Paging the Astronomically minded

Can anyone recommend a good entry level 'scope for a youngster picking up an
interest in planet/star gazing.

I'm reasonably au fait with the principals and was looking around an 8"
reflector with a couple of decent eye pieces. But on further reflection
perhaps a ~4" Catadioptric is a better idea and neat little motor mounts are
common. Trouble is, the market is utterly awash with shite and even the
obvious brands like Celestron have diluted their name by mixing the good and
the Chinese shite in their range.

I'm not anti refractor, just aware that a good one is probably over budget.

Sub £500

 

don't **** around:

http://www.telescopehouse.com/acatalog/Meade_LightBridge_16___Dobsonian.html

oh.

 

While I'd rather like one of those mounted on the roof in Davao it isn't
*quite* within spec for this particular Chrimbo pressie.

Looking ahead I'm assuming that equatorial astronomy at 7° 30' with very
little light pollution will be pretty good. I don't know enough to judge the
consequences of heat however, it is rarely below 25c at night.

Though I'm noticing that for under 10 grand one might have half a hectare at
around 2000ft on the road up to Eden Park. Catch being that other folk there
don't really buy already nearly finished houses....

 

I made the mistake of buying two scopes, and spending less on the one I
should have. I tried reflectors and refractors, as well as a Mak-Cass,
but bang for bucks, a reflector on a Dobsonian mount is hard to beat.

The cheap GoTo models will give less viewing for the money, and possibly
problems and faults later on. There's also an argument as to whether
these help with learning or not too.

Now I have just a 6" Dobsonian mounted reflector. I should have gone for
an 8" really, but there you go. However, it's still excellent for wide
field viewing, and deep sky stuff. Planets are OK, but disappear from
view very quickly.

If I had the chance to upgrade, it would just be a bigger Dob mounted
reflector.

The SkyWatcher ones are OK, and I thinks there's Orions around at your
budget too, which are a bit better.

Also consider a pair of binoculars, a nice pair of 10x50s are really
handy - especially if you can still find those cheap ones at Lidls
(either Meade or Bresser).

 

I've seen elsewhere reports of the Lidl 10x50 ones being available from
this Thursday. £15 or so.

 

Have you found your reflector needed collimation?
Have you tried connecting it to a laptop with something like a pentaflex
digital eyepiece

 

Yeah, it needed a little bit some time ago, after moving house I think
that was. I could do with a proper collimator though.

Only a cheap modified webcam, which didn't work too well. I do have
adapters for my DSLR, but I just haven't been able to get anything
decent. That's partly my fault though, I don't have the patience to keep
trying different exposures, and without a GoTo or motor, longer
exposures are very difficult anyway.

Besides, I decided to stick with the Dob mount when I decided that I
wasn't really that bothered about astro photography anyway.

The other part is that viewing has been mostly shit since moving to
Scarborough, where I am never seems to get a decent clear sky - not to
mention the feckin security lights.

 

Hmm see this one is likely to get carted around. Hence my thoughts about a
Cat

 

Hmm, yes, good point, the cats are much more compact. Mind you, there's
a few truss type Dobs about now too. I think Skywatcher do one that
simply slides together to make it very compact for transporting.

 

A catadioptric 4-5 " may not look as impressive as a physically bigger
scope, but often gets used more since it is easier to store and take out
for stargazing when the skies have cleared. And may give decent views of
planets under less than perfect atmospheric conditions, which larger
scopes require to relaese their resolution potential.

To encourage further interest I think it eventually is as much important
to be introduced to a (local) astronomical society, preferrably with
access to a club observatory. Both the tuition and views a club
telescope can give is important to encourage further interest.