Telescopes

[jb94]

Hi all,
Completely off topic from woodworking but wondering if we have any astronomers in our midst?

I’ve been looking to get something better than the humble pair of binoculars to see the planets /moon etc for some time, but been egged on by this planetary alignment phenomenon to get something better.

There seems to be a lot of (to me anyway) complex information online about choosing a telescope and arm flexing ‘you don’t have the Newton grande 1000? You can’t possibly see the moon without that’ and I just want something lighter than the Hubble that I can walk with to the fields near my house and see some planets with.

I know the ‘toy’ £50 telescopes are a waste of money, but not got a clue about what to get in the £100-150 mark to scratch the itch.

Anyone have any expertise with scopes? Cheers

 

[Cozzer]

Hi all,
Completely off topic from woodworking but wondering if we have any astronomers in our midst?

I’ve been looking to get something better than the humble pair of binoculars to see the planets /moon etc for some time, but been egged on by this planetary alignment phenomenon to get something better.

There seems to be a lot of (to me anyway) complex information online about choosing a telescope and arm flexing ‘you don’t have the Newton grande 1000? You can’t possibly see the moon without that’ and I just want something lighter than the Hubble that I can walk with to the fields near my house and see some planets with.

I know the ‘toy’ £50 telescopes are a waste of money, but not got a clue about what to get in the £100-150 mark to scratch the itch.

Anyone have any expertise with scopes? Cheers

My Mrs surprised me with a Celestron 130EQ MD a few years ago. Ten, maybe?
No idea why...
I opened the box, put it together, and then took it down the same day.
It's never seen the light of day since.

 

[ajs]

Hi all,
Completely off topic from woodworking but wondering if we have any astronomers in our midst?

I’ve been looking to get something better than the humble pair of binoculars to see the planets /moon etc for some time, but been egged on by this planetary alignment phenomenon to get something better.

There seems to be a lot of (to me anyway) complex information online about choosing a telescope and arm flexing ‘you don’t have the Newton grande 1000? You can’t possibly see the moon without that’ and I just want something lighter than the Hubble that I can walk with to the fields near my house and see some planets with.

I know the ‘toy’ £50 telescopes are a waste of money, but not got a clue about what to get in the £100-150 mark to scratch the itch.

Anyone have any expertise with scopes? Cheers

It's difficult, realistically to get out of toy territory you need to double or treble your budget. The general advice would be keep to bins possibly with a bino mount, extra steadiness over handheld is transformative.

However you are asking here so you presumably would be able to knock up a Dobsonian mount (Google it) without much fuss using junk pile or cheap materials. It's the mount that tends to be the weakest link in the toys, even a light breeze can shake a scope on a toy mount to the extent you can't see anything.

That would allow you to focus your money on the OTA (optical tube assembly - the actual scope) instead. I've just looked at Rother Valley Optics and there are a couple of tubes within your budget which may not be aspirational, but are certainly better than department store trash. Bear in mind if buying an OTA you'll generally need to get eyepieces in addition, you'll get some in the package in a scope + mount combo.

The Dobsonian mount is very popular but personally I don't like them very much, they are easy for casual observers but difficult for anything beyond that. Personally I'd always prefer an equatorial mount but a good mount by itself would exceed your budget. If you buy an OTA with scope rings you can always buy a mount later if the bug bites.

 

[okeydokey]

I have a monocular its just the job, easier to manage than binoculars and fits in you pocket and I find it quite good enough might suit you as you are walking to your fields to view the sky. Check out the magnifications available - I am sure they (like mine) will do the job you need

 

[Sideways]

https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/882278-spotting-scope-for-astronomy/

While not the first choice for star gazing, I wonder if a spotting scope would be an option. If you have any interest in wildlife / birds, then you might get extra use and value out of it.

We have a couple of pairs of binoculars and chose 6x30 models because they are easy to use, don't magnify the wobble too much and easy to carry. In the same vein, a spotting scope would be smaller and easier to take out and about than a telescope for astronomy.

 

[Tris]

See if you have a local astronomy club, they may have scope nights where you can go along and take a look at a range of toys.
If you are mostly interested in planets and the moon, maybe some of the bigger nebulae, then something around 150mm tube diameter should do. Ajs suggestion of a dobsonian mount is a good bet, easy to start with. Beware as it is a bit of a slippery slope, especially if you get into astrophotography

 

[jb94]

https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/882278-spotting-scope-for-astronomy/

While not the first choice for star gazing, I wonder if a spotting scope would be an option. If you have any interest in wildlife / birds, then you might get extra use and value out of it.

We have a couple of pairs of binoculars and chose 6x30 models because they are easy to use, don't magnify the wobble too much and easy to carry. In the same vein, a spotting scope would be smaller and easier to take out and about than a telescope for astronomy.

Not a bad idea the spotting scope, craning my neck with the binoculars on a makeshift tripod attachment was not very fun. And my wife could use the scope for birding also.

It's difficult, realistically to get out of toy territory you need to double or treble your budget. The general advice would be keep to bins possibly with a bino mount, extra steadiness over handheld is transformative.

However you are asking here so you presumably would be able to knock up a Dobsonian mount (Google it) without much fuss using junk pile or cheap materials. It's the mount that tends to be the weakest link in the toys, even a light breeze can shake a scope on a toy mount to the extent you can't see anything.

That would allow you to focus your money on the OTA (optical tube assembly - the actual scope) instead. I've just looked at Rother Valley Optics and there are a couple of tubes within your budget which may not be aspirational, but are certainly better than department store trash. Bear in mind if buying an OTA you'll generally need to get eyepieces in addition, you'll get some in the package in a scope + mount combo.

The Dobsonian mount is very popular but personally I don't like them very much, they are easy for casual observers but difficult for anything beyond that. Personally I'd always prefer an equatorial mount but a good mount by itself would exceed your budget. If you buy an OTA with scope rings you can always buy a mount later if the bug bites.

The Dobsonian mount does look easy enough to make but maybe not that portable, I do have a few heavy duty tripods from when I was keen on my photography which could be of use if compatible with one of those optical only tubes.

 

[Phill05]

Not a bad idea the spotting scope, craning my neck with the binoculars on a makeshift tripod attachment was not very fun. And my wife could use the scope for birding also.

The Dobsonian mount does look easy enough to make but maybe not that portable, I do have a few heavy duty tripods from when I was keen on my photography which could be of use if compatible with one of those optical only tubes.

I have a Mirador 60mm spotting scope with window mount for when your sat in the car and also a tripod, It is in real good condition I am not going to use it anymore if your interested.

 

[Bodone]

You think woodwork is a rabbit hole of expense and opionions, it’s nothing compared to Astronomy. Nice pair of binoculars with an old style deckchair, blanket and a flask of tea.

Go here for guidance and once your new stargazing item arrives at your door, you will have cloudy night skies for two weeks, that’s the rule.

https://binocularsky.com/

Clear skies!

 

[Chubber]

I know the ‘toy’ £50 telescopes are a waste of money, but not got a clue about what to get in the £100-150 mark to scratch the itch.

Anyone have any expertise with scopes? Cheers

When we moved to rural France we bought a £99 tube- type jobby from Lidl. We managed to see and observe the movements of the Jupiter's moons, the sickle shape of Venus et cetera.

Great entertainment, and a good excuse to sit out on nights with a bottle of wine!

Learn to align it (set up the tripod so that you can follow the turning of the sky with just one wheel) and away you go. You can now get 'phone apps that will tell you what you're looking at, too.

 

[Blackswanwood]

I recalled this being discussed before … these threads may help …

https://www.ukworkshop.co.uk/threads/telescopes.133480/

https://www.ukworkshop.co.uk/threads/astronomy-binoculars-or-small-telescope.128713/

 

[imageel]

Whilst I have no real interest in astronomy, at the start of Covid I randomly got involved with this group who are using cheap security cameras to look for meteors - Global Meteor Network.
With a small investment ~£100 for a camera + housing and an old laptop/pc you can setup up your own and contribute as a Citizen Scientist in the knowledge that NASA reference the data plus you get some cool images from your own back garden!
I got involved merely out of technical curiosity and contributed by porting their software from a Raspberrypi platform to Linux and then added the ability to support multiple cameras - 3-4 will run quite happily on a 10y old laptop...
It's largely automatic once calibrated and you get nightly summaries of what you've captured and makes a great project for any child interested in STEM subjects.
Sample image captured during the annual Perseids shower -

 

[jb94]

Whilst I have no real interest in astronomy, at the start of Covid I randomly got involved with this group who are using cheap security cameras to look for meteors - Global Meteor Network.
With a small investment ~£100 for a camera + housing and an old laptop/pc you can setup up your own and contribute as a Citizen Scientist in the knowledge that NASA reference the data plus you get some cool images from your own back garden!
I got involved merely out of technical curiosity and contributed by porting their software from a Raspberrypi platform to Linux and then added the ability to support multiple cameras - 3-4 will run quite happily on a 10y old laptop...
It's largely automatic once calibrated and you get nightly summaries of what you've captured and makes a great project for any child interested in STEM subjects.
Sample image captured during the annual Perseids shower - View attachment 198555

That is amazing

 

[misterfish]

We've got a Meade EC90 and a good solid tripod but it is rarely used. The difficulty in keeping the particular planet in view was a pain, also seeing any great detail was difficult. We can on occasions make out the cloud bands on Jupiter or the shape of the rings of Saturn. It seems that for decent images you need to spend a lot on the telescope, the mount and the tripod. looking at the moon was OK but no deep space objects like nebulae or galaxies. Finally atmospheric disturbances make ground based images ptone to a lot of distortion.

It is posible to get good detailed images but you need to buy astrophotography equipment which will take numbers of timed exposures that can be processed to produce amazing images.

In the last few years 'low cost' smart telescopes have hit the market which have been a game changer - though currently not very good for planetary images but great for photographing the sun, the moon and deep space objects like galaxies, nebulae and star clusters as well as terrestrial images during the day.. The cheapest ones by Dwarf Labs and ZWO cost about £500 and are very portable. They are an integrated telescope and camera system with built in find and track of asronomical items. Esssentially they will find and follow the thing you want to look at and take multiple long exposure images that are automatically processed to produce good results. This allows things that you can't discern with your eyes to be able to see in detail.

I haven't got one yet...! but I need to explain to my wife the absolute requirement that we need one!!!

sample images

 

[bbtex]

I assume that you are interested in visual astronomy rather than astrophotography. Unfortunately, with your budget, you are going to really struggle to find anything that will give you any decent views. Have a look here: https://www.firstlightoptics.com/beginner-telescopes.html
If you buy a cheap telescope, you will be very disappointed and most people then give up at that point. Others will spend huge sums of money on bigger and better telescopes and mounts only to realise that everything apart from the moon and planets still only look like pale white fuzzies and then give up.
Get yourself a good monopod, a swivel head and a binocular adapter. You can grab it and be rewarded with some stunning views. I have three telescopes but recently bought one of these: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01M0C2181?ref_=ppx_hzsearch_conn_dt_b_fed_asin_title_1&th=1 It really is excellent and is great for something to grab and use to explore the heavens in the short gaps in the clouds we get these days.
Don't forget you'll also need a trigger-grip ball-head and binocular tripod adapter.

 

[Katomi woodsmith]

A reflection telescope somewhere in the six to eight inch range was my choice
Used it for years, I could see Saturn’s rings, only got rid of it when after it had been left in the shed after my move
the silver on the lens had degraded from being left outside
All the best

 

[Sachakins]

Try knocking up a parallelogram mount for your binoculars.

 

[TRITON]

I havent read all the replies, so sorry if already suggested, but what about a digital telescope ?

 

[bbtex]

I havent read all the replies, so sorry if already suggested, but what about a digital telescope ?

These are okay but you have to remember that it is just a camera. You can only take photographs with it. It isn't a very high resolution sensor either. It uses the IMX462 which is only 2MP and you have a very narrow field of view so limited to planets and smaller planetary nebula. There are no eyepieces so you can't get the intimate, real time connection with the night sky.
However, it is great for a small scope that you can just bring out and explore the heavens with.

 

[misterfish]

These are okay but you have to remember that it is just a camera. You can only take photographs with it. It isn't a very high resolution sensor either. It uses the IMX462 which is only 2MP and you have a very narrow field of view so limited to planets and smaller planetary nebula. There are no eyepieces so you can't get the intimate, real time connection with the night sky.
However, it is great for a small scope that you can just bring out and explore the heavens with.

As I mentioed above have a look an my link to images taken by owners of this telescope and you can see good images of celestial objects that you can't see by naked eye or with just a telescope.

It is not a replacement for high end equipment but it seems to give a good low cost entry to let you see parts of the night sky, as well as the moon, the sun as it includes solar filters. It also works well as a teresstrial telescope.

The important factor with any telescope is its light capturing capability. With my old Meade telescope using a lager magnification eyepiece makes the image bigger, darker but with no increase with definition.

Also it is "not just a camera" but a telescope with a built in camera with software to help you prduce your images.Click here to see some examples of Andromeda