Starter Kit for Christmas

[NicksMum]

Hello All,

I'm looking to buy a 'starter kit' for the old man for christmas as he has recently expressed an interest, and living in the middle of nowhere in rural Norfolk I believe we have some of the best skies for astronomy.

After some trawling through forums and websites here, there and everywhere I have come up with the following:

Celestron SkyMaster Binoculars 15 x 70 £80.00
EQ2 Equatorial Mount with R.A. Economy Motor Drive £130
Starry Night Complete Space and Astronomy Pack £30

Total £240 (budget was £250)

Can anyone here tell me whether this is a good choice please, I'm just looking for some expert opinion before I hand over my hard-earned cash.

Thanks in advance.

Mandy (Nick's Mum)

[carlos_dfc]

Hi

Does he already have a telescope?
If not - I was wondering why you are buying the EQ2 mount?
If you wanna mount the binoculars, then I wouldn't suggest an equatorial mount.
A good tripod and a steel binocular bracket would be better.
(The plastic bracket supplied with the Celestron Skymasters is a bit wobbly)

Also - if you are buying through the internet - you would be better off getting a pair of 'Revelation' 15x70s - they are essentially the same as the Skymasters, but £30 cheaper
Telescope House Binoculars
Or for an extra tenner, you could get 20x80s
Bear in mind though - 15x70s can be hand-held for a while - whereas 20x binocs will need to be mounted pretty-much all the time.

And the Starry-Night pack is nice - but you'd be far better off getting a good book of charts - and downloading one of the FREE software planetarium programs that does the same job as Starry-Night.

Atlas - I'd recommend SkyAtlas 2000 (£30) - a VERY detailed atlas
Amazon.co.uk: Sky Atlas 2000.0: Books: Wil Tirion,Roger W. Sinnott
or Collins' 'Atlas of the Night Sky' (£20 or less), by Storm Dunlop (what a great name )
Amazon.co.uk: Collins Atlas of the Night Sky: Books: Storm Dunlop,Wil Tirion,Antonin Rukl

Software - 'Stellarium' has a similar look to Starry Night, and is very good - 'Cartes du Ciel' (my choice) looks more like a chart, but is FAR more detailed than even the 'Pro' versions of Starry-Night.
(Google should find both)

If it were my money - buying for myself as a starter kit (assuming I had no gear already) - with a £250 budget - I'd get.....
Revelation 15x70 - (£50)
Sky Atlas 2000 - (£30)
and either a SkyWatcher 130PM telescope (complete with motorised EQ2 mount (£155)
First Light Optics - Telescope and Astronomy Supplies - Reflectors - Skywatcher Explorer 130PM
or SkyWatcher Skyliner 150 Dobsonian (£159)
First Light Optics - Telescope and Astronomy Supplies - Dobsonians - Skyliner 150P
depending whether or not you want equatorual tracking.
And download 'Cartes du Ciel' for free.

Also worth getting a cheap'n'cheerful pair of 10x50 binocs to supplement the 15x70s
15x70s are great for sweeping the sky - viewing clusters and nebulae, etc - but are a bit big to use at the telescope. I use 10x50s for that, as a sort of 'bridge' between charts and telescope, to aid in finding things.
The Bresser 10x50s in the link above (£25) often come up on offer from 'Lidl' (the cheap foodshop) for £10 - worth keeping an eye out on the 'specials' section of their website - they're about 'due' to have 'em in again before too long.

Hope some of that has helped

[NicksMum]

Carlos,

Thanks for your brilliant reply.

No he doesn 't already have a telescope, I wanted a tripod that would track an object as it moves across the sky, is that not what this one does?

Those Revolution bins look great, the size is not really an issue as they will be permanently on the tripod.

The reason I went for the Starry Night package is because we are a totally Mac household and some of the other packages I looked at are PC only. If you know of any other Mac alternate I'd be grateful.

The reason I went for binoculars rather than a telescope was because many websites advise that they are better for beginners (but don't explain why). Are the cheaper telescopes really worth getting? or better to try the binoculars for a while, and then, if the interest takes off, invest in a better, more expensive telescope?

Thanks again for your help,

Mandy

[carlos_dfc]

Hi again...

Yes, that mount will track objects across the sky.......but.....

You don't need that with binoculars.
Telescopes can operate at much higher magnifications than binoculars - and this is when you need that tracking.
The motion of stars etc across the sky is pretty slow - so they will take an eternity to cross the field of view of a pair of 15x binoculars (compared with a telescope operating at, say...150x )

A lot is made of starting with binoculars - but there's certainly no harm in getting a telescope right from the start - so long as it isn't a BAD telescope (which might put you off astronomy)

But if you prefer to start with just binocs, then get a scope later - why spend that much on an equatorial mount, that isn't neccesary for binocs?
Instead - get some PROPER big binoculars, and a decent tripod.
The 20x100 binocs in that link above will show a LOT more that 15x70s - 100mm aperture binocs are great for deep-sky viewing, and the 20x power is still low enough that an EQ mount is unneccesary.

Strathspey ( Strathspey Binoculars ) have some nice 20x90s for around £150 - which would leave you more money for a good tripod.
They also have some awesome 22x100s - which are within your budget, but wouldn't leave much for a tripod.

[carlos_dfc]

Quick heads-up
The Bresser 10x50 binocs that I mentioned are back in Lidl for £9-99, from Monday 17th Dec.
Great binocs for the money.

Also have some other astro-goodies for sale, including some more exoensive 8x56 binocs - and a telescope that comes complete with a (unmotorised) EQ2 mount - for only £50
And Starry-Night software for only £11-99

[NicksMum]

Carlos,

You're a star!!

I understand now about the mount and the binoculars. I just need to decide now which way to go with this. Too much choice!

Thanks for all your help.

Mandy

[NicksMum]

Well, I've gone for the Skywatcher 130PM, and I'm off to Lidl on Monday to pick up the binoculars and software. I think he'll be thrilled.

Thanks again Carlos for your great advice.

Mandy

[carlos_dfc]

You've made a wise choice IMHO.

And that SkyWatcher 130 ???
Don't be surprised at the sheer size of the thing - if you have in your mind's-eye something like the ubiquitous 60mm refractor that is so common - by comparison, this thing will seem HUGE

And when you go to Lidl for the binocs, you may see another telescope there (Bresser Skylux for £50)
Don't be disappointed at having ordered the SkyWatcher..........
Although the Bresser isn't a bad scope, and is great value for money, the SkyWatcher 130 will totally blow it away when it comes to performance.