Posts Made By: Luca Rescigno

Well, I'm graduating in two weeks, and three months after that I'll be moving into a dorm. My current telescope, an Orion 8" dob with some modifications, is wonderful but too large and heavy to use in a dorm. I will be moving from a fairly dark location (the entire Milky Way, including some structure, can be seen on the best nights) near Stillwater, MN to the University of Minnesota St. Paul campus. It's smaller than Minneapolis, but still far more light polluted than Stillwater. I will also be working on a limited budget; I'll probably only be able to throw in $100 on top of what I get for the scope. The good news is that I already have two very nice wide field 1.25" eyepieces (24mm TV Wide Field and 15.5mm Meade RG Erfle), an Ultima barlow, and a Rigel Quickfinder.

So the telescope I'm looking for needs to be:
Light, portable, and small
Simple to use (I can't use EQ mounts, only alt-az)
$650 absolute maximum price for everything
Good for casual, general use in a light polluted area

Well, I sold my 8" dob today. I have kept my eyepieces for the moment, in case I get another, smaller telescope. But that's my situation - I don't know if I want a small telescope (70-90mm short refractor w/ photo tripod) or a nice big pair of binoculars (63-80mm, 10x-20x). I'm moving into a college dorm, which is why I got rid of the big telescope.

Anyway, if I got a short tube refractor, I'd have my 24.5mm and 15.5mm wide angle eyepieces and a 2x barlow to use with it. If not, I could sell those and just get a pair of big binoculars. I already have a pair of 7x50s.

Money's a bit tight, so I don't want to spend more than a couple hundred dollars on a setup. I could spend more if I got binoculars, because I could get probably $300 for my eyepieces and barlow.

I do really like binoculars, and I know a good high-powered pair on a tripod can be as good or better than a small telescope. I love viewing with both eyes.

So... I'm just looking for advice on large binoculars and tripods that work well with them, for a reasonable price. I'll pay a little extra for more quality, but I'm not rich at all.

I've thought a few times about getting back into astronomy, really. About a year ago I sold my trusty 8" Dob because I couldn't keep it around after moving to college. It was just too big and I found myself barely using it even when I visited home on the weekends.

Now that I have a steady job, I've actually put some serious thought into it. I got into computer stuff about a year and a half ago and that's been the other thing eating my money, but I think I am making enough money to afford a small, inexpensive telescope. When I sold my Dob I decided to keep my nice binoculars because they were always lots of fun to observe with. On clear nights I could see over 20 various objects in the sky, just by bombing around with them. I didn't even need a star chart. Unfortunately, since I'm living in the city most of the time, I can't really do that. I have a smaller area of sky to observe with, light pollution, and a small room on the 5th floor of my dorm. Not ideal for astronomy. But I thought I could get a compact scope with a long focal length, primarily for observing planets. Like, a 90mm Mak. Hopefully with a tripod that will fit in a backpack along with the scope.

Any suggestions? I was reading a copy of S&T in the library where I work today, and I noticed that the price on the ETX-90 has remained at $600 but with the Autostar and tripod standard. $600 is pretty expensive but there are always the classifieds here. I don't particularly need the Autostar, as things I can't find by memory or on a star chart usually aren't worth looking at anyway. There is also the Orion 90mm Mak for about $200, as well as short-tube refractors for about the same (although those have very short focal lengths, not the best for planetary observations).

Thanks for any help you guys can give me. Astronomy seems like a more stable, carefree hobby than computers. Things don't change as fast, and I think I need that.

It's been years since I've had access to a telescope. Used to have an 8" Dob but I sold it when I moved to the city. I rarely used it anyway because it was so heavy.

My girlfriend is going to get me back into astronomy, though. She found a 4.5" reflector that her dad never uses and brought it out to her place. I figured it was already tons better than your typical 60mm refractor. Unfortunately when I saw it, I learned a few things:

- It has a 2" wide focuser but it has been stopped down to .965", meaning I'd have to get an adapter just to use normal eyepieces.
- The included eyepieces are horrible little plastic things. The 25mm one might be barely usable but the 12.5mm and especially the 4mm are probably worthless.
- It has an EQ mount and motor drives. I've never liked setting up or using EQ mounts, and I am of the opinion that for casual observing, alt-az is the best. I don't even want to think about setting up and using the motor drives or the alleged go-to system for fear of bringing on a headache.

What I'm wondering is whether I should spend any money trying to bring her telescope up to speed or if I should just toss the whole thing out and start with something higher quality. I am not totally up to speed on all the latest gear, having been out of the hobby for a good 6-7 years. I did notice that Orion sells a 6" short-tube Dob for about $300, which seems about right for me. The only other thing that seems like it might work would be one of those 80mm short refractors, but they cost way more per aperture so it might not be a great idea.

Perhaps the biggest problem with trying to fix up her old scope is the mount. I just don't like EQ mounts at all, but replacing it with a suitable alt-az mount would probably cost more than the scope is worth. Then there's the cost of an adapter for the focuser and 1-2 good eyepieces, which would probably end up being the same as just buying something new anyway.

To sum up, is her telescope worth saving? If not, what are some good alternatives? For me, portability is really important. I don't want to avoid going out on a clear night because my scope is too bulky. That's what happened with my last one and it's why I'm considering smaller scopes this time around.

Wanted to thank everyone here for their suggestions. Yes, $600 is a lot of money in general, not just for an ETX. I was hoping to spend no more than $300 complete for the setup (including a tripod of some sort), which shouldn't be THAT hard as long as I limit myself to lower-end, used models with generic rather than premium eyepieces. What I need would be:

-80-90mm refractor or 90mm Maksutov.
-Sturdy alt-az mount.
-Red dot pointer.
-Eyepieces providing powers of 50x or lower, 100x or thereabouts, and 150x or higher. The scope I get probably won't be able to handle 200x anyway.

What I don't need:

-Equatorial mount, because I'd never bother to polar align it and it's harder to use anyway.
-Magnifying finder scope, because I can usually find stuff on the first shot with a red dot pointer, and magnifying finder scopes confuse the heck out of me.
-Wide-field eyepieces. As much as I love them (and I've owned a few in the past), they're an expensive luxury, not a necessity.
-Filters, go-to systems, enhanced coatings/mirrors/optics, motor drives, widgets, and gizmos. Some of these are useful if you know what you're doing. Some aren't. None apply to me.

I will also admit that after owning a Newtonian reflector, I'm paranoid about collimation. I don't want to have to collimate my scope, which is one reason I was looking at a Mak in the first place (plus the fact that Maks are so compact). My Dob was a great scope but I hated worrying about collimation, especially since the collimation screws on mine never worked very well, and I was never sure exactly how to do it anyway. I don't expect great optics, just something pretty good that won't require excessive tinkering. If I have to collimate, fine, but I want it to be a simple procedure that I only have to do once... with my reflector, I was always thinking about those people who collimate every single night, wondering if I should do the same.

I realize some of you have a huge amount of money dedicated to your hobby, with people talking about Questars, 9.25" SCTs, and $400+ ED refractor OTAs (and yes I know that there are 80mm refractors that go for nearly 10x as much as the Orion), but I am just a poor college student with a low paying job and tuition bills to pay. I might be able to stretch and make it to $400 for a setup but I absolutely don't want to go over $400 for everything, and $300 is really a better estimate of what I'd like to spend (maybe $350 after eyepieces, tripod, and other accessories).

I've heard great things about Stellarvue refractors - good build quality, compact, sturdy, and with good optics. There are also those generic 80mm short tube refractors that are under $100 used these days, and 90mm Maksutov OTAs that cost no more than $200. As much as I'd love a Stellarvue I might have to either get a cheaper one or wait longer. I'm already planning on waiting until sometime in February, but I might instead buy sometime in summer, after school is out.

So I'm sort of getting to the point where I want to get my own. I'm just not sold on the idea of refurbishing her old 4.5" Newt. Seems like a waste of money I could be spending on better stuff.

So far I've been looking at 6" reflectors, 4" refractors, and 5" cats. I'd love something bigger but my last scope (an Orion XT8) I rarely used because it was too big and heavy and I never wanted to haul it out. Thus, I like the idea of compact, short-tube scopes. Orion has the compact StarBlast 6, but it's too low to be comfortable to use without a table. Skywatcher sells a short-tube 6" reflector on an alt-az mount, which seems perfect for me, but I'm a little concerned the mount won't be up to the job. 4" refractors are kind of expensive and are very long. There are those 80mm short refractors but that's getting really small. 5" cats seem to be fairly common in the classifieds so I'd just have to get a suitable mount for one (and again, I'd want an alt-az mount). Lastly, there are lots of really cheap 6" dobs around but I'm concerned they'll be just as bulky and inconvenient as my old 8", and if I'm going to live with that, why not just get an 8" instead?

I would be driving to my observing location most of the time. Otherwise, I live in a city, so my only possible targets would be the moon and planets.