Telescope??

Can second what was said above. I got a Sky-Watcher 150p dobsonian a few years back and it’s incredible what you can see.
Be warned though, once you get into it buying more gear is addictive!

if anyone wants any advice or help feel free to ask 👍🏻
 
Philly-Red said:
Can second what was said above. I got a Sky-Watcher 150p dobsonian a few years back and it’s incredible what you can see.
Be warned though, once you get into it buying more gear is addictive!

if anyone wants any advice or help feel free to ask 👍🏻
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Amazing. So with a basic purchase would it be good to go or would I be needing additional bits like eye pieces etc?

Also does it packaway space wise and for transport?

Thanks for the help
 
Cambsred said:
Amazing. So with a basic purchase would it be good to go or would I be needing additional bits like eye pieces etc?

Also does it packaway space wise and for transport?

Thanks for the help
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it doesn’t pack away at all really! Mine just sits in the corner of the kitchen ready for me to take out into the garden if the skies clear. You can take the tube off the base and put it in your car, depending on the size of your car. I have an A3 and I take it away with me to dark sky sites with no problem.

I’ve linked the scope I have below - it comes with everything you need to get started including 10 and 25mm eyepieces.

It’s great for observing but next to useless for astrophotography, if that’s something you’re thinking of getting into.

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/beginner-telescopes/skywatcher-skyliner-150p-dobsonian.html
 
Philly-Red said:
it doesn’t pack away at all really! Mine just sits in the corner of the kitchen ready for me to take out into the garden if the skies clear. You can take the tube off the base and put it in your car, depending on the size of your car. I have an A3 and I take it away with me to dark sky sites with no problem.

I’ve linked the scope I have below - it comes with everything you need to get started including 10 and 25mm eyepieces.

It’s great for observing but next to useless for astrophotography, if that’s something you’re thinking of getting into.

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/beginner-telescopes/skywatcher-skyliner-150p-dobsonian.html
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Brilliant. Thank you. Looks out of stock most places currently.

No rush for a purchase though.
 
There is a constant bright solid star in the cloud, I posted such on here a while back, someone mentioned it to be venus
 
I stopped using mine when I was 9 years old . Everything worth looking at at night was above a house with 5 daughters so easy to get the wrong idea 🙈
 
Can you view much from a Velux window in your house or do you have to get out and about a bit where the sky's are dark to see anything decent?
 
Block_4_Eastender said:
Can you view much from a Velux window in your house or do you have to get out and about a bit where the sky's are dark to see anything decent?
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you could but you’re massively limiting the area of sky you’ve got to look at. Plus the glass would impact what you could see and the quality of the image. Even just taking it into the garden would make a huge difference. You’d still see plenty even in a reasonably light polluted area.
 
That's a bit out of my price range unfortunately. Great shot with the moon and spot.

I'm in negotiation now with the wife about storage of a scope. Apparently they should be packed away nicely after use in our household.
 
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BoroMart said:
Astrophotography is my new hobby, I'm only about 5 months in. Working on the planets at the moment , 8" Schmitt-Cassegrain Celestron Edge HD. As a hobby it gets very expensive very quickly
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That's an incredible picture! Did you use a DSLR?

I started imaging properly about a month ago with a tracker and DSLR but have only managed about two nights because of clouds! Already worked out I'm going to have to buy a refractor and new laptop to make any progress. I'm just glad my wife hasn't had the presence of mind to check the cost of what I tell her I've paid for things! :LOL:
 
Philly-Red said:
That's an incredible picture! Did you use a DSLR?

I started imaging properly about a month ago with a tracker and DSLR but have only managed about two nights because of clouds! Already worked out I'm going to have to buy a refractor and new laptop to make any progress. I'm just glad my wife hasn't had the presence of mind to check the cost of what I tell her I've paid for things! :LOL:
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I got a ZWO camera thrown in as part of the package when I bought my scope, they're great for astrophotography. This is the cheapest ZWO camera which costs about £120, and it's still a decent shot. I'll be looking to get a higher quality monochrome camera (gets much more detail) and use a filter wheel (takes separate red green blue shots), then merge them together, but that's the next level of complexity (and cost!)

https://astronomy-imaging-camera.com/product/asi120mc-s
 
Its something I've always been interested in trying as a hobby, just never took the plunge. Some good pointers on here tho(y)
 
Some good sights for astronomy:

https://www.cloudynights.com/ -- good community, lots of advice
https://theplanets.org/best-telescopes-buying-guide/ - advice on first scope
https://www.celestron.com/pages/the-tools-for-beginners?utm_campaign=2020.08.16_Beginner-Resource_INT_Northern (WgCYvp)&utm_medium=email&utm_source=New_All_Active_International - Northern Hemisphere - NEW&_ke=eyJrbF9lbWFpbCI6ICJib3JvbWFydEB5YWhvby5jb20iLCAia2xfY29tcGFueV9pZCI6ICJwNXBRN0EifQ== --> some beginner information and tools

Anyone thinking of starting needs to think about:
a - how dark is your sky (check on here - https://www.lightpollutionmap.info/#zoom=9.68&lat=54.5477&lon=-1.2314&layers=B0FFFFFTFFFFFFFFF), high light pollution might mean a trip out somewhere to do any astronomy particularly for deep space and milky way shots.

b) what do you want to see / photograph? Planets, stars, nebula, galaxies -- if you want to do any decent photography you need a german equitorial mount. If you want to capture nebula or galaxies then a motorised goto mount is essential

c) How big can you store? You can get some big tubes for a 'moderate' price, but it might be too big to store in your house

d) do you want to do photography? some mounts are better than others for photography, best to check how to fit a camera, and if it has any optics to support a flat plane Loads of free software available, I use PIPP, autostakker3, Registax 6 and Gimp.

Remember this is a hobby that can frighten your bank manager if you really get into it. You can get sucked into a whole plethora of gadgets, battery units to take your motorised scope to some dark sites, mount upgrades, improved site scopes, storage/travel cases, dew shields and heaters, cameras, tracking scopes, eye pieces, filters, filter wheels and on and on it goes. Pre-covid we had a local astronomy club that had a couple of scopes for use. Some are more useful than others and there are on line resources for buying and selling kit.
 
Philly-Red said:
Can second what was said above. I got a Sky-Watcher 150p dobsonian a few years back and it’s incredible what you can see.
Be warned though, once you get into it buying more gear is addictive!

if anyone wants any advice or help feel free to ask 👍🏻
Click to expand...

Having done a bit more reading I was torn between the Skywatcher Explorer 130P f / 650 Newton Telescope with Parabolic Mirror and Dobsonian 150 or 200.

I think the ease of use of the latter has swayed me and the positive reviews. Now the challenge is going to be finding anything that is in stock.

Thanks for the comments, if I get the bug I will be back to discuss how I can burn some cash.
 
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