Any astronomers in the house?

[Odevans]

If so, then I am in need of your help!

I'm interested in purchasing a telescope, but I get lost with the little details, like:

- Which size?
- Do I need any filters?
- Which I eyepiece?
- Which method of balancing the scope, after attaching a camera?
- Any other accessories?

I'm interested in looking at pretty much everything in the night's sky, especially nebulae and galaxies. I live 'in the sticks', so I don't need to worry about light pollution, really. Price wise, I don't want to be spending much more than £5k, saying that, though my initial budget was £1.5k, so who knows!

I would have posted this in a star-gazing forum, but I didn't want to be told that I should have read the stickies haha!

Any help would be appreciated, as always

[MJ.23]

I think I can offer assistance. A huge part of my degree is astrophysics and cosmology and I have access to an observatory as well as my own telescope.

Budget wise you will be able to afford a very good scope for that sort of money. The "bad" scopes tend to come in at under £500; although even then they are excellent for near Earth observations such as solar system exploration.

Astro photography is imo the "next level" of star gazing and I would suggest just starting off with personal viewing to get used to the intricacies of the hobby.

The thing to look for when buying a scope is aperture of the lens. A lot of scopes note down the "power" on the side of the box; but this is a marketing tactic and is not useful in the slightest. The greater the aperture the better the scope will be (usually). Slight increases in aperture really do slam up the price tag though so be warned.

If I had the money I would go for a 15'' to 20'' Dobsonian. I myself am running a 8'' Newtonian with a sturdy mount and some extras I have added from time to time and am able to get some good visuals of near Earth objects. Double the aperture and the scope can receive 4 times the light. Dobsonians are expensive but imo are amongst the best scopes out there.

Also quick note; the mount of a telescope is just as important as the scope itself. Cheap telescopes will come with a cheap mount which will make it incredibly difficult to use. Getting a more expensive one will usually mean a sturdier mount. Be prepared for how large these telescopes are as well; it can catch a few people out!

Have you got any scopes in mind? Accessories will vary from scope to scope as well as the eye pieces/filters required.

[Odevans]

Haha. I wanted to mention your name in the title, but didn't want to be rude!

Going by what you have said, and my budget, Meade's 12" LX200-ACF looks quite appealing. Though, as you mentioned 15+" scopes, the 12" sounds a little small!

Thanks for this, MJ

[MJ.23]

There is a setup and review of the meade scope here:

Meade 12" ACF LX200 setup and review part 1 - YouTube

The one you linked is an incredibly popular telescope and is capable of some stunning visuals:



Bearing in mind this is the 10 inch model; so the 12 inch would be capable of even better. I have never had experience with Meades; but they do seem very popular amongst amateurs and professionals alike.

I was not even aware there was a 12 inch version of this model. Quite beastly infact!

What is good about the meade scopes is the location of the eyepiece. Viewing through a dobsonian may require a step ladder to reach the eyepiece. Like the skyliner 400P dobsonian. 16'':



Very very powerful though.

[Wotan]

In my youth I was given a simple 1" refractor for Christmas. I was thirteen and remember to this day the absolute jaw-dropping wonderment as I saw the moon close up for the first time! Years later I saw the Milky Way whilst out camping in the Lake District (in winter). Again an absolutely staggering sight for someone more used to sodium streetlights and birds coughing not singing.

I have often thought buying another telescope just for looking at the moon really. The only proviso this time would be that it would have to have a camera mount.

[Odevans]

Holy crap! Those images are incredible. They certainly beat the living daylights out of the set of binoculars, that I used as a child! Would I be right, in assuming that the images would look even better, in 'real life'? I honestly can't imagine looking through a scope, and seeing things like that.

I have just found a 16" Dobsonian, again made by Meade.

Other than the price, what would be the key differences between the two?

How much time to you get in a proper observatory, MJ?

You would purchase a telescope, just for looking at the moon? Looking for proof (or lack of) of the moon landing?

[MJ.23]

It might take a while to fine tune your scope with particular lenses/filters/barlow lens/focusers etc... to obtain images like that. When looking at the moon you will notice a "shimmering" effect if as though one is witnessing air convection on a hot day. This is due to the ripples of the atmosphere; and being in Britain moisture in the air can be a nightmare as it scatters light rays. This is why top observatories are located in high, dry places such as chile.

Here is a list of their respective properties:

Dobsonian:

- Focal ratio f/4.5 (This can be altered by using a barlow lens)

- The highest useful magnification will be 700x.

- Quite large and awkward to move around (Probably weighs around 70-80kg)

- No mount as is the nature of a dobsonian. It uses an azimuthal mechanism on a rotating base so requires flat ground.

- Not available with GO-TO technology (not sure if you want that or not) Does have auto star suite I believe.

- Good viewfinder

- Collects a lot of light!

LX-200:

- Oversized primary mirror; so the aperture is actually ~ 12.25 inches.

- Focal ratio f/10.

- Smart telescope with auto align, GO-TO, star maps etc...

- Just found out they also do a 14 inch version of this model which would produce a 850x magnification!

- More portable than the Dob. (Not sure where you will be using it)

- Lots of little perks thrown in by meade on this one.


Wherabouts would you be using the telescope? Will you be moving it outdoors to view or moving it from a warm house to the outside? There is nothing wrong with this; but it will require time to allow the telescope lens to reach thermal equilibrium with the environment otherwise image quality will be slightly off. The dobsonian actually comes with a built-In Primary Mirror Cooling Fan.

They are both very solid scopes; and I believe that any real purchasing points will lay in your life setup (where you are, ground availability, etc..) Anymore questions feel free to ask.

The observatory at uni is not as high powered as the observatories you see in chile lol. We have two observatory domes at the campus which house what would still be considered portable scopes but are powerful. I can spend as much time there as I like but it gets a little too social with lots of people there and noisy etc...and I much prefer sitting at the bottom of my garden like a gnome. looking through my Explorer-200P Newtonian.
I study the universe in vast detail but seeing stellar objects really places them into perspective with the mathematics/physics that governs them. I am amazed at how much money I will be willing to spend on a telescope that is far inferior to the hubble space telescople which produces free images available on google. It is just not the same.

If you ever want some suggestions Wotan; there are some good solar system telescopes out there that will be brilliant for looking at the moon and other planets.

[Odevans]

Damn, that's one hell of a reply

When you say that the Dobsonian has 700x magnification, what size are you talking about?

The weight of the scope doesn't bother me, as I could surely disassemble it to get it from a to b.

99% of the time, I'll be using it in my garden, where I can use some concrete slabs to create a flat surface, or so I believe.

Lack of GO-TO tech doesn't bother me, searching the night sky is what its all about! Besides, I'm sure that after a while, I'll begin to learn the locations of many of the hot spots. As it happens. I just found a Dob with GO-To technology. Would this tip the scale for you? A quick Google tells me, that Orion may have a 16" version in the works, too.

I'll more than likely be moving it from my house, into the main garden(which is up several steps - eek!). I can see me being inclined to move about with the scope up to higher grounds, for the clearer skies.

What keeps repeating itself in my mind, is that I could purchase you, Wotan, and myself a dob each, for the price of one 14" lx-200! No offence, but I don't intend to do that, its just for the sake of comparison!

If I were to give you £6k(yes, the budget has increased again, and will probably do so again, very shortly), what kit would you purchase?

The way I see it, spending a ruck of cash on a scope is a great investment. Space is so vast and ever-changing, that your one investment, will keep you occupied for years to come. Its also a great way to learn about where we came from, and where we are going, which are pretty much the two biggest questions around. Also, as a child, I had no interest in mathematics or physics, but getting into astronomy has sparked an interest in both, which can only be a good thing.

Are there any well known observation points around the UK?

As the internet is full of crap, do you know of any good books on astronomy, which are 'noob friendly'?

[Zeigler]

Really, this is just a huge cover-up to spy on the new girl next door isnt it Ode?

Haha. All jokes aside, this thread is awesome! I'll be so jealous of your purchase, I'd love to invest in something like this in the future.

"Watch the stars, and from them learn"

[MJ.23]

A telescope has a "maximum magnification" in that the image you will see will be very blurry but you can see it. It is usually better to look at what is called "useful magnification." I.e the maximum magnification which will produce a good quality image. a 700x useful magnification means it can enlarge a patch of the sky by 700 times and objects within this field will be seen quite clearly. You can go past this magnification but quality will severely drop. These scopes could view objects in excess of 100 million light years away from our planet. The dobsonian probably nearing 200 million light years. Placing this into context; our (as if we own it!) milkway is 100,000 - 120,000 light years in diameter. Dobsonians are known for their image quality and their huge aperture for a lowish price.

With that sort of a budget I can let my mind wander! I will give it some thought and post up again. I do not use GO-TO technology so I am impartial either way.

In terms of accessories I would recommend:

- Barlow lens (multiplies the focal length giving more magnification and thus increasing the focal length)

- Wide angle eyepiece

- Guiding eyepiece

- Moon filter

I will post up some more when I think of them.

In terms of literature; my books are all degree level. I know a few good sites out there and will have a little hunt for any good books for a beginning astronomer.

If you are looking to spend a lot of money on a scope then looking around astronomy forums would be useful to look up reviews etc...

I am not aware of any specific locations which are deemed better than others (although high up in rural areas such as the lake district would be ideal) but there are astro meetups organised regularly on astronomy forums where you meetup at a location and observe the sky (a good way to look at other peoples' scopes, learn, etc...)

There are some spectacular sights to be seen in our universe and nearly no one gets the chance or cannot be bothered to witness it themselves. I still get a little buzz when I set up my scope and can imagine Galileo observing the night sky and planting the seed for all of modern science.

I bet Galileo would have never imagined this would be happening; NASA astronauts on the moon proving that his theory of falling bodies is correct.