Best telescope I can buy with 5k ?

Question

any ideas ?

thank you injanier for your ideas....

Answer 1

Lots of options and opportunities to specialize in that price range.

A few possibilities:
Catadioptric: 12" Meade LX200R http://www.astronomics.com/main/product.asp/catalog_name/Astronomics/category_name/SH2RX8FAHP0M9KU9QPNE5T8P61/product_id/12210RU
Dob-Newt: 14.5" Starmaster
http://www.starmastertelescopes.com/new14.htm
or 15" Obsession
http://obsessiontelescopes.com/telescopes/index.html
Refractor: 130mm TMB Signature (you'll have to skimp on the mount to stay under $5k; maybe a used GM-8)
http://www.astronomics.com/main/product.asp/catalog_name/Astronomics/category_name/X9S97ENNVDED9JVW6C3HAN0S10/product_id/TMB130
or a 102mm Stellarvue and plenty left for a good mount
http://www.buytelescopes.com/product.asp?t=&pid=11163&m=93

Answer 2

To be honest, most of them.

Here's a list of new telescopes you might be able to afford. These are typically the top of the line telescopes so you may want to buy top of the line or buy something a little less and save some money for accesories. Some eyepieces are as much as $300.

Meade RCX400 10" which is a Ritchey Chretien type telescope. Meade LX200R 8" to 10" which is also a Ritchey Chretien
Any of the Meade LX90GPS series and most of the Meade LX200/LX200GPS series.
Most of the Celestron CGE model telescopes
Takahashi Mewlon 180 www.takahashiamerica.com
Takahashi FSQ-106 refractor (but why bother?)
15" Obsession f/4 Giant Dobsonian www.obsessiontelescopes.com

Giant 10" bioculars by JMI www.jimsmobile.com
JMI Standard NGT 12.5" Dobsonian

And that's all that comes to mind right now. Basically you can buy a dream scope. If you buy it used you will pay about half the price and may get free accessories. If this interests you, check out the classifieds on www.astromart.com

If I could choose I'd buy a used Ritchey Chretien or LX200 with pleanty of accesories such as filters and a few really good eyepieces, a TeleVue binoviewer, a good CCD camera, and some filters. I'd go for about 12.5" of aperture because I think this is the largest I'd be willing to cart around. The 16" LX200's and Ritchey Chretiens are on giant tripods and mounts which tower above even the taller people in the world. A Dobsonian would be far more practical for sizes larger than 12.5"

Answer 3

Is this your first telescope? If so I suggest you start a little lower in price range. 5K is a lot for a first telescope to find out you don't like astronomy and are disappointed with what you see. You will not see anything like the photos you see in magazines through any telescope. Most tings (galaxies, nebula, etc) show up with no color at all. Here is some more info:

# First thing to remeber, you do not need to get the biggest telescope you can afford. To the casual observer a 16" telescope which is very heavy, bulky and takes a long time to put together is not the best choice. Keep storage, mobility, and your realistic needs in mind. If all you want to do is observe the moon and planets you can do with a much smaller portable scope.
# Make sure that your new telescope has a sturdy tripod. (This is one of the most overlooked aspects of buying a telescope.)
# Important -- Remember that a telescope's ability to collect light is far more important then its ability to magnify. This is directly related to its aperature.

Avoid telescopes which go out of their way to advertise that they can archive really high magnifications. Truth be told, any telescope can archive 500X magnification; however, if not enough light is gathered there will be no detail to look at, only a large (sometimes too large) blob.

A little more about magnification...

Some important things to remember when thinking about high magnification and telescopes:

1. The higher the magnification the more atmospheric disturbances, optical quality, and other factors make it harder to focus the telescope.
2. The higher the magnification the less area of the sky you see through the eyepiece. This makes it harder to find your way around and also makes some larger objects impossible to see in their entirety.
3. The higher the magnification the more apparent the movement of the stars (actually the earth) is. This makes it harder to keep objects centered in your field of view.


If it is your first scope I would go to the $1000 - $1500 range. Stick to reflectors or catadioptric type telescopes.

Refractors can be great but are very limited in size and observable objects... If you start enjoying astronomy you will outgrow it fast, unless you're into astrophotography but that is another discussion.