Star/Planet Gazing Equipment - Advice Needed!

[tommmy.star]

I have managed to put aside some funds to buy my first telescope. I have always enjoyed looking at stars and the time has come to have a little closer look at them. I am right at the research stage of finding out what equipment I need and tbh I am completely clueless as what is what.

Looking to buy something decent - budget £800. I don't necessarily want to take photographs - just gazing. Ideally it will have the computer thingy to navigate around and pinpoint stars and planets.

Will be very thankful for any advice. What to look for, what to avoid, important things to take into account, literally anything I may need to know to make an informative choice when parting with my money.

 

[arad85]

Hmmm....

Head over to http://www.stargazerslounge.com

Friendly bunch of people and generally very knowledgeable.

IMHO, you need different 'scopes for different things. Long focal length for the moon/planets and wide angle (which generally means decent eyepieces), fast (i.e. low f-number) scopes for views of stars/nebulae to see them in context (which can be very difficult to see on all but the darkest of nights by the way).

Personally, if I were buying again to visually observe (I sold all my telescope stuff to fund cameras ) I'd buy as big a Dobsonian as I could find and manage (manual mount - I had a 12" - this may be too big for you) a couple of decent eyepieces and a good star map. Dark skies are really an advantage too (looks like you live in London so may not have these).

Be warned - getting good photographs of planets/galaxies etc.... costs a lot.

 

[g8ina]

If you want to try imaging for astronomy, I can recommend a chat with the guys over at UK Astro Imaging forum.

Ive been a member there for years and they are really helpful.

I also echo the above comments re what you want to do governing what kit you get.

Planetary will need a "long thin" high focal length telescope with relatively high magnification, deep sky will need a "short fat" lower mag lower focal length one

A tracking mount is also pretty essential for all but a cursory glance at anything.

And yes, kerrrching if you get serious !!

 

[tommmy.star]

Thanks for the links Andy and Dave. Will certainly visit both forums!

Planetary will need a "long thin" high focal length telescope with relatively high magnification, deep sky will need a "short fat" lower mag lower focal length one

This is exactly the language you need to speak to me now! I totally don't know what's what
If I have to choose I think I will go for "long and thin" and start with planets.
Once again, big thanks for your advice.