Telescope advice
Discussion
Baron Greenback said:
No idea where to put this for interested in the topic so plumped for here, sorry not taken from amateur telescope!
https://twistedsifter.com/2020/11/there-are-10-mil...
Dark Energy Camera (DECam) at the Cerro Tololo Observatory in Chile, captured this incredible image of stars clustered near the center of the Milky Way Galaxy! Worth click on imagery and zooming in! mind blowing amount of stars! Too much light near london to see much stars let alone have a clear sky!
Just an incredible photo, I love looking at images like this, blows my mind!https://twistedsifter.com/2020/11/there-are-10-mil...
Dark Energy Camera (DECam) at the Cerro Tololo Observatory in Chile, captured this incredible image of stars clustered near the center of the Milky Way Galaxy! Worth click on imagery and zooming in! mind blowing amount of stars! Too much light near london to see much stars let alone have a clear sky!
geeks said:
Baron Greenback said:
No idea where to put this for interested in the topic so plumped for here, sorry not taken from amateur telescope!
https://twistedsifter.com/2020/11/there-are-10-mil...
Dark Energy Camera (DECam) at the Cerro Tololo Observatory in Chile, captured this incredible image of stars clustered near the center of the Milky Way Galaxy! Worth click on imagery and zooming in! mind blowing amount of stars! Too much light near london to see much stars let alone have a clear sky!
Just an incredible photo, I love looking at images like this, blows my mind!https://twistedsifter.com/2020/11/there-are-10-mil...
Dark Energy Camera (DECam) at the Cerro Tololo Observatory in Chile, captured this incredible image of stars clustered near the center of the Milky Way Galaxy! Worth click on imagery and zooming in! mind blowing amount of stars! Too much light near london to see much stars let alone have a clear sky!
A final postscript.
My grandson absolutely loved the telescope and although , due to size reasons ( telescope , not grandson ) the scope has to live at our house , weather / cloud permitting ,he has put it to plenty of use .
I added a zoom eyepiece, not as good as I expected , and also a CCD camera to make recording images easier , having found the device for securing his iphone to the telescope not that robust .
Early image below , we still need time to understand the software , but first results encouraging .
My grandson absolutely loved the telescope and although , due to size reasons ( telescope , not grandson ) the scope has to live at our house , weather / cloud permitting ,he has put it to plenty of use .
I added a zoom eyepiece, not as good as I expected , and also a CCD camera to make recording images easier , having found the device for securing his iphone to the telescope not that robust .
Early image below , we still need time to understand the software , but first results encouraging .
MXRod said:
A final postscript.
My grandson absolutely loved the telescope and although , due to size reasons ( telescope , not grandson ) the scope has to live at our house , weather / cloud permitting ,he has put it to plenty of use .
I added a zoom eyepiece, not as good as I expected , and also a CCD camera to make recording images easier , having found the device for securing his iphone to the telescope not that robust .
Early image below , we still need time to understand the software , but first results encouraging .
Love it!My grandson absolutely loved the telescope and although , due to size reasons ( telescope , not grandson ) the scope has to live at our house , weather / cloud permitting ,he has put it to plenty of use .
I added a zoom eyepiece, not as good as I expected , and also a CCD camera to make recording images easier , having found the device for securing his iphone to the telescope not that robust .
Early image below , we still need time to understand the software , but first results encouraging .
Having read this and other similar threads, I thought I'd post my related question here rather than start anew.
I've always fancied a telescope, primarily for looking at and getting some iphone pics of the moon and planets. My daughter (8) shows interest in space but due to her autism her attention span can be short. When Tim Peake gave a talk to my work she watched (on Zoom) fascinated by the imagery he was should and would discuss it with teachers and family after, draw pictures of the ISS etc. So being honest, this is mainly for me but with the plan to get the "wow" moments for my daughter and maybe nurture an interest we can both share. We are also soon to get a touring caravan so I like the idea of sitting outside staring at the sky through a scope.
The limitation I am placing is that I want to buy this from John Lewis - work have given me a £75 voucher which I am happy to add to. So I'd be interested in thoughts on the pros and cons of their offerings here
All thoughts on these scopes would be very much appreciated.
I've always fancied a telescope, primarily for looking at and getting some iphone pics of the moon and planets. My daughter (8) shows interest in space but due to her autism her attention span can be short. When Tim Peake gave a talk to my work she watched (on Zoom) fascinated by the imagery he was should and would discuss it with teachers and family after, draw pictures of the ISS etc. So being honest, this is mainly for me but with the plan to get the "wow" moments for my daughter and maybe nurture an interest we can both share. We are also soon to get a touring caravan so I like the idea of sitting outside staring at the sky through a scope.
The limitation I am placing is that I want to buy this from John Lewis - work have given me a £75 voucher which I am happy to add to. So I'd be interested in thoughts on the pros and cons of their offerings here
All thoughts on these scopes would be very much appreciated.
Edited by wiggy001 on Tuesday 24th August 19:36
https://www.johnlewis.com/browse/electricals/teles...
Quoted to activate the link.
Celestron are a very well respected name in the world of telescopes. They do seem very good value for such a well known brand.
Quoted to activate the link.
Celestron are a very well respected name in the world of telescopes. They do seem very good value for such a well known brand.
wiggy001 said:
....with the plan to get the "wow" moments for my daughter....
All thoughts on these scopes would be very much appreciated.
No disrespect to what you've posted but unless you are looking at the moon, I don't think you will get the "wow" moments you are hoping for. I have an 8" Skywatcher which, around 15 years ago, was about £250 ish I think (probably not much more now, actually). With some high magnification lenses (that's where you need to pay the money - that and the mount), I still can't easily / clearly / with enough wow - see any of the planets in great detail, esp Saturn and its rings. Yes, I can see it has rings, but not like you see in pictures or on the TV etc.All thoughts on these scopes would be very much appreciated.
Do any of your friends / colleagues have a scope you can have a look through to get an idea of what you might see?
Quite often, a decent spotting scope and a tripod will get you just as good results and you should still be able to hook your iphone to it as well. Binos are good for moon watching, satellite spotting, ISS following etc and can also be repurposed for daytime use as well, whereas a telescope will need an inverting lens for daytime use.
Eric Mc said:
https://www.johnlewis.com/browse/electricals/teles...
Quoted to activate the link.
Celestron are a very well respected name in the world of telescopes. They do seem very good value for such a well known brand.
Depends who you talk to to be honest. In many circles they are known as hobby killers! The trouble is on the lower end, which is what has been linked they suffer from two main issues. 1 is that the mounts tend to be quite flimsy leading to a poor experience when they wobble a bit when focusing etc. The other issue is that alot of them at this level are "bird jones" type telescopes meaning they have a built in barlow which on a small aperture scope is definitely a bad thing. Of all the scopes that have been linked to I would go for the Astromaster 130 or the Astromaster 80 however they both have a relatively short focal length but they will at least give a decent field of view and the optics will be slightly better than anything else on offer there.Quoted to activate the link.
Celestron are a very well respected name in the world of telescopes. They do seem very good value for such a well known brand.
Personally in their situation I would be looking for either a Dobsonian, with a 7" or 8" aperture and a decent focal length such as a Skywatcher 150p/200p OR for something a bit more portable something like the Skywatcher Heritage 90mm MAK on a virtuoso mount, which punches well above its aperture thanks to some actually decent optics and a good focal length.
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