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[Flo_Evans]

I just got a pretty crappy telescope for my kid for xmas. We rented one from the library and they loved it.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0007UQNKY/?tag=neogaf0e-20

I wanted to assemble it beforehand cause I like having some bike presents "open" already like s bike and stuff and man its a bit crap! I wasn't expecting anything amazing for $100, they are only 3 and 5 so I didn't want to get an expensive piece of gear that I would be too afraid to let them play with.

So reading up on it a bit more I'm wondering what should be my 1st "upgrade" to make it better or should I just practice on maxing out the best I can get from it?

We mostly viewed the moon with the rented one cause it was easy, they had a zoom eyepiece that made it kind of fun but from photography I know prime lenses are usually better.

Is it dumb to invest in a "mid range" $100 finder for a $100 scope? Upgrade the mount? buy collimation eyepiece to better align the optics?

I already got a DSLR adapter for my nikon but the general weakness of the parts makes me nervous to even mount my $3000 camera body on...

I could of sworn we had an official thread for telescopes and I know some people take pretty amazing space photos I've seen posted here in random places.

 

[Pickman]

I'm a Capricorn, but when Mercury is in retrograde, watch out.

 

[Flo_Evans]

I had to double check I used the right word...

anyway I was reading a lot of stuff about it and some of the words made sense last night.

I think I want a 12mm eyepiece and a "good" barlow lens for higher magnification.

the scope is 1000mm so 12mm should get me around 83x magnification perfect for observing/photographing the moon?

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00008Y0SF/?tag=neogaf0e-20

I think this one is "ok" and will fit inside my t-adpater or would it be better to get something like this https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00MK8BY5A/?tag=neogaf0e-20 that might be better for "normal" viewing and better for photos?

 

[curls]

Let me know if you spot anything unusual! 🕵️

 

[Pickman]

Hehe.

I'd say that the nice thing about investing in parts for a shit telescope is that they can be moved onto a non-shit scope when you upgrade. Make the investment now, and use it when you upgrade further down the line.

 

[Icefire1424]

I had to double check I used the right word...

Yea, that post made me check too. You used the right word.

This actually sounds like fun. My 2.5 year old gets really excited when she sees the moon, and we are rural enough that we can see other stars and planets clearly. looking at them through a telescope might be something fun for her when the weather gets warmer.

Either way, enjoy it.

 

[Himynameischris]

Should have gone with some binoculars instead, they are easier to use and can still give you some amazing views.

I started off with a pair of these and you can see a lot of cool stuff with these.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B003AM87Q4/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pd_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=D0IEXJ3W6ED1&coliid=IHUMK668ABUXM

I took this picture using my phone through the binocular scope

 

[bsp]

You won't really get any decent attempts at astrophotography with that. I would focus on building a collection of good objectives (Barlow, 20mm, 35mm, maybe something smaller around a 13mm) and a Moon filter. Laser finders are a great investment, just make sure you're getting a good one like the Telrad.

When you're looking to upgrade I'd go with a 8" or 10" dobsonian from Orion. You'll be able to view just about everything out there that is possible for amateurs with one of those.

Astrophotography usually requires some specialized setups that aren't best for viewing, so I'd do some research on the big astronomy forums out there. IIRC you don't usually set it up on a dobonsian even though dobsonians are best for actual viewing.

I'm not too sure what your telescope is capable of, but as always I'd start with the Moon and then as many planets as it is capable of. Deep sky objects like nebulae and binary stars may be out of its range.

 

[Crageek]

I'd go with a nice 20-30mm eyepiece for the moon. It will give you that WOW moment. That's not a bad telescope, in fact the mirror in it is pretty good. It's the mount and accessories that drag it down. I bought the same one for my nephews to gauge their interest because of the bang for the buck.

An Orion green laser is a nice addition (be careful not to shine it at airplanes-not even kidding) but it goes a long way with connecting kids with the objects they can view.

All those kits are different, what mm eyepiece did it actually come with? Ask any other questions you have, I'll keep checking in.

 

[RedSwirl]

I just like messing around with Space Engine man.

 

[Flo_Evans]

I'd go with a nice 20-30mm eyepiece for the moon. It will give you that WOW moment. That's not a bad telescope, in fact the mirror in it is pretty good. It's the mount and accessories that drag it down. I bought the same one for my nephews to gauge their interest because of the bang for the buck.

An Orion green laser is a nice addition (be careful not to shine it at airplanes-not even kidding) but it goes a long way with connecting kids with the objects they can view.

All those kits are different, what mm eyepiece did it actually come with? Ask any other questions you have, I'll keep checking in.

It came with a 20mm erecting eyepiece, 4mm, and a 3x barlow.

The 20mm seems decent. I can read the text on a light bulb across the office. 4mm you have to get your eyeball right on and seems impossible to actually find anything to focus on.

haven't taken it outside yet because of course its been cloudy.

I did put the t adapter and camera on briefly but it was really wobbly and not super impressive at just 1000mm. I then tried the 3x barlow but its super plasticly and janky trying to support the weight of the D810. It didn't look too bad with the 20mm but it was significantly less sharp trying to focus on things inside (about 100 yards?)

I wonder if I should try and get another ring to make a camera support, or just can the idea of mounting that camera and find a smaller mirrorless or something that is not as heavy.

 

[Crageek]

It came with a 20mm erecting eyepiece, 4mm, and a 3x barlow.

The 20mm seems decent. I can read the text on a light bulb across the office. 4mm you have to get your eyeball right on and seems impossible to actually find anything to focus on.

The 20mm is probably a good one to start with, although that difficulty you describe in positioning your eye and focusing is due to something called eye relief.

My Telervue 32mm plossl (expensive to start out with) is and has been my favorite eye piece for years although I'm eyeing (no put intended) a newer 21mm with better eye relief.

This is my "outreach" eyepiece meaning it's got lots of eye relief and a nice big view: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00YRKO2M6/?tag=neogaf0e-20

This is my other "outreach" eyepiece: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0007UQNV8/?tag=neogaf0e-20

It's a zoom and allows for you to zoom it in and out.

haven't taken it outside yet because of course its been cloudy.

Yes, you can count on months of clouds now that you've bought a telescope. It's part of the show. Haha.

I did put the t adapter and camera on briefly but it was really wobbly and not super impressive at just 1000mm. I then tried the 3x barlow but its super plasticly and janky trying to support the weight of the D810. It didn't look too bad with the 20mm but it was significantly less sharp trying to focus on things inside (about 100 yards?)

I wouldn't try putting a D810 on that scope, NO WAY. Way to easy to fall off. Sorry, but the focuser on that is mean for purely visual or a plastic body camera. Even a cell phone. If your kids have iPods or iPhones, get them one of these: https://www.optcorp.com/ioptron-smartphone-eyepiece-adapter-black-8432-bk.html

It works great and provides hours of fun for kids photographing the moon, jupiter and saturn.

I'm a member of the Barnard Astronomical Society of Chattanooga. Astronomy is kinda my thing. I'm so far into this hobby it isn't funny. It's a great one though. It provides TONS of education and mind opening thoughts. Lots of mystery too.

Here's my recent work in Andromeda:

And my club's website:
www.barnardastronomy.org

 

[Flo_Evans]

The 20mm is probably a good one to start with, although that difficulty you describe in positioning your eye and focusing is due to something called eye relief.

My Telervue 32mm plossl (expensive to start out with) is and has been my favorite eye piece for years although I'm eyeing (no put intended) a newer 21mm with better eye relief.

This is my "outreach" eyepiece meaning it's got lots of eye relief and a nice big view: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00YRKO2M6/?tag=neogaf0e-20

This is my other "outreach" eyepiece: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0007UQNV8/?tag=neogaf0e-20

It's a zoom and allows for you to zoom it in and out.




Yes, you can count on months of clouds now that you've bought a telescope. It's part of the show. Haha.



I wouldn't try putting a D810 on that scope, NO WAY. Way to easy to fall off. Sorry, but the focuser on that is mean for purely visual or a plastic body camera. Even a cell phone. If your kids have iPods or iPhones, get them one of these: https://www.optcorp.com/ioptron-smartphone-eyepiece-adapter-black-8432-bk.html

It works great and provides hours of fun for kids photographing the moon, jupiter and saturn.

I'm a member of the Barnard Astronomical Society of Chattanooga. Astronomy is kinda my thing. I'm so far into this hobby it isn't funny. It's a great one though. It provides TONS of education and mind opening thoughts. Lots of mystery too.

Here's my recent work in Andromeda:

And my club's website:
www.barnardastronomy.org

Uh yeah I would shit bricks if I could get that kind of photo.

The iPhone adapter sounds like a great idea, we ended up trying to take phone pics through the eyepiece from the one we rented but it was very hard to align/focus/hold steady.

The D810 is awesome its a shame if I can't use it with it. They even make a special astronomy version (IR filter removed I think) http://www.nikonusa.com/en/nikon-products/product/dslr-cameras/d810a.html

Maybe this will be the "kids" scope and I will look into a better system for my "real" camera.

 

[Crageek]

It's a great hobby. Look me up on Instagram @CosmicWreckingBall

Happy to help you navigate that crazy starting out place. That's a good enough camera to take some decent images off the bat but you'll need a tracking mount and refractor or better reflector with a beefy focuser to hold the 810.

Here's my current imaging rig:

Here's what years in the hobby can look like: http://www.astrobin.com/users/ScenicCityPhoto/

 

[archreaper93]

I'm a Capricorn, but when Mercury is in retrograde, watch out.

As an astronomy major, this post triggers me.

 

[Crageek]

As an astronomy major, this post triggers me.

I've seriously been thinking about going back and working in the Science field again. I think that will be the next step in my life if I can keep it in the road until then.

Good luck with your scope FLO, and your major Reaper!

Just let me know if you have any other questions.

 

[BlackSalad]

Awhile back I bought a Meade infinity 102, I love it. I think the base package comes with some fine lenses but I am a newb so I figured I'd start with something manual

I bought a filter to look at the moon and it is amazing

I've seen the rings of saturn, very good sights on jupitor w/ spot and all. Of course not good for deep space type of things but a great intro scope. Even seen mars and venus although not to the degree I would of liked, it is pretty difficult since conditions really regulate everything

I am in phoenix arizona so at the moment it is star watching season until ~june at the latest. The heat disrupts the atmosphere to an extent that it is not even worth trying at night.

I downloaded an app called Star Chart that gives me notifications on cool things I might be able to see in my area, although to get those features it has a price, like 4 bucks. The free app will at least let you use your phone to identify what you are looking at

 

[jchap]

I love astronomy. Below are some pics I took with an 11" SCT, a DSLR camera, and a correction lens in place of the secondary mirror. The configuration gives a focal ratio of F/2. The images are stacks of several relatively short exposures. The longest exposure I believe was 3 minutes. I haven't done much in the last few months. The weather where I live has been especially poor for astronomy. Dark nights seem to always coincide with rain or clouds. Seeing as its getting to photography season I'm going to try and be active this winter.

I just got a new guide camera and improved my mount setup so I want to try some more full FL photography soon. Probably more whirlpool galaxy shots sometime early in the new year. I'd really like to try getting dozen or so hours of exposure on it for a really clean image.

 

[Crageek]

There are some great apps out there. Stellarium is a free program on windows that also has an app on the iPhone. You can setup observing lists.

The newer Celestron Telescopes can be interfaced with Sky Safari from the iPhone which is SUPER handy and easy to use. We are at a time when amateur astronomy (although still pricey) has never been this cheap. This year at the New England Astronomy Forum I had a gentlemen tell me the photos I take on a weekly base once cost governments millions of dollars to take. Having said that, I've watched the hobby get cheaper and cheaper. I use a modified CCD camera to capture all my deep space objects and that total setup ran me around $5000 about 7 years ago. Today, you can do the same thing for around @2000. You can setup a fine imaging rig with a DSLR, Telescope, Mount and Cell phone for around $1500. I'd say in about ten years, as the mirrorless technology advances it will get better again.

Meade makes better scopes than Celestron these days, but the Celestron software has everyone beat. The all star polar align is easy enough that I can teach a class on it at our yearly "New Telescope Workshop" and have everyone familiar with it in about an hour.

 

[Flo_Evans]

Yeah I think I will look into a club or local group that can help me with setup - and see some cooler rigs

I'm now vaguely remembering one of my motorcycle buddies was pretty into it, we once went to a university with an observatory doing an open house night where they would point thier huge scope at stuff for you.

So:
1. Get a few better eyepieces + filters
2. Better pointing scope
3. Upgrade mount?
4. Alignment tools?

Kind of a shame I can't use some of my better photo tripods/heads (or can you?) but it seems like a motorized mount and legs rated more in the 50-100lb range are needed.

 

[Staab]

I started getting into it this summer, my girlfriend got me a monster of a telescope for my birthday since I was already very much into it with binoculars and a shitty kid scope.

The thing I got is an Omegon Telescope (Reflector) with a focal length of 1000mm and 203 mm aperture, it's BIG. I've got an equatorial mount to go with it and two eye pieces (10 and 25mm).

Mostly been watching the moon and planets (Saturn is just mindblowing to watch!) so far but I can't wait to dive more in-depth.
I'm a complete newbie so it's a big learning curve but it's all fascinating and I love everything space.
Was gutted when it was all cloudy for the super blood moon

I was pondering grabbing a barlow lense and eventually motorize the mount / a GoTo system if I want to get into some astrophotography (which I almost certainly would like to with my Canon 5d Mk II ).

Would love to have someone experienced show me what's possible with my equipment though, I might have to look into joining the local astronomy group.

 

[Vincent Alexander]

I love astronomy. Below are some pics I took with an 11" SCT, a DSLR camera, and a correction lens in place of the secondary mirror. The configuration gives a focal ratio of F/2. The images are stacks of several relatively short exposures. The longest exposure I believe was 3 minutes. I haven't done much in the last few months. The weather where I live has been especially poor for astronomy. Dark nights seem to always coincide with rain or clouds. Seeing as its getting to photography season I'm going to try and be active this winter.



I just got a new guide camera and improved my mount setup so I want to try some more full FL photography soon. Probably more whirlpool galaxy shots sometime early in the new year. I'd really like to try getting dozen or so hours of exposure on it for a really clean image.

Holy shit. I didn't realize everyday people could get such amazing pictures. That telescope is expensive, but still. Those are gorgeous.

 

[HeySeuss]

I've always wanted to get into this stuff but I have no clue what I'm looking at to know what a telescope is capable of viewing.

 

[RageWaffles]

I love astronomy. Below are some pics I took with an 11" SCT, a DSLR camera, and a correction lens in place of the secondary mirror. The configuration gives a focal ratio of F/2. The images are stacks of several relatively short exposures. The longest exposure I believe was 3 minutes. I haven't done much in the last few months. The weather where I live has been especially poor for astronomy. Dark nights seem to always coincide with rain or clouds. Seeing as its getting to photography season I'm going to try and be active this winter.

holy wow, those are amazing.

 

[Crageek]

Caught a Meteor exploding last fall. Just found it on the data! Haha!

https://vimeo.com/198906794

 

[Log4Girlz]

Caught a Meteor exploding last fall. Just found it on the data! Haha!

https://vimeo.com/198906794

Wow, fucking nice