my first telescope arrives in a week, a skywatcher 10" dob. always loved space and looking at stars. i greatly appreciate the video! ill be coming back to this quite often here soon.
I got into astronomy because of my own RUclips channel... I got a Meade NG-70SM with a 70 mm aperture and 700mm focal length... Literally for free! (Since my uncle who hadn't been using it just shipped it out to me) And I got it on August. What I am trying to say is: Sometimes, you don't need huge expensive and fancy telescopes to get great views of the Moon, Saturn, Venus and Jupiter (I photographed the mentioned very recently). And to preserve memories, I used 1/8 th a second exposure shots on a Sony Xperia 5 Mark I Phone (Since it has a good 4K Camera) for photography of the Planets. With a bit of Image tweaking and editing, THEY LOOK SO BEAUTIFUL!
Finderscopes and Telrads are ok if your skies are dark enough. But I HIGHLY recommend the StarSense Explorer equipped scopes, especially if you are unexperienced or have bright skies at night that make it hard to locate. Or if you just want to quickly find and see more objects.
There is a website called astrohopper that works similarly I use Velcro on my phone to help me find objects with my old starhopper dobsonian and it really helped me when just starting out
@@LearnToStargaze I’m about to buy a new telescope. I own a celestron goto small refractor, so I’m very used to grab and go with very simple adjustments. Now I’m thinking between a 130 goto reflector and an 8 inch Dobsonian. Just that im a little bit afraid of manual telescopes, not because of portability, but because of star’s and planet’s location. What can you say to ease my fears.
I have an Apertura 8” DOB . I watched your StarSense “Hack” where you installed StarSense on your Dobsonian and decided to try the installation. Works great. I’m new to using Dobsonian and really liked this video. Got your Book and will be trying to complete as much of your book’s targets as I can. Thanks for sharing your expertise and experiences with the World.. bruce
@@LearnToStargaze Awesome video. I'm getting an Apertura Ad10 soon. I just ordered the 2 books via your links. Can you link the Starsense video. thank you
Thanks for your clear presentation, covering so many aspects of beginning telescopy. I found it helpful to utilize the YT Settings, changing the Playback Speed of your voice to .75 It sounded less hurried & was easier to absorb what you were describing I also really WISH RUclips would incorporate another button on the front panel, besides "Start" & Stop", that would "Go Back" for 5 seconds or so, in order to re-hear what was just said, and also be able to pause it there when there are illustrations to view & study.
great videos, I just upgraded to an Apertura AD8 😁It will arrive tomorrow. I will have all winter to do upgrades like flocking and learn how to collimate. I have an 90 AZ that got me excited about viewing the planets, so upgraded to see them better and see more and to have a more meaningful hobby.
Perfect timing! I just bought a 10" Dob a few weeks ago. A Sky-Watcher Synscan 10. Two similar questions. It's difficult to twist your head into place to see into the finder. Do you recomend a diaganol, if so, which one ? I think comfortable image viewing could also benefit from a diagonal. So what would you recommend.? My first look at the moon blew me away. In 60 years of observing and photographing the moon, I've never seen such spectacular contrast and detail. I'm buying that book! Now I know why the cover has a cap with a hole in it 😅 Super helpful! An adjustable height chair would be good. Do you have one in mind?
Hi! I’ve never used a diagonal on a Dobsonian, I’m not even sure there’s enough room to reach focus if you add one. I always stargazing standing up with a Dob. If you find a good chair, let me know! Thanks for the pleasant comment!
of course, a table top $50 Bostonian telescope is perfect for looking at the moon. It would help you study it a lot more as you try to map it’s surface and measure the height of its mountains.
So thankful I found your channel. Beginner star gazer here. I have the Nat Geo 70mm telescope. My question to you is, would you suggest a 6in dobsonian telescope or the Celestron star sense explorer LT 114AZ. I do plan on taking some pictures through it but not a lot. Thank you for your time. All your videos are so informative.
Thanks! The Dobsonian will be much better for stargazing. The 114 has very poor optics. For taking photos, a used SeeStar would save you a world of frustration.
I should’ve started out with an 8” dob but I never liked how ugly they look. I went with a 6” newt that I loathed on every level. It had a trashy tripod made of plastic joints, cheap cast iron eq mount with poor machining QC and an OTA that just never collimated correctly. The views were far from stellar. Fast forward 8 months later, I picked up a 12” dob and that’s what kickstarted my hobby obsession. It was simple, easy to use and stable. The views were very clear with the right eyepieces.
Could you send me a link where you purchase yours? Or just the model # please? Also, would you recommend 12” for a beginner as in with zero experience?
@@nightowl7510 I would never recommend the 12” dob to a beginner and especially without knowing this mileage. The whole unit stands almost 6ft tall and weighs a little under 100lbs total weight. There’s a lot of factors to consider when getting a HUGE light bucket: do you have a vehicle big enough to haul it around when need to? Do you have a big and tall enough space to store it? Can you see yourself lifting and carrying a 60lb tube around? Can you push and pull almost 100lbs to your backyard and up some heights if needed? Are you physically fit to handle the extra weight or tall enough to see at 5’8” height? That’s where the eyepiece is at zenith. If you want my recommendation, an 8in Dobsonian is the way to go for any beginner astronomer. Get any models made from GSO: apetura ad8, zhumell z8, Orion skyline 8, and so on. They all come with a 10mm plossl eyepiece and a 30mm wide view eyepiece. The main attraction is the dual speed focuser and easily adjustable rear screws for the mirror cell. You can always buy cheap knobs for the secondary off Amazon. Don’t let the ugliness dissuade you. They perform FAR better than a Newtonian on an Equatorial mount with little to no vibration issues you get from tripods. I bought my z12 from Facebook marketplace used because the fella wanted up upgrade to a goto system and had difficulty with it. It needed some collimation work and missing screws but it works flawlessly now. You’ll find that the 8in dob is the sweet spot because it’s easy to lug around and have just enough power to see DSOs. Clear skies!!!
@AviationNoor keep an eye on highpoint scientific's used scope section. I got a new-condition AD8 in original packaging with all accessories for about 520 bucks.
hi i’m looking to get a dob as first telescope. i mainly love clusters and want to see them without going on a laptop etc would a 12 inch or 16 inch dob do the job?
Bigger is definitely better, but a 16 inch dob is challenging to move around by yourself. It needs to be on wheels or basically be fixed in one location (not moved in and out of a house). Also, sky darkness matters more then the telescope.
I have a Dobsonian for more than 10 years. Because the tube is relatively light (11 kg) for a 203 / 1200 mm (8") telescope, recently I got my first equatorial mount so finally I will be able to take some long exposure images. BTW there is a video with John Dobson on telescope making. Dobson did a lot for the sidewalk astronomy and the popularization of stargazing in general, but his ideas on cosmology were at least far fetched, to put it mildly.
I got a Dobson for my Nephew (actually more for me, the nephew is just a good excuse to spend the money) because he expressed interest in space. I never had a telecope as a kid so he should not lack that. But, I need to learn how to use it and how to navigate the night sky =D
I bought the 8 inch debsonian star sense explorer I haven’t been able to see anything just a palm tree,the app keeps saying can’t find telescope position 😢
Hey i bought 10" dobsonian some time ago - has a lot o fun with it. I wanted to buy your book "110 things..." but why i cannot find the pdf version of it anywhere beside torrents? I would love to support you and buy it instead of pirate it. The link you have in your description is only for paper version on Amazon which i cannot order in the place i live. I don`t know if you will read my comment - i hope you do and will send me link for some place to buy your book in electronic format.
David Lorenz's light pollution atlas is much more accurate than lightpollutionmap, it uses satellite data from 2022, while LPM uses data from 2015. Light pollution grows unfortunately, I need to drive for 3 hours to get into a blue zone
@ I know sorry mate, couldn’t help myself, I’m a scientist and I think accurate terminology matters. Also the channel is called “learn to stargaze”, so I thought that if your audience are mainly beginners they may not know the correct name of the equipment they are using.
![Seungmin "그렇게, 천천히, 우리(As we are)" | [Stray Kids : SKZ-PLAYER]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/kAzmhLHePqU/mqdefault.jpg)
my first telescope arrives in a week, a skywatcher 10" dob. always loved space and looking at stars.
i greatly appreciate the video! ill be coming back to this quite often here soon.
Wonderful!
I recently bought the Celestron StarSense 10” dob. Just Wow! Great Video!!
Thanks!
Thanks for making this video, very helpful to me!
Thanks for watching!
I got into astronomy because of my own RUclips channel...
I got a Meade NG-70SM with a 70 mm aperture and 700mm focal length... Literally for free! (Since my uncle who hadn't been using it just shipped it out to me) And I got it on August.
What I am trying to say is: Sometimes, you don't need huge expensive and fancy telescopes to get great views of the Moon, Saturn, Venus and Jupiter (I photographed the mentioned very recently).
And to preserve memories, I used 1/8 th a second exposure shots on a Sony Xperia 5 Mark I Phone (Since it has a good 4K Camera) for photography of the Planets. With a bit of Image tweaking and editing, THEY LOOK SO BEAUTIFUL!
Finderscopes and Telrads are ok if your skies are dark enough. But I HIGHLY recommend the StarSense Explorer equipped scopes, especially if you are unexperienced or have bright skies at night that make it hard to locate. Or if you just want to quickly find and see more objects.
There is a website called astrohopper that works similarly I use Velcro on my phone to help me find objects with my old starhopper dobsonian and it really helped me when just starting out
im getting a skywatcher 6inch 150p dobsonian for my first for Christmas so ill watch this so i can know what to do thanks!!
Wonderful!
This is in fact a very helpful video. Greetings from Mexico amigo.
Thanks!
@@LearnToStargaze I’m about to buy a new telescope. I own a celestron goto small refractor, so I’m very used to grab and go with very simple adjustments. Now I’m thinking between a 130 goto reflector and an 8 inch Dobsonian. Just that im a little bit afraid of manual telescopes, not because of portability, but because of star’s and planet’s location. What can you say to ease my fears.
I have an Apertura 8” DOB . I watched your StarSense “Hack” where you installed StarSense on your Dobsonian and decided to try the installation. Works great. I’m new to using Dobsonian and really liked this video. Got your Book and will be trying to complete as much of your book’s targets as I can. Thanks for sharing your expertise and experiences with the World.. bruce
That’s wonderful Bruce! Good luck on the Messier List!
@@LearnToStargaze Awesome video. I'm getting an Apertura Ad10 soon. I just ordered the 2 books via your links. Can you link the Starsense video. thank you
@@Ezdvd1 Awesome! Here was the last Starsense video I did: ruclips.net/video/ZVA365OAsyA/видео.html
Good video, lots of great topics concerning visual astronomy. A good overview for anyone interested in starting in this wonderful adventure.
Thanks!!!
Thanks for your clear presentation, covering so many aspects of beginning telescopy. I found it helpful to utilize the YT Settings, changing the Playback Speed of your voice to .75 It sounded less hurried & was easier to absorb what you were describing
I also really WISH RUclips would incorporate another button on the front panel, besides "Start" & Stop", that would "Go Back" for 5 seconds or so, in order to re-hear what was just said, and also be able to pause it there when there are illustrations to view & study.
FYI, arrow keys scrub the video forward or backward by 5 seconds, j and l by 10 seconds.
@@MarioManTV Oh, GREAT, thanks v much for that heads-up.
great videos, I just upgraded to an Apertura AD8 😁It will arrive tomorrow. I will have all winter to do upgrades like flocking and learn how to collimate. I have an 90 AZ that got me excited about viewing the planets, so upgraded to see them better and see more and to have a more meaningful hobby.
Nice upgrade!
Astronomer John Dobson was a genius standing on Newton's shoulders!
Hi John, I just got a dog and I am certain that its out of collimation. Would you recommend I invest in a laser collimator or a cheshire collimator?
I use a laser, but really, you can just look into the focuser and get it pretty well collimated.
It's very nice that you made these Tutorial videos On how to use different kind of telescopes From Az, Eq, Dobsonians, Newtonians and Refractors.
Thanks for the feedback!
Perfect timing! I just bought a 10" Dob a few weeks ago. A Sky-Watcher Synscan 10. Two similar questions. It's difficult to twist your head into place to see into the finder. Do you recomend a diaganol, if so, which one ? I think comfortable image viewing could also benefit from a diagonal. So what would you recommend.?
My first look at the moon blew me away. In 60 years of observing and photographing the moon, I've never seen such spectacular contrast and detail. I'm buying that book!
Now I know why the cover has a cap with a hole in it 😅
Super helpful!
An adjustable height chair would be good. Do you have one in mind?
Hi! I’ve never used a diagonal on a Dobsonian, I’m not even sure there’s enough room to reach focus if you add one. I always stargazing standing up with a Dob. If you find a good chair, let me know! Thanks for the pleasant comment!
That was my concern, focal distance.
Love your videos bro❤❤
Thanks!
of course, a table top $50 Bostonian telescope is perfect for looking at the moon. It would help you study it a lot more as you try to map it’s surface and measure the height of its mountains.
So thankful I found your channel. Beginner star gazer here. I have the Nat Geo 70mm telescope. My question to you is, would you suggest a 6in dobsonian telescope or the Celestron star sense explorer LT 114AZ. I do plan on taking some pictures through it but not a lot. Thank you for your time. All your videos are so informative.
Thanks! The Dobsonian will be much better for stargazing. The 114 has very poor optics. For taking photos, a used SeeStar would save you a world of frustration.
I should’ve started out with an 8” dob but I never liked how ugly they look. I went with a 6” newt that I loathed on every level. It had a trashy tripod made of plastic joints, cheap cast iron eq mount with poor machining QC and an OTA that just never collimated correctly. The views were far from stellar.
Fast forward 8 months later, I picked up a 12” dob and that’s what kickstarted my hobby obsession. It was simple, easy to use and stable. The views were very clear with the right eyepieces.
This is the way!
Could you send me a link where you purchase yours? Or just the model # please? Also, would you recommend 12” for a beginner as in with zero experience?
@@nightowl7510 I would never recommend the 12” dob to a beginner and especially without knowing this mileage. The whole unit stands almost 6ft tall and weighs a little under 100lbs total weight.
There’s a lot of factors to consider when getting a HUGE light bucket: do you have a vehicle big enough to haul it around when need to? Do you have a big and tall enough space to store it? Can you see yourself lifting and carrying a 60lb tube around? Can you push and pull almost 100lbs to your backyard and up some heights if needed?
Are you physically fit to handle the extra weight or tall enough to see at 5’8” height? That’s where the eyepiece is at zenith.
If you want my recommendation, an 8in Dobsonian is the way to go for any beginner astronomer. Get any models made from GSO: apetura ad8, zhumell z8, Orion skyline 8, and so on. They all come with a 10mm plossl eyepiece and a 30mm wide view eyepiece. The main attraction is the dual speed focuser and easily adjustable rear screws for the mirror cell. You can always buy cheap knobs for the secondary off Amazon.
Don’t let the ugliness dissuade you. They perform FAR better than a Newtonian on an Equatorial mount with little to no vibration issues you get from tripods.
I bought my z12 from Facebook marketplace used because the fella wanted up upgrade to a goto system and had difficulty with it. It needed some collimation work and missing screws but it works flawlessly now.
You’ll find that the 8in dob is the sweet spot because it’s easy to lug around and have just enough power to see DSOs.
Clear skies!!!
Great intro video. I love to play with my 10" Dob while the automated astro rig does its thing.
Thanks!
Amazing video! I’m going to get my degree in astrophysics when I’m older
Such a fun degree! I had a blast during my astrophysics degree!
great video!
Thanks!
Well done! ❤
Thanks!
Good video. My question is how big of dob can I carry up the basement stairs. 😂
"I should get a Dob" is what a lot of astronomers like to hear
Yup
I’m saving for one right now 😂
A new one since the one I used is broken
@AviationNoor keep an eye on highpoint scientific's used scope section. I got a new-condition AD8 in original packaging with all accessories for about 520 bucks.
@@TonerLow great idea I’ll look into it rn
hi i’m looking to get a dob as first telescope. i mainly love clusters and want to see them without going on a laptop etc would a 12 inch or 16 inch dob do the job?
Bigger is definitely better, but a 16 inch dob is challenging to move around by yourself. It needs to be on wheels or basically be fixed in one location (not moved in and out of a house). Also, sky darkness matters more then the telescope.
I have a Dobsonian for more than 10 years. Because the tube is relatively light (11 kg) for a 203 / 1200 mm (8") telescope, recently I got my first equatorial mount so finally I will be able to take some long exposure images. BTW there is a video with John Dobson on telescope making. Dobson did a lot for the sidewalk astronomy and the popularization of stargazing in general, but his ideas on cosmology were at least far fetched, to put it mildly.
Thank you.
You’re welcome!
I’m getting a 8 inch celestron dobsonian for my birthday it that a good scope
Fantastic!
Can you make a product review on Celestron Astromaster 130 eq
Maybe someday, the general consensus is that the telescope is too terrible to consider (for many reasons)
You know many people are just buying that telescope for some reason that I don't understand
I got a Dobson for my Nephew (actually more for me, the nephew is just a good excuse to spend the money) because he expressed interest in space. I never had a telecope as a kid so he should not lack that.
But, I need to learn how to use it and how to navigate the night sky =D
I just bought one for the "family" as an early christmas gift..... Hehe, they shall never know.
And what are the best Stargazing guidebooks?
110 Things to see with a telescope :-)
Yeah, think I bought a 12 inch and it came with a mini scope for the finder scope. Problem is I need a finder scope for the finder scope.
Yup, that’s why most folks add a telrad.
I bought the 8 inch debsonian star sense explorer I haven’t been able to see anything just a palm tree,the app keeps saying can’t find telescope position 😢
That means the app can’t see the stars in your phones camera.
@@LearnToStargaze like too many clouds maybe?
@@blueazul5778 too many clouds? You need effectively zero clouds. Using a telescope when there are clouds is called "Sucker-Holing".
Hey i bought 10" dobsonian some time ago - has a lot o fun with it. I wanted to buy your book "110 things..." but why i cannot find the pdf version of it anywhere beside torrents? I would love to support you and buy it instead of pirate it. The link you have in your description is only for paper version on Amazon which i cannot order in the place i live. I don`t know if you will read my comment - i hope you do and will send me link for some place to buy your book in electronic format.
The paperback version got replaced by the spiral version (which is cheaper, too). There is no electronic version.
@@LearnToStargaze Ahh that was i thought :( Do you plan to publish electronic version in the future?
@@krzysztofrozbicki1776I’ll have to ask the publisher
Excellent video. For under 100$ I think a 70/700 mm achromat would be better than a 100mm newtonian :)
Under 130mm I’ve found refractors perform better.
Living in a high light pollution city would a light pollution filter help or are they a gimmick?
Hard to say. I didn’t have much luck with them in the city. They might work better on nebula from the suburbs. (Speaking about visual astronomy here)
I recently collimated my dob for the first time.i was very happy until i realised that my laser collimator was out of collimation!
Yup, this is very annoying.
IAM FIRST🎉🎉
David Lorenz's light pollution atlas is much more accurate than lightpollutionmap, it uses satellite data from 2022, while LPM uses data from 2015. Light pollution grows unfortunately, I need to drive for 3 hours to get into a blue zone
Sorry but refractors are clearly easier to use for beginners than dobsonians since they so not need to be collimated.
I personally found the Dobsonian to be far easier. Collimation is pretty trivial.
If ur never gonna get a dob ur always gonna be a beginner to collimation so what’s the difference
Dobsonian mounts are not all that great for astrophotography.
I thought he stated exactly that...
I wish you wouldn't talk like a tv announcer.
Thanks for the feedback
There’s no such thing as a Dobsonian telescope. It’s the mount that is Dobsonian, not the scope. It’s normally a Newtonian scope on a Dob mount.
Well, this is a new record for the most pedantic comment on the channel.
@ I know sorry mate, couldn’t help myself, I’m a scientist and I think accurate terminology matters. Also the channel is called “learn to stargaze”, so I thought that if your audience are mainly beginners they may not know the correct name of the equipment they are using.