Telescopes

[Crisp]

I'm sure there are a few astronomical people on Neowin!

I'm just after some advice on telescopes. Being a noob to the subject of never owning one (apart from crappy childrens one at a young age), what are the best makes / models out there? I've been looking at Saxon telescopes, but reviews say they're crap. They're rather pricey, so am confused. I'm after something powerfull enough to produce images such as...

planets of our solar system, and maybe beyond.

What kind of equipment would one need to have a live feed on a laptop? Some kind of digital telescope eye? I've seen some people use digital cameras which feeds the image to a laptop.

Thanks in advance.

[HawkMan]

planets of our solar system, and maybe beyond.

Well I don't think you'll find any telescopes powerful enough to give you pictures of planets beyond our solar system

as for telescopes capable of that picture, you're probably looking at some really expensive stuff, possibly with a tracking drive if you're looking to take photos.

[Crisp]

Well I don't think you'll find any telescopes powerful enough to give you pictures of planets beyond our solar system

as for telescopes capable of that picture, you're probably looking at some really expensive stuff, possibly with a tracking drive if you're looking to take photos.

Thanks man, I didn't mean like other planets past our solar system, as I know with a home telescope it just isn't possible. I ment other star systems. I've seen like photos of clusters and nebulas.

I was looking at telescopes in the price range of ?300 - ?400. With equipment, I'm sure it'll be more.

There's a Saxon ED100 telescope which is capable of what I'm asking, but as I said in my first post. Reviews are bad for Saxon scopes? :s

Edit: that telescope mentioned isn't even available in the UK. :/

[zhangm Supervisor]

It's been a while since I've been into this sort of stuff.

You might as well give us an idea of your budget so that we can let you know whether it is remotely close to achieve what you want. Aperture is key - looking at that image you posted, I'd guess it came from at least an 8" scope.

*Edit: You're probably best off with a Dobsonian reflector (they're quite large, but cheap) or a Schmidt-Cassegrain scope (compact, bit more expensive).

[Detection]

I've been thinking about buying a telescope too but every time I think about doing it, I remember that there is only about 2 clear nights a month in the UK and generally they don't last all night so it would be a paperweight / cloud viewing scope more than anything else

[Astra.Xtreme]

As others have said, I think this all depends on your budget.

Personally, I'd recommend a computerized scope to make your life easier. Nothing's more frustrating than spending 20 minutes trying to get something into your field of view to be able to enjoy it for 5 seconds before it goes out of view again. A motorized scope can navigate to something automatically and then slowly move itself to keep the object in view.

I started out with a 90mm Meade, which was nice because it was cheap, but it wasn't big enough to let in enough light, so the details weren't as vivid as I hoped.

Last year I upgraded to a Celestron NextStar 6SE and the clarity is beautiful. Jupiter is at a good location in the sky right now and it's neat to see the red spot and all the moons up close in nice detail.

I have a GPS add-on, which helps navigate it, and there's also a camera add-on (NexImage) that I'm looking to invest in soon.

That specific one costs $700-800 new, but honestly I wouldn't waste your money on something "cheap". You'll simply be dissapointed and end up spending more money on upgrades/a new scope.

High quality optics are very important in a telescope, so you really really don't want to cheap out unless you only want to look at the moon. Just my $0.02. :)

http://www.celestron...exstar-6se.html

[HawkMan]

Also check if there are any stargazer clubs near you. they can advise you on good equipment (though I suspect stargazers are like photographers, and have very strong brand loyalty :p)and they may even have a large collective club scope as well.

[moloko]

To take some decent photos of saturn, jupiter, etc, looks like you need a telescope in the range of 500-1000$. I have taken good photos wtih my 70-200 with a 1.4x but I would love to put it on a large telescope.

[DocM]

One of the cheaper tracking scopes ste fine for your first instrument, just to makd sure you want to stick with the hobby. If your interst remains then s Meade, Celestron etc. is a good investment - but be aware thar beford long you're going go be wanting a chilled CCD sensor and all those other $$ goodies.

[metallithrax]

Check out this site, it should give some info on what to choose

[Crisp]

Thanks for the sound advice, we'll be moving next year to a small village so light polution will be at a minimum. This is when I want to get one.

I've been looking at some of the suggestions and some of these are massive! Example, the Dobsonian telescopes are like half the size of a car!

I wont be after some hard core equipment which will set back in the thounds, this is just something I've always wanted to get as a hobby. I'll need to get some funds together and see what I can afford in my price range.