You have a lot of choices in this price range. For around a thousand dollars you could get:
a 12" dobsonian
an 8" Newtonian on an equatorial mount
a 6" Schmidt-Cassegrain on a goto mount
a 5" achromatic refractor on a goto mount
an 80mm Chinese apochromatic refractor on an equatorial mount.
What's best for you depends on what and how you're going to observe. All other things being equal, the most important thing is aperture. The 12" dob will show you a lot more than the 80mm refractor.
I've included some links to telescope buying FAQs, but your best resource is your local astronomy club, if you have one. Go to some star parties, look through some different telescopes, and ask the owners about the advantages and disadvantages. If you find yourself overwhelmed by all the choices, I suggest an 8" dobsonian. It's big enough to show you a lot, and small enough to be easily stored and transported.
2006-08-15 06:32:55
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answer #1
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answered by injanier 7
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It depends on what you are going to do with it.
For daytime terrestrial viewing, War surplus Naval binoculars are really great. They are about as strong optically and as big as you can use without a tripod. Images are right side up and in 3D. Their light collecting ability is superior to civilian binoculars.
For night time terrestrial viewing you might consider the above of course, but also consider some of the light amplification scopes on the market for seeing in low light. There are many opportunities to watch wild life with them.
For astronomy, there are hundreds of choices. The two main types are refractors or reflectors. Refractors are longer and use lenses to magnify and focus the light. Reflectors use mirrors to collect the light and lenses to focus it. They are shorter and fatter. They are favored because they can collect more light more cheaply than expensive lenses.
Consider a used commercial scope. After you decide on what you want, you might find a jewel of a set up that somebody is tired of.
If you want to take pictures of objects in the night sky, the motorized base is more important than the power of the scope. No scope will let you take a good picture without a good tracking mount that is clock driven. Be sure to learn about this before you spend money on the scope. The scope you buy should be able to fit on the tracking mount you get. hopefully you can get them together but there is no guarantee.
Some of the best scopes are made by amateur enthusiasts. Check the local media and astronomy clubs for good deals. Those folks are always making a new and better scope, and sell the old one.
;-D Shopping around and deciding what you need is much better that asking Yahoo Answers! ha ha!
2006-08-15 02:15:02
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answer #2
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answered by China Jon 6
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examine up when you consider that there are a _lot_ of subject matters to think about, and nobody right here has the time or inclination (or each now and then, expertise) to flow by skill of each of the suitable subject matters in detail. My inclination might want to be to a Meade LXD75 - you may merely be able to sneak the SN-8 in less than funds. it really is a goto scope that could want to correctly be cautioned by technique of computing device even inspite of the undeniable fact that i doesn't pay too a lot interest to that. the alternative might want to be a more effective guide scope yet you may want to truly opt to take that to a depressing sky area to get any take advantage of it. making use of a wide scope in suburban skies is a unnecessary workout because the skies are literally not darkish adequate so that you'll employ the further aperture. Goto does help looking issues in person-friendly polluted skies. some insist that it truly is dropping funds more effective efficient spent on optics yet finally it doesn't remember how good your optics in case you won't be able to discover the object in the first position. For mid decision scope it truly is a take it or go away it ingredient. Any more effective than the $one thousand factor i'd say it truly is a diverse.
2016-11-25 02:09:11
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answer #3
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answered by ? 4
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I think you should get a 4 inch refractor (longer focal length the better) if your interests are planetary, or a 6, 8, or 10 inch dobson mounted Newtonion reflector if you want to observe faint fuzzy objects and galaxies. Refractors require less maintenance
Eye pieces are very important, maybe 3 plossls of perhaps 35mm, 20mm and 10 or 12mm- would be a good start. avoid cheap barlow lenses. High powers for planets and lower ones for deep sky veiws.
Get the catalog from Orion telescopes- great starting setups at good prices
2006-08-15 02:21:33
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answer #4
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answered by scootda2nd 2
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if you have never owned a telescope..I would sugest a reflector..rather than a refractor, it gathers more light..which is the best thing a telescope can do. edmond scientific makes a real nice ,portable 4in.reflector for around $250.00
2006-08-15 02:04:04
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answer #5
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answered by Amy C 1
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Great question, I am a star gazer too
2006-08-15 01:59:12
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answer #6
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answered by Anonymous
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