Telescope advice for beginner

[astromark]

~ OK I will try to explain; For good deep sky photography you need a tracking mount.. motor driven to follow for a period of min's your photo subject..
The longer period gives a better image.. However, " yes but no." You can just replace your eye piece with a camera..and it's never that simple... and may not deliver what you want.. And / But most dobi's are not motor driven well enough for this.. and before you even think of heavy tripods for azimuth mounted or wedge type mountings.. As I said the telescope might NOT be the best method of photography of deep sky objects.. Galaxies and clusters and just wide field shots.
Almost any SLR digital camera can be fitted at a reasonable cost with good optical lenses..
I can only suggest that you NEED to talk with and be shown what can be done and what can not..
A few seconds of un driven wide field action may be all you want..
It can be a hideously costly excessive task to outfit a scope with a camera..
For a well built Smite Cassie with 'Go to' and all that you would want you are starting to spend $ 5,000 +
As has been said to you.. Jumping in at the deep end is the best way to wast money..
Astronomy is and can be a very absorbing hobby.. Learn what you want to do without wasting $$$...

[norm]

Ok,

I'm going to play devils advocate here and tell it as is:

A dob is arguably the best bang for your buck. Go 8", 10" if the size doesn't concern you.

Yes dobs are unusual looking scopes, look cheap, but visually wise are better than a traditional refractor of the same cost.

You can plonk it on grass, dirt, etc, doesn't even need to be on perfect flat ground.

Can be a bit cumbersome to lug around (although the base and scope can be separated when travelling).

Refractor (based on your budget) probably wont give as much bright views of night objects. Bit if you get bored with the hobby and it doesn't turn out the way you expect you can always use it for terrestrial viewing.

Astrophotography - You can take some snaps of the moon and with modded webcam, pics of say Saturn, Jupiter process them with say registax . However for serious astro work you will need to spend good money on a decent mount.

As the others have mentioned, try to go to a viewing night and meet some folks and look through the various scopes. In fact try to meet up a couple of more times before you commit.

Some people get hooked into the hobby and it will provide them a wonderful lifetime journey. Others get into it, only to realise after a few months of lugging the gear out, then back in, cold nights, late nights etc the novelty wears thin.

Good luck with the decision

Norm

PS: Google Andrew Communications @ Greystanes, they sell DOBS at decent prices as well.

[Steffen]

Let's make a note to invite both David and Alan to our October 5th viewing night at the Airfield. There will be a variety of scopes there, and nothing dispels misconceptions about what's important and what's not like some good old first-hand experience.

Cheers
Steffen.

[mr bruess]

Originally Posted by malau

Hi All, This is my first post . I did some research about how to choose a telescope but Im having issue to choose the good one. My budget is around not more than $700. I mainly want the telescope can see stars/galaxy, saturn/mars...etc preferably can take photo from telescope. Is that achiveable?

I am currently thinking Skywatcher BKP150x 750 EQ3 Deluxe, Skywatcher SW500S but cant tell which one is better. I also heard about go-to and did some research about that... however I still cant get some concept of it.

Can anyone suggest me something? I dont mind spend another $100-200 for accessories such as eye piece I guess?

go for a 12ich dob.It has the best value for money.
it has good apeture to see galaxies etc.A refractor is limited by aperture .
Some basic wide field eyepieces from andrews communications like GSo
SUPERVIEWS WILL DO A GOOD JOB FOR BEGINNERS.

tHEN LATER ON WHEN you SAVE UP WITH A BIGGER BUDGET YOU CAN GO FOR SOME SECOND hand TELEVUES.

[malau (David)]

Instead of saying thank you to you guys individually I may just do it in this post.

Thanks for everyone information and learn a lot and have much support (especially those field trips later) from you guys within few days.

Apart from field visit I may also go to the shop and have a look (my friend also interested in this).

The majority of my friends are into photography only and for me I just want a telescope can see the stars clearly. However we started in love with taking photo of the stars/milkyway (not via telescope). In the future I know I want to take some photo of the stars via telescope

Thanks everyone once again

p.s. I still unable to go to the forum when Im home and I checked the somewhere in the connection between my ISP and here seems blocked the connection..

[ManUtdFans (Alan)]

As the Dob has no mount, to put it on the ground/grass, then you have to on your knee to view the sky? Or you need to build a trolley yourself?

[Kunama]

Originally Posted by ManUtdFans

As the Dob has no mount, to put it on the ground/grass, then you have to on your knee to view the sky? Or you need to build a trolley yourself?

The "dob" is actually the mount itself, referring to the specific mount type which holds a Newtonian reflector Optical tube assembly. If you buy a "Dobsonian" scope from a store it should be ready to 'plonk' down on grass and use. (You will have to collimate the optics, which simply means align the mirrors so the central axis of the primary lines up with the secondary which in turns lines up with the axis of the focuser assembly. With a dob you will use it standing, sitting or climbing a trestle or ladder depending on the size of the scope and angle above the horizon your target is. On Newts the focuser and therefore the eyepiece is near the top of the tube as opposed to cassegrains and refractors where it is at the bottom.

[ManUtdFans (Alan)]

From ease of view perspective, Dob is not as convenient as other type?

[Steffen]

Originally Posted by ManUtdFans

From ease of view perspective, Dob is not as convenient as other type?

That depends. The Dobs mentioned here are all comfortable to use. The eyepiece doesn't move into awkward places, it just goes up and down.

Some of the huge Dobs people are using require a ladder to reach the eyepiece, but you better leave that for your second scope

This random Youtube clip shows you the ease of use of a normal size Dob:

Click here to load the video

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Cheers
Steffen.

[ManUtdFans (Alan)]

For an "ordinary" size Dob(ie for me), will not be so big beyond 6 inches, then it will need me to be bend my back all time whenever to view thru the eye piece?

[Steffen]

I don't know how you get that from the video. You basically look slightly down into the eyepiece, you can sit comfortably while doing so. No bending back.

Maybe you refer to looking through the finder scope? In that case you have a point, the SkyWatcher straight-through finder scope sucks in that regard. The right-angle ones included with GSO Dobs are much nicer to use.

Cheers
Steffen.

[astromark]

Originally Posted by Steffen

That depends. The Dobs mentioned here are all comfortable to use. The eyepiece doesn't move into awkward places, it just goes up and down.

Some of the huge Dobs people are using require a ladder to reach the eyepiece, but you better leave that for your second scope

This random Youtube clip shows you the ease of use of a normal size Dob:

Cheers
Steffen.

~ As I watched this.. and then looked at the options 'U-Tube' put up..
There 'IT' was The Orion 16 XXG and now I want one.. ~ Can I dare ask if the cost of shipping to NZ is included in the quote..

[astromark]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...qSN3uMjvg#t=28
~ Now... do I dare ask How many of these $ does it cost ?