what is a good telescope that is under $100?

Question

I am wanting a telescope I live out in the country in florida but cannot go above $100.00

Answer 1

Mine is a Sky_Watcher SK 80/400, a refractor (lenses only, no mirror) that I got for less than $100. However, I did have to buy a separate sturdy tripod, as the telescope is designed as a table-top model (tiny tripod).

(80 mm is the diameter of the objective lens -- approx. 3 inches)
(400 mm is the effective focal length).

I used it on a university-level astronomy project (calculating the orbital period of Jupiter's satellites using only devices and methods available in the 17th century -- got an A).

I also have more expensive telescopes (e.g., a 10-inch Newtonian reflector). The smaller telescope is better for pleasure-observing, as it sets up in less than 5 minutes and is so light that I can lift it with one hand, even when fully assembled (the Newtonian weighs 60 pounds once assembled).

If we take the normal aperture of the eye's pupil to be 7 mm, then a 30 mm telescope gathers 18 times more light (varies as the square of the diameter): this means that you can see stars 18 times fainter than with the eye (a gain of 3 magnitudes -- not much by modern standards, but still fun).

Also, the resolution (ability to see details) varies as the diameter so that the telescope's image is 4 times "crisper" than the naked-eye view. This is a great telescope to see the Moon's major craters.

It does not have big magnification (I get up to 50x) but then, you should not use big magnification on small telescopes.

Enjoy

Answer 2

Just about anything you buy for uunder $100, or even under $200, won't be worth your money. My advice to you is save your money until you can afford a nice telescope.

If you absolutely want to see things now, buy a nice pair of 7x50 binoculars. You will find them handy when you get a telescope anyway.

When you do buy a telescope, remember, the most important aspects of it is not power, but aperture and mount stability.

Many low end telescopes will advertise claims like "900X power!" and put images of things they want you to think you will see on the box.

The power of a telescope is determined by a combination of the telescope and the eyepiece though, and while you may be able to put a high magnification lens in your telescope to get that "900x power", unless you have a very large telescope, like one with a mirro or lens that's 20" across, you will just see a blurry image.

Aperture, which is the diameter of the telescope's mirror if it's a reflector and lens if it's a refractor, is what you want to look for. More aperture means more light collecting ability. Most things in space aren't itty bitty so don't need to be magnified all that much, in fact many galaxies take up a portion of sky as large as the full moon, but they are dim and need to be brightened. If you do want to use high magnification for any particular reason, generally, the more aperture you have, the more magnification you will be able to use and still get a decent image. The absolute smallest telescope I'd get would be one that has 4.5" of aperture.

Many telescopes under $200 have just this. They will allow you to see some interesting things like you have never seen before but often times they have horribly unsteady mounts. This is a huge issue. A telescope with an unstable mount is worse than trying to drink a hot cup of coffee while riding a bull. One way around this is to buy a Dobsonian. Most Dobsonian mounts are inherently stable but if you want to do astrophotography, you will need something on a sturdy german equatorial mount, or a big metal fork mount, as in the kind that comes with many schmidt cassegrains.

Answer 3

Unfortunately there is little truth in advertising when it comes to low cost optical telescopes. You will often see the colourful boxes in the stores, smattered with spiral galaxies, and boasting 800X magnification. The real problem is not that these celestial objects are so small that 800X magnification will help. The real problem is that they are too dim, and the solution is ever larger lenses or mirrors that can gather enough light to make them visible. This does not come cheap. Particularly if you have children to consider, I would suggest a pair of astronomical binoculars, the wide field of view and large light gathering objective lenses make them ideal for beginners. You may enjoy a book called something like "Things You Can See in the Night Sky with the Naked Eye". Good luck and keep looking up.

Answer 4

Get binoculars with the largest lenses you can afford.

Lower magnification is better for astronomical observations, so binoculars that are 8 x 60 or 10 x 50 are likely the best you can do for the money. Mounting them on a tripod will help for astronomical observations.

The ebay listing below is just an example.

Answer 5

I'm sorry to tell you that your chances to find a telescope whose price to be below $100 are close to zero. However, you can look for binoculars, which are cheaper. But even with binoculars, when you want them to be under $100, you cannot ask for good ones.

Answer 6

You might be able to find a used one at that price, but not a new one. Binoculars are a good idea, or maybe join a local astronomy club.