where can i buy a good quality telescope to look up at the night sky?

Question

is there any good place to look up at the stars. The light pollution in London and other cities spoils the view

Answer 1

If you are just starting out - you might want to buy a good set of binoculars first before investing in a telescope. A good set of binoculars will give you a very good view of the night sky. A good online source is:

http://www.scopereviews.com/begin.html

Answer 2

DO NOT buy a telescope from the home shopping channel or sharper image.

First decide how much you want to spend. If you don't want to spend more than $150 to $200 then just consider a good pair of binoculars. I have Simmons coated optics 7X50 binoculars which I'm fairly happy with though I'd kind of prefer slightly more powerful ones with larger aperture.

I'd just buy the binoculars from a camera, sporting goods, or telescope supply shop and don't get the ones with the red or orange glass or the "compact" models.

If you want an actual telescope I'd buy one used because they're far far cheaper and most people do take care of their equipment. You may try eBay or www.astromart.com though you may have to spring for international shipping.

If you are in a big city, unfortunatly you will just have to go into the country side to get dark skies. If you just want to stay in the city and want something beyond binoculars then I'd recommend an apochromatic refractor such as the Orion ED 80. This will give you a very sharp view of planets and things easily viewable within the city. They sell for about $400 US

If you don't want to spend as much and you may want to see some deep space objects every once in a while, then I'd buy nothing smaller than a 4.5" Celestron or Meade reflector....actually you'd probably be happier with a 6" one and you can get them starting at maybe $200 used.

There are many different types of telescopes and it really depends on how much you want to spend, what you want to see, if you're going to be transporting it a lot, if you want it to find objects for you, and if you want to do astrophotography or not.

Do not buy anything from a department store. Avoid anything that comes in a box that emphasizes the telescope's power abilities on it. Keep in mind that with few exceptions, what you see in the telescope won't look like what you see in pictures because the camera can see more than the eye.

Celestron, Meade, and Orion are very good brands with a wide range of telescopes and I would suggest you look into those.

Answer 3

Here's a couple of web suppliers below.

Light pollution is a pain. The best places I've ever seen are in the mountains, like the Lake District and mid Wales. Otherwise look for somewhere like a peninsular into the sea which gives maybe one good direction. Around London and the south east is very difficult.

Answer 4

Do not, I repeat DO NOT buy a telescope at Walmart or any other such store. They sell cheap 'scopes, and by cheap I mean s**tty. Buying binoculars first is a very good suggestion. A good online sorce for telescopes and info on buying them is http://www.telescope.com. Another thing to do is look up an amature astronomy group in your area. They all have observing nights periodically where they love to show other people views of the stars and planets, etc., through their 'scopes, and they can offer you lots of practical advice for observing in your area.

Answer 5

I got a great little Reflector telescope at the wal-mart vision center for, like 29.00, that works well. I have heard that too much magnification is not good, because it make it too hard to stay aligned with what you are looking at, too shakey. I have heard not to buy a tasco anymore, becuase the optics are cheap, but I can't verify that.

Answer 6

Yes there is a place. But it's outside London.
Buy a telescope from your local planetarium/astronomy shop or buy it online on ebay / space.com's telescope company: Starrynight.com and Celestron.
Visit:
http://www.starrynight.com/
http://www.space.com/
http://www.celestron.com/
Buy a filter, this filters out the light of the sun, moon and light pollution.
Be warned these can be expensive.

Answer 7

Try Telescope House: http://www.telescopehouse.co.uk/ . They are specialists and know what they are talking about. You can also get filters that help with the light polution.

Answer 8

I got a great deal from the Home Shopping Network. You could also try Sharper Image. Try there on line stores.

Answer 9

Don't buy from a store unless you want to look DOWN at the sky

Answer 10

at a good quality telescope shop