Another Newby after a telescope.

[iceman (Mike)]

All good points. In the end it may depend on the individuals budget or needs.. If astrophotography is your prime focus, a dob is not for you. If you only have $500 to spend, a goto scope is not for you.

If I had the money, I would've bought a goto scope (like a 10" Meade LX200 SCT) when I got my scope. But I only had $1k so I bought my 10" dob. At that time, astrophotography wasn't a major concern for me.

I like hunting things down, but I mainly prefer the convenience of my DSC's. I still learn the sky, but it also means I can see 5x more objects in a night. And with my limited spare time, that's more important to me.

Goto certainly isn't boring, it's about convenience.

[Supa Acsum]

Iceman, i definitely want to join u next new moon (As long as the Mariners are not playing!! - football is my number 1 love). It would be a great way for me to get some hands on expertise to make a more knowledgable judgement. Please fill me in with details of when.

[cahullian]

Hi Supa
As you can see I am a Dob owner also, but I dream of 8'' with goto one day. My starting budget was about half of what yours is so I went for the 8" and a couple of bits and pieces. I am learning the night sky quite well and during the viewing nights the blokes with the big goto scopes will show you where in the night sky they are viewing. I write these things down as soon as I can and then go looking for them in my own time. I have fun finding things myself but I must warn you that I have spent many many hours frustrated at not being able to hone in on what it is I'm looking for. It sounded to me that on your first post you didn't want to spend ages looking for DSO's. If you get the Dob that's exactly what's going to happen. You could still get your smaller scope with goto and after a few months getting to know it and the night sky, sell it in the forum for a small loss (if you look after it well) and use the extra time and the sale price of your scope to get a very large Dob.

Not all us Dob owners are one eyed, but for the pleasure of better vieving when you get objects in your FOV the Dob is the go . To get to see 5 or maybe 10 times more objects per viewing night then dont hesitate and get the goto.
The best scope is the one you use the most.

Hope this helps

Gazz/Irish

[slice of heaven]

Yep , hook up with the central coast guys and check out your options. A big dob will give you good views but their expensive to fit with a goto mount. Theres a few dob users on this site that would like to change mounts but because of the large OTA sizes are limited to expensive eq/fork mounts, or adding goto to the dob, also expensive.
Dobs are quick and easy to setup and cheap for the size of aperture.
The $1000 budget limits the range of worthwhile goto scopes available.

[ving (David)]

yup, theres no better way of seeing what scopes for you than turning up to one of these ob nights.

meade make a nice littel 80mm goto refractor and louie (atalas) has a nice goto scope too which offers really nice views... but you will get more apperture for you money with a dob. its up to you as to what your priorities are.

[asimov (John)]

[QUOTE=davidpretorius
My second project like so many other dob guys is to try and motorize the dob (both movement and focusing) to be able to "goto". My feeling is that I will have to buy Mick Pinners equatorial Mount after giving up in disgust and asimov can say "you youngsters, I told you so!"[/QUOTE]

No David, I never will say 'I told you so'. Everyone need's to learn their own way. I never had any advise from anyone when I got into this, all the choice's Iv'e made thus far, have been my own doing. It's the 'hind-sight' thing.....Oh if only I hadn't bought that...hadn't done this & so on. Had there been such a thing as a dob back in my day, I dare say I would have gone down that road too. But I just know....EVENTUALLY I would have up-graded to an EQ mount.

Even if it has no tracking motor on it, I feel if you HAVE to 'nudge' a scope to follow the object....then I would rather be nudging the damn thing on ONE axis, rather than TWO!

A little story for ya: Age 14, I made my 8" reflector on EQ mount....ground our own primary as well (Which turned out to be NOT figured properly = RS view's) Came across an 8" for-sale coupla years later....but it was on a altazimuth mount (a bit like a dob)..... bought it. The mirror was FANTASTIC! Used it as it was for awhile (on the Alt. mount) Now after using an EQ mount, this Alt. mount was a real pain to use! Why put up with this crap when Iv'e got an EQ mount!!?! So I swapped the optic's over, & sold the Alt reflector I bought, with my crappy mirror in it.

But hey! This is your first scope Dave! Just get out there & enjoy it, & the skie's, ok?? Lets face it....If youv'e never used an EQ mount....you wont know what your missing, therefore the dob will be a joy to use!!

I find it real hard to give advise or give my opinion, because 9 times out of 10 someone will say...'I dont agree with that' Well, I'm not asking them to agree, lol....Just reporting the fact's as I know them, or as it happened to me.

[[1ponders] (Paul)]

Hear hear!!! John (Librarian 64).

Nothing wrong with a good goto. I found it very frustrating at times when I first bought my Celestron refractor, trying to find object. After having the Meade goto for a while though I found it much easier to locate objects with my refractor as I'd become more familiar with the night sky. And that came largely through the use of the goto. I do use a number of books now (no goto) but its much easier now than when I first started because I know where to look in relation to objects I'd found through the goto.

[davidpretorius]

i have to agree with you, but i wouldn't worry, noone on this site rams anything down anyone's throats. I get to hear actual experiences so i can make up my own mind.

although it is good to see a friendly rivalry between the dobbers and the eq'ers

[cristian abarca]

Hi guys

Hey David just wondering what you get (for the long exposure mod for the toucam), from telescope -astronomy for $140. I have downloaded the method to modify your own and it seems a little tricky.

Regards Cristian

[davidpretorius]

http://www.telescopes-astronomy.com....am_philips.htm


quote
"Please inquire for the Long Exposure Modification. Modification includes a switch for changing
between Video and Long Exposure. This allows the user to capture faint objects and stack images
using free software from the internet."

hope this helps
I should get mine tomorrow, so i will let you know!

[Supa Acsum]

hmmmmm,

asimov and cahullian have put forward other convincing arguments. Guess the best thing to do is to check out all different equipment and try and make a hands on approach.

From what I understand...Ive got three options for $1000:

1. A Dob - a big aperture which lets me see more objects and clearer. Downside - can be frustrating at times trying to find objects, and is harder to track objects due to mount. Not the best for possible photography in the future.

2. A Goto - easily find and track objects. Smaller apperture, so I wont see as much through scope. Question: Are objects seen through a smaller aperture smaller or fainter or both? Best option for photography in the future.

3. In between - Smaller apperture than a dob, but larger than a goto - but on a eq mount without motorisation. Makes tracking objects easier, but doesnt make finding objects any easier. Will be ok for photography in the future.

Is my summary correct??

[davidpretorius]

my plan is that for now i have bought a large tube (10" dob). in a few years time, i can always buy a really good heavy duty equatorial mount for my 10" scope (eq6). It might be close to $1500 on its own. Once i have that, all the long exposure techniques, goto's, tracking etc are then available.

But for now, I have some really cool stuff to get going with and an easy upgrade path!

[asimov (John)]

Your summary is fairly correct, yes. Through a small aperture scope...as an example: through my 4.5" reflector, I see the planet Jupiter as a relatively small disk with two dark bands on it's 'surface' at low power. At fairly high power, the disk will be larger, but the view is not as clear/crisp, because I have reached my magnification limit for this telescope...which VARIES from night to night because of varying seeing conditions..ie: the presence of the jet-stream/upper or lower atmospheric wind/transparency. etc etc..

In my 12.5" reflector, I will see jupiter (as directly compared to the 4.5") as a disk at least twice as big with the same low power eyepiece, with a lot more planetary detail 'resolved'..And then we have the focal length factor of the telescope to contend with. As a rule of thumb, long FL scope's dont give you very wide field's of view, in other word's the bit of sky you see threw the EP will not be as big at...as another example: a 8" reflector at F/10 compared to an 8" at F/5 The F/5 will have a wider field of view (FOV) so it will take longer to move across your FOV if there's no tracking on the scope. (this also depends on what EP your using too) In a 8" F/10 at high magnification, the object your looking at is going to whip across your FOV really quickly.

There's plenty of stuff/articles on the net explaining all this better than what I can! lol

[ballaratdragons (Ken)]

Originally Posted by cahullian

Hi Supa
It sounded to me that on your first post you didn't want to spend ages looking for DSO's. If you get the Dob that's exactly what's going to happen.
Gazz/Irish

I have a method for finding DSO's fairly quickly!

I start with my 2" GS 30mm SuperView Galaxy Magnet. 90% of the time I can spot objects (small but obvious). Once centred in the FOV I switch over to my 15mm. After having a look at the object for a while I then switch to my 9mm for a much closer look.

Supa, Don't expect to find faint fuzzies starting at 9mm in a dobbie. Start at a reasonable size EP and work your way down to the higher mags.

Please ignore this info is you have massive light pollution and buy a GoTo!! Lol

[asimov (John)]

Ken's right of course..I do the same.