Posted on 01/12/2002 11:54:26 AM PST by AngrySpud
I have The Fever, aperature fever, that is. After ten years using a 4" refractor, I want a deep-sky scope. Problem is, I don't have a deep pocket. The Solution seems to be getting a Dobsonian-type telescope. I've found four suppliers of medium-aperature Dobs: Obsession, BlackKnight, StarMaster, and StarSplitter. Does anyone have first-hand experience with these companies? I'm leaning towards Obsession. Are there other manufacturers out there I should consider?
As soon as I can afford it, I am going to purchase a CCD camera to do digital imaging through my computer. Going to be setting it up tonight. Soon, when I get the time and money I will build my own backyard observatory to avoid all the set up and polar alignment.
Astronomy and space are the final frontier...
On a whim, I found that a local Cosco was blowing out the Meade LX 60's for around a hundred dollars. The 6800 based microprocesser runs a neat utility that makes it GOTO any of thousands of stars and objects. Performance is quite decent. Despite having the fast 10", the one I use all the time is the little Meade GOTO!
The reason I mention it is that if you look at my 10" at http://www.gearloose.com/scope.html you will not see the wheels I had to put on the 10" to be able to use it.
The best scope to get is the one you will actually USE!
Dobsonians are cheap and easy to build but highly frustrating if more than one person is there..."LOOK FAST BEFORE IT MOVES OFF THE FIELD!"
They are useless for astrophotography as well.
My neice has an 8" Meade Schmidt-Cassegrain. Easy to use, compact, and with a digital camera can deliver surprising photos, even of Messier objects.
Lurk in the newsgroup sci.astro.amateur for the best group of helpful people and the best advice on what to get. There are as many diverse opinions on the "Best" scope as there are on cars and guns!
Best of luck. Personally, I'd find the 4" refractor a great deal more user friendly.... but that's a personal opinion.
Thats right. And thats why I am starting to plan my backyard observatory. Setting up the LX-200 is not bad, its just getting it out there, and then bringing it back in. A small observatory is the ticket. I plan on a roll off roof or a square building about 10X10' with a dome. Thinking about building the dome myself. Gulp!
Hands down, no contest, the little Meade LX 60 GOTO for price/performance.
The software can even give you a "Guided tour".
Too many department store telescopes sit unused in closets because people buy them, horrible as they are, then look through them a few times, see nothing "But dandruff", and put them away.
For a hundred bucks, if someone loses interest, it is no big deal. But with a GOTO, it is doubtful anyone would lose interest, since it is the best thing short of kidnapping an astronomer...It even gives little facts about the various stars, etc.
I have a convenient backyard layout that would allow me to easily wheel any big scope from the house to an unused b-ball court. The skies are DARK in this town; if I had the energy, I could have hi-quality viewing 200+ nights (remember, this is Arizona) a year, and not have to drive miles into the countryside for a decent viewing location.
But fortunately, we have a mountain hideout at about the 7000 foot level in the local mountains. Going up there is an absolute treat. The skies up there are like being in a spacecraft. Clear, dry and dark skies.....
Forget the carpet, build the observatory.
And I have read about Arizona protecting its night skies against light pollution. It is starting to catch on everywhere. Even at our local mountains here in So Cal they have already pass lighting laws, so the dark skies are not washed out.
Why..............ahem..............yes, since you've asked.
Now, it's common knowledge among yer basic stargazer that a telescope is a device that is specifically designed to allow the user to see things that are usually rather far away and..........follow me here..........make them appear really close, aka "larger". This is accomplished by internal mechanisms and objects of a technical nature (like glass, some metal; things of that sort) inserted into long tubes. At one end is the portion that the user afixes his/her eye to in order to view the aforementioned "far away" or "distant" objects (like stars, planets, the occasional comet, common sense in a Democrat) and the other end is a piece of glass that, with the assistance of the internal mechanisms, um........."sees" stuff.
Now, the real key is to ensure that you look into the little end, but a recommendation to ensure use in "darkness" seems to be well-received, as well.
Hope that helps. More, if you need it..........anytime.
Good for you! A LOT of people in the local club have done so and have done terrific work!
You MUST see the observatories these people have built! http://www.ultranet.com/~assne/
That will convince you to do it!
True enough, but would using a lens filter help? Perhaps a RED filter?
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