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Celestron NexStar Evolution Equipment First Telescope Beginner Buying Advice
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Mauricio Santos avatar
Mauricio Santos avatar
Hello everyone! I recently gained an interest in astronomy and have been searching thoroughly for a good beginner scope to save up for. Although I’ve been listening to the advice to more seasoned astronomers at my local astronomy club, I have not been able to get enough information to make a solid decision. 

I hope to gain more tailored suggestions for a first scope here. 

Objective: Mainly visual but I would like something that I could take advantage of my canon eos r50, for this reason, I discarded the celestron c8, as i've heard that its mount is somewhat weak, especially when mounted with a camera. 

Budget: around 3000 would be my max

Among some of the ones i’ve been looking at include the nexstar evolution 9.25 bundle and the nexstar evolution 8.
 
Please feel free to ask additional questions.
Engaging
Michele Rainville avatar
Michele Rainville avatar
I suggest you start with a quality mount. If your interested mainly for visual an alt az would be fine. You can do short exposure imaging with it as well. This will then help you narrow down the scope you want.
Jung avatar
Jung avatar
Mauricio Santos:
...I discarded the celestron c8, as i've heard that its mount is somewhat weak, especially when mounted with a camera.

You can buy a C8 as an OTA (Optical Tube Assembly) and pick any mount you'd like to complete the telescope.  This is true for a large chunk of Celestron's offerings.
Well Written Concise
Aloke Palsikar avatar
Aloke Palsikar avatar
Welcome to the world of Astronomy !  Am sure you will enjoy the fascinating world of Star and Night Sky gazing !

As you get going you need to decide your specific areas and make choice of the gear accordingly

1 Visual Astronomy -  If you want to observe Night sky visually looking at Planets, Stars, constellations etc, you will need a good scope.  A Newtonian type  Reflector  or a Schmidt Cassegrain cadiatropic type  telescope would be good to start with ( Go for atleast 6-8 inch primary mirror) 

2. Astrophotography -   If you are keen to observe and photograph Deep Sky objects such as Nebulae, Galaxies etc, then you will need a different type of gear.  Firstly you will need a good quality Mount ( preferably Equatorial GOTO type)  which can track and focus for long exposures.  There are multiple options for Mounts from ZWO, Sky Watcher, I-Optron etc and you can choose based on your budget.  A good Refractor (50 - 80 mm) scope would work best  and to start with you can use your Canon DSLR as camera with proper attachments.  There are exhaustive tutorials on You Tube including Product Reviews for beginners in this regard.   As your interest grows you can take a call to invest in dedicated Astro Cameras, Filters, Guide scope etc  and other gear

Another option would be to look at the Smart Scopes like ZWO Seestar S50/ S30 or Vaonis Vespara II which can take decent quality images  using your Smart Phone or Tablet without you to learn the technique in detail.  

You will need to take a call on what areas you want to focus and go for the gear accordingly.  This hobby is a drain on the wallet but worth it if your interest is strong.   Within USD 3000 you can get a decent set of equipment .  However would request you to do some research yourself on all the above and take a call judiciously before you spend

Hope this helps

Happy Star gazing !!
Mauricio Santos avatar
Mauricio Santos avatar
Jung:
Mauricio Santos:
...I discarded the celestron c8, as i've heard that its mount is somewhat weak, especially when mounted with a camera.

You can buy a C8 as an OTA (Optical Tube Assembly) and pick any mount you'd like to complete the telescope.  This is true for a large chunk of Celestron's offerings.

Thanks for this idea. I am definitely looking into purchasing a Schmidt Cassegrain separately from the mount. Ideally, I would purchase a mount that I can later use for astrophotography with a dedicated astrophotography telescope.
Mauricio Santos avatar
Mauricio Santos avatar
You will need to take a call on what areas you want to focus and go for the gear accordingly.  This hobby is a drain on the wallet but worth it if your interest is strong.   Within USD 3000 you can get a decent set of equipment .  However would request you to do some research yourself on all the above and take a call judiciously before you spend

Hello Aloke, thanks for your deep insight. Because I am both very interested in visual astronomy and astrophotography, I am leaning towards buying a good visual telescope with a mount that I can later use for astrophotography.
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