best option for first telescope

[simonr23 (Simon)]

Hi everyone, I'm looking at getting my own first telescope. as a kid (26 now) we had a small cheap refractor for the moon and just seeing saturn, and then a cheapish manual reflector. i think it was about 90-100mm. this let us see the planets a bit better.

I'm now going to buy my own telescope, with the hopefull aim of it being something my partner wil want to join in with too. for this end, it needs to be pretty simple and easy to see and then follow planets, stars, etc.

i would love something that would enable me to see some intersting deep space stuff, if possible for my budget... around $1200 max.

please suggest anything that is going to be easy for us to use (i dont mind having to point it at an object myself, but would be nice to have it track automatically from there) and give me some satisfaction when i use it to see some of the more interesting and harder to see objects out there.

thanks heaps,

Simon.

[Craig.a.c (Craig)]

Jump onto www.andrewscom.com.au and have a look at some of his telescopes. Great value and they are great to deal with. I got my 12" GSO dob from them for $749.

[Craig.a.c (Craig)]

Their freight price isn't to bad either.

[acropolite (Phil)]

Simon, size is everything, tracking really is of minor importance.

For $1200 you could get a nice dob ($1200 would buy up to 12 inches (300mm) of aperture) and some quality eyepieces and even a filter or two. For an additional $1000, later you could add an Argo Navis (an Australian made product. Consider 8 inches to be a good starting point.

If transport is going to be an issue then you need to consider the size of the optical assembly and mount when buying.

Truss dobs pack into smaller spaces conventional dobs, but will cost more.

It may be wise to purchase quickly as prices are rising due to our $au falling from 90+ cents to under 70.

[simonr23 (Simon)]

thanks guys. with the dobsonian mounted telescopes, do i just plonk it on a nice steady table and then control it by hand? are they easy to use for following objects through the sky? i know our old scopes had horribly jerky little winder handles for adjusting the 2 axis'.

[Craig.a.c (Craig)]

Originally Posted by simonr23

thanks guys. with the dobsonian mounted telescopes, do i just plonk it on a nice steady table and then control it by hand? are they easy to use for following objects through the sky? i know our old scopes had horribly jerky little winder handles for adjusting the 2 axis'.

With a dob you just stick it on the ground (relatively flat so it doesn't woble) stick in the eyepice and away you go.
They aren't to bad to track the moon or planets by hand, as long as the mount isn't to stiff.
Just grab the tube and push/pull (up/down and side to side) where you want to look.

[deadsimple (Ash)]

Originally Posted by simonr23

thanks guys. with the dobsonian mounted telescopes, do i just plonk it on a nice steady table and then control it by hand? are they easy to use for following objects through the sky? i know our old scopes had horribly jerky little winder handles for adjusting the 2 axis'.

They generally come with an extremely simple mount that you plonk on the ground - that lets you rotate the telescope on 2 axes by hand (up/down, left/right). Perfectly fine for stars, many deep space stuff and the moon - since you won't be zoomed in too much.

Though with such a simple mount it can be a little frustrating when viewing the planets at high magnification (which you'll need to be using to see decent detail). The mounts generally don't give a smooth movement when you want to nudge them a tiny fraction of a degree by hand to get a planet back into view .. you'll end up with resistance and overshoot. Some mounts are better than others in regards to smoothness, depending on whether they use springs to hold the scope in place or not, etc.

Probably not something you'll care about in the first couple of weeks since you'll have the WOW factor of seeing stuff and won't mind that your object is only in view for 10-50 seconds without renudging the mount, but eventually you may want to get a less manual mount if you want to take things more seriously and find yourself looking through the eyepiece every other day

Don't get me wrong though ... I think everyone should start with a refractor for initial interest (as you did), move onto a Dob to see more and get over aperture lust, then see what you want then ...

Also if you can, try to find an actual telescope/camera store to see the different sized scopes in person, the photos don't really do them justice. I decided to buy an 8" Dob over a 10" due to my lower budget, but I'm glad I did as I found even the 8" was bigger than I was expecting - I probably couldn't store or move a bigger scope at my current house/yard if I wanted to.

[rayman888 (Ray)]

Originally Posted by deadsimple

Some mounts are better than others in regards to smoothness, depending on whether they use springs to hold the scope in place or not, etc.

Are the new GSO mounts better (adjustable super deluxe, ASDX). They seems to be more expensive than the 'limited' version ($699 compared to $399) for the 8".