© Reeth Informal Astronomy Group unless otherwise indicated
Reeth Informal
Astronomy Group
covering the Northern Yorkshire Dales
The Dobsonian
An alternative to the EQ setup is the Dobsonian mount. This can be bulky, but for bang for your buck and great views then this is the way to go if you are on a really tight budget. The Dobsonian is an AZ mount but with this design the mount is inherently stable because it rests directly on the ground – so you don’t have the main drawbacks that the cheap starter scope AZ mounts have. You can pick up a 6 – 8 inch Dobsonian telescope for less than £200 second hand and you may even be able to find a new 6 inch example for this amount of money if you shop around. Planetary views are good as are DSO objects. Once you master the movement of the Dobsonian you can manually keep objects in the eye piece and because of the way it is designed there is less shake. To be honest this scope can keep you enjoying the hobby for years with no need for buying anything else telescope and mount-wise for years. The Dobsonian always uses a Newtonian Reflector type scope, so there are just the basic things like letting it cool down to outside temperature and occasional collimation of the primary mirror. (Collimating the mirror can be done with home-made items which will keep the price down or you can buy a device which uses lasers help with this). Cost Price: Around £200
So the only thing left to look at if you just want to keep to general observing is the eye piece.
The Eyepiece.
If you are happy with scope and mount setup then we really need to look at eyepieces. (You will need at least one to look at the image your telescope provides). If you buy from new then most telescope bundles will come with a 20 – 25mm eyepiece and a 10mm one along with a 2x Barlow lens. These starter eyepieces are alright and will get you going but they are limiting. You can look online or in shops for eyepieces individually or in sets which often come in their own cases along with filters. Look around and you can get a small set with 3 eyepieces, a Barlow lens and 3 filters for around £60. Personally I go for the Plossl design as a good compromise between price and performance. .
Conclusion on Telescopes
So to keep you going in the hobby for years a Sky-Watcher Skyliner 150P Dobsonian which is around £200 and an eyepiece and filter kit for around £60 will do the job. Of course if you look on things like Ebay then you may be able to get this sort of set up for less than £260, but like anything second hand you are taking the risk of damage and so forth but those are the risks.