New Telescope - What do I need?

[MickSmith (Mick)]

Hi Everyone,

I'm new to the forum, so a quick G'day before I get into my first of most likely a thousand questions that will probably annoy everyone over time

I haven't done much star-gazing for about 15 years, when I was younger I used to head out with my old man all the time but I kind of grew out of it. Now, I'm starting to get really interested in astronomy again and want to get some new equipment.

I've been looking at a lot of websites that sell telescopes but I really have no idea what I'm after, no idea on good brands, and no idea on all the fancy little gizmos that will come in handy.

Budget wise I was looking to spend about $5000-$5500 AUD.

What I'm looking for is:
- something I can do a bit of astrophotography with (later down the line)
- the ability to connect it to my laptop or tablet
- something really stable and sturdy
- In terms of what I want to look at I guess anything and everything (planets, stars, galaxies, nebulae etc.)

I guess I want to take my childhood astronomy fascination and take it to the next level and do some serious star gazing.

Any recommendations on what I should be looking at would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance,

Mick

[Paddy (Patrick)]

Hi Mick and welcome. I won't presume to answer your questions as I am only familiar with visual observing. I hope you have a lot of fun here at IIS and you will find plenty of people with great expertise to help you get set up.

[multiweb (Marc)]

If you're thinking of Astrophotography down the line I would go with the best mount you can afford and a quality small refractor on top. That should get you started for visual and give you a solid base for later.

[Alchemy (Clive)]

I'd have to agree with Marc, astrophotography is the evil cousin in astro terms, it will gobble money like a drainpipe. IF you want to do astrophotography the mount is the single most important item, it's a big decision to commit to early on though.

5k will get you imaging

Having been here a little while, I watch with some amusement as different ones buy new scopes in search of the perfect image. Let me say it does not exist, each scope has it's good and bad points

Reflectors give lots of light gathering at a cheap price, but are finicky with collimation, need larger mounts, and tube flexure can create problems once you have reached a good level of competency and want to push into really long exposures.

Refractors, simple to use but good ones are expensive, plus your f ratio is usually higher requiring longer exposures.

Other mirror type scopes often have long focal lengths which require some expertise, focal reducers can be obtained, the cheaper end come with mounts and will allow you to get to the solid intermediate level, the more expensive end can be really expensive and again will require a solid mount... To which your budget will not extend.

If you are more interested in planetary imaging, huge newts are the most chosen, and because it is more a video imaging game the mount question is not quite so demanding.

For visual, nothing beats a monster dob. The bigger the better. You can get goto varieties and tracking platforms etc.

Back to marcs comment a solid mount and a refractor is where you wnt to be for imaging

Cheers

[midnight (Darrin)]

As someone who is progressing (hopefully!!) away from "beginner", I would have to agree with Marc.

For that budget, a solid mount should be high on your list. It will form the base of your investment and hopefully avoid the pain of a cheaper mount (which I did for a year with my cheaper LXD mount & almost gave up in frustration early in the piece)

Then get yourself a nice refractor. something in the 80mm to 100mm you can get from about $700-$1500 (I have a Meade 80mm triplet - I think about $800 at the moment). Then a barlow to extend your FL - but optional at this stage.

With some change, you may want to start with widefield photography (eg DSLR) unless you want to jump into the ring of fire with a dedicated CCD.

I think the last item (DSLR or CCD) is really up to your short to medium term goals and your capability. Personally, if I was starting out tomorrow knowing what I know today & budget, I would go for a DSLR to learn the skills needed to setup, track, polar align, some basic image processing (lights, darks etc). You'll be surprised how 1 year goes quickly when learning this fantastic hobby

Good luck.

Darrin...

[Shiraz (Ray)]

Hi Mick. All very good advice - get a smallish refractor on a solid mount if you want to do general imaging. However, if you are getting back into the hobby, you might also consider getting a reasonable low cost Dob (maybe a 10 inch) as well as an imaging system, just for the sheer fun of looking at things. Regards Ray

[StarsInMyEyes (Peter)]

Hi Mick

I would have to agree with Ray (Shiraz). But my advice, if your just getting back into it would be, get a dob first. If you want to see some deep sky objects, you cant beat a good dob. This will give you a chance to learn ( or re-learn ) the sky. Meanwhile you can do some research on which mount and scope would suit you best for taking some pics.

Peter

[Gem (Grant)]

Looking at your budget and goals, I would recommend the same scope that I use: a Celestron CGEM 925. It is a 9.25" Schmitt Cassegrain telescope on a german equatorial mount. Comes in around $3700 now (I got in before the price rise!) - which leaves the rest for a CCD camera.
It is portable by one person. It offers good views. It can be used to take astrophotos.
http://www.celestron.com/c3/product....=73&ProdID=538

[renormalised (Carl)]

Hi Mick and welcome to IIS

$5000-$5500....a good budget!!!.

I concur with what most replies here are saying. If you're looking at imaging and visual, you can't go by a good medium sized refractor. It's not a "jack of all trades" scope but it's probably the best compromise between focal length/ratio and aperture you'll get to do a bit of everything. Anything in the 80-100/110mm range would be good and pairing it with a mount like and EQ6 would set you up with a good scope/mount combo.

Try this setup for size...

WO GT81 81mm triplet APO...$1199 (Andrews)
EQ6 Mount...$1399 (also at Andrews)
WO 2" quartz diagonal....$249 (Andrews)
DBK21 Colour Camera (planets and moon) $399 (Bintel)
WO P-Flat3 2" field flattener (Andrews) $269

For more involved imaging of nebulae, galaxies and such later on you could get...

QHY8-L 6MP OSC Camera (Gama Electronics) $1500
Orion Mini Autoguider $420 (Bintel)

The rest of your money spend on eyepieces, cables, extension tubes etc.

You could buy a cheaper scope...the 80mm Meade triplet APO goes for about $950 at Bintel, or you could get the Orion ED80T CF for about $1050 at same. That'd give you extra to spend on the "incidentals" like eyepieces etc.

[Allan_L (Allan)]

Hi Mick

All good advice above.
I have one more thing to offer.
Come to an observing night, see touch feel look through the various scopes we have.
Ask questions.
There is sure to be a group meeting near you.
If not, you are always welcome at our sessions at Mangrove Mountain.
(See Star Parties thread and sticky at top thereof for location and directions to the Pony Club.)
We are not an astro Club so you don't have to "join" to come along.
Very friendly and lots of advice and experience.

Mostly visual observing, but we do have a number of imagers who frequently come along (including Iceman himself on occasions).

Its not that far and it Free.
and there will be a gathering this Saturday (weather permitting)

Or maybe the Blue Mountains gang may be closer, not sure if they are free though?

Really it's the best way to get a decent idea of what you want, from people who have been that way.

Regards

Hope to see you soon

[Poita (Peter)]

I'd totally agree with the last statement, get to a star gazing night before you spend a cent and get a feel for all the different gear.

I'm just getting into astrophotography now, I have an 8" SCT but have realized I really need a good solid mount, an apo triplet refractor and the best ccd I can afford.

If I was buying again now I would go with something like renormalised's suggestion and grab a 10" skymaster dobsonian for general viewing when the photo bug isn't eating your soul.