The Space and Astronomy Thread

After some advice from the horses mouth so to speak, my wife bought me a telescope a couple of years ago it was a skywatcher starter kit, although I did see some cool stuff through it I did find it very frustrating, the tripod mount was quite wobbly and caused no end of problems when trying hold it steady. In the end I got fed up and it stood there gathering dust until I sold it on eBay.
Now summer is coming and the whole solar eclipse stuff is happening it has rekindled my curiosity of outerspace and I feel the urge to buy a telescope.
Could I have some suggestions please as to what I should be looking for, what's a realistic budget that I should be looking to spend within reason, we go camping a fair bit so would be good to get 1 that we could take without to much trouble!
Thanks
 
If you can find room for it a Dobsonian would be ideal. Very basic design, sturdy, stable and if you avoid the ones with the fancy electronics then everything you spend goes on the optics. Like photography the glass is all important so a couple of good quality eyepieces won't go wrong at some point, unlike a camera lens a good eyepiece will stay with you through many scopes so it's worth spending a bit extra on one. Scopes usually come with one or two eyepieces, enough to get you going and give you time to find out if you want to keep it up.

6"(or 150mm) Dobsonian from GSO, they make very good scopes.
http://www.teleskop-express.de/shop...-6-Zoll-mit-hochwertigem-Crayford-Auszug.html As you can see the downside to a dob is that it doesn't pack down very small but they are very easy to use. More expensive versions can be had that will dismantle, you'll see them on any sellers web site
 
The Delivered price for that scope ^ would be about £265 all in.
 
Thanks steep, I looked at 1 of these on some site but it was with the electronics which I'd imagine makes things complicated! The 1 thing that caught my eye about was that you could sit it on a sturdy tripod! Would this be advisable?

Steep said:
The Delivered price for that scope ^ would be about £265 all in.
Click to expand...
 
Good astronomical tripods cost a lot and a dob doesn't need one. the base (on the GSO at least) rotates and the scope swivels up and down on its pivot point it's incredibly simple and cheap and it works.

I made the mistake of buying a goto scope as my first, nothing wrong with it but the electronics take up a huge whack of the price that could be better spent on optics. I spent more time trying to set it up every night than actually using the scope.
 
Thanks that really helps, I do like the simplicity and look of the 1 you have recommended!
 
Well nature was extracting the urine today :( total cloud cover all the way through the eclipse, then 30 minutes later bright sunshine!
 
Pluto_zpsptdnwkhc.jpg~original
 
They found the pyramid? or Sams Diner??
 
Last edited:
Or a launch pad with a giant spacecraft aimed at Earth :)
 
The chances of anything coming from Mars are a million to one.
 
Steep said:
The chances of anything coming from Mars are a million to one.
Click to expand...

"But only if you vote UKIP!" says Daily Mail headline.
 
Maybe they found Red Weed?
 
The Curiosity rover has been clamped.
 
Thanks for that link :)
 
Odd that all the impacts seem to have been straight on though, no elongated shapes that a lower angle strike would have made.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top