Telescope Advice

[Stillkill]

I am looking to buy an nice telescope that wont break my wallet too much, but not one of those cheap ones. Anyone have some advice on where to look, what kind of specs im looking at, all that stuff.

 

Asking all of you cuz we're all bloody rocket scientists

 

edit: Anybody know if there is a "special term" for the telescopes that can connect to your computer and have the image on the screen?

Edited November 13, 2016 by Stillkill

[Green Baron]

Hi,

there have been 2 or 3 threads recently on telescopes. A few people here are doing imaging with telescopes, i'm a beginner myself but reading about it since a few years.

Pls., before i go into detail, please specify a little more: you want to do imaging, right ? In principle you can do imaging with any telescope you can look through as long as a few preconditions are met, namely connectivity and mounting. Sadly these preconditions cost funds. What do you want to shoot at ? Rather nebulas/galaxies or planets ? That is a little contradictory because the former needs a wide field and the latter a large magnification.

Are you dreaming of a state of the art imaging equipment with a 12cm apochromatic refractor, a decent mount, a ccd cam, a guide scope and guiding cam ? We are talking about many thousand funds then. The telescope itself does not connect, it's the attached equipment (usually a camera) and the mount for guiding (via a guiding camera).

On the other hand, the cheapest version for imaging would be a newton reflector with a stable focuser to connect a camera, and an equatorial mount. But even then we are talking >1k funds without camera, the expensice part being the mount.

For imaging both refractors and newtons need correcting lenses between the telescope and the camera.

In between are the SCT (Schmidt-Cassegrain-Telescopes) in different sizes and fabric. These contain the correction already and have the advantage that the camera can be connected on the axis of the telescope (like a refractor)), which is a far better weight balance compared to the newtons where the equipment sticks out at the side, thus changing the balance over the course of a night while the telescope moves. Also newtons need frequent collimation and take a long time to adjust to the temperature, refractors just work and usually cool down quickly.

Don't underestimate weight and balance of an imaging equipment. Usually a mount comes with a number of kilograms (or pounds) it can carry. That is the upper limit, to say the best, stay away from that. So if you have an 8" Newton with 8kg, 1kg camera, 1kg other parts like adaptors and coma-corrector, 3kg guide scope with camera and cable stuff we are in the class of a mount that can carry 20kg ....

So, pls. specify a little more.

Also, pls. see the forums at www.cloudynights.com, the beginners section has a lot of material to work on :-)

And show us your awesome pictures ;-)

 

Edited November 13, 2016 by Green Baron

[cantab]

A few things to think about:

Actual number budget, of course.

What's your main goal? Different equipment works best for visual observing, deep-sky imaging, and planetary imaging. And video astronomy (the 'special term' you said) is very much in its infancy. Most amateur astronomers start out with visual observing, but if you're coming from a photography background you might like to jump straight into imaging.

Where will you be observing from and what are your physical requirements? If you live in a house in the countryside then a bulky setup requiring mains power might be fine. If you live in a city apartment you'll want something you can carry up to the roof, or down to the car (or even bike) to drive out of town for dark skies.