Celestron telescope

chrisk · #1 19-12-2010, 11:26 AM

Hey Guys, i wondering about the celestron telescopes. I was looking at the Celestron CPC telescopes, the 8" 9" and 11". My question is are they good and more importantly would i be able to see deep space stuff with them? I am really interested in seeing galaxies and nebulas and so on. Could anyone confirm and where to buy them from cheap?

Thank you

Binca (Bianca) · #2 19-12-2010, 03:12 PM

I can't say I know much about telescopes, but I know celestron is a pretty good brand. However, they are ridiculously expensive - as in triple the price of some English brands I have seen. I don't know, that is just my opinion from the little I know and have seen. Good luck!

casstony · #3 19-12-2010, 03:31 PM

In the site menu at the left, click on 'Our community' and you'll find a list of clubs around Melbourne; if you could get to a public viewing night you can see for yourself what each scope will show.

The Celestron CPC and Meade LX90's are very good scopes and easy to use - being fork mounted they can also be quite heavy. The fork and tube assembly weighs about 50 pounds for the 10" LX90 and about 65 pounds for the 11" CPC.

If you're not certain about your choice of scope or how strong your interest is in the hobby there are cheaper options such as a 10" Dobsonian, which will show nebulae, star clusters and galaxies just as well as the other scopes can. In general objects are faint and grey as viewed through the scope (not like pictures).

chrisk · #4 19-12-2010, 10:15 PM

Thank you so much for your help. I have a bit of money and just wanted to go for the celestron because i have seen some good reviews. Im looking at spending a bit of money on something which i want to be good. Its just some sites dont tell you if you are able to see deep space stuff with their telescopes. Thats what i dont understand

bobson (Bob) · #5 19-12-2010, 10:39 PM

Welcome Chris,

Have a look on this site, it explains what you can see with different scopes:

http://www.astronomics.com/main/cate...B360067/Page/1

And this one has some images and what you can see visually:

http://www.ovas.org/seeinscope.htm

http://www.telescopes.com/telescopes...opearticle.cfm

cheers

casstony · #6 20-12-2010, 09:07 AM

Chris, you can also go into the Bintel telescope shop in Melbourne to see some different types of scopes and talk to the guys there. It's a reputable shop though you might be best to leave the credit card at home to avoid an impulsive decision - those shiny Meades and Celestrons have a habit of separating people from their money

.

I'd highly recommend buying local (unless there is a large price difference) since you can drive back to the shop for help if there are any problems.

astro744 · #7 20-12-2010, 09:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chrisk

Thank you so much for your help. I have a bit of money and just wanted to go for the celestron because i have seen some good reviews. Im looking at spending a bit of money on something which i want to be good. Its just some sites dont tell you if you are able to see deep space stuff with their telescopes. Thats what i dont understand

You will definitey be able to see deep space stuff (normally referred to as DSO's (Deep Space Objects). However they wont be colourful like in the pictures. You will see faint grey fuzzy objects some brighter and more resolved than others and some on the limit of visibility and many in between. Whether the telescope is Celestron or any other you will see the same amount as it is the size of the primary mirror (or lens) that is the main determining factor in what you see. The bigger the mirror the brighter the image. However the quality of the optics does also play an important role.

The DSO's will be a lot brighter in the CPC11 than they will be in the CPC 8 or 9.25. The CPC9.25 is a good compromise in terms of weight and light gathering capacity. You can get a 12" Newtonian that gathers a lot more light for a fraction of the cost of the CPC11 but it wont track or find objects for you. Although not essential I feel tracking is important for your eye to be able to study the object without the image moving (the higher the power the faster it moves). You can get a DOB that tracks and has GOTO also for a lot less than a CPC11. The CPC has a long (2800mm) focal length in a very short package meaning it will give higher powers with longer focal length and more comfortable eyepieces and without having to use a Barlow. A typical 12", 1200mm telescope being f5 requires highly corrected eyepieces to give abberation free views and when combined with a Paracorr also gives coma free views. The advantage of the 1200mm Newtionian is that you can get a wider true field (2.2deg without Paracorr, 1.9deg with) whereas the CPC11 will give only 0.94 degrees maxiumum. The view in a Newt will also match an atlas (although it may be upside down) whereas a CPC11 will give a mirror reversed view.

In terms of dollars, what you save on not buying the CPC11 you will spend on better eyepieces if you go with a 12" Newt, but this cost can be spread out over time as you need different eyepieces and I think you still come out in front. If you really like the CPC11 and have the money go for it as you wil not be disappointed. If you really want to see the faint stuff consider a GOTO 14" Dob that will really pull in those faint fuzzies without getting too big. A CPC11 costs $5k whereas a GOTO14" Dob costs $3k. You can buy some nice Tele Vue eyepieces for the other $2k. Telescopes 16" and over start getting big so I wont elaborate on these 'scopes here.

(Note astronomy is one of the few hobbies where both imperial and metric units are used. Aperture is typically in inches and focal length in mm. Odd but true. There is nothing stopping anyone from referring to a CPC11 as a 28cm telescope or a 12" as a 30cm telescope).

Note too that you will have to collimate the CPC11 a lot less than the Newtonian so some extra money for colimating tools for the Newt will, be needed (say $200). The CPC11 would not need tools to collimate although these are also available.

Whatever you choose, enjoy!

chrisk · #8 20-12-2010, 11:02 PM

WOW! Thank you so much for your help, that was AWSOME! I think at this stage the cpc 9.25 is looking a lot better for me now. I cannot justify spending more on the 11 as i will not be doing this every night but it will be a great hobby.

I just like the cpc as it is portable and so on but i am really into my DSO and photography. But there is a massive learning proceedure which i know i will have to take. Thank you so much for all your help, this was the best thing i have ever done i think

astro744 · #9 21-12-2010, 06:53 AM

You will be happy with the C9.25. Note it is available as fork mounted CPC or German Equatorial Mounted (GEM) which is more suitable for long exposure photography since there will be no field rotation. You can also buy the OTA alone and mount onto any GEM mount using a suitable saddle.

These days there is as much electronics in a telescope as there is optics and this is where much of the cost is. Electronic components are prone to failure and some 'scopes cannot be used at all manually if electronics fail, ie. no manual clamps to lock/unlock either axis. I'm not familiar with the CPC and am not sure if this is the case with it. Also always keep your battery charged or keep a spare set of individual cells on hand.

You can dowlnoad full manuals from the Celestron web site for any product. See http://www.celestron.com/c3/downloads.php and scroll down to find the CPC9.25. Download the CGEM, CGE and Nextar manuals to compare if you like. There is a lot of other good info on the Celestron site.

Whatever you choose enjoy!