1st scope, purchased a Celestron Starhopper 8" Dob...

N757QQ · Joined: 22 Apr 2008 Posts: 3

Hello all. I am (obviously?) new here. I have read a lot over the past few days, including the guides & FAQs linked from various posts here.

I think I have chosen the right scope for my wants/needs, and I am just kind of wanting to verify I did indeed choose wisely, as well as confirm my thought that it will last me a while, and not be something I 'grow out of' in a few weeks to months.

So, I had a budget, but this one Celestron Starhopper 8" Dobsonian is well inside of it. I would have loved to find a 10" somewhere, but it seems they are no longer produced? I am not sure parts are not going to become an issue, but we'll see.

I also got:

Celestron 8-24mm 1.25" Zoom Eyepiece
Celestron 1-1/4" 6mm E-LUX Telescope Eyepiece

I am not so certain the zoom lens is the best option, but it was cheap & I can always just sell it, or use it as a spare, or give it away. Also with a 6mm lense I will get 203x for a (good?) high end lens, the zoom, assuming it works well, will offer 50x-152x, for a good mid-range coverage, and the standard lens is 48x. I will eventually get a barlow once I do a bit more research.

So, I am looking at, in order of my priorities:

Viewability. Will I be able to see anything beyond the moon with reasonable clarity? I understand I will not get the quality seen in some of the books & pictures, but will I be able to say, 'OH WOW! Jupiter!'? How about some deep space viewing. Understanding light pollution & that it will be a small to moderate factor for my location, until I find a good remote site, Will deep space be anything enjoyable, and something I can even notice?

Locating objects. Will I, as a relative newbie to the hobby be able to locate objects with the use of resources relatively easily? I also could use some links to good books on locating various objects. I have a neat little tool on my phone called iSkyGaze (http://mobilefission.blogspot.com/2007/11/about-iskygaze.html)which gives info on rise & set times from my location for a lot of viewable objects, including direction & sky angle (altitude, not sure the correct term here). Will that work for my beginning viewing, until I can get a collection of better resources?

Portability. I drive a Mazda RX8, so I know portability is an issue, but how portabile will a scope of this size be? I would like to be able to wedge it into my car, but I would never risk that, so I could use a relatives SUV, but will it fit?

Lastly, Astrophotography: I have a Cannon EOS 30D. I would love to be able to use it alongside the 'scope once I am better oriented to spacial objects, but will this be an option here? I know an equatorial mounted scope is best, but until I am certain I want to drop $2000+ on this, will I be able to get pictures at all? Will I be able to get moderately decent pictures assuming I can get them within an exposure time that will not require movement?

Thanks for any help, & fyi, in case someone who read this before it thinking they're crazy, I did edit it. I went ahead & bought the scope since I see now that they are completely out of production, and sure enough, I got the last one (I hope the still have it, since the website where I found it is not telling me otherwise as yet).

Thank you,

L. Stewart

Jne_K · Site Admin Joined: 24 Sep 2003 Posts: 5022

Hi

You did just fine. Many, many 8" Dobs out there going strong and doing some serious astronomy. Like any other design, though, a Dob has advantages and disadvantages.

Forget astrophotography. You need a motorized mount with equatorial capability. A Dob is a long, long way from that. A Dob is visual observing, only. Best you can hope for is very short exposures of the moon at low power.

Learn to use a good star map and forget little tools and starfinder gadgets. A Dob means manual navigation and that means you need to do your part and learn the sky with a good star map. I use Sky&Telescope's Pocket Star Atlas, but there are many, many others out there.

You buy a Dob to see deep-sky objects, first, planets second. You can, of course, use any reflector for planets, but big scopes are about seeing the faint stuff and that means deep-sky. Get out there under a dark sky and use that scope with deep-sky objects. That's what it is for.

I was once able to pack a 10" Dob into a Geo Metro hatchback. An 8" in just about any car is doable. Just be sure to secure the optical tube with a seat belt or whatever. Do not let it roll around.

Forget the zoom eyepiece. No serious astronomer uses one. Field of view is ALWAYS less than a fixed power eyepiece and optical quality of a cheap zoom is ALWAYS inferior to a fixed power. Get a selection of fixed power eyepieces. Two eyepieces and a barlow or three eyepieces without a barlow will get you started.
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N757QQ · Joined: 22 Apr 2008 Posts: 3

Thank you for the reply, and information. Very much appreciated.

I will definitely purchase a skymap today, and I have been considering the eyepiece kits to replace my other choices, already.

Thank you very much, again.

Jne_K · Site Admin Joined: 24 Sep 2003 Posts: 5022

You are very welcome, one Dob lover to another. Enjoy.
_________________
Thanks for posting with us
Joanie K - Your personal optics expert

Forum: http://www.opticsplanet.com/msgboard
Blog: http://blog.opticsplanet.com/
Store: http://www.opticsplanet.net/

Phone: 847-513-6201
Fax: 847-919-3003