New to Astro, looking for starter advice

Sky-Watcher Esprit 100ED
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BlueRidge85 avatar
BlueRidge85 avatar

Hey guys, we are brand new into Astro wanted to get some opinions on our gear. We have no experience with telescopes. Here is our origin story…I have a 5yr old son who asked for a telescope for Christmas. Well mom and dad don’t do so well with the $25 Walmart telescope. So I did some research. We found out about star trackers. A local astronomy club had one for sale. I contacted them asking about it. The person I talked to at the club put me into contact with an older gentleman who was moving and preferred his scope in Spain rather then lugging his “portable” system around. I went to take a look at the system, he showed me that it was all in working condition. I bought the system for 3k USD. This is what we ended up with:

Sky Watcher Esprit 100ed

AM5

ZWO EAF

ASIair plus

ASI071MC Pro

ASI174MM Mini

ZWO OAG

ZWO Helical Focuser

ZWO Filter drawer

TC40 tripod

ZWO pier extender

Esprit native field reducer

Kendrick VI dew heater with 3 straps

Telegizmos 365 cover

Pegasus flat disc

Jackery 1500 explorer

Whe I was picking the system up the gentleman told me I really should consider getting an editing computer. I just finished building this:

Ryzen 7 7800×3d

Mai motherboard plus WiFi

Salaries nitro plus 9070xt (16gb vram)

1000W Corsair psu

64gb vengeance DDR5 6000

4tb nvme (2× 2tb)

Windows 11 pro

Thermalright AIO w/lcd screen

I run a stacked monitor setup with an MSI business class true to color monitor and a 34inch 4k ultrawide above the flat monitor

The computer system is strictly for editing. I have an 11inch Samsung tablet as the remote for the ZWO ecosystem. That tablet has nothing other than Astro info on it. I’m looking for any potential bottlenecks or upgrades that could be made. Looking forward to learning about this interesting hobby. Most of all I’m hoping to be able to wow my son with the immense universe. Any constructive advice would be greatly appreciated, we really have no idea what we are doing. Kinda just jumped off the cliff. Happy hunting!

Brian Puhl avatar
Brian Puhl avatar

The only big place you went wrong is the video card, you need an Nvidia card to take advantage of the advanced tools like BlurX without waiting for 10 minutes.

Beyond that, I might have chosen a different main camera like a IMX533 or IMX571. The 071 will do for starters, but it's about the only thing out of place given the caliber of the rest of your gear.

I think you're on the right track either way. It’ll be a steep learning curve, but you’ll get there.

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BlueRidge85 avatar
BlueRidge85 avatar

Yeah I wanted an nvidia but with prices now, I went a dif route till the gpu prices stabilize a little.

I have been hearing the scope camera is a little outdated. That being said I didn’t get to “choose” the camera. It was a packaged deal.

At least I didn’t really mess anything up. That’s def a positive take on it for me.

I for sure want to add some filters to play around with at some point. Just not sure what I truly need with my skies.

TiffsAndAstro avatar
TiffsAndAstro avatar
First thing I say is you seem to get a good deal.

Watch some software processing videos on YouTube, deep space astro for siril, and seti astro suite. Both are free and will get you up and running.
BlueRidge85 avatar
BlueRidge85 avatar

Hmm haven’t heard of the seti suite before. I have installed Siril. I’ll eventually get pixinsight was going to hold off until I had 10-12 data sets under my belt. Thanks so much for the seti info. I’ll def check that out today!

Brian Puhl avatar
Brian Puhl avatar

I vouch for just getting pixinsight and learning the right way. You’ve already gone this far. You’re committed now 😆 Siril if you’re in a pinch, but nothing compares to Pixinsight. My take on the seti suite and similar tools are they’re a crutch for those who haven’t spent the time to learn the tools pixinsight has to offer. I know I’ll probably anger a few people saying that, but it’s done. lol Pix is the gold standard and the only addons worth getting is RCAstro BlurX (deconvolution) and maybe NoiseX (denoise), but DeepSNR is free and honestly a teeny bit more powerful in that category.

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bigCatAstro avatar
bigCatAstro avatar

Classic pick with the Esprit and its great performer. My only addition here is that I would have chosen a different option over the ASIAir, either a miniPC or linux based system. More flexibility to use other equipment, e.g. cameras.

Tony Gondola avatar
Tony Gondola avatar

Brian Puhl · Jan 31, 2026, 06:45 PM

My take on the seti suite and similar tools are they’re a crutch for those who haven’t spent the time to learn the tools pixinsight has to offer. I know I’ll probably anger a few people saying that, but it’s done

A low murmur and a great uncomfortable shuffling of feet has filled the room………

BlueRidge85 avatar
BlueRidge85 avatar

Yeah I’ve come to figure out that once you’re in ZWO there isn’t much of a way out. That being said eventually I may add another scope and mount. This really is our first dip in the pool so to speak. Had I not bought a complete system the build would most likely be much different. I can assure you after a few months under the sky I will likely wonder what other products can do outside ZWO

BlueRidge85 avatar
BlueRidge85 avatar

Brian Puhl · Jan 31, 2026 at 06:45 PM

I vouch for just getting pixinsight and learning the right way. You’ve already gone this far. You’re committed now 😆 Siril if you’re in a pinch, but nothing compares to Pixinsight. My take on the seti suite and similar tools are they’re a crutch for those who haven’t spent the time to learn the tools pixinsight has to offer. I know I’ll probably anger a few people saying that, but it’s done. lol Pix is the gold standard and the only addons worth getting is RCAstro BlurX (deconvolution) and maybe NoiseX (denoise), but DeepSNR is free and honestly a teeny bit more powerful in that category.

Well the only reason I’m not dropping money on pixinsight at the moment is…we still haven’t figured out if we like it or not. If we decide this actually isn’t for us I’m not locked into a program I will never use again. Honestly I don’t think that will be the cas, we are kinda lucky regionally. Once we are under the sky I’m sure pix will be shortly behind that

John Stone avatar
John Stone avatar
Go over to Adam Block Studios and get the Fastrak training course.

That will get you going with the correct procedures, but you will need PixInsight + the Rc-Astro tools BlurX, Starx, NoiseX.

You've already spent $3k on this, another couple hundred gets you the software you need to get the most out of your hardware.   In this hobby, it's almost free.  :-)
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BlueRidge85 avatar
BlueRidge85 avatar

Adam Block Studios…haven’t heard of them. I’ll be checking that out right now

Jim Bishop avatar
Jim Bishop avatar

BlueRidge85 · Jan 31, 2026, 07:40 PM

Yeah I’ve come to figure out that once you’re in ZWO there isn’t much of a way out. That being said eventually I may add another scope and mount. This really is our first dip in the pool so to speak. Had I not bought a complete system the build would most likely be much different. I can assure you after a few months under the sky I will likely wonder what other products can do outside ZWO

You’re not trapped in ZWO’s garden just because you start there. You can break out when you’re comfortable.

A lot depends on what you want to do. If tinkering is your thing, then starting with NINA or something else may have been a better place to start. If getting up and running is your jam, ZWO is a good place to start. It just works.

I have been at the hobby for about 20 months now. When I setup the first night, I captured about 2 hours of M101. I had the wrong scope, the wrong camera. It was a comedy of errors. BUT, I managed to set up and polar align. I managed to find and track a target. I managed to setup an imaging plan. I managed to capture data and process it the next day. Those are all key steps we all have to somehow sort out.

When I moved to NINA, it took me a week to build the PC, set up, install all the drivers, sort out connections, get NINA properly connected, figure out Three Point Polar Alignment, figure out a sequence, etc. I can’t imagine how I would have progressed if I started there first.

Now, just like any other walled garden (I am looking at you Apple) you can do a lot as long as they agree it is something you should do. At some point, you will probably outgrow it. This violates one of the first rules of Astrophotography: Buy once. Cry once. Don’t despair. We have all been there ;)

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Jack Heeley avatar
Jack Heeley avatar

🤣 I think that “dad” is going to be very happy with that purchase, which is a great bargain, and you are on the right tracks. Astrophotography is a pretty challenging hobby for grown ups! For your son, I suggest two things. 1. Keep that telescope and mount “dual purpose” capable of operating visually. This isnt so obvious but AM5 without an asiar and a camera attached is not easy to polar align and the goto in the mounts phone app is not very tight on target. You’ll need a finder (or a crosswire eyepiece in place of guide camera if thats possible). Get some eyepieces. Cheap Plossl will do. The Moon, planets, Messier catalog objects, and coloured double stars are amazing for kids (and big grown up kids alike). 2. Asiair has a livestack mode that gradually builds up a great image that you can watch developing on your phone screen in real time. Get familiar with that, the youngster will love it on targets like M51 etc. You are able to save the subs while this is running and process them on the comupter later. Personally I think kids get too much screen time. It’ll be a lot easier to master live mode, because you wont have to learn to use setup and the rig without the electronics, but the eyepiece route gives far more “direct contact” with the wonders of the universe, and the lad could learn to use “his” telescope and find stuff in the sky himself, if he is still interested in four or five years time.

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Brian Puhl avatar
Brian Puhl avatar

BlueRidge85 · Jan 31, 2026, 07:44 PM

Brian Puhl · Jan 31, 2026 at 06:45 PM

I vouch for just getting pixinsight and learning the right way. You’ve already gone this far. You’re committed now 😆 Siril if you’re in a pinch, but nothing compares to Pixinsight. My take on the seti suite and similar tools are they’re a crutch for those who haven’t spent the time to learn the tools pixinsight has to offer. I know I’ll probably anger a few people saying that, but it’s done. lol Pix is the gold standard and the only addons worth getting is RCAstro BlurX (deconvolution) and maybe NoiseX (denoise), but DeepSNR is free and honestly a teeny bit more powerful in that category.

Well the only reason I’m not dropping money on pixinsight at the moment is…we still haven’t figured out if we like it or not. If we decide this actually isn’t for us I’m not locked into a program I will never use again. Honestly I don’t think that will be the cas, we are kinda lucky regionally. Once we are under the sky I’m sure pix will be shortly behind that

The amount of happiness provided by this hobby is directly related to the quality of help you're given. There is alot of conflicting information. Adam Blocks guides will get you on the right track. If you get to the point that you feel frustrated, you can DM me and I'll walk you through whatever issue you’re having. It’s a steep learning curve.