Astronomy/photography

[John in Santa Cruz]

I would add two eyepieces, maybe a 15 and 9mm plossl, about $30 each, and get SkySafari Plus on my smartphone or tablet to use as a star chart in the field, and eventually I'd add a Telrad finder, about $55.

[brroberts]

Yep those are about right, plus some collimating tool. You know another eyepiece or two will creep in fairly soon

[John in Santa Cruz]

Originally Posted by brroberts

Yep those are about right, plus some collimating tool. You know another eyepiece or two will creep in fairly soon

I think they multiply in the dark.




The Orion's come with a simple peep-sight collimation tool, which works reasonably well. My experience with a 8 and a 12 were that once collimated, they tend to stay collimated unless they really get shaken hard, like 30 miles of washboard in the back of a 4x4.

Now, my Obsession 20", that needs collimating each time its assembled, and I use a barlowed 2" laser which works very nicely. I do NOT recommend the cheap laser collimators, as I find they are often badly aligned themselves and will gladly help you mis-collimate your scope

[Dcboyd]

Appreciate all the information.

[brroberts]

I don’t even remember how many ep I have with multiple scopes and focal ratios. Way too many I’m sure. My 10” is okay, but not great at holding collimation. My other scopes are not newts. My 10” is my grab and go and public use scope.

[Dcboyd]

I was just looking for something better than binoculars to keep in the trailer to use when camping under a spectacular sky. Not trying to get into another hobby.
Y’all have given me a lot of food for thought.

[Telescopist]

Originally Posted by brroberts

I thought about the 8, but would still need some accessories to fit under $500.

John's right. An old saying amongst astro-heads: "Aperture Rules". This deal from OPT includes some accessories you will need.

You might consider checking out the classified section on the Cloudy Nights Forum. For $600 you could have purchased a Orion XT10 Intelliscope Dobsonian + extras for $600. The 'extras' included the capability of having access to a 14,000 object database and GoTo technology. There were several of these scopes on the astronomy field at Cherry Springs State Park last September. I got to check one of them out. The optics are really good!

[brroberts]

I bought my 10” Intelliscope off Cloudy Nights and it has worked well. I’d still like it smoother in azimuth, but I just haven’t stopped to do that yet.

It really depends on space, money, and portability. Aperture is great, but there are trade offs which is why I chose a C14 over a 20” Starmaster. Like RV’s, you have to figure out what works for you.

Having said that, a 6-8” dob or 4” refractor is a great starting point. I agree, most 10” dobs are still quite portable if you have the space for them.

[Dcboyd]

I don’t yet know the difference between dob(?) or refractor. But I will.

[Telescopist]

Originally Posted by brroberts

I bought my 10” Intelliscope off Cloudy Nights and it has worked well. I’d still like it smoother in azimuth, but I just haven’t stopped to do that yet.

It really depends on space, money, and portability. Aperture is great, but there are trade offs which is why I chose a C14 over a 20” Starmaster. Like RV’s, you have to figure out what works for you.

Having said that, a 6-8” dob or 4” refractor is a great starting point. I agree, most 10” dobs are still quite portable if you have the space for them.

Sorry. I was assuming you were a newbie in the hobby. That said I view a C14 & a 20" Starmaster as completely different in purpose. The C14 + mount is nothing to sneeze at in terms of size either!

My tow vehicle is a 4Runner. With help from a pair of foldable/collapsible ramps, I'm able to fit my 20" Obsession into the back. There isn't much room left over for anything else however.

[John in Santa Cruz]

Originally Posted by Dcboyd

I was just looking for something better than binoculars to keep in the trailer to use when camping under a spectacular sky. Not trying to get into another hobby.
Y’all have given me a lot of food for thought.

thats going to be trickier, these dobsons we're talking about are a little too large for the trailer. For visual use, small aperture scopes are mostly useful for the moon and planets.

the thing about the dobson style scope is you are spending most of the money on the optics, which are the most important thing, instead of spending $100s on rickety equatorial tripods (these don't start to work well until the tripod itself is well over the budget here), and relatively little on the tiny refractor that will sit on said tripod. Even worse are the predominance of poorly made toy grade motorized/computerized scopes that promise 'go to' abilities. AND setting up those equatorial tripods is a lot more complicated, they have to be polar aligned and if they have them 'goto' stuff, you have to do a 2 or 3 star alignment before they can actually goto anything, and even then, unless everything is just perfect, they only get sorta-close. and in the sub $2000 price point, the mechanics are toy grade, with plastic gears and funky bearings, fragile and not readily repairable.

there is a category of 'table top dobsons' which are compact and possibly something you could keep in a larger trailer closet. 2 examples:
https://www.telescope.com/Orion/Orio...0/p/102011.uts
https://www.telescope.com/Orion/Orio...0/p/102010.uts

that 4.5" one comes with 2 crummy eyepieces, so I'd consider getting...
https://www.telescope.com/10mm-17mm-...?ensembleId=51
which should be a significant step up in quality.

actually, before buying ANY sort of telescope, I woudl under normal conditions (pre/post-Covid) highly recommend connecting with a regional astronomy club, and going to a couple of their star parties, both near town and ideally at a more remote dark site, and introduce yourself, and look through Other People's Telescopes, asking lots of questions. Show up early, they usually start setting up around 30 minutes before sunset, and see what sort of scopes they are setting up before its too dark, Many clubs even have a loaner pool of scopes, typically ones that were donated to the club, that they will let club members borrow for a few months...

[John in Santa Cruz]

Originally Posted by Dcboyd

I don’t yet know the difference between dob(?) or refractor. But I will.

a 'dobson' or dobsonian is a Newtonian Reflector telescope, on a very simple alt-azimunth mount, something like a cannon.

here's the 8" Orion XT8 Classic,

the main tube is about 10" in diameter, and maybe 4 feet long.

reflector telescopes, such as Newtonians, Schmidt Casegrains, use curved mirrors for the primary image, while refractors use lenses. most refractors are relatively tiny, 2-4 inches (50-100mm), and only rarely 5-6 inches (120-150mm), and those are very expensive if they are of any decent optical quality.

here's an older typical 80mm refractor, on a 'german equatorial mount'... this one is actually quite nice, and an equivalent scope today would probably be around $800 including of the mount. (ignore the piggyback camera, heh)

[brroberts]

If it’s going to stay in the trailer, and with a $500 budget, John is right on here. I put the scope in the truck, and not the trailer if I travel with it.

As far as the C14, it’s on a CGEPRO with a concrete pier and lives in the 12’ dome I built.

[John in Santa Cruz]

yeah, C14's are beasts to setup in the field, totally impractical for a single evenings star party. I helped retrieve a donated Meade LX200 14", it took two of us to get it off the tripod and onto a cart so we could roll it into my truck.

[Telescopist]

Originally Posted by John in Santa Cruz

yeah, C14's are beasts to setup in the field, totally impractical for a single evenings star party. I helped retrieve a donated Meade LX200 14", it took two of us to get it off the tripod and onto a cart so we could roll it into my truck.

Yeah. They are really not designed to be shuttled around. They are hell to collimate. I helped a friend build a permanent pier at the Chiefland Astronomy Village. His is dedicated to photography.

[JeffreyG]

All that telescope stuff is too bulky and heavy for me.



Just a wide, fast lens and take it all in.

[Telescopist]

Originally Posted by JeffreyG

All that telescope stuff is too bulky and heavy for me.



Just a wide, fast lens and take it all in.

Ha! Very nice. How about the details. Location, equipment used, exposure time, any post processing. The astro head have to know!

[JeffreyG]

Originally Posted by Telescopist

Ha! Very nice. How about the details. Location, equipment used, exposure time, any post processing. The astro head have to know!

Ah, sure. This was taken in August 2019 at a place called Brule Harbour, which is on the eastern shore of Lake Superior in LSPP. It's a couple miles north of Old Woman Bay, where there is road access to the lake.

The picture was taken with a Sony A7r3, and the Sony f/1.4/24mm lens. 20 second exposure, f/2, ISO 1600.

Most everything I shoot I stick in Flickr here:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/jngirbach/albums
But I started using Flickr just to share with friends and family so this isn't a portfolio.


I process everything with Adobe Lightroom.

[brroberts]

The C14 is much lighter than the Meade, but the mount is still a hassle to set up and tear down. Hence, the observatory.

Collimation is not too horrible, but harder than a newt. On the flip side, you hardly ever have to do that.

I don’t engage in any photography. It takes the fun out of observing for me. I am considering some EAA in the future for public events.

I f I travel with a scope it’s a 4” F/5 achromat or the 10” dob.

[Telescopist]

Originally Posted by JeffreyG

Ah, sure. This was taken in August 2019 at a place called Brule Harbour, which is on the eastern shore of Lake Superior in LSPP. It's a couple miles north of Old Woman Bay, where there is road access to the lake.

The picture was taken with a Sony A7r3, and the Sony f/1.4/24mm lens. 20 second exposure, f/2, ISO 1600.

Most everything I shoot I stick in Flickr here:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/jngirbach/albums
But I started using Flickr just to share with friends and family so this isn't a portfolio.
I process everything with Adobe Lightroom.

Jeffrey, I'm trying to match up your image with some charts I've generated using SkyTools. Could you provide me with the date and time? Thanks.