Perhaps I can utilize this technology to seek out and find my hottest neighbors... oh wait, I mean to look at the stars. Yeah, that's it, stars..

Jrsy is the dude, playing the dude, disguised as another dude

@hexydes: I'm sorry dave, I'm afraid I can't do that.

bobojuice

My God...it's full of stars!

hexydes

@baldingnerd: With so many different types of telescopes, price ranges, and features, it's really kind of difficult to pick anything.

Got any store links to compare?

bobojuice

@VideoVampire: you dont even need a telescope to find Betelgeuse. It's one of the stars that make up the constellation Orion.

[en.wikipedia.org]

bobojuice

Can it find Beetleguise?

VideoVampire

@bobojuice: the meade scopes vary in price from store to store, sometimes if you look around you can find a good deal. Also look for older models, they tend to drop in price as the new stuff comes out.

baldingnerd

@baldingnerd:

ack, I lost a few words in my sentence -

should read "Then you say look at "some object and" it will slew to the object and track. Then you could take a photo of it or just look at it.

baldingnerd

Been looking into getting a telescope for a bit now, and all the one's i've seen with GPS are an arm and a leg. I cant even begin to imagine what this one is worth.

then again anything would be better than the 29.99 red Tasco telescope i had when i was a kid. :D

bobojuice

this looks promising. I have an old 80mm from them with the autostar and the LPI ccd module, trying to get it all to talk to the laptop via serial, messing with the software and trying to set up the telescope each night is a pain and makes me not want to use it much.

Something like this is pretty nice, pull it out, turn it on, it finds where it's at. Then you say look at it will slew to the object and track. Then you could take a photo of it or just look at it.

Much nicer than lugging all that extra crap around.

baldingnerd

This would be awesome! I've been wanting a telescope for a while, and being able to take pictures would be great as well. Too bad I have to drive an hour or so to get anywhere dark enough to see the stars.

GTgeek

I picked up a decent telescope this summer. I think 150mm (don't remember) with interchangeable lenses. Couldn't spring for the GPS and have no room for a big scope, but I would love that. Got to see Saturn and its moons, but the rings were not happening for me. Finding it manually was a pain. If I had the money and the space (no pun intended) I'd get the GPS/lazy mans telescope.

Sora57

I have a lower powered manual telescope that I took with me to the mountains (less ground light) on vacation with some girlfriends. While heavily intoxicated someone bumped it and we realized it was perfect for looking in the hotel windows on the OTHER side of the valley. It was a mistake, honestly, but its amazing the detail you can get from even a low powered one. This ones looks much more interesting for star viewing.

Curves

@Curves: Exactly the reason I am adamant about closing the shades in my hotel room whenever I'm on vacation. That and unfounded paranoia about hotel rooms in general.

GTgeek

once i am done with school, that is one of my project. im studying engineering and hope that by the time i'm done ill have the skills to make one myself!!! these things are way to expensive for something that just reflects light with crystals. The only thing that is worth the money is the whole automated system that looks for the stars for you. Otherwise making the calculation or coordinates by yourself it's a skill that is cool to have i think.

Fuji-kun

I have mixed feelings about these things. Part of the thrill of amateur astronomy is doing these things manually and finding stuff yourself. After all, if all you want to do is look at cool objects, why bother doing it yourself when you can look at Hubble pictures that are a million times prettier?

Dearhaw

The "go to" ability has been around for about a decade, but the other features are nice upgrades, especially the CCD sensor and video out.

StutiCebriones

Note that 'self-leveling,' GPS-equipped, computer guided scopes, have been around for years. What makes the LS different, is that the on-board CCD takes care of the last of the "manual" requirements during the set-up procedure; the two-star alignment. Pretty impressive.

But yes indeed, many amateur astronomers would scoff at this since you are most likely able to pick-up a 12" Dobsonian with change to spare for quality eyepieces for the price of this telescope. The Dob will lack the auto-guide or tracking, but as another poster mentioned, the "hunt" is most of the fun in astronomy.

On the other-hand, equipment like the ETX-LS (including other guided scopes) are absolutely wonderful for instructional use, and for use during public observing sessions.

MichaelS

@GTgeek: Exactly the reason I leave my shades open, and my girlfriend and I act like we're getting into a fistfight. She usually wins.

badhatharry

@bobojuice: Google "choosing a telescope" and you'll get about a ten-thousand results, here's a few good ones: [www.space.com] [www.skyandtelescope.com]

I had a cheap-o department store telescope as a kid, and I recently got a "real" telescope to get back into the hobby for serious. After joining and getting advice from my local astronomy club (which I suggest you do) I bought the Orion 8" Dobsonian which I have been very happy with and is an exceptionally good deal. Its the right size for picking up and plopping down in my backyard in a matter of minutes, and not having to worry about polar alignment or excessive cool down times. Though, this hobby is like a drug, and I'm already thinking about adding to my collection a nice apochromatic refractor which would be a lot more portable for taking in the car to dark sites and whatnot.

The best advice all those articles and all the experienced users will give is that "the best telescope is the one that you use most frequently!" You could have the biggest, baddest GPS computerized astrophotography tracking telescope, but since it weighs 150lbs, requires battery power and needs 2-hours of setup time, you'll never use it as frequently as one you can just plop down on the ground, slide in an eyepiece and start viewing in 15 minutes.

LastVigilante

Dont' think that's anything new in this.
Meade always had their series which had GPS as well as computer controlled system which had a built in database. So you just had to type the object name/code in and it would point it in that direction.
The new thing is probably the ccd sensor built in. Even that could have been added as a seperate attachment earlier.
Although, the sensors that they have are normally of very low resolution. Only recently did they come out with a sensor that is actually 1.2 MPixels. Till then all they had was a VGA sensor and lower.

XneoX

@LastVigilante: this.

I'm currently building my setup with a 3.5" Mak, so I can take it with me anywhere, even on airplanes.

Some Caribbean islands have lots of dark sky.

wingbatwu

@Fuji-kun: "these things are way to expensive for something that just reflects light with crystals"

Wow. You have no idea how many astronomer's and optics engineers you've just insulted. FYI, there aren't any "crystals" in a telescope. A reflector telescope uses mirrors, the primary of which needs to be ground to a precision parabola where the tolerances are so tight that if even off by a degree of the width of a human hair would ruin the optics.

LastVigilante

This really is nothing new at all...
telescopes have been using GPS for ages and ages, and before that you just had to aim it true north and do a simple RA/DEC conversion for longitude.

Honestly... This isn't really a great solution. You want an external CCD because if that breaks your out a whole telescope. Any, and I do mean any, CCD will hook directly to the computer (this one isnt' even cooled... )

The company is good, that can be said for it.

tk2k

@wingbatwu: I'm assuming "this" was suppose to be a link, but yes, I get your point. I was thinking about a Mak also, since they're good for planets and I do loves me some planet watching. I'm just not too sure about the cool-down times, though a 3.5" shouldn't be too bad.

May I also suggest you consider New Mexico, IMO the darkest skies in the lower 48 states as they've got some great light pollution laws. I was just down there this summer and if you can find a place in the mountains, they've got scary dark skies.

LastVigilante

I have a circa 2001 Meade LX-90, which has basically the same optics (at 8"). Very nice scope. Mine makes you do all the setup and alignment manually, but I don't mind so much.

bagumpity

@bagumpity: Since this is in Meade's ETX line, I'm assuming its a Maksutov-Cassegrain, probably using their 127mm (5.0") OTA. I think your LX-90 is of the Schmidt-Cassegrain persuasion, right? (unless I don't understand Meade's model number system)

LastVigilante

@MichaelS:

The hunt is fun for some but not everyone. I prefer just the viewing and that with a telescope. Hubble is not live viewing, its just the pictures. Especially if I want to take my scope out and show it off with friends setting it up and lining it up on a cold night ain't fun. To each his own though, some like getting into the nitty gritty of the car and doing their own belt, oil and spark plug changes.

SidV

@Sora57:

If you can't find Saturn manually, and/or think it's "a pain" then Astronomy isn't for you, because you're really hopeless.

There's a skill-set in Amateur Astronomy. Clearly, you haven't developed yours!

darex

@darex: I'm afraid you're right. But I have an excellent skill-set in amateur gynecology.

Sora57

Is this a hand held Meade telescope? That's the size of your palm or hand, and is wifi, bluetooth, ir enabled connections etc...plus, does it have FLIR too? Then hook up, ahhhhh.

StealthNinja