New to Telescopes

[dense vapor]

¡Hola amigos!

I am new to the whole telescope scene right now. I am not sure where to start off. There are so many options out there it can be somewhat overwhelming. I used a telescope once or twice in my life to see the moon but have never really seen more than the moon and very faint stars.

I want to buy my first telescope and I am not sure where to start off. I have a 800-1kusd budget and I am not sure what would be the best fit for me. I would need to drive 10 minutes to an open field that is somewhat light secluded so portability is somewhat of a factor for me. I would like to take images eventually but I think the first step is to actually see it with my own eyes and learn my way around the cosmos. Any and all recommendations are more than welcome!

Thank you for taking the time to read this and helping me out figuring this out. I truly appreciate it. Cheers from Mexico!

[edgy seal]

thats a pretty good budget for a first telescope. so the first question is, are you willing to buy equipment used?

[dense vapor]

I am open to anything but I know shipping to Mexico is always a hassle I would probably cross the border to the USA and get one there

Preferably its a new telescope but again, I am open to anything!

[edgy seal]

okay, ill just use the new prices then. what do you want to see/take pictures of? planets and moon, or nebula and galaxies?

[dense vapor]

I want to see it all! Haha dont we all 😂

I think I am more oriented to galaxies and nebula

[edgy seal]

great. do you already have a dslr camera?

[dense vapor]

I have a Cannon EOS M200 not sure if it would do the jobb

[edgy seal]

actually that will do just fine. So what you should do is buy whats called a star tracker. that will move at the exact same speed as the earth, which will let you take long exposure pictures. the Skywatcher Star Adventurer 2i pro pack should cost about $520. Next, I would buy a Skywatcher Heritage 150p, which is a great, portable telescope that you can use to look at planets, deep sky objects, and the moon. that will cost $310. Save the rest of your budget, you can buy more lenses for the camea, eyepieces for the telescope, or other accessories later.

surprisingly, you dont actually need a telescope and a fancy camera to take good pictures of nebula and galaxies, if you look in #deep_space_pics you can see a lot of people taking great pictures with a dslr, lens, and star tracker

[vagrant prism]

Does the Star Adventurer 2i pro pack come with a tripod? If not, it's probably worth buying a good quality one with some of the remaining money. ;)

[edgy seal]

i think you can buy it with or without a tripod, if you get it without its definitely worth spending money on a nice one, astronomy gear gets heavy

[dense vapor]

i truly appreciate it. heritage150p is the table top one?

[edgy seal]

yeah

[dense vapor]

doing chores before the gf gets here typing with 1 hand 😂

[dense vapor]

do you remove it from the tabletop mount so you can put it on the 2i pro?

or how does that work

[edgy seal]

no you misunderstand me, the 150p and the 2i stay seperate

the 150p for just looking, the 2i for taking pictures

[dense vapor]

ohh i see what you are saying... use both simultaneously separately

[edgy seal]

yes.

[dense vapor]

got itt thxx ben

is there a way to convert the table top to something taller? i will be in the middle of a field haha

[edgy seal]

you could bring a plastic tub

stand it on the plastic tub and it will be tall enough to use sitting down

[dense vapor]

nice ill prolly do that... as far as imaging processing on a mac, any recommendatins? thx again for your time ben

[edgy seal]

siril will work start to finish for image processing, and its free

it would also be nice to have photoshop or gimp or similar for final color adjustments

[dense vapor]

awesome thx for the advice Ben!

[dense vapor]

what eye pieces and lenses would you recommend?

[edgy seal]

There a good line of eyepieces by SVBONY called goldline, if you want you can pick up the entire set for $120 off Amazon

[dense vapor]

Hey Ben circling back here... I checkout the SVBONY goldline and while checking them I came across their telescopes and came across the SVBONY SV503 80ED. Do you have any opinions on this one?

[edgy seal]

It’s a good telescope for imaging, but it is too heavy for the tracker I recommended. Buying a tracker that can hold it would push the entire setup outside of your budget.

[dense vapor]

Got it... If I were to go down this route what other tracker could be helpful? also read about using a 135mm lens attached

[edgy seal]

You could upgrade to an eqm35, that would have a much higher weight capacity and also goto. And yes a 135mm lens works great with a star tracker.

[dense vapor]

would getting this mount eliminate the need for the skywatcher 2i pro?

[edgy seal]

Yes. The eqm35 does everything the 2i does but better. The only problem is that it is much more expensive

[dense vapor]

yeah like 400 usd more

[dense vapor]

i am seriously considering it given I might buy it eventually

[edgy seal]

If you do that will be great

[dense vapor]

i think its the way to go... i am reading it also works great for visual if i eventually switch

i would only do astrophotography with this setup to start with

I would put the heritage 150p on hold

[dense vapor]

I think I found what I am looking for Ben! It all started thanks to you answering my question, so I appreciate it!

I think I am going for this: https://www.highpointscientific.com/apertura-60mm-fpl-53-doublet-refractor-2-field-flattener-60edr-kit with a Star Adventurer 2i pro pack + carbon fiber tripod