[Chaos-l] New List Member

Fri Jul 22 22:41:45 EDT 2011

Fred,

You are exactly correct about the equatorial wedge, and perhaps you will have better luck with one than I did.   I found them hard to setup.   Of course, I don't have an observatory ... so any time I want to observe I have to bring the equipment somewhere, set it up, and observe (and take it down at the end of the session).   The wedge was just too complicated for me to setup in those situations.   But you really might be able to handle it.

And I know you have a budget in mind ... but I would recommend the Celestron 9.25" Schmidt-Cassegrain scopes if you can find one.   They seem to have the best optics of all the Celestron scopes.

Also, you haven't mentioned whether you are interested in a scope that is not goto.  My initial suggestion to most folks is to get a good Dobsonian reflector, 10" or 12" at first.   They seem to have the best function/price ratio ... but most of them don't have the goto capability.  Some do ... and the ones that do are within your budget, if I remember correctly.   But they won't work for astrophotography.

Speaking of astrophotography, I wanted almost exactly what you are describing 15 years ago.   And I got a Meade LX-200.   I then bought more and more items ... trying to get the photos to look decent.   It really never worked, and I found that I enjoyed visual observing more than anything else.   So I would suggest getting something that you use a lot (weight might be an issue ... transport to a site where you can observe is another), and get out and observe.   When you really want to take pictures, get a scope specifically for that ... like one of the new APO refractors.

Again, these opinions are worth the money you paid for them :-)   I hope someone else chimes in and gives their side of the hobby.

Robert

Sent from my iPad

On Jul 22, 2011, at 2:40 PM, Fred File <lffile at yahoo.com> wrote:

> Hello All,  I am new here.  Joined the list yesterday and will hopefully join the club at the next meeting (August 9, I believe).
> 
> I have had a long time interest in Astronomy but never really had the time or money to get into it seriously.  Well I have retired and have some funds for equipment to sort of test the waters and see how serious I want to get about this as a hobby.    I have come here looking for advice.
> 
> I want to buy a telescope and can probably put $2,000 into it at this time.  My ultimate goal would be astrophotography and asteroid hunting.  I realize this is something of a tall order for $2,000 but with my first purchase I would hope to get a solid 8" SCT with a Goto mount and accessories.  I would get a photo adaptor for my Nikon DSLR (D300) and hopefully that would be enough to get me started.  Essentially learning the skills and techniques to get the most out of that equipment.  If I don't prove to be the "old dog" that can't learn new tricks I would probably upgrade to a bigger SCT and a CCD camera if my enthusiasm did not wane in a year to 18 months.
> 
> Looking at Telescopes.com I see a number of setups that would seem to do what I want but I don't really know which is the best option for the money and hopefully some of you will have some advice.
> 
> Celestron offers 3 8" Goto SCT packages that might work.  The cheapest is this - NexStar 8 SE Telescope Bundle for $1229.  My concern here is the single fork mount.   I can't imagine this has the stability I want for good astrophotography (some of the reviewers mention it.)
> 
> They also offer an 8" SCT package with a dual fork mount (Celestron 8 Inch CPC Limited Edition Telescope) for $1749 and an 8" SCT with a German Equatorial mount (Celestron CGEM 800 Schmidt-Cassegrain Telescope) for $2199.  With accessories this one would probably get to around $2500 but when I upgrade I could just buy a bigger OTA.  The CPC unit also might require a $360 wedge for astrophotography.
> 
> For the high end Celestron units I would be approaching the 8" Meade LX200 price so if there is a great difference I would start looking closely at the Meade lineup.
> 
> Here are the links to the items above:
> http://www.telescopes.com/telescopes/catadioptric-telescopes/celestronnexstar8setelescopeultimatepackage.cfm
> 
> http://www.telescopes.com/telescopes/catadioptric-telescopes/celestron8inchcpclimitededition50thanniversarytelescope1.cfm
> 
> http://www.telescopes.com/telescopes/catadioptric-telescopes/celestroncgem800schmidtcassegraintelescope1.cfm
> 
> http://www.telescopes.com/telescopes/catadioptric-telescopes/meade8inchlx200acfadvancedcomafreetelescopewithuhtcstandardtripod.cfm
> 
> Hope I am not to pushy for a newcomer but any help you guys could give would certainly be appreciated.
> 
> c h e e r s
> fred
> 
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