star virgin

[mad4mars]

oh great ta
carlos lives in uk??
were's he live i will stalk him until he gives in and agrees to live with me until i become an expert lol:
seriously thanks people i'm learning so much already .
i want to be able to see saturn etc clusters and be able to photography with it so eventually want a scope that can do that with excellent results

[Carlos_dfc]

Hi
Yep I live in UK m4m - in the North-East, near Darlington - where are you?

As to your question about a £500 budget.....
Well - assuming I was starting out fresh - and had no equipment at all...
And bearing in mind, that I am almost exclusively a visual observer (I'm not much interested in astrophotography - although I do indulge in sketching sometimes)..

I would personally buy the biggest Dobsonian reflector I could get - for that money, probably a 12" SkyWatcher Skyliner (£480)

Or maybe I would back off a little, and get the 10" version (£340), then spend the change on a decent pair of binocs (£50-ish), a good book of charts (£30), an a really nice eyepiece for deep sky (£80)



If you want to take long exposure photos, then you are gonna need something on an equatorial mount, with tracking motors - maybe a SkyWatcher Explorer 200 (£300-ish)
If you expect to get serious about the astrophotography, then get the Explorer 200 on the optional heavier duty 'HEQ5' mount (£500-ish)
Astrophotography requires an accurate mount that can easily handle the weight of the scope on it, without wobbling at all.


The Explorer 200 would be a good all-rounder to start off with. If you aren't massively interested in imaging, get the EQ5 (£300) version, and spend the extra £200 on a good book of charts, binoculars, and maybe a couple of nice eyepieces.
If you are pretty sure you're gonna get into imaging later, then get it on the better mount (HEQ5 - £500) from the start, otherwise you'll very soon be wanting to upgrade the mount.


BUT be aware - if you do end up getting heavily into astrophotography, you will be forever dipping into your pockets for better mounts, telescope tubes, cameras, autoguiding equipment, etc, etc, etc......

[mad4mars]

hi
thanks for that
i live in south wales but originally from leicestershire,
i took the lens out of the focus wheel but didn't get a picture at all,but i did get a good view of the moon with my 25mm and my 6 mm plossl but as you said with the barlow x2 lens in dint see a sausage (moon only).
as for my scope "seben"i only paid £90 for it yes it aint exactly what it says on the tin but for my lack of knowledge and inexperiences i shouldn't grumble they do say you get what you pay for,and i certainly did .
with the help from this forum alone and from you personally i have learnt so much already in only 1 day.