Is this 12in Dob any good?

Calibos

Product Name Quantity Unit Price Total Delete
Meade Series 4000 Eyepiece and Filter Kit with Aluminium Case £277.99 £277.99
Meade Lightbridge 12" Deluxe Dobsonian Telescope £699.99 £699.99
Revelation Deluxe Laser Collimator £34.99 £34.99
Deluxe Optical Cleaning Kit £31.95 £31.95

Sub Total : £1,044.92

From http://www.telescopeplanet.co.uk/index.asp

First question. Do they ship to Ireland?

Second question. Am I mad?

I've always been very into astronomy but have never invested any money in that interest other than a cheap pair of 10x50 tasco binos

A couple of things have changed. I now have more spare time. I now have more spare cash.....and I now have another brother who has gotten more interested in astronomy of late who is prepared to go halvos on the cost.

So what does everyone think of the above choices. Are the meade plossl eyepieces OTT for this scope. Should I just get the 99 sterling revelation eyepiece/filter set? I am not interested in getting into astrophotography just yet so thats why I am think a big apeture Dob is what I should get.

Do these truss dobs need colimation before every use?

I'm thinking that if we actually do want to get into astrophotograpy we could just buy an 8-10in SCT sometime in the future. Brother going halvos again of course.

Am I mad for wanting to go from Zero scopes to a big ass 12in Dob Scope. Am I jumping in at the deep end?

Calibos

I've done quite a bit more reading both here and on other sights last night.

First off, it appears I posted about a 12in revelation Dobson about 3 years ago! I only remembered that when I saw the post! Can't remember exactly why I never proceeded with a purchase back then. I am certainly much more serious this time round given a number of things have changed since then.

More money both personally and with the fact my brother wants to go halvo's means that we can look at telescopes and be less shocked at the prices by, in effect halving the price. ie a €2000 telescope doesn't look so outrageous for a first amatuer scope when you are only paying €1000 of it.

Time wise, I have more free time now and with work shifts in the afternoon means a 5am session so that an object rises above my neighbours houses or trees is not a daunting prospect at all. I am quite often up nearly that late anyway because of my sleep patterns/work shifts.

Location wise, the above helps and also the fact that one of the downsides I mentioned in that 3 year old post being my neighbours spotlight is no longer an issue. They hardly ever use it anymore. We also put up high bamboo fencing a year ago around the whole garden which cuts down a lot of ambient light from the neighbours. For instance the other night when I was looking at holmes through the binocs with all the back house lights off, I realised that I could see it naked eye after a few minutes of my eyes acclimatising. Was amazed at how many more stars came into naked eye visability. So now I figure my back garden suburban Bray location isn't too bad any more.

Beer isn't even as much competition with astronomy anymore!! I think now that a clear night with good seeing and throwing the Telescope into the car to drive to a dark site will beat a seesion in the Pub any day of the week....month...or year! I can go to the pub, hail rain or shine. The same can't be said for observing, so I have no problem now telling the lads "not tonight lads"

Another thing that shocked me upon delving 2-3 years deep into the archives of this forum.....................

Slade_X asking if the 2.5in Tasco reflector on sale in argos was any good!! :D:D

My, how you've grown lad!!

As a certain Darth Vader once said....."Now I am the Master!"

Lastly a few more questions.

I've seen it asked by a few others and I kind of feel the same way. I'm not one for selling things. So I wan't to get something pretty good from the off. I can afford a bigger more expensive scope now so why not get one now? If I get anything smaller than 10in I'll always be wondering should I have gone bigger so why not go biggish from the beginning. Like I said, I don't like selling. Just the hassle really. If I start small I'll end up with a 6 inch and then an 8inch etc gathering dust. ie I know I'd end up with 3 telescopes lying around A €600 one, a €1300 one and a €1800 one. €3700 worth. Why not just get the €1800 one from the off, saving myself 600+1300=€1900. I just made up those prices as an example but you get my point.

My next question kind of follows on from the last point. Yes a 12in Dob is excellent value €'s per inch, but given that a year or so down the line I'll probably want to get into astro-photography, Like my point above I'll end up with a 12in dob gathering dust and taking up a lot of space, ie money just sitting there.

I've also given more thought to goto motorised mounts, both from the point of astrophotgraphy and from ease of use for family. Sure I can find my way around the stars and wouldn't have any problem knowing how and which way to move it to track objects. Family is another matter. If astro potography wasn't a future aspiration and if it was only me using the scope then I wouldn't pay the extra and would go with a big-ass dob. Without goto though I know my parents wouldn't have the patience to use the scope themselves or wouldn't have the patience to wait for me to re-align on Saturn after they knocked it out of alignment or it moved out of field.

So....maybe I should be going for a big Schmidt Cassegrain/Newtonian?
Can someone tell my why there is such a price difference though, not between refractors, reflectors but between other schmidt cassegrains. Why is one 10in SCT €1800 and another €3800??

Is this Schmidt Newtonian "Meade LXD75 10" Schmidt Newtonian telescope with UHTC" comparable to the SCT's. Any good for astrophotography? Seems like it has most of what I want for a decent price. ie 10in Goto motorised tracking. Wat eyepiece set should I go for. Is the 270 sterling Meade 4000 series Plossly overkill or are the revelation 99 pound eyepiece set crap (not to put to fine a point on it )

What would you guys recommend in SCT's for about €2000 budget? Where to get it? How easy or hard to set up? How do you store them. Do they dismantle and pack up well 1m squared etc or do I need a 2mx2m space to store them etc etc

I know in my first post I was thinking DOB but further thought leads my to think I really should sacrefice an inch or two of apeture for goto.

Thanks in advance!

Grayarea

If you want to get into astro photography then the first thing you want to spend money on is a decent mount.

It is possible to use Celestron CG-5 type mounts to do deep sky work but anything cheaper is really restricted to piggy back photography.

If you are serious then a Celestron CG-E / Losmandy GM-8 is a realistic minimum and you would be looking at the best part of €2000 euros (new).

Then you will need all of the following;

CCD camera for autoguiding
CCD camera for primary photography
Computer and software to automate capture
Two telescopes, one to capture and one to autoguide. You may need a field flattener if using a newtonian or refractor.

I would suggest starting with fairly wide field prime focus work say 2 degree field. This makes getting into it less demanding (but it is still difficult and will require dedication for good results) and less stressful

The cheapest way to get started would be piggy back work but you would still need a resonable mount that will not be effected by wind etc.

I have a 20" dob that I use when the astro setup is doing its thing, so it may be worth while in any case to get the 12", during image capture you will find that you have a lot of time on your hands so another scope will get used.

I would avoid a sct type scope initially as they tend to be quite small field (typically less than a degree) and as such will be difficult to get good images until you get good with your equipment and tracking has to be very good at such scales.

One other note on newtonians is that as they tend to be quite long, they are effected by wind, this boils down to needing a very good mount to get the tracking accuracy that would be required.

Later,

Calibos

Well it looks like I am back to Dobs then. I figured if I did get into astrophotography it would probably be in a year or two. The only reason that I would really need a tracking EQ mount would thus be for use in the future, But given my wish to go big from the begining and get something that would cover all the bases now and in the future, thats why I was thinking Goto EQ. ie like a mentioned in those marathon posts above, get something that covers everything now rather than build up to it and have two or three lesser scopes gathering dust.

But if something in the price range of the Schmidt Newtonian "Meade LXD75 10" isn't up to the job if I did get into astrophotography then I may as well get a bigger 12in Dob now for nearly half the price of the LXD75 10in.

Of course another reason for goto I mentioned in the earlier post was ease of use for the family. A bit more research seems to indicate that setup isn't really a cinch with goto scopes. By the sounds of it I would need to be there to setup the scope for family, and if I am there I can point the scope for them aswell, lessoning the need for goto in the first place.

Which brings me to my discovery of the Orion Intelliscopes. Seems to be the best of both worlds Big Ass Dob with 'Push to'. Computer help in locating objects without worry about complicated mounts that might break, Motors burning out, batteries running out etc

So Does anyone know of where I can order one of these. ie the 12in Orion Intelliscope. I've emailed Andy Mcrae about it but no answer back yet. ANywhere else that has these and shipps/delivers to Ireland?