Rich N
Post Laureate
Reged: 09/22/04
Posts: 5176
Loc: San Francisco Bay Area, Calif...
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Spending $1000 on astronomy.
$300 for an 8" f/5.9 Dob
$200 good adjustable obsering chair (or, $110 for a less padded one).
$90 for a narrow band nebula filter
$200 for two (@100 ea) better eyepieces than come with the Dob.
$40 for a red dot finder
$30 for a red LED flaslight
$140 on some planetarium software and or star charts.
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Rich N
Post Laureate
Reged: 09/22/04
Posts: 5176
Loc: San Francisco Bay Area, Calif...
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Yet another suggestion, join an astronomy club in your area and go to star parties.
http://www.astronomyclubs.com/
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Rich N
Post Laureate
Reged: 09/22/04
Posts: 5176
Loc: San Francisco Bay Area, Calif...
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Quote:
Spending $1000 on astronomy.
$300 for an 8" f/5.9 Dob
$200 good adjustable obsering chair (or, $110 for a less padded one).
$90 for a narrow band nebula filter
$200 for two (@100 ea) better eyepieces than come with the Dob.
$40 for a red dot finder
$30 for a red LED flaslight
$140 on some planetarium software and or star charts.
The $700 worth of other equipment can be used with any telescope (assuming you don't have a camera stuck in the fucuser 100% of the time).
Rich
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solshaker
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 06/06/06
Posts: 1194
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lots of great advice here. if youre sure you want to jump right into photography for $1000 you can. it wont be top of the line, but with patience and practice you can turn out some good images.
were it me i would apply the budget towards the best mount i could get and use my existing telescopes while climbing the learning curve and saving up for a good scope. actually, thats exactly what im doing and trying to decide now. the options im looking at:
Celestron ASGT
Orion Sirius dual axis drives
Orion Sirius goto
Orion Atlas dual axis drives
Orion Atlas goto
for the $1000 price range those are the leading contenders. currently im leaning towards the Atlas dual axis. no goto, but a good upgrade path that can handle my current scopes with ease. in the future i want to put an 8" reflector on it for visual and photography and the Atlas is the one on the list with the most girth to handle it.
of course, for a little more you could go for this Celestron C8 S-GT for $1530 or this Orion Sirius 80ED EQ-G for $1550 and be ready to go.
theres a lot of options and research to do. a lot depends on what type of photos you want to take and how much youre willing to invest in terms of time and effort. fortunately you found CN. take a few days or weeks to read all you can before you spend your hard earned cash.
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My Gallery
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Protheus
Vaguely offended
Reged: 09/01/07
Posts: 3907
Loc: Illinois, US
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Hey Shawn, welcome. I don't have a C90, but I have a Meade 97ER, which is really, really similar to it. Yes, the thing uses a helical focuser that's built-in to the front part of the scope. Don't worry about missing parts too much. If it were me, I would try to get a few thumb-screws to set the finder right, and get a hybrid diagonal (assuming that the rear opening is .965"). This would allow you to put it to some use and see if you wanted to keep it.
Specifically, of the couple of hybrid diagonals I have, I like my scopestuff one best. I have to say that regardless of my possession of a 6" with quite a nice mirror, I still use the 90mm Mak very often. It's remarkably convenient. It's likely that your 114 will show you slightly more, but try the 90mm, and see how you like it before you get rid of it. Mine, at least, is pretty incredible for its size.
You can also do some photography with it. You'd need a T ring and T adapter to attach it to a camera. For example, these shots (here is a particularly good one) of the eclipse in February were taken through mine at prime focus, with our Pentax K100D attached.
Chris
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"To tread the sharp edge of a sword;
to run on smooth-frozen ice,
one needs no footsteps to follow..."
"Well, people sometimes ask me 'how did you get involved in astronomy?' I said 'I got born, what's your problem?'" -- John Dobson
"In discussing the large-scale structure of the cosmos, astronomers sometimes say that space is curved, or that the universe is finite but unbounded. Whatever are they talking about?" -- Carl Sagan
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Snow dog
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 07/17/05
Posts: 1622
Loc: Alberta Canada
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I was just thinking on the same line as a few others here. Get yourself a nice visual scope for looking around with tracking and keep the 90 for doing some photography with. I'd go with a OM-1 35mm film and a T ring & adapter to start with. Cheap at like 100 bucks or less and piggy back it to your new scope. I'd still like to go digital but right now I'm having lots of fun with film on my scopes.
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Marc
Someone get these crazy dogs off me
12" LX200 Classic
ETX-90PE
Meade DSI
Bushnell Astro 675 X 4.5" Reflector
Canon AE-1, T-80
My Home Page
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Galaxyhunter
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 01/02/06
Posts: 830
Loc: Northern Illinois
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Quote:
Yet another suggestion, join an astronomy club in your area and go to star parties.
Absolutely right on the money. The best advice is to keep your greenbacks in your wallet for a couple of months or so. If you can find a star party reasonably close by (normally held on the New Moon weekends) go & check out & look through as many scope as you can. In this way, you can make a real good informed decision on what kind of equipment to buy. I know your a newbie & your real excited which is good. But don't rush out & buy a scope just to but a scope. The Stars will still be there.
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Carl
Hawkeye Observatory
Observatory - "Hawkeye"
Scope - 18"f4.5 on a GEM
8" f4.9 Orion piggy backed
Drive - Sitech Technology
DSC - Sky Commander
Planetarium - MegaStar
Camera - ST2000XM
Desire - comes & goes
Talent - ZERO, NONE, NADA (But I can Wish)
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Lamb0
professor emeritus
Reged: 07/25/07
Posts: 582
Loc: Fairbury, Nebraska
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Quote:
$140 on some planetarium software and or star charts.
 Money for planetarium software? I've found too many useful free alternatives... so far. 
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Rich N
Post Laureate
Reged: 09/22/04
Posts: 5176
Loc: San Francisco Bay Area, Calif...
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There are many ways to spend $1k on astronomy. I'm sure not everyone will agree with my suggestions.
I bought Starry Night Pro several years ago. I love it. Yes I had to pay for it but I think it was money well spent.
Some people would think it foolish that I've bought Astro-Physics APO refractors. They might say I could get more bang for my buck putting that money into a big Newt. But, I'm very happy with my APO refractors and my Newts (Dobs).
Rich
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Protheus
Vaguely offended
Reged: 09/01/07
Posts: 3907
Loc: Illinois, US
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Quote:
I bought Starry Night Pro several years ago. I love it. Yes I had to pay for it but I think it was money well spent.
Indeed. I'm also not opposed to paying for astronomy software. Red shift has quite a good reputation for example. Xephem (which I use, myself) has a for-pay windows version that I'm sure is worth every penny, though, their unix releases are free.
Still, I would encourage even those who decide to pay for astronomy software to take a look at the free alternatives as well. It can't hurt to have a few extra planetarium programs setting around.
Chris
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"To tread the sharp edge of a sword;
to run on smooth-frozen ice,
one needs no footsteps to follow..."
"Well, people sometimes ask me 'how did you get involved in astronomy?' I said 'I got born, what's your problem?'" -- John Dobson
"In discussing the large-scale structure of the cosmos, astronomers sometimes say that space is curved, or that the universe is finite but unbounded. Whatever are they talking about?" -- Carl Sagan
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a-l-e-x
sage
Reged: 12/25/07
Posts: 408
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Starry Night Pro Plus (which is what I have) is amazing-- so much detail in it, and it matches some of the best ccd photography Ive seen-- only its in 3D! The current version is 6.2.3, and it includes a photographic mosaic of the entire night sky.
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We love our precious Harmony, our sweetest Destiny and our darling Sonya Marie !!!
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Lamb0
professor emeritus
Reged: 07/25/07
Posts: 582
Loc: Fairbury, Nebraska
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There are enough features in the many free software packages to overwhelm a newcomer without paying for the privilege. Try before you buy! When new to the hobby, I just think the money saved with the available free software is better spent toward other choices - such as gas in the tank for star parties and club meetings. For example, from where I live, it's a 140 mile round trip to the monthly Prairie Astronomy Club meeting, and at least 100 mile round trip to the monthly star party. 
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w orchid
professor emeritus
Reged: 04/23/07
Posts: 562
Loc: Tampa, Fl
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Shawn. Welcome to CN. In beginning this hobby try at first to keep this real simple. Purchase this months Sky & Telescope magazine and begin learning the night sky with the center fold map in your back yard. Have fun with it, get some lawn chairs some drinks, maybe grill some burgers and enjoy the wonders. I definitely recommend locating an astronomy club in the area and attend the next star party (more than likely around August 2) and share your thoughts with the members. Have fun. BTW, bring the C90 to the star party.
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Celestron C8 orange tube circa 1982
Stellarvue SV102ED
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Jared
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 10/11/05
Posts: 1700
Loc: Piedmont, California, U.S.
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Best advice I can give you:
- Don't even think about imaging right now. The equipment you need for imaging is completely different from the equipment you need for visual astronomy. Yes, both parts of the hobby use optical tubes and mounts, but the priorities are completely different. I have spent roughly $20,000 on astrophotography equipment (and love it, by the way), and the visual views through my scope are no better than--possibly not even as good as--those I would get through a $600 8" Dobsonian. The entry point for an imaging scope and camera is $3,000. Consider it an additional hobby that you may pursue later.
For visual use, listen to Rich's advice. A good chair and an easy to use 6" or 8" Dobsonian reflector will do more to generate a love of astronomy and the night sky than anything else you can purchase. By the way, I'd add a nice pair of 10x50 binoculars to the list as well.
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- Jared Willson
- Fluorostar FLT-110 w/ TEC optics
- Vixen VC200L
- Astro-Physics Mach1 GTO
- Stellarvue SV80S
- Takahashi Teegul SP Mount
- STL-11000
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sacase
journeyman
Reged: 07/16/08
Posts: 5
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Ok, Quick update.
I decided to buy a couple eye pieces for the 114mm as I figure that I can use them with other scopes whenever I decide to get the next one. I got a 32mm a 20mm, 10.5 and 7.5
I also ordered some books I got "Turn Left at Orion: A hundred night sky objects to see in a small telescope" and "Nightwatch: A Practical guide to viewing the universe".
So now I am just waiting for the weekend to come around and see what I can find. Thanks for all the help so far.
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Rich N
Post Laureate
Reged: 09/22/04
Posts: 5176
Loc: San Francisco Bay Area, Calif...
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Very good! There are lots of interesting things to see along path of the Summer Milky Way.
Rich
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