Re: Recommend a telescope (i'm so confused!)
From: Jon Isaacs (jonisaacs_at_aol.com)
Date: 01/12/05
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Date: 12 Jan 2005 11:58:35 GMT
>I'm considering the Meade ETX-125PE since it looks good for
>portability and web cam astrophotography. Plus it should be ready to
>use pretty quickly. It appears to be fairly rugged compared to other
>designs.
Since your goal is to show DSOs to your friends and family, I hope you choose
something other than the ETX-125. I had an ETX-125. This is an F15 scope, long
focal length (1900mm) and it only takes 1.25 inch eyepieces. No wide field
views here, the maximum possible field of view is a bit over 0.8 degrees. As
far as being rugged, quite a bit of plastic in this scope and in the long run,
there are lots of things to fail internally, gears circuits..
At F15 it is not a good choice for any sort of photography other than
planetary.
>Dobs look good for the price. But they are so cheap which sort of
>scares me. Also the mount system looks like I have to manually move
>the scope which could make finding DSO a real burden. Is this correct?
>Astrophotography possible with these?
The best ways to find out about DOBs are to hook up with someone who has one,
find your local club, go to a star party.
My first scope was a Celestron 8 inch SCT. I had never seen a DOB and thought
they were cheaply made, crude and essentially pretty junky. Well, I happened
on a Star Party and saw a few DOBs. The concept took a while to sink in but it
was not long until I had my first one, (now I have 4) and what I once thought
of as cheap/crude became effective and elegent.
Astrophotography is possible with a DOB but for anything other than short
exposure stuff, a tracking mount like an EQ platform will be needed.
But the bottomline is that DSOs are about aperture. Certainly the ETX-125 will
point at lots of DSOs but that $1100+ investment will buy a scope with 6 times
the light gathering ability and still capable of fields of view that are twice
what the ETX-125 can do. While that scope won't point, it does have the
capability to show a great many DSO's in awe-inspiring detail.
If you want tracking and/or GOTO, there are quite a few other options. 8 inch
Newtonians on either GOTO or EQ mounts. These will be under your budget for
the ETX-125.
The ever popular 8 inch SCT is also a choice. With a focal length only 1000mm
longer then the ETX-125 but with the ability to use either a focal reducer or 2
inch eyepieces, not only do you have 2.5 time the light gathering but also a
signficantly wider field of view. These are available in a variety of
configurations...
Bottom line here is that I was my experience that the ETX-125 is not a good
scope for someone interested in DSOs. There are lots of options, DOBs, simple
and robust, Newts on eQ mounts, SCTs, even refractors on a variety of mounts...
jon isaacs
- Next message: Paul F. Dietz: "Re: What makes an ideal Moon base?"
- Previous message: Roger Hamlett: "Re: Reducer Corrector question"
- In reply to: RavenX: "Recommend a telescope (i'm so confused!)"
- Next in thread: Larry Stedman: "Re: Recommend a telescope (i'm so confused!)"
- Reply: Larry Stedman: "Re: Recommend a telescope (i'm so confused!)"
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