Originally posted by: irishScott
Wow. Thought the thread had died a while ago. Awesome info guys. Thanks. :thumbsup:
I've done some research over the last several hours, and actually the NextStar 5 SE was one of the potentials that popped up.
🙂
Was also looking at the
Bushnell NorthStar 100mm Maksutov-Cassegrain w/RVO and the
Meade ETX-125PE, of which the ETX series is apparently pretty popular. Any comments on those?
IMO, don't even bother with Bushnell, but admittedly that's just a gut reflex since they didn't always have a good reputation and there are much better options.
You can't beat
Oberwerk for price, features and quality. I always had a 20x80 with me for quick visual work. I used to use it for spotting comets since it's so easy to throw on a mount and work with it while your scopes are acclimating.
That said, that was when my searches were limited to Cassegrain style scopes with auto-tracking (primarily for the portability aspect). I'll start looking into Newtonians and other mounts, but I do eventually want to get into astrophotography. From what I've read this will probably cost me more than I'm willing to spend at the moment if I want something good. Right now I'd like something I can at least competently mess around with in that regard if possible. Hence the autotracking.
The move from strictly visual work to astrophotography is like going from junior high varsity to the NFL. Silly analogy, but it's all I had. It's a huge step, and one that takes a serious commitment to really get right. I remember spending sometimes upwards of 3 hours just waiting to align, wait for the sky to settle and get a few good shots. It's rewarding, but not for the casual person.
You really don't need the autotracking, but obviously that's up to you. You can buy motors for equatorial mounts to give you reasonable accuracy, but a good mount for astrophotography will run you $1000 to a heck of a lot more. There are a few reasons why, but this is probably more detail than you want:
1) Heft. Mounts need to be
stable. I had a photo get hosed that I was exposing for a few minutes on a mount in the middle of a field out in nowhere. What hosed it? An 18 wheeler easily 2 football fields away that sent just enough vibration in the ground to hose my shot. The better mounts has dampeners and are more resistant to such things.
2) Quality of motor. The cheap Chinese made mounts have gears that aren't precise, so when it tracks you literally get disruptions when it moves. This means your ability to take long exposures is essentially impossible, thus why I'm deemphasizing it here. There are people that you can pay to fix the gears or you could do it yourself, and if you put in that effort you can get a decent system.
3) Integration. My mounts have an RS232 link that I use on my laptop. I can control it through various software, so in my old house I'd actually have the system in the house and control everything outside. This is a nice feature.
Also, don't forget about
AstroMart. You'll find a reasonable discount on some good equipment. People on there take good care of their equipment.
Another initial reason for the autotracking was because my old brandless 4" refractor had no fine adjustment, and it was basically a "lightly tap and hope you don't go too far" adjustment system; but I know there are better manual mounts out there.
Any halfway decent mount will be better than that. All equatorials have slow-guiding handles or something similar to guide it along the axis. If you're polar-aligned to some degree, you should never go off track.
Right now I'm definitely looking at a Newtonian or Cassegrain style scope, as I want the deep sky (although without sacrificing too much detail for planets and such) and from what I've read refractors are also more subject to Chromatic Abberation (yay I'm learning terminology) than the other types outside of the high end (read: expensive) models. Although "fluorite" just sounds way too damn cool to not at least consider for a moment...
Yes, CA is a big problem in cheaper refractors, hence the market for apochromatic refractors. Eyepieces also suffer from the problem, especially at high mag. It's really quite annoying.
Orion has put out some low-aperture quality apo refractors recently. You might want to check them out. I used to have the 80mm and it does a fine job for the price.
As for clubs, there's only one about an hour south, and they only meet June-Sept, at which time I'll be home for summer or probably swamped with classes.
Clubs are a lot of fun. I got to look through a 30" dob-mounted reflector in a low mag sky. Literally there was more light than dark. Everywhere I pointed was a cluster, nebula or some other object of interest. One of the more incredible things I've ever seen.
As for binoculars, all I've got is a pair of Meade 8x32s that I got for my birthday years ago. Can't test them outside right now (cloudy), but will these do anything significant or should I invest in a larger pair?
8x32 won't do you much good, imo. You need at least an 80 to do something worthwhile. Any larger than that and you'll have problems keeping it steady.
My test is usually pretty simple: If you can see the Orion Nebula with ease, it's sufficient. If you can't make out any detail then any other objects of interest are going to be very difficult.
For finding stuff in the night sky, that's half the reason I got Redshift, although I can already easily point a lot of the constellations, the North Star, and the visible planets without much consultation.
I still know next to nothing, so if I'm wrong in the slightest please point it out with typical AT fanaticism. 🙂
Then you're already halfway there, but I'd just buy a book and really try to learn about how to find objects, star hopping, etc. It takes practice, but with a few coordinates you should eventually be able to find an object even if you can't see it. I sometimes take photos of objects I can't even see. Only after I take 60 pictures and stack them does the image actually show up. One example is the Rosetta Nebula, and object I can almost never see.
Also, don't forget about eyepieces. That alone can run you hundreds to many thousands depending on quality, etc. I have some ridiculous planetary eyepieces that ran me several hundred a piece, but at such high mag it's absolutely necessary.
I'm rambling. Astronomy is very rewarding no matter what level you end up. Just looking at the planets for the first time is a life-changing experience for some people, especially younger kids.
