Is this telescope right for me?

Question

I am currently looking at the Celestron 114 SLT. I have no prior experience with telescopes and saw this and thought it would be great to start off. Can somebody tell me about this scope. Can you see the rings of Saturn fairly good? I know that aperture is what counts but I just have no clue on this.

http://www.telescopes.com/telescopes/go-to-telescopes/celestronnexstar114slttelescope.cfm

I am trying to also start astrophotography and telescopes.com says its good for that. Any help is appreciated. Thanks!

Answer 1

Forget astrophotography for the time being. It's expensive, time-consuming, and takes patience. Begin with observation and become good at it by knowing what you're looking at and learning the sky first.

If you have no experience, I strongly recommend finding a local amateur astronomy club. Then you can look through their scopes and see what different types are good for, and find what you can expect to see. Then you can make up your mind as to what telescope is right for you.

Everyone seems to use the rings of the sixth planet as their yardstick, but you'll marvel at them for a while, and then you'll need to find something else to look at. It's for that reason that you need the right scope.

Notwithstanding what advice you might receive at a club, I'd advise against a GoTo-controlled scope as a starter. It can be fiddly and frustrating, you're paying for electronics rather than aperture, and you won't learn the sky.

Whatever you go for, I suggest a star-hopping book as well. "Nightwatch" (Dickinson) or "Turn Left At Orion" (Consolmagno et al.).

Answer 2

That is a good telescope setup that will provide you with some nice views. Seeing the rings of Saturn doesn't take much, that scope will do it just fine.

As far as astrophotography goes, that setup would be horrible for it. A half-fork mount is not very good for stability for one, and it's an alt-azimuth setup, which means you will encounter field rotation, making it impossible to take any kind of long exposure.

If aperture is more important to you than fancy electronics (which it should be) you can spend a similar amount of money and get an 8" dobsonian, or spend a little more for a 10" dob. They don't track or do goto, though you can get from Orion versions that have "push to", which guides you to the location in the sky you want to go.

If you really want to do astrophotography, then you need to look into getting a scope that uses an equatorial mount with motor drives (the one the first answerer posted about does NOT have a motor drive, it's fully manual).

Answer 3

Dear Astronomy Fan:

Choosing a "first Telescope" is a very hard decision to make.
Your choice to go with a Solid Mount and computer guided product is a wise one. The specified telescope is light weight and could be easily transported to dark areas for observing the night sky. You will find that the mount is a bit heavy to carry long distanaces, but necessary if you don't want the view jiggling all over the place.

Before purchasing such a telescope, please, please join an astronomy club near you and attend some of their meetings, and participate in their Star Parties where members gather to look at some significant event with their own telescopes. You will be offered many chances to look through their equipment at those parties and maybe even locate someone near you who desires to move up into better equipment and has his present telescope with accessories for sale. In that way you might get more scope and accessories for the money. What is most important is that you will be afforded the opportunity to check out the performance of various manufacturer's products and make a much more informed decision.

The 114 you specified has a mirror that is 114 MM in diameter and rather small for deep space or planetary work. It will do fine for observation of the Moon. Stars will appear as "white" only (no color will be detected), and be essentially just pinpoints of light. Saturn will appear about 1/8 the size of a dime if you can get a clear picture of it and I am hesitant to say that you will see the rings clearly. This is of course totally dependent upon what eyepieces you use. The telescope will come equipped with at least one basic eyepiece which will be a rather inexpensive Plossl type I think.

Telescope eyepieces work in conjunction with your mirror to provide the view delivered to your eye. In "seeing" besides a clear, dark sky, what one needs is the largest possible objective lens and the best possible eyepieces to produce the best possible views. Concessions begin being made as soon as those words are out of my mouth because most of us cannot afford the "best" or the "largest." So, what we are dealing with here is a compromise. Devices with large mirrors or large lenses become heavy and unweildy to carry and transport around. The larger they are, the heavier the base/mount must be to accomodate them. Precision optics cost lots of money, so the larger and more precisely ground the optics are, the more they cost...another trade off.

Personally, I would rather see you invest $400 or $500 for a beginner scope into a good, used six or eight inch Dobsinian Telescope. The views through such a telescope are much, much more impressive. And, in the end run, that is what it is all about.

Answer 4

Hi,

concur with all the great advice from others. I am a novice and recently began looking for a telescope. I settled on the Celestron 114 GT. It can be had at BJs for $199. It is the precursor to the SLT and is slightly different but basically the same scope. I figured for $199, I can use it and learn then upgrade when I know what I am doing....

Good Luck, Dan

Answer 5

a bit pricey for your scope but that should be a good buy. You should be able to get a decent view of Saturn, be sure to check out Jupiter as well. That scope has a goto mount so that will make observing much easier once you figure out how to align it. If you're wanting more aperture you can always get a larger scope with an equatorial mount like this one: http://www.telescopes.com/telescopes/reflecting-telescopes/celestronastromaster130eqreflector.cfm#navbar=a

Be sure to grab a t-mount adapter for your camera if you're wanting to do astrophotography

Answer 6

I agree with Arkalius - that's NOT a good 'scope for astrophotography! Learning to use a 'scope and do astrophotography at the same time is a steep learning curve so it might be better to start with something like a dob and then upgrade the mount when you're sure that you want to do astrophotography. You don't need a goto, but stability and accurate tracking are essential, and they cost!

Answer 7

I've heard of people having issues with these "one arm" computerized mount type models. Apparently they aren't as stable as they might appear and you can't use them without a power source.

But then again, for the price and what you want it to do, this might be a good telescope to start off with if you don't want to spend all too much money...the hobby does get expensive.

You might want to consider something used though. Used telescopes are usually in good condition, and you get more for your money. If you go that rout, I'd recommend a well made german equatorial mounted telescope with a clock drive.