Telescope Recommendations
- Mack41
- Articles: 0
- Posts: 59
- Joined: Mon Oct 07, 2019 4:49 am
- 4
- Location: Manchester, UK
- Status:
Offline
Telescope Recommendations
There’s so much choice out there
Mounts: skywatcher eq5 pro, celestron advanced gt
Camera’s:Altair hypercam 183m, Altair hypercam 183c, Altair gpcam 178c, celestron starsense
So long and thanks for all the fish
- KathyNS
- Co-Administrator
- Articles: 0
- Posts: 2620
- Joined: Thu Apr 25, 2019 11:47 am
- 5
- Location: Nova Scotia
- Status:
Offline
-
TSS Photo of the Day
TSS Awards Badges
Re: Telescope Recommendations
DSO AP: Orion 200mm f/4 Newtonian Astrograph; ATIK 383L+; EFW2 filter wheel; Astrodon Ha,Oiii,LRGB filters; KWIQ/QHY5 guide scope; Planetary AP: Celestron C-11; ZWO ASI120MC; Portable: Celestron C-8 on HEQ5 pro; C-90 on wedge; 20x80 binos; Etc: Canon 350D; Various EPs, etc. Obs: 8' Exploradome; iOptron CEM60 (pier); Helena Observatory (H2O) Astrobin
-
- Articles: 0
Re: Telescope Recommendations
It wouldn't hurt to take a bit of time to look into small refractors to see if that is a route that interests you. There are a few apos, either new or used that may also be within your reach.
- hineas
- Articles: 0
- Posts: 7
- Joined: Sun Oct 13, 2019 8:34 am
- 4
- Location: Colorado
- Status:
Offline
Re: Telescope Recommendations
Short answer: I agree with KathyNS, get an 8" Dobsonian. This seems to be the sweet spot for ease of setup, weight, portability, and light gathering capabilities.
Now for the long answer:
It really depends on what you want to do. Are you going to be spending your time on objects in our solar system (planets, moon, etc) or searching for the faint fuzzy deep sky objects such as galaxies? The other question is if you want a manual telescope or if you want a motorized one. There are benefits to both.
Me personally, I LOVE manually finding objects to look at. To be honest, I feel like it is part of the hunt and I'm never as satisfied when I use a
The benefit of a manual telescope is that you can buy a bigger telescope for the same price since you aren't paying for the electronics. This gives you "more bang for your buck" since a bigger
My father-in-law spent about 800 USD on a 6"
So, if you are one that enjoys searching for thngs and wants the biggest telescope for the money--go with a dobsonian. This is a telescope that has a simple mount and the telescope design is also simple. This means that you can get the largest
If you are one that doesn't enjoy searching but is willing to put more time into the setup initially, then go with a scope that has a motorized
Another consideration is that Dobsonian telescopes are large. Mine is about as tall as I am and only fits in my SUV if I put the seats down. An 8" telescope isn't nearly as big as mine but the tube is still about 45 inches (115 cm) long.
If storage of a large telescope or transport of a telescope this size will be difficult, then I would recommend an
Then there is the whole debate on whether you go with a reflector telescope (uses a mirror) or a refractor (uses lenses). We could debate which is better for hours and nobody will be swayed. Refractors are precision instruments that have great magnification while maintaining comfortable eye pieces. They also can have great contrast making them beloved by planet observers. Reflectors typically have larger apertures which means you can see dimmer objects.
Celestron AstroMaster 70AZ
Western Colorado Transplant lucky enough to not have much light pollution!
- Richard Online
- Articles: 0
- Posts: 1165
- Joined: Mon May 13, 2019 6:55 am
- 4
- Location: South Africa/Czech Rep
- Status:
Online
Re: Telescope Recommendations
Refractors None
SCT C5 on a SLT mount
Mak 150 Bosma on a EQ5
- Mack41
- Articles: 0
- Posts: 59
- Joined: Mon Oct 07, 2019 4:49 am
- 4
- Location: Manchester, UK
- Status:
Offline
Re: Telescope Recommendations
With the control being by the
Mounts: skywatcher eq5 pro, celestron advanced gt
Camera’s:Altair hypercam 183m, Altair hypercam 183c, Altair gpcam 178c, celestron starsense
So long and thanks for all the fish
- JayTee
- Articles: 2
- Posts: 5651
- Joined: Thu Apr 25, 2019 3:23 am
- 5
- Location: Idaho, USA
- Status:
Offline
-
TSS Awards Badges
TSS Photo of the Day
Re: Telescope Recommendations
Cheers,
JT
∞ AP Scopes: #1: TPO 6" f/9 RC #2: ES 102 f/7 APO #3: ES 80mm f/6 APO
∞ G&G Scopes: #1: Meade 102mm f/7.8 #2: Bresser 102mm f/4.5
∞ Guide Scopes: 70 & 80mm fracs -- The El Cheapo Bros.
∞ Mounts: iOptron CEM70AG, SW EQ6R, Celestron AVX, SLT & GT (Alt-Az), Meade DS2000
∞ Cameras: #1: ZWO ASI294MC Pro #2: 662MC #3: 120MC, Canon T3i, Orion SSAG, WYZE Cam3
∞ Binos: 10X50,11X70,15X70, 25X100 ∞ AP Gear: ZWO EAF and mini EFW and the Optolong L-eXteme filter
∞ EPs: ES 2": 21mm 100° & 30mm 82° Pentax XW: 7, 10, 14, & 20mm 70°
Searching the skies since 1966. "I never met a scope I didn't want to keep."
- notFritzArgelander
- In Memory
- Articles: 0
- Posts: 14925
- Joined: Fri May 10, 2019 4:13 pm
- 4
- Location: Idaho US
- Status:
Offline
-
TSS Awards Badges
Re: Telescope Recommendations
- pakarinen
- Articles: 0
- Posts: 4038
- Joined: Fri Jun 14, 2019 3:33 pm
- 4
- Location: NE Illinois
- Status:
Offline
-
TSS Awards Badges
Re: Telescope Recommendations
Man... That's some icky-tasting stuff!
=============================================================================
AT50, AT72EDII, ST80, ST102; Scopetech Zero, AZ-GTi, AZ Pronto; Innorel RT90C, Oberwerk 5000; Orion Giantview 15x70s, Vortex 8x42s, Navy surplus 7x50s, Nikon 10x50s
- Sky Tinker
- Articles: 0
- Posts: 239
- Joined: Sat Jul 27, 2019 4:16 am
- 4
- Location: Mid-South, U.S.
- Status:
Offline
Re: Telescope Recommendations
But what you may be wanting is an all-rounder with an appreciable amount of
https://www.firstlightoptics.com/reflec ... s-ota.html
...and with powers ranging from 23x to 200x and beyond. The lowest powers of both may be considered as being binocular-like, and therefore with a respectably wide field-of-view.
Unfortunately, as one goes up in
https://www.firstlightoptics.com/reflec ... p-eq5.html
The lowest power with that one would be 32x however; not exactly wide-field, but not narrow and microscopic either.
I do see that perhaps you have not had the pleasure of owning and operating a refractor; for example...
https://www.firstlightoptics.com/evosta ... ounts.html
"Desserts tend to corrupt, and absolutely delicious desserts corrupt absolutely." - Chef Acton
Alan
Apochromat: Takahashi FS-102 4" f/8 - Achromats: Meade S102 102mm f/5.9, Antares 805 80mm f/6(flocked & blackened), Meade "Polaris" 70mm f/12.9, Sears(Towa) #4-6340 50mm f/12(flocked & blackened) - Newtonians: Orion 6" f/5(flocked & blackened) - Catadioptrics: Explore Scientific 127mm f/15 Maksutov-Cassegrain, Celestron "PowerSeeker" 127mm f/8 "Bird Jones" reflector(modified, flocked, blackened, and collimated!) - Mounts: Meade LX70(EQ-5), Astro-Tech Voyager I alt-azimuth
- AbbN
- In Memory
- Articles: 0
- Posts: 231
- Joined: Fri May 10, 2019 1:38 pm
- 4
- Location: Windsor Ontario Canada
- Status:
Offline
Re: Telescope Recommendations
Abb
Bortle 8
- Richard Online
- Articles: 0
- Posts: 1165
- Joined: Mon May 13, 2019 6:55 am
- 4
- Location: South Africa/Czech Rep
- Status:
Online
Re: Telescope Recommendations
Refractors None
SCT C5 on a SLT mount
Mak 150 Bosma on a EQ5
- gregl
- Articles: 0
- Posts: 1097
- Joined: Fri Sep 06, 2019 2:30 am
- 4
- Location: California
- Status:
Offline
Re: Telescope Recommendations
- Apollo69s
- Articles: 0
- Posts: 39
- Joined: Sat Oct 19, 2019 12:57 am
- 4
- Location: Sweden
- Status:
Offline
Re: Telescope Recommendations
- Baurice
- Vendor
- Articles: 0
- Posts: 1351
- Joined: Sun Aug 18, 2019 10:42 pm
- 4
- Location: England
- Status:
Offline
-
TSS Photo of the Day
TSS Awards Badges
Re: Telescope Recommendations
Most of the time I'm outside I just use my camera.
- Lokifish
- Articles: 0
- Posts: 106
- Joined: Sun May 12, 2019 1:25 pm
- 4
- Location: Hampton Roads, VA
- Status:
Offline
-
TSS Awards Badges
Re: Telescope Recommendations
Environmental
Do you plan to use the telescope in a high particulate or low particulate area?
Is the humidity generally high or low?
For example, where I live the humidity is high and everything turns yellow with pollen in spring and summer. The rest of the time it's road tar dust, and who knows what else, due to the highways/construction/etc. As a result, a lot of care needs to be taken with open tube scopes like Newtonians. To combat this on my Newtonian I had to install a fan and MERV 8 filter at the primary mirror to combat the high level of particulates in my air. Prior to that, the mirrors would visibly haze over with a coating of pollen, tar, etc, every few months.
Light Pollution
What is you level of light pollution like?
Do you plan to visit darker skies on a regular basis?
Telescopes make no distinction between photons from what you want to see and light pollution. So while an 8 or 12 Newt/
While I didn't mention more common things like "what do you want to observe", I find the two factors above to be very critical points on a "So you want a telescope" checklist.
A.K.A "Backyard Observatory" on Facebook and Youtube
Meade SN8 w/ DIY coma corrector, Astro Modded Rubinar 1000/10 @f/5.2, 130/5 Newtonian, Pentax SMC 200/4, Canon SH 30/1.7
SkyWatcher EQ6-R Pro, Modified Celestron SLT
183 OSC, 224 OSC, Canon 1100D, Sony NEX-3
Nikon 7-12 zoom, a lot of DIY/salvage eyepieces
Create an account or sign in to join the discussion
You need to be a member in order to post a reply
Create an account
Not a member? register to join our community
Members can start their own topics & subscribe to topics
It’s free and only takes a minute