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 Yet another newbie that wants a telescope...Now viewing all messages in this thread. | View previous thread :: View next thread |
| Amateur Astronomy - General Topic Forums -> What telescope should I buy? | Message format |
Blasph |
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Member Junky Posts: 6  Location: Poland | ... and doesn't know which one to pick. I've been watching stars my entire life. With an old, Made-in-USSR binoculars. Now, I've seen plenty of pictures off hubblesite, but all of them on my computer screen. I want to see them... live. I've been planning to purchase a telescope for quite some time now, and once I finally got to the point of being somewhat financially independable, it turned out to be not an easy task. My cost range closes at around 1k $. I'm from Poland and obviously our currency is different. So are our options regarding online stores - many of those are simply operating within the North-American area exclusively. Regardless, I still believe the prices ought to be somewhat comparable, and the availability at least in part similar. One more thing - a used telescope is not an option, I want a brand new one. As I understand there's a whole variety of different telescopes to choose from, depending on what is it that I want to watch, the distance, luminosity, etc. In my case, that would be Messier catalog and NGC objects. I'm not interested in uhm... terrestial landscapes, the moon or the sun. Once or twice a year I might want to take a glimpse at one of the gas giants in our own solar system and see how many moons I can count, if any, but that's it. What I'm most interested in are distant galaxies, nebulae, supernovae, star clusters, maybe some other interesting objects within our own galaxy. Shortly, anything beyond, say, a distance of one parsec from Earth. Of course this may mean Sirius B or Sombrero galaxy; the range is fairly extensive and I realize that. Nonetheless, I believe that some of the telescopes may be better suitable for objects with little luminosity and thus in some way not exactly the best choice for the brightest spots on the nightsky. My point is, I would like to get something in-between; something I can use to watch the closest star but also retain the capability to clearly see other galaxies, even those on the edge of the Local Group. Aside from what I want to see, I wouldn't mind to have the SkyWatcher/GoTo device with hardcoded locations of some widely known objects. I read that these can count as many as 40000 in the telescope's database, which I belive will suffice for the rest of my life. Or at least until humanity develops a starship technology that will take us there, wherever 'there' might be. I don't need to take pictures of anything. The option to use a camera alongside to shoot whatever I might see out there is not really a necessity, especially if it's going to hinder some of the device's other functions, and/or significantly increase the price tag. I understand this is a fairly popular option and many telescope manufacturers provide those camera accomodations built-in, but nonetheless, I don't need this and will probably never use it even if I get it. I live in a town with around 20k inhabitants yet close to two significantly large, well-lit industrial centers - a powerplant and a coal mine. They both give out a kind of hellish glow at night, even from the distance of several miles. The result is, that there are few sufficiently dark places around, thus the telescope's mobility is of some importance, since I'm planning to take it to a mountain site specifically prepared for astronomers - no lights in the vicinity. That site is about 30 miles away. So, the telescope can't be an unmovable brick, and it would be nice if it could be quickly assembled and disassembled, as well as made of some durable materials, in order to survive the trip  I belive this is all the information you will need to provide me with some suggestions, but if you need anything else, just let me know. Thanks a lot in advance for any help you can give. Edited by Blasph 7/13/2010 5:50 PM | ||
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| mosheriffic |
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Expert Junky Posts: 2686     Location: Marysville,Wa 48.07N-122.21W | Hello and WELCOME to Andy's place!!  Sounds like you have done your homework!! All of the Messier and most of the NGC catalog will be visible with this scope, depending on the darkness of your sky: http://www.opticalvision.co.uk/astronomical_telescopes/sky-watcher/... This one is nice because the tube collapses for transport and has the ability to track an object. | ||
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| David Pavlich |
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 Forum Support Admin Posts: 3568  Location: Mandeville, LA USA 30.38 X 90.07 | |||
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| mosheriffic |
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Expert Junky Posts: 2686 Location: Marysville,Wa 48.07N-122.21W | That scope has DSC's, like the Orion Intelliscope, and has tracking motors added!! Pretty cool!! | ||
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| Blasph |
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Member Junky Posts: 6 Location: Poland | |||
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| David Pavlich |
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Forum Support Admin Posts: 3568 Location: Mandeville, LA USA 30.38 X 90.07 | |||
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| Blasph |
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Member Junky Posts: 6 Location: Poland | |||
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| Blasph |
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Member Junky Posts: 6 Location: Poland | |||
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| David Pavlich |
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Forum Support Admin Posts: 3568 Location: Mandeville, LA USA 30.38 X 90.07 | |||
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| Blasph |
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Member Junky Posts: 6 Location: Poland | Alrighty the scope just arrived today. DOB 12", I've got some eyepieces - 10mm and 25mm, a finderscope, 2" eyepiece adapter and that's about it. Luckily it seems the weather will be cloudless tonight and I can't wait to bring out the cannon and shoot at the nightsky It seems the collimation wasn't much of an issue but I still might want to tweak it a notch to make it perfect. Anyway I'll post my first impressions once I'm satisfied with what I've seen. If I'm satisfied, since this is probably going to be a looong night. | ||
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| K9WG |
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Regular Junky Posts: 98 Location: Greenfield Indiana USA | WOW! A 12 inch! You should be able to see my house from Poland That should be a great setup. Can't wait to hear how it performs. Richard | ||
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| David Pavlich |
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Forum Support Admin Posts: 3568 Location: Mandeville, LA USA 30.38 X 90.07 | Congratulations! A couple of things have to happen: First, this transaction didn't take place unless there's a picture to varify it.  Next, we'll be expecting a nice first light report soonest! David | ||
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| Blasph |
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Member Junky Posts: 6 Location: Poland | Well I guess I'm done for now. I've been waiting for some time for the sky to clear once more - the only day I had that was not rainy-cloudy was the day the scope arrived. Last night however the sky cleared again and I had some opportunity to look into it once more. But first things first: Light pollution. It's... terrible. There are way too many light sources around and I'm getting a lot of reflections and milky vision. The weather did not allow me to see much already but add light pollution to that and I wasn't very satisfied with what I've seen so far. Sure I saw M31, I took a good look at the brightest stars on the nightsky, I had the chance to count Jupiter's moons and the craters on our own natural satellite, but that's it. It seems the weekend is going to grace me with a bit less clouds than this past week so hopefully I can take out the scope somewhere further away from the lights. The problem is, I've seen a light pollution map and it showed bright spots all over this area. Like I mentioned in one of my previous posts, there's something called a star park not 30 miles from where I live, but I have yet to find more info about that. I suppose I'll post a more complete "sit-rep" once I visit that place. Aside from the observations, the scope itself... it's huge o_O I mean I knew it was gonna be big but it just got bigger somehow once I finally assembled it. But hey it's no big deal, I have means to transport it and I never assumed that I would carry it on foot. As for the pictures - they're coming soon, since some of you rather firmly requested that I post the proof of a transaction Edited by Blasph 7/31/2010 12:08 PM | ||
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