niche telescopes

[Brian W (Brian)]

Hi all, currently my wife and I are very happy with our Meade 8" LightBridge and our Orion 4.5 Eq mount. For what we are interested in, a general survey of the sky, they perform magnificently.

However if we were to become more concentrated in our interests, say variable stars, or galactic structure in M31, or really serious about studying the Triffid Nebula we are wondering if there are specific scopes that have been fine tuned for such interests?

Brian

[Kevnool (Kev)]

Bigger Aperture Brian also bigger aperture = bigger image scale....cheers Kev.

[bmitchell82 (Brendan)]

... just like Kenvool said LOCATION LOCATION LOCATION. oops, APERATURE APERATURE APERATURE.

Get a damm good mount, get a damm good telescope, get a damm good CCD, make sure to guide it. ahhh if only i was to win lotto! ide buy a block of land and sat link it to my mansion in the middle of the city.

[norm]

As many people have mentioned for DSO type stuff, aperture is king.

On that basis look at the truss style dobs such as the Obsessions, T-scopes, Discovery OR better still look no further than the SDM @ www.sdmtelescopes.com.au

IMO its hard to go past the SDM scopes. Not cheap, but what you get is a very customised, personal scope. Peter Read will go beyond the call to please. The quality is 2nd to none - PERIOD.

Mine is due for completion in Jan09 and by all accounts, its a beauty. I don't think O/S orders would pose a problem.

BTW: if portability is an issue, Peter now makes them in compact form too!

Good luck !

Cheers Norm

PS: dark skies would go a very long way too in getting the most of the night sky.

[bmitchell82 (Brendan)]

I just have to pose this question, are you looking to go astro photography way, just visual. this might sway a decision

[Rodstar (Rod)]

I can second Norm's recommendation of SDM scopes. I could not be happier with mine, it really is incredible what structure can be seen with larger aperture.

[AstroJunk (Jonathan)]

Originally Posted by bmitchell82

I just have to pose this question, are you looking to go astro photography way, just visual. this might sway a decision

Or even photometry; if you would like to do some scientific research on variable stars then something like a 11" CGE will get you a lot of mileage.

Other studies (occultation timing for me) means that I get a BIG payback for aperture, and that's where an SDM really comes in!

I really encourage people to do addititive science - it's a real thrill to make even a small contribution to astronomical understanding and can be done whilst waiting for those one or two nights of the year when the conditions are stunning and the eyeball takes over ...

[GrahamL]

Not long to wait norm

[Brian W (Brian)]

If I knew what 'additive science' was i might try it. The SDM site is impressive as is the Mary Rose but if I was to spend that much on a scope neither my wife nor the Goddess of Mercy would be too pleased with me.

Good thing I am a generalist so all I really need is the 8 with a few accessories.
Brian

[AstroJunk (Jonathan)]

Anything that is reported back to a central scientific body - AAVSO, IOTA, MPC for eg. and adds (albeit only a tiny bit) to the understanding. There is plenty that you can do with an 8" in that respect, but Comet/supernova hunting isn't additive unless you find one

[Bassnut (Fred)]

Well, "Science" (eg photometry) is a whole different field to pretty (nebs for example) pics. Photometrists require linear data to determine star magnitude, so a NABG cam is the go there (linear).