Anyone into stargazing/astronomy and can recommend a telescope?

Deleted member 7148 · Oct 24, 2021

I've been really wanting to purchase a telescope to check out the stars and planets in the evenings in my backyard. I think my son would really enjoy this too. The problem is that walking into a store and buying a telescope isn't an easy thing to do. There's so many cheap toy-like telescopes that don't work worth a damn and some that are just way too expensive and hardcore for a beginner. I'm afraid to drop the cash on a decent telescope and end up with a piece of junk. I've scoured the internet and YouTube for answers and didn't find anything too useful to help me choose.

Is there anyone in Era who's into stargazing with telescopes or into astrophotography who may be able to recommend a telescope that's great for a beginner yet powerful enough to be able to view really cool stuff? I don't want to overspend yet I don't want to end up with a crap telescope that can barely see anything. Looking to spend no more than maybe $300-$400 tops.

BringBackSonics · Oct 24, 2021

Buddy of mine who is really into it says if your into it just for observation he mentioned celestron Nexstar 6SE or 8SE

BringBackSonics · Oct 24, 2021

Woops, NM, those are outside of your price range.

Kendrid · Oct 24, 2021

We have a cheap Celestron that is way above toy grade and was under $200. We can see the rings of Saturn with it.

PowerSeeker 70EQ Telescope | Celestron

www.celestron.com

Deleted member 7148 · Oct 24, 2021

Kendrid said:
We have a cheap Celestron that is way above toy grade and was under $200. We can see the rings of Saturn with it.

PowerSeeker 70EQ Telescope | Celestron

www.celestron.com

Thanks! I'll look into that one.

The one I was looking at was a Celestron StarSense Newtonian 114mm, which is $180. I see both Celestron and Orion telescopes mentioned a lot.

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/celestron-starsense-explorer-114mm-newtonian-reflector-telescope-silver-black/6398028.p?skuId=6398028

New002 · Oct 24, 2021

These threads are worth checking out I think...

Recommendations for various budgets:
https://www.reddit.com/r/telescopes...solute_beginners_quickguide_to_choosing_your/

Thoughts on manual dobsonian vs scope with electronic tracking:
https://www.reddit.com/r/telescopes/comments/gla8g6/for_beginners_8inch_dobsonian_or_celestron/

I myself have an Apertura AD8, but it's backordered until who knows when and the price has jumped since I purchased it. The Zhumell Z8 (same scope different branding) is $450, but it's also backordered everywhere. An 8" dob is a large scope though, so a 6" dob might be more suitable.

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1141699-REG/sky_watcher_s11600_6_traditional_dobsonian.html

Here's a photo I snapped of the moon by putting my phone up to the eyepiece of my AD8...so less than ideal and not truly representative of the quality of the actual view, but was decent enough. Unfortunately I can't recall which exact eyepiece was on there at the time:

Deleted member 7148 · Oct 24, 2021

New002 said:
These threads are worth checking out I think...

Recommendations for various budgets:
https://www.reddit.com/r/telescopes...solute_beginners_quickguide_to_choosing_your/

Thoughts on manual dobsonian vs scope with electronic tracking:
https://www.reddit.com/r/telescopes/comments/gla8g6/for_beginners_8inch_dobsonian_or_celestron/

I myself have an Apertura AD8, but it's backordered until who knows when and the price has jumped since I purchased it. The Zhumell Z8 (same scope different branding) is $450, but it's also backordered everywhere. An 8" dob is a large scope though, so a 6" dob might be more suitable.

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1141699-REG/sky_watcher_s11600_6_traditional_dobsonian.html

Here's a photo I snapped of the moon by putting my phone up to the eyepiece of my AD8...so less than ideal and not truly representative of the quality of the actual view, but was decent enough. Unfortunately I can't recall which exact eyepiece was on there at the time:

That Reddit thread is actually extremely helpful. Thanks! I did order the Zhummel z114 on Amazon, which is one of the most recommended beginner scopes, but some of the stuff I saw online looked like it just didn't zoom in that far and I ended up cancelling it.

DrForester · Oct 24, 2021

Phil Plait, the "Bad Astronomer" has an older guide he posts every year. He knows his stuff.

A Holiday Telescope Buying Guide

A guide to buying astronomical equipment for the holidays.

www.syfy.com

He also recommends a few more recent guides.

NoisyAstronomer’s Holiday Telescope Buying Guide

We’re coming up on the gift-giving season, and every year I get a few folks asking me, “what kind of telescope should I get for an X-year-old?” I thought it was high time to write…

skepchick.org

How to Choose a Telescope

Your one-stop guide to telescopes for beginners: see what the types of telescopes are and learn how to choose a telescope for viewing the night sky.

skyandtelescope.org

Deleted member 13101 · Oct 24, 2021

Sucks, but gotta spend 500 plus to get a guaranteed-quality result in a telescope and eyepieces. Plenty of cheaper options that may or may not get a sight (like Saturn's rings which I have also been able to see with even a cheap telescope with not-so-great eyepieces)

Keep in mind that a telescope does one thing far more and better than anything else: take up space. A pair of binoculars that let you see more stars and a few objects in more detail may be a decent place to start as well. You can get a taste for as little as $35 but $200 can get you quality sights in varying temperatures.

It's tough to be be a beginner in astronomy, and too easy to be discouraged for life. If you have a local observatory you may want to check out one of their open-to-the-public nights.

blackhawk163 · Oct 24, 2021

I'm one op. I'm into astrophotography. How much money you got?

Edit here's a sample of my early stuff not award winning or anything, but kindsa transformative for me.

You can start inexpensive, but I'm telling you, you won't be satisfied and will constantly be looking at more and more expensive gear to get you to where you really want to be. There was a time I was going to start a thread here on ERA dealing with this, it's just that there is so much to write up just to even scratch the surface.

I will say that get yourself a really good mount first. That's the most important part of your setup. Without it your images will suffer. The mount is EVERYTHING.

blackhawk163 · Oct 24, 2021

This was my starter kit total cost was about $4500.00

blackhawk163 · Oct 24, 2021

Sorry for spamming your post OP. So 500 is tops? I'm going to tell you that you can "kinda" make it work, however visual astronomy is really cool at first, but loses its charm. At least for me it did. Astrophotography isn't cheap, regardless of what some YouTuber will tell you. Like I wrote a mount is the most important aspect of anything visual or photography. Then comes your scope, and if you're staying visual then a good reflector should be enough. They're also less expensive. Refractors are better imo but a really good Apochromatic can be very costly.

Astrophotography introduces a whole other can of worms. A relatively cheap one shot color camera could put you back about $600 alone. You can use a dslr, but then you're either modifying it for astrophotography for more light sensitivity, or not modifying it and having to coax more data out of your images.

Xe4 · Oct 24, 2021

Get a Dobsonian!
In terms of ease of use for beginners, the Dobsonian mount has no equal. Just grab the telescope and easily move it to the patch of sky you want to look at.

Get what mirror size you can reasonably afford. At the very least you'll be able to make out Jupiter and Saturn, as well as some of the brighter deep sky objects like a number of the Messier catalog.

What's just as important is getting to an area with as little light pollution as possible, and letting your eyes dark adapt. Regardless of telescope, the difference in quality between an area with high vs. low light pollution is enormous.

Edit: Get a telrad or any other reflector sight. It makes finding objects far easier.

Deleted member 7148 · Oct 24, 2021

blackhawk163 said:
Sorry for spamming your post OP. So 500 is tops? I'm going to tell you that you can "kinda" make it work, however visual astronomy is really cool at first, but loses its charm. At least for me it did. Astrophotography isn't cheap, regardless of what some YouTuber will tell you. Like I wrote a mount is the most important aspect of anything visual or photography. Then comes your scope, and if you're staying visual then a good reflector should be enough. They're also less expensive. Refractors are better imo but a really good Apochromatic can be very costly.

Astrophotography introduces a whole other can of worms. A relatively cheap one shot color camera could put you back about $600 alone. You can use a dslr, but then you're either modifying it for astrophotography for more light sensitivity, or not modifying it and having to coax more data out of your images.

I'm not really aiming for astrophotography right now. Mainly just viewing. I was just speaking to the folks who are into astrophotography because I'm sure a lot of them have been in my shoes and may know a good path to go down.

Yeah, I'm not wanting to really spend more than $500. Also, goddamn those photos are rad.

blackhawk163 · Oct 24, 2021

JDFaulky said:
I'm not really aiming for astrophotography right now. Mainly just viewing. I was just speaking to the folks who are into astrophotography because I'm sure a lot of them have been in my shoes and may know a good path to go down.

Yeah, I'm not wanting to really spend more than $500. Also, goddamn those photos are rad.

Okay good. Do you have an idea what you're aiming at in terms of celestial objects? Where do you live? The big three (Moon, Jupiter and Saturn) will be the easiest targets, but temper your expectations with regards as to what these objects (Jupiter and Saturn Mars etc) will actually look like when observing visually. Same with the Andromeda galaxy and some of the really big nebulae. You can almost all but forget visually seeing a dark nebula like the horsehead nebulae visually. It's that dark and requires excellent viewing conditions to even make it out,

So thinking about it further, you'll need a relatively cheap goto system. The only issue is that the supplied eye pieces are usually insufficient for anything other than lunar observation and rudimentary observations of some of the cloud bands on Jupiter.

One of my first visual systems was a celestron slt130. I think back when I bought it (10+ years ago) it was about $440. This came with the mount and some eyepieces. Of course this is now 2021, supply chain issues and all, so I think it's a bit more now.

I would stay away from anything that requires manual operation, unless you're willing to learn how to effectively navigate the night sky.

If you want shoot me some prospects of some visual systems that you might be interested in, and I'll be more than happy to give my 2 cents in hopes that I can help you save more than a few bucks. But if you don't want to take my word for it the folks at highpoint scientific and OPTCorp as well as camera concepts all have folks whose job is to make you get the best bang for your buck.

blackhawk163 · Oct 24, 2021

Xe4 said:
Get a Dobsonian!
In terms of ease of use for beginners, the Dobsonian mount has no equal. Just grab the telescope and easily move it to the patch of sky you want to look at.

Get what mirror size you can reasonably afford. At the very least you'll be able to make out Jupiter and Saturn, as well as some of the brighter deep sky objects like a number of the Messier catalog.

What's just as important is getting to an area with as little light pollution as possible, and letting your eyes dark adapt. Regardless of telescope, the difference in quality between an area with high vs. low light pollution is enormous.

Edit: Get a telrad or any other reflector sight. It makes finding objects far easier.

Yup Dobs are great light buckets, and can be great at astrophotography, provided you have a camera rotator for it.

The one of the "big three" scopes I've never owned.

Also OP Ed Ting has a buy this, not that episode on his YouTube channel that's worth checking out. I never feel like he's trying tosell equipment to the viewer vs others like astrobackyard.

echoshifting · Oct 24, 2021

blackhawk163 said:
This was my starter kit total cost was about $4500.00

What kind of viewing conditions are required to get pictures like this with that setup? Do you gotta get away from city lights? These are so damn cool.

Deleted member 7148 · Oct 25, 2021

blackhawk163 said:
Also OP Ed Ting has a buy this, not that episode on his YouTube channel that's worth checking out. I never feel like he's trying tosell equipment to the viewer vs others like astrobackyard.

Yeah I've seen a few of his videos. I'll dig into his channel more.

Right now it appears a lot of people are recommending the Zhummel Z130 as a great place to start for a decent price. However, they appear to be sold out everywhere. More research has shown to avoid a lot of the $200-400 Celestron telescopes since you seem to be paying more for the software than the actual quality of the scope. I may just wait it out in hopes of more stock of highly recommended Zhummel and Orion telescopes become available.

Sanatana · Oct 25, 2021

Are you looking for a beginner level telescope? If so I recommend this one. It's quite addicting. https://thesplendidstore.com/produc...rvpI1uDxT9pco39_pgzyQVFYy4Nx9sOcaAksvEALw_wcB

Senator Toadstool · Oct 25, 2021

Kendrid said:
We have a cheap Celestron that is way above toy grade and was under $200. We can see the rings of Saturn with it.

PowerSeeker 70EQ Telescope | Celestron

www.celestron.com

do these work with areas of light pollution? or are they useless there?

Peru · Oct 25, 2021

I've been thinking of the same and looking at the Celestron Starsense Explorer line - they are not go-to and not too expensive but have a really cool mobile-phone assisted guidance system to find objects.

Meanwhile I've been using my Canon 18x50 IS binoculars and finding lots of cool stuff with those. Just the other night I was looking at the Orion Nebula which is finally rising early enough here up North to not have to wait up all night. The Pleiades look like a gorgeous necklase of jewels. I can see the four moons of Jupiter.

blackhawk163 · Oct 25, 2021

Senator Toadstool said:
do these work with areas of light pollution? or are they useless there?

You see that's the problem. You could have the best scope, but if you're in heavy light pollution then you might as well have the most inexpensive (hyperbole but not that far off) one. Light pollution is the great equalizer.

And yeah, the cheaper celestron packages the price is mostly tied up in the mount and the built in goto functions. You're paying for the convenience and catalog.
Astronomical equipment world wide has been hit, just like everything else, hard by covid. My Rasa 8 that I just received, was ordered back in early March this year. Used equipment prices at one time were fetching 10-15% off new. Which is crazy, when the "norm" was more like 30%.

OP where do you live?

Also go here and play around with the tool to get an idea of what you can see with what. I use to get an idea of what the target would look like with my equipment when I'm away from my gear at work.

Deleted member 7148 · Oct 25, 2021

blackhawk163 said:
You see that's the problem. You could have the best scope, but if you're in heavy light pollution then you might as well have the most inexpensive (hyperbole but not that far off) one. Light pollution is the great equalizer.

And yeah, the cheaper celestron packages the price is mostly tied up in the mount and the built in goto functions. You're paying for the convenience and catalog.
Astronomical equipment world wide has been hit, just like everything else, hard by covid. My Rasa 8 that I just received, was ordered back in early March this year. Used equipment prices at one time were fetching 10-15% off new. Which is crazy, when the "norm" was more like 30%.

OP where do you live?

Also go here and play around with the tool to get an idea of what you can see with what. I use to get an idea of what the target would look like with my equipment when I'm away from my gear at work.

The Celestron scopes are the only ones I can actually find in-stock in my area. I was tempted to buy one just to get my feet wet, but everything I'm reading says you can get a significantly better telescope for the same price or cheaper. The app it uses is what you're mostly paying for. There are so many similar star map apps out there that you can use as a substitute that I would rather the quality go into the telescope itself, so right now seems to be a bad time to buy a telescope it seems. I may bite the bullet and buy the Celestron Starsense DX 130mm and try it out. I can always return it if it sucks.

I like in the suburbs of Ohio. The night sky is rather clear out here without too much light pollution, but I'm more than willing to drive out somewhere at night in the country in order to use it. I obviously won't know the results until I actually try one.

blackhawk163 · Oct 25, 2021

echoshifting said:
What kind of viewing conditions are required to get pictures like this with that setup? Do you gotta get away from city lights? These are so damn cool.

With light filters you can achieve pretty much this, although it does require a lot of post processing work.

blackhawk163 · Oct 25, 2021

JDFaulky said:
The Celestron scopes are the only ones I can actually find in-stock in my area. I was tempted to buy one just to get my feet wet, but everything I'm reading says you can get a significantly better telescope for the same price or cheaper. The app it uses is what you're mostly paying for. There are so many similar star map apps out there that you can use as a substitute that I would rather the quality go into the telescope itself, so right now seems to be a bad time to buy a telescope it seems. I may bite the bullet and buy the Celestron Starsense DX 130mm and try it out. I can always return it if it sucks.

I like in the suburbs of Ohio. The night sky is rather clear out here without too much light pollution, but I'm more than willing to drive out somewhere at night in the country in order to use it. I obviously won't know the results until I actually try one.

Ah that's the almost the same as my scope that I started out with, however I bought the computerized mount(slt). I asked where you lived because I actually have that scope still and would've sold it to you, for 150. With the mount and some old eye pieces, however I think it would cost nearly as much to ship it out to you unfortunately. I don't use it at all tbh.

Edit: dm me an address and I'll see how much shipping is exactly. No use me holding on to it. I knew a fellow that wanted to buy it from me, but he was in California and shipping out there was bananas.

Kendrid · Oct 25, 2021

Senator Toadstool said:
do these work with areas of light pollution? or are they useless there?

I am 1 hour NW of Chicago in a suburban area with tens of thousands of people and we can see planets. We have never been able to see a galaxy or anything else.

Senator Toadstool · Oct 25, 2021

Kendrid said:
I am 1 hour NW of Chicago in a suburban area with tens of thousands of people and we can see planets. We have never been able to see a galaxy or anything else.

Yeah I'm in LA but and maybe 2 hours away there's desert which I'm sure is great and I think you can go up to Mt. Wilson (where they discovered pluto)

Kendrid · Oct 25, 2021

Senator Toadstool said:
Yeah I'm in LA but and maybe 2 hours away there's desert which I'm sure is great and I think you can go up to Mt. Wilson (where they discovered pluto)

There might be a spot there on that mountain where people bring their scopes. If you could find a local group maybe you could try out their gear. The problem with that is someone with a $$$$ setup is going to ruin every cheap telescope.

Deleted member 7148 · Oct 25, 2021

blackhawk163 said:
Ah that's the almost the same as my scope that I started out with, however I bought the computerized mount(slt). I asked where you lived because I actually have that scope still and would've sold it to you, for 150. With the mount and some old eye pieces, however I think it would cost nearly as much to ship it out to you unfortunately. I don't use it at all tbh.

Edit: dm me an address and I'll see how much shipping is exactly. No use me holding on to it. I knew a fellow that wanted to buy it from me, but he was in California and shipping out there was bananas.

I appreciate the thought.

I went ahead and just bought the Celestron StarSense DX 130AZ. It was pricey but it reviewed a lot better than it's 114mm smaller cousin and it's about the best thing I can find in-stock. It seems like only hardcore telescope enthusiasts seem to hate on these but mainstream tech sites like Wired seem to really dig it. We'll see how it goes.

I'll probably have to wait to play with it cause it is way too cloudy and rainy outside today.

Deleted member 7148 · Oct 27, 2021

So I set up the Celestron 130AZ, took it outside during the day and calibrated the red dot scope and everything. Got the app all set up. Thankfully last night was a nice clear night with a lot of visible stars and planets so I took this bad boy out and gave it a test run.

Yeah, I think I found a new hobby to add to the pile of many hobbies I have.

I got a really good look at both Jupiter and Saturn which was a big surprise to me. I couldn't really see the moon last night so that was a fail. I also used the extremely cool smartphone integration to get a good look at some star clusters and constellations. It was an extremely cool experience that makes you feel kind of strangely emotional. I'm happy with the performance of the telescope so far.

The telescope came with two eyepieces - a 10mm and a 25mm. I didn't realize that the smaller the mm size, the more magnification it has. Whoops. So last night I went out with the 25mm piece thinking that would show more and I was dumb and didn't know so I plan on going out again tonight with the 10mm and see how that goes.

I'm also researching eyepiece upgrades. My scope has the standard 1.25 socket so I'm trying to find something that's a considerable upgrade from the stock eyepieces it comes with. That's also something I learned; stock telescope eyepieces are pretty low quality and upgrading is recommended. Hopefully I can find something good soon.

So yeah, I had a lot of fun doing this and I can see myself going out a few times a week and just chill in the Fall nights and do some stargazing. I think this could be a great stress reliever.

Luschient · Oct 27, 2021

Dammit, I'm about to get into telescopes aren't I

Peru · Oct 27, 2021

JDFaulky said:
So I set up the Celestron 130AZ, took it outside during the day and calibrated the red dot scope and everything. Got the app all set up. Thankfully last night was a nice clear night with a lot of visible stars and planets so I took this bad boy out and gave it a test run.

Yeah, I think I found a new hobby to add to the pile of many hobbies I have.

I got a really good look at both Jupiter and Saturn which was a big surprise to me. I couldn't really see the moon last night so that was a fail. I also used the extremely cool smartphone integration to get a good look at some star clusters and constellations. It was an extremely cool experience that makes you feel kind of strangely emotional. I'm happy with the performance of the telescope so far.

The telescope came with two eyepieces - a 10mm and a 25mm. I didn't realize that the smaller the mm size, the more magnification it has. Whoops. So last night I went out with the 25mm piece thinking that would show more and I was dumb and didn't know so I plan on going out again tonight with the 10mm and see how that goes.

I'm also researching eyepiece upgrades. My scope has the standard 1.25 socket so I'm trying to find something that's a considerable upgrade from the stock eyepieces it comes with. That's also something I learned; stock telescope eyepieces are pretty low quality and upgrading is recommended. Hopefully I can find something good soon.

So yeah, I had a lot of fun doing this and I can see myself going out a few times a week and just chill in the Fall nights and do some stargazing. I think this could be a great stress reliever.

Yeah I've been considering this line of telescopes for its smartphone integration. And I get plenty emotional looking at the sky, and thrilled, like you're almost journeying out there yourself, in the deep dark beyond.

Darknight · Oct 27, 2021

JDFaulky said:
So I set up the Celestron 130AZ, took it outside during the day and calibrated the red dot scope and everything. Got the app all set up. Thankfully last night was a nice clear night with a lot of visible stars and planets so I took this bad boy out and gave it a test run.

Yeah, I think I found a new hobby to add to the pile of many hobbies I have.

I got a really good look at both Jupiter and Saturn which was a big surprise to me. I couldn't really see the moon last night so that was a fail. I also used the extremely cool smartphone integration to get a good look at some star clusters and constellations. It was an extremely cool experience that makes you feel kind of strangely emotional. I'm happy with the performance of the telescope so far.

The telescope came with two eyepieces - a 10mm and a 25mm. I didn't realize that the smaller the mm size, the more magnification it has. Whoops. So last night I went out with the 25mm piece thinking that would show more and I was dumb and didn't know so I plan on going out again tonight with the 10mm and see how that goes.

I'm also researching eyepiece upgrades. My scope has the standard 1.25 socket so I'm trying to find something that's a considerable upgrade from the stock eyepieces it comes with. That's also something I learned; stock telescope eyepieces are pretty low quality and upgrading is recommended. Hopefully I can find something good soon.

So yeah, I had a lot of fun doing this and I can see myself going out a few times a week and just chill in the Fall nights and do some stargazing. I think this could be a great stress reliever.

My wife just bought me this telescope but I haven't taken the time to set it up yet. I did read up on the app which sounds very cool with how it works with it so I'm glad to hear your experience is very positive. I can't wait to check mine out.

Deleted member 7148 · Oct 27, 2021

I bought a 6mm eyepiece on Amazon that should be here on Friday. This should be a nice upgrade from the two that the scope came with. I was told 6mm eyepieces are ideal for planet viewing and that's primarily what I wanted to do.

Darknight · Oct 27, 2021

JDFaulky Hey, can you give me some insight on how you store your telescope when you're done? I haven't opened mine yet, but as far as I can tell, it doesn't have a storage case. So I figure I need to be on the lookout for one and was curious what you're using.

blackhawk163 · Oct 27, 2021

JDFaulky said:
So I set up the Celestron 130AZ, took it outside during the day and calibrated the red dot scope and everything. Got the app all set up. Thankfully last night was a nice clear night with a lot of visible stars and planets so I took this bad boy out and gave it a test run.

Yeah, I think I found a new hobby to add to the pile of many hobbies I have.

I got a really good look at both Jupiter and Saturn which was a big surprise to me. I couldn't really see the moon last night so that was a fail. I also used the extremely cool smartphone integration to get a good look at some star clusters and constellations. It was an extremely cool experience that makes you feel kind of strangely emotional. I'm happy with the performance of the telescope so far.

The telescope came with two eyepieces - a 10mm and a 25mm. I didn't realize that the smaller the mm size, the more magnification it has. Whoops. So last night I went out with the 25mm piece thinking that would show more and I was dumb and didn't know so I plan on going out again tonight with the 10mm and see how that goes.

I'm also researching eyepiece upgrades. My scope has the standard 1.25 socket so I'm trying to find something that's a considerable upgrade from the stock eyepieces it comes with. That's also something I learned; stock telescope eyepieces are pretty low quality and upgrading is recommended. Hopefully I can find something good soon.

So yeah, I had a lot of fun doing this and I can see myself going out a few times a week and just chill in the Fall nights and do some stargazing. I think this could be a great stress reliever.

If visual astronomy is where you're going to be at, then I would suggest that you buy either a 2x or 3x Barlow lense As it will help magnify your images.

Also be wary of cheaper optics if you pair with a Barlow as there might be loss in detail.

if you want to up your game just a little, lose the plossi eye pieces in favor of wide field ones (orion makes them) your eyes will thank you.

Also Dylan O'Donnell has a video about eye pieces

Tongue in cheek

Deleted member 7148 · Oct 27, 2021

Darknight said:
JDFaulky Hey, can you give me some insight on how you store your telescope when you're done? I haven't opened mine yet, but as far as I can tell, it doesn't have a storage case. So I figure I need to be on the lookout for one and was curious what you're using.

I just fold mine up and put it in the corner of my office room. I don't plan on storing it in anything. I think it looks kinda cool as a decoration.3

blackhawk163 said:
If visual astronomy is where you're going to be at, then I would suggest that you buy either a 2x or 3x Barlow lense As it will help magnify your images.

Also be wary of cheaper optics if you pair with a Barlow as there might be loss in detail.

if you want to up your game just a little, lose the plossi eye pieces in favor of wide field ones (orion makes them) your eyes will thank you.

Also Dylan O'Donnell has a video about eye pieces

Tongue in cheek

Thanks for the video. The telescope community on Reddit actually recommended this eyepiece to me for planetary viewing. It's reletively inexpensive so I ordered one. It'll be here on Friday.

Kavalier_Clay · Dec 3, 2021

blackhawk163 said:
This was my starter kit total cost was about $4500.00

As someone who has recently gotten into astrophotography, these pictures are fucking inspirational. Wow.

Would love some advice: I'm currently rocking a mirrorless aps-c (Canon m6 mark ii), Sigma 16mm F1.4, and an iOptron Skyguider Pro (for star tracking) with a Manfrotto Befree Advance tripod. I'm looking into upgrading this set up. What would you recommend I make as a next purchase? I'd love to be able to capture the Eagle Nebula (pillars of creation) so I'm guessing a telephoto lens? But I guess it would have to be something that isn't too heavy and won't trip over the set up.

blackhawk163 · Dec 3, 2021

Kavalier_Clay said:
As someone who has recently gotten into astrophotography, these pictures are fucking inspirational. Wow.

Would love some advice: I'm currently rocking a mirrorless aps-c (Canon m6 mark ii), Sigma 16mm F1.4, and an iOptron Skyguider Pro (for star tracking) with a Manfrotto Befree Advance tripod. I'm looking into upgrading this set up. What would you recommend I make as a next purchase? I'd love to be able to capture the Eagle Nebula (pillars of creation) so I'm guessing a telephoto lens? But I guess it would have to be something that isn't too heavy and won't trip over the set up.

You'll need something in a lens at least 800mm+ in focal length to capture anything from the eagle nebula that's recognizable. M16 is a very small target with a 16mm focal length lens.

I ran the telescope fov calculator using a Canon 6d with a 200mm lens and you could easily fit Andromeda in it. When you try using M16 as a target, you'll see just how small it is.

Edit: by small I mean with the sensor you have and the lens that are on the fov calculator.

You could buy a skywatcher 72ed to act as your lens. It is an excellent low cost Apochromatic refractor. The other things being are you using a filter? At a minimum you should be using an IR cut filter if your dslr isn't astrophotography modified. Dual band clip in filters will bring out the nebula's Ha (hydrogen alpha and OIII (oxygen) regions as well.

Anyone into stargazing/astronomy and can recommend a telescope?

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