SW 10" Dob Advice

[Nugeorge (George)]

Hi All,

I'm looking into buying my first telescope (currently have a borrowed 6" ancient one that isn't doing much for me) and I'm leaning towards a 10" collapsible skywatcher dob for $800 (if anyone knows a cheaper location let me know .

I really want to get into the deep space stuff and Astrophotography so I was considering a 12" but I live only about 10 minutes from Sydney city so I'd have to be driving out a bit and 12" just wouldn't be portable. I'm even worried that the 10" would be, which leads me to my first question: would I be able to get a 10" collapsible in a average size sedan?

Second question is, I've seen "GoTo" thrown around a few places, and I"m assuming this is a feature on the mount which you enter the coordinates, I know this scope wouldn't come with this feature however would it account for the movement of the earth? I assume this would be a factor when viewing DSO.

Last question would be regarding the photography - if I wanted to take decent shots with this scope would I need to setup my own external mount for some sort of webcam?

Thanks in advance

[barx1963 (Malcolm)]

Hi George.
You shouldn't have too much trouble with a 10" in an average sedan. Jen manages to move her 12" SW Collapsible in her little Hyundai. Tube in the boot and base on the back seat. Ring up the dealer and ask for dimensions if not sure, thats what I did before I got the 12" GSO to make sure the base would fit in my car.

GoTo means that the mount is capable of moving to an object and then tracking it over a period of time. Obviously adds more to the initial cost but can help to make your observing more efficient. GoTo is not necessary when viewing DSOs IMHO as they dont move that quiock out of field so easy to move scope by hand.

A dob even with GoTo is not usually going to be suitable for imaging purposes as it is not a Equatorially mounted scope. Short exposures of very bright objects (moon and planets) is possible, anything else you will need to remount on a decent EQ mount. EQ6 is probably the minimum. Haven't heard of anyone doing this with a SW Collapsible, but I am sur it could be done but I would be worried about flexure.

Hope all that helps

Malcolm

[bmitchell82 (Brendan)]

The 10" scope is more than capable of fitting in a sedan, its the dob base that can be a hassel but you can always collapse it if need be.

If your going towards Astrophotography stay away from the flex tube.

1. its harder to mount you need specialist stuff to do it
2. I have my doubts that it can hold the secondary cage strong enough. My full tube flexes a bit.....

Look at my website as I have done what you are thinking of doing. and once you go to astrophotography itll be a long time generally before you go back to visual, and you only go to visual because you get bored while your setup is taking rheams of data...

[Nugeorge (George)]

Malcolm, by EQ mount is that a mount that accounts for the Earths rotation? I'm assuming a dob doesn't do that..

Brendan, by flex tube you mean collapsible?

Cheers guys

[bmitchell82 (Brendan)]

Yep GEM is a German Equatorial Mount, it rotates the opposite way to the earth so that you can track stars.

Dobsonians are manual so you push it to what you want to look at and then track it yourself.

Flex tube is what skywatcher calls them, but yes they are can be collapsed.

[Irish stargazer (John)]

HI
I picked up a 12" Lightbridge Dob a few weeks ago and it all fits in the back seat of my Camry-base and optics. A solid tube 12" will need a bigger car but a truss tube or flex tube should be fine. Check the dimensions of the flex tube beforehand when it is collapsed if going for the 12" version.
Fot photography except for the moon and planets as stated you need an equatorial mount. These will cost as much and more than a basic Dobsonian