Telescopes and Mounts Telescopes Types There are three main types of telescope are Refractors Good - viewing the Moon, Planets, double stars and bright Deep Sky Objects (galaxies, nebula, star clusters) - high contrast image allowing fine planetary detail to be seen. Bad - quite expensive due to the complex lenses and mount. - need long focal length to obtain high magnification making them large and heavy requiring heavy mount - cheaper achromatic telescopes can produce colour fringing around bright objects like the planets and Moon Reflectors (Newtonian) Good - Best for viewing Deep Sky Objects. Good views of the Moon and Planets - large apertures are cheaper than equivalent Refractors Bad - small apertures can give fainter views due to relatively large secondary mirror - can take a while for larger mirrors to cool down Collimation - Some buyers worry about collimation of the mirrors in a reflector i.e. aligning the mirrors so the light path puts all the light into the eyepiece. This is not a problem - it is easy to learn how to check and adjust the mirrors if required. Some Skywatcher telescopes have factory pre-collimated mirrors so you never need worry about it. Maksutov (Uses a combination of a lens and mirrors) Good - Best for viewing the Moon, Planets and double stars as the long focal length in a compact form produces high magnification - less expensive than equivalent aperture Refractor Bad - quite expensive due to the complex optics and mount. - construction makes them heavy requiring heavy mount for stability - Fainter views of Deep Sky Objects due to relatively large secondary mirror Telescope Mounts The mount a telescope sits on is just as important as the telescope itself. An unstable or weak mount will make the telescope wobble and be very hard to use. Also a larger telescope is heavier and needs an equally heavy (therefore expensive mount) There are two main types of mount, but also variations within. Equatorial Mount Easily identified as there is also a counter balance weight mounted on a shaft. This type of mount is design to have one axis aligned with the North Celestial Pole (close to Pole Star). In this position the mount allows the telescope to move in a curve following the motion of the night sky. The Skywatcher EQ1 and EQ2 mounts are adequate for light weight telescopes, but to keep the price down they are used with larger ones which I would not recommend. The new StarQuest Eq mount is an improvement. The advantage of this type of mount is it can be motorised to automatically track objects. Skywatcher supply mounts on their own. From the EQ3-2 upwards they take the standard dove tail bar fitted to many telescopes so you can buy a new telescope without having to buy another mount provided the telescope is not too heavy. Alt Az Mount This type of mount is generally more simple and therefore cheaper. The disadvantage is that the telescope can hit the tripod when view objects overhead - Skywatcher AZ3 mount has this problem. The much better designed AZ5 angles the telescope away from the tripod. The dobsonian mount is a great way of mounting large reflectors that would otherwise need a very heavy equatorial mount. Skywatcher offers smaller reflectors on motorised computer controlled (GOTO) Alt Az mounts which work well, except most now use a phone for control which I dislike. Light Pollution One thing that cannot be over stated if you have heavily light polluted skies it does not matter how large a telescope you use you will see far less than a small telescope under dark skies. To see what your night sky is like use this link for an interactive map of the UK or download a “Dark Sky Map” app. If your light pollution is bad consider a Smart Telescope instead. If you are new to astronomy to learn more about telescopes, etc please read our “Buying a Telescope Guide” If you prefer I run a one to one course you can find details here - “Buying a Telescope”

Telescopes and Mounts Telescopes Types There are three main types of telescope are Refractors Good - viewing the Moon, Planets, double stars and bright Deep Sky Objects (galaxies, nebula, star clusters) - high contrast image allowing fine planetary detail to be seen. Bad - quite expensive due to the complex lenses and mount. - need long focal length to obtain high magnification making them large and heavy requiring heavy mount - cheaper achromatic telescopes can produce colour fringing around bright objects like the planets and Moon Reflectors (Newtonian) Good - Best for viewing Deep Sky Objects. Good views of the Moon and Planets - large apertures are cheaper than equivalent Refractors Bad - small apertures can give fainter views due to relatively large secondary mirror - can take a while for larger mirrors to cool down Collimation - Some buyers worry about collimation of the mirrors in a reflector i.e. aligning the mirrors so the light path puts all the light into the eyepiece. This is not a problem - it is easy to learn how to check and adjust the mirrors if required. Some Skywatcher telescopes have factory pre-collimated mirrors so you never need worry about it. Maksutov (Uses a combination of a lens and mirrors) Good - Best for viewing the Moon, Planets and double stars as the long focal length in a compact form produces high magnification - less expensive than equivalent aperture Refractor Bad - quite expensive due to the complex optics and mount. - construction makes them heavy requiring heavy mount for stability - Fainter views of Deep Sky Objects due to relatively large secondary mirror Telescope Mounts The mount a telescope sits on is just as important as the telescope itself. An unstable or weak mount will make the telescope wobble and be very hard to use. Also a larger telescope is heavier and needs an equally heavy (therefore expensive mount) There are two main types of mount, but also variations within. Equatorial Mount Easily identified as there is also a counter balance weight mounted on a shaft. This type of mount is design to have one axis aligned with the North Celestial Pole (close to Pole Star). In this position the mount allows the telescope to move in a curve following the motion of the night sky. The Skywatcher EQ1 and EQ2 mounts are adequate for light weight telescopes, but to keep the price down they are used with larger ones which I would not recommend. The new StarQuest Eq mount is an improvement. The advantage of this type of mount is it can be motorised to automatically track objects. Skywatcher supply mounts on their own. From the EQ3-2 upwards they take the standard dove tail bar fitted to many telescopes so you can buy a new telescope without having to buy another mount provided the telescope is not too heavy. Alt Az Mount This type of mount is generally more simple and therefore cheaper. The disadvantage is that the telescope can hit the tripod when view objects overhead - Skywatcher AZ3 mount has this problem. The much better designed AZ5 angles the telescope away from the tripod. The dobsonian mount is a great way of mounting large reflectors that would otherwise need a very heavy equatorial mount. Skywatcher offers smaller reflectors on motorised computer controlled (GOTO) Alt Az mounts which work well, except most now use a phone for control which I dislike. Light Pollution One thing that cannot be over stated if you have heavily light polluted skies it does not matter how large a telescope you use you will see far less than a small telescope under dark skies. To see what your night sky is like use this link for an interactive map of the UK or download a “Dark Sky Map” app. If your light pollution is bad consider a Smart Telescope instead. If you are new to astronomy to learn more about telescopes, etc please read our “Buying a Telescope Guide” If you prefer I run a one to one course you can find details here - “Buying a Telescope”