Meade LX200R

[Goran M]

Hello.

Been looking up at the sky the last few months with a bair of bino's (amazing how much more you can see), and I've now took the plunge and bought a Meade LX200 R 10" Ritchey Chretien Telescope. It arrived yesterday and with luck we had pretty clear (although slightly hazy skies here in North Wales last night so me and my youngest daughter enjoyed using the scope's guided tour of the best things to view. Was amazing to actually see clusters and galaxies through the scope, although I'm currently only using the 26mm eyepiece that comes with the scope. My daughter was thrilled to bits by seeing 2 shooting stars (she's only 8), plus watching satelites whizz by was pretty cool.

What sort of image clarity can I expect when viewing galaxies, planets, nebula's etc with more high powered eyepieces and which ones should I buy next? Should I buy Meade eyepieces or will Antares, etc be just as good?
I've seen some great photo's that amateurs have taken and I'm eager to know what I can expect to see from my scope, using the right eyepieces etc.

I went with (what I think) is a fairly big scope, something I've always wanted, but previously was never in a financial postion to get one. I also wanted one with the GOTO feature so it can help me and the family understand more of the sky.

I've ordered a dew shield as after a few hours the moisture on the front lens was very noticable and images were not as clear as earlier in the evening. I've ordered "Turn Left at Orion" as many people have recommeded it on other threads on here.

Is there anything else I should get that will help me along, and improve my evenings? Can anyone recommend a good power battery for my scope?

Eventually I want to do some astrophotography as well, although will probably be next year (wife won't let me go overboard, and don't wan't to rock the boat seeing as she let me get the scope)

Sorry for all the questions, I wish you all clear skies.

[philip d]

I'm jealous, a nice scope, great imaging etc, has a 2500MM Focal Length with a 10 inch size opening, even the 26MM eyepiece (F/MM eypiece, 2500/26=96X) is giving a generous 96X power....should get excellent planetary views as well as deep sky, a 2X barlow will give just under 200X..

Perhaps a 10mm eyepiece with the 2X barlow would give 250X and 500X near max for this size instrument, note 200X to 300X is usually whats frequently allowed due to our atomosphere, rare ideal conditions may approach the max of 500X...

Antares Eyepieces are a good deal, lots of good ratings on these for the lower end, might want to spoil yourself with one expensive low power or higher end as televue, used some are not as costly..

Many like the polarized filter to cut planetary glare for details, on colored filters have success with the 80A blue and Orange filter gave nice Mars features, 80A released the polar cap very well when it was sizeable...

You should get some nice Deep Sky, under dark skys imaging will be soft due to their low surface brightness, not as in pics, but enough detail to wet the appetite...your in for a treat..

You should get some nice responses on this one, made a great choice...

I'm into direct viewing, let someone else answer the astrophotography questions...

Last Jupiter is getting too low for nice details, but Saturn is coming up before dawn and will give some beautiful observation...