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I have a Meade ETX 125-PE edition but it is broken now and I need a new one. I would like to begin looking at Astrophotography what good telescopes and equipment do you recommend?

Telescopes usually don’t "break." If the mount is not working properly, it can be repaired or replaced. An ETX125 is too good a telescope to just throw away!

Here are a few web pages with good information on beginner’s telescopes:
http://www.gaherty.ca/tme/TME0702_Buying_a_Telescope.pdf
http://www.scopereviews.com/begin.html
http://observers.org/beginner/j.r.f.beginner.html

For more advanced information, read Phil Harrington’s Star Ware, 4th edition (Wiley).

You’ll get the greatest value for your money with a Newtonian reflector on a Dobsonian mount, such as these:
http://www.telescope.com/control/category/~category_id=dobsonians/~pcategory=telescopes/~VIEW_INDEX=0/~VIEW_SIZE=1000000
http://www.skywatchertelescope.net/swtinc/product.php?class1=1&class2=106

Buy from a store which specializes in telescopes and astronomy, either locally or online; don’t buy from department stores, discount stores or eBay as mostly what they sell is junk. Find your local astronomy club and try out different telescopes at one of their star parties:
http://www.skyandtelescope.com/community/organizations

I strongly recommend that beginners steer clear of astrophotography until they have learned their way around the sky. Astrophotography is by far the most expensive and difficult area of amateur astronomy.

Many people who buy telescopes have no idea how to find interesting things to observe. A good introduction to finding things is NightWatch by Terence Dickinson (Firefly). A more advanced book is Star Watch by Phil Harrington (Wiley).

3 Responses

1. Bill Says:
   February 14th, 2010 at 10:51 pm

   Hi,
   Since you already had a Meade ETX, you know about telescopes, so all I would say is don’t make the same mistake that I did. I wanted the biggest telescope I could afford so I bought a 10 inch Newtonian and an Orion EQ5 mount. This is fine for visual observing but the mount is not sturdy enough for astrophotography. I either need to get a smaller and lighter telescope for that mount or get a much heavier, more rigid mount for the telescope I have. So, concentrate on getting the heaviest, most rigid mount you can and then get the right (not too big) sized telescope for astrophotography with that mount. Of course it should be an equatorial mount.

   It’s also worth considering a ‘piggyback’ mount for whatever you buy so that you can take general/wider photos of the constellations. That will give you some success to build on rather than start off with the difficult deep sky objects using a camera attached to the prime focus of the telescope.

   As for the camera, you could try starting with a webcam (if you can get a computer near the telescope). In general, you want a camera that can take very long exposures (not all digital cameras can).

   Bill
   References :

2. Geoff G Says:
   February 14th, 2010 at 11:32 pm

   Telescopes usually don’t "break." If the mount is not working properly, it can be repaired or replaced. An ETX125 is too good a telescope to just throw away!

   Here are a few web pages with good information on beginner’s telescopes:
   http://www.gaherty.ca/tme/TME0702_Buying_a_Telescope.pdf
   http://www.scopereviews.com/begin.html
   http://observers.org/beginner/j.r.f.beginner.html

   For more advanced information, read Phil Harrington’s Star Ware, 4th edition (Wiley).

   You’ll get the greatest value for your money with a Newtonian reflector on a Dobsonian mount, such as these:
   http://www.telescope.com/control/category/~category_id=dobsonians/~pcategory=telescopes/~VIEW_INDEX=0/~VIEW_SIZE=1000000
   http://www.skywatchertelescope.net/swtinc/product.php?class1=1&class2=106

   Buy from a store which specializes in telescopes and astronomy, either locally or online; don’t buy from department stores, discount stores or eBay as mostly what they sell is junk. Find your local astronomy club and try out different telescopes at one of their star parties:
   http://www.skyandtelescope.com/community/organizations

   I strongly recommend that beginners steer clear of astrophotography until they have learned their way around the sky. Astrophotography is by far the most expensive and difficult area of amateur astronomy.

   Many people who buy telescopes have no idea how to find interesting things to observe. A good introduction to finding things is NightWatch by Terence Dickinson (Firefly). A more advanced book is Star Watch by Phil Harrington (Wiley).
   References :

3. wilde_space Says:
   February 15th, 2010 at 12:02 am

   This guy has recently made news with his stunning photos, so take a look at his equipment:
   http://www.astropix.co.uk

   And here’s where his equipment comes from:
   http://www.orionoptics.co.uk/AG/agrange.html
   References :

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