Meade 8" LX200GPS beginner advice

[musca in soup (Jim)]

Hi all,
I have just registered tonight, having just bought my first ever telescope, a Meade 8" LX200GPS last week. It's been pouring here in central NSW so I've only had it out once so far. The plan is to get the hang of it enough to be able to do star talks and astronomy nights for school groups and interested people. (I've done some before with borrowed equipment). The skies are very black if I drive 10km in any direction from town.

What filters do people suggest I get as a 'basic set' to optimise viewing of planets and the moon?

Is this scope likely to be able to take photos? What extra bits would I need for this and is there any good sites to look for equipment for sale?
cheers
jim

[DavidU (Dave)]

Welcome Jim. Every bit of info you should ever need is right here.
The Meade 8" takes a great astrophoto.
A good set of eye pieces and may be a UHC filter will get you going while you learn more ( wait before spending the $).
I also find the free programs Stellarium and Jupiter2 are invaluable.

[musca in soup (Jim)]

thanks David. I have a 40mm, 26mm, 9.7mm and a barlow eyepiece. On my 1 night of viewing before the rain started up found that the moon was v bright, which is partly why I wondered about a filter for that aspect. Then I started looking through some of the great photos on this website , which mentioned filters used. I appreciate your advice re $. I am v keen to 'get into it'. (A boy with a new toy!)

[DavidU (Dave)]

Bintel has a nice variable polarising filter set for not much $
look for bintelshop/filters page 3

[[1ponders] (Paul)]

Jim and

There is a fairly standard range of colour filters used to view the planets with. There have been quite a few discussions over the years as to their usefulness in viewing specific features on specific planets (eg red spot on Jupiter, dark markings on Mars). Generally these coloured filters are not expensive, but I'd suggest that you see if you can get to a Society meeting or an astrocamp and try them out before you buy. You may find that they are not for you and you could use the money better on buying a new eyepiece.

Btw my first 'big' scope with the 8" LX200gps. It was a great little scope. You'll find it very suitable for starting into basic planetary and luna imaging with a webcam. I had many hours of pleasure out of mine. I sometimes regret selling mine. Mind you I did replace it with the same OTA just on a Losmandy mount.

[renormalised (Carl)]

Hi Jim, and welcome to IIS

So, you've undergone the "Burnt my retina off by the light of the silvery Moon" initiation Reminds one that they need a neutral density filter to cut back on all that glare!!! Bintel will have them in stock, so just click on the link and have a look.

Now, I'm assuming you've got your scope in the alt-az mount configuration, so I'll go from there. To take astropiccies with it in this configuration is possible but they'll only be short exposures as trying to go for longer than 30 secs or so will start seeing the stars in your piccies rotating. If you want to take longer exposures you have two choices. The first is to get a Meade field derotator (also at Bintel), which will negate any field rotation by turning the camera, etc, in precise step with the rotation of the field. Or, you could buy an ultrawedge and then set the scope up in equatorial mount mode. That's the preferred way of doing it...you'll be able to take longer exposures in a properly setup scope in EQ mode.

Then you have your camera to choose. The sky's the limit here. You can go for a normal DSLR camera like a Canon EOS, a dedicated CCD camera like a QHY8 or SBIG or even a video camera like a GStar, Mallincam, Stellacam etc etc. Just depends on what you want out of the camera and how much you're willing to pay. Then you have photographic filters, image processing software, guidescopes, autoguiders, OAG's (Off Axis Guiders) and a whole range of other goodies to look at. You could even try some afocal piccie taking, by getting a camera holder and clamping a little "point and shoot" into the holder, then lowering it to the eyepiece. You'd be surprised at how good the piccies turn out

The possibilities are endless, but lots of fun

[musca in soup (Jim)]

Thanks Carl, Paul and David.

I have ordered the bintel moon filter. I got asked to give a "star" talk to about 50 year 2 kids (and probably a bunch of parents) in a few weeks time, which is why I wanted advice about the moon filter.

I have lined up some other telescopes as well as my own and will get some teachers/parents to help out. I'll get the kids all to lie on the ground on rugs in an open paddock and talk about the sky for a while, then break into a few groups and look at fun things like the moon, jupiter, omega centaurus etc while groups without telescopes practice finding south, finding some constellations, and so on. It is a buzz seeing little people's eyes opened to the glories of the universe. (My truthful guess is that they will probably also be opened to the glories of staying up late, eating snacks and shining torches in other people's faces! )

Re the astrophotography, I have a Canon EOS500 (35mm film) and a Fujifilm Finepix (digital) that has a thread that I think is to attach to things, though I've never done it. Time enough to play, later though.

Jim