the equipment

Telescopes

When trying to decide which telescope to get I have to say that, as I guess with most people, budget made the final decision for me. I knew from reading various web sites that the two most important things to look for were; a telescopes diameter, as the wider it is the more light it can gather so the better it is at viewing distant and therefore dull objects; plus it’s focal length, i.e. the shorter it is the better it is as it has a lower (and therefore faster) “f” setting resulting in higher usable magnifications - the speed or “f” setting of a telescope is calculated by dividing the focal length by the diameter.

With regards to magnification the general rule of thumb is you will get x50 for every inch in diameter. That means for this telescope which is roughly 5 inches in diameter the highest usable magnification is x250. Anything above this and the object being viewed will be just too dark to see (or what’s termed resolve) any detail.

My first telescope was a Sky Watcher - Explorer 130M, 130mm / f900mm (f/6.92) Newtonian reflector (see picture right).

This did me proud for a couple of years, allowing me to learn the ropes and get to appreciate the full complexity of the subject. As I got into the subject I decided I wanted to get into Astrophotography, however, this gave me quite a serious problem with the 130M - I was not able to reach focus with any camera as there wasn’t sufficient “back” focus !

There was really only one solution and that was to buy another telescope. After a lot of research I finally decided to get a Sky Watcher - Equinox 80 Apo Pro, 80mm / f500 (f/6.25) refractor (see picture below).

The Equinox is a lovely little scope and I can highly recommend it. As such the vast majority of my astro-images are taken through this scope unless otherwise stated.

Finally, I also have a Orion ST80 that, due to being small and lightweight, I take on holiday etc. I also use it as a guiding scope.

Solar Imaging in Ha (Hydrogen Alpha)

Hopefully you will have also seen from my solar imaging section that I have also got into, in a big way, imaging the Sun. For this you require a specialist telescope that filter out the vast majority of the light allowing you to see the Sun in all it’s glory. I now have a Coronado PST which during the summer spends most of it’s life sat on the patio table and during the winter sat on my desk looking out of the attic window.


	NB: I know everyone says it but I’m going to say it again anyway:- under NO circumstances should you ever look at the sun through any optical instrument or filter, unless it is specifically designed and certified for such use and all instructions are followed to the letter !