite like the idea of converting a 114mm reflecor to a dob. thanks for the tip on that. Do you find the small reflectors require frequent collimation? I know it is not hard but...
Purists would say you should collimate EVERY TIME. I'm no purist. Though I do check every third or fourth time. Just makes for better viewing. Laser collimators do help make it easier in all sizes- one of the next to-get items for me.
put locking screws/nuts on the things that need to be locked down, tighten them up and you shouldn't have much in the way of problems.
If my 10" dob can hold colmination after a plane trip into the woods followed by a hour drive down a bumpy road using this method youll be fine with something 1/3 rd the size
Doesn't sound like the candidate for a reflector. Sure they're top value but she'll almost certainly be using it out of collimation, at least slightly.
Slightly is enough to have a most average viewing experience.
thanks for the replies.
sorry for the late replies- lately i am not always able to get onto IIS.
food for thought on the reflector and collimation. My experience is limited to my ED80, so... Brendan, I will think about your solution but will have to take on board the other comments.
perhaps I will find out how much she uses the telescope now and it may be that I can collimate it whenever I travel to SYD and visit.
hi,i am just chipping in because i am in a similar situation at the moment, looking for a small telescope...i currently have a 6" DOB, but just find it doesnt get used enough, and think it is partly due to its size....
the problem is not with the telescope, i guess i really want a 'grab and go' scope...i have been coming up with a celestron firstscope which has been promoted by the IYA...anyway it has had good reviews from what i have seen and with a finder and some accessories would probably better suit my needs. http://origin.getprice.com.au/prodhi...ope&position=1
i would be interested if anyone here has any 1st hand knowledge of the firstscope....
cheers
that scope is great for little kids but really apart from seeing a few stars and bits o bobs isn't useful to do anything properly.
your going to come into a tough spot as the refractor all be it nothing special has a fair amount of aperature at what you have said ~2.5-3" for a refractor. you have to think if you are buying her something new you don't want to just shift sideways and give her something that will do exactly the same job but just a new uniform...
to me you need something at least 114mm reflector or a 80mm refractor to make a upgrade. if your crafty enough you might be able to purchase the parts yourself (see GSO mirrors ect ect) and make a small reflector. if weight is an issue make it light as possible. i couldn't see it being much more than about 5-8kgs a bag of rice anyhow as my 10" with base and scope is only 17kgs all up.
There was a guy on this forum that had a DSE scope i don't know if he still wanted it but that would be perfect for you to do a bit of handy work to! Put a new/better focuser on it and redo the spider vanes and youll have a good starter scope thats very light and an upgrade to what you had!
in stock for $299 whilst it's as much as $495 elsewhere. Might be worth a shot. It's in the Skywatcher refractors section (in case that wasn't obvious)
sry to bust up an old thread but I'm thinking of selling my dobsonian (8") for the refractor quoted above, Does anyone know why the auto tracking one is cheaper then the AZ mounts?
P.S. I want to free up some money for accessories and possible astrophotography.
The little refractor you are looking at is a big step backwards from your dob. The lenses used in this scope will produce horrible colour fringing around pretty much everything bright on anything above low power because of the short focal ratio.
Unless you are prepared to spend the big bucks in a QUALITY scope, you will be disappointed. This is not that scope. And the mount is questionable too for your purposes. It is not cheap for no reason. This is not an astrophotography rig.
Have you seen the webcam conversion project to a planetary camera? It is located in the 'Projects and Articles' heading on the left margin. It is a little camera that you can begin to cut your teeth with photography without breaking the bank. I undertook this project myself to use with my dobs, and it works a treat. There are also many folks here in IIS that only do this type of photography. Mike Salway is a master with it. You will definately have enough to sink your teeth into with this set-up. Don't underestimate it. It may be an unassuming system, but it is very powerful.
Here are a couple of single frame shot taken at prime focus (no eyepiece, camera looking straight down through scope) through my little Celestron C5 (5" f/10 Schmidt Cassegrain) on a tripod! They are unaltered images. One of the Moon and one of Jupiter (the GRS is barely visible), the second image using a 2X barlow. Proper processing would make these images clearer and sharper- something I'm sure you'd take to with gusto!
Your 8" dob is much more versatile than you think, even as is! I used one last year to spot 5 of Saturn's moons from my home in Sydney.
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youll be fine with something 1/3 rd the size
