I've had two telescopes in my life and both have served me quite well. A small refractor Celestron and a medium sized Meridian reflector. Nice scopes for the relative newcomer to astronomy.
Now after several years of using these two I need a bigger better one. Deep sky objects are my next port of call. Anybody got any ideas.
2007-10-07 07:28:22 · 7 answers · asked by Deadman81 2 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
This is a telescope for me to use in my back yard. Nothing serious in this. Just a hobby. Take it out a few times a week a enjoy the deep sky objects.
2007-10-07 11:09:35 · update #1
A 10" Dob has the apeture you need and the ease of setup that will ensure that you will actually use the scope regularly.
Add digital setting circles, eg. Argo Navis, and those faint fuzzies you're after will be much easier to find.
2007-10-07 22:58:40 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Depends on your price range... a 9.25 inch Celestron CAT with a goto mount would be a great scope at a very resonable price. Meade makes a good goto in that size range as well. But for DSOs you will need at least an 8 inch scope to bring in the light. If you are going for photography an option would be a 90mm APO refractor ( i have a Vixen 81 and it is great for deep sky photography just takes a little longer for exposure but well work the wait)
2007-10-08 08:49:02 · answer #2 · answered by Sam K 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
For deep sky, get the biggest aperture you can handle. You need 12" or bigger, and dark skies. I bought a 12" Meade Lightbridge dob, and with a few simple aftermarket mods it's a very nice scope for the money. It has smoother motions than a 12" Orion I compared it to, though the Orion could probably be tweaked. On the plus side, the Orion can be had with their Intelliscope object finder.
2007-10-07 16:19:06 · answer #3 · answered by injanier 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
For deep sky objects you'll want as much aperture as possible, eg. a 10" or bigger SCT or Dobsonian and some good eyepieces with various focal lengths. It also helps to have a limited set of filters for your eyepieces to bring out different details of nebulae.
The best advice I've heard is:
The best telescope is the telescope you will actually use! So don't buy anything overly heavy or too complex to set up and use.
2007-10-07 15:14:24 · answer #4 · answered by Spin Z 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Back to the local amateur astronomy club for you! They'll have people who've come to the hobby from different directions, so it'll be interesting to find out how they're ideas about your stage of observing are similar to each other.
I have opinions, some similar to the ones above. But I think you need to speak to people, and don't rush in. The stars are going nowhere.
2007-10-07 17:52:03 · answer #5 · answered by Choose a bloody best answer. It's not hard. 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I did the same thing you did...
I guess it all depends on how much you're willing to spend.
I went as far as my budget would allow, and bought a very nice 10" Schmidt- Cassegrain, with a heavy- duty 'Super Wedge', heavy- duty field tripod, SERIOUSLY upgraded finder scope, Telrad finder, Autoguider, and all the other toys I thought I may one day need.
I've never regretted it for even a second.
2007-10-07 14:51:54 · answer #6 · answered by Bobby 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Build a simple Dobsonian.
DON'T get a Go-to
2007-10-07 16:26:37 · answer #7 · answered by Brendan G 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋