Would like some advise on purchasing a telescope?

Question

Hello Team,

As long as I can remember I wanted to purchase a Telescope.
Now that I finally got the cash I am confused as to what to buy. I know that there exist a large number of telescopes on the market and of different type: Refractor, Newtonian, Cassegrain, and Schmidt Cassegrain.

This is what I am basically looking for:

1.Between $1,500.00 and $2,500.00.
2.Must find celestial bodies’ auto-magically by entering name of celestial body and/or coordinates.
3.It should also work manually.
4.I should be able to connect it to a PC (Laptop/Desktop).
5.I should be able to connect a camera.

I don’t know what other feature I should look for.
I plan to take the Telescope to the Caribbean and have some serious fun with it.

Please help me in selecting a good choice.

Thank you in advanced.

Answer 1

Typically when someone gives me these specifications for a telescope I advise them to get a Meade or Celestron Schmidt Cassegrain with 8" to 10" of aperture.

But those telescopes can be difficult to travel with (people do though). In all honesty, the Caribbean is humid and often overcast and is generally a poor location to view from, with the exception of total solar eclipses. The humid sea air will quickly rust what it can and could deposite damaging residue on a telescope so I don't recommend you take a $1500-$2500 telescope to that location.

But for a telescope in general I do recommend one of the Meade or Celestron Schmidt Cassegrains. You can see the models which may be in your price range at

http://www.meade.com
http://www.celestron.com

Answer 2

OK, now are we talking light gathering power or not execssively big and bulky. If you want to easily see Neptune then you need a Newtonian. Nice, big mirror, nice long tube. Requires you leave it set up outside all the time.

If you want less bulk and transportable, then the Cassigrainian.

Now do you want magnification or rich field and more light power.

Longer focal length (up to the limitatoins of hte mirro) is greatest magnification but darker view

Shorter focal length, less magnification but more light power and better shots with that camera of the Great Nebula, even though it will be smaller on the picture.

Probalbly sounds like you want a medium size Cassigranian.

A mead or possibly have you looked at Questar

Small, protable, high quality, but not a lot of magnification. Not for looking at Saturn really big or making the Great nebula really big, but it will get down to 10th magnitude or better.

As for the camera mount, go with care. You need to get a camera compatible with the mounting and have them warranty it will work.

Cameras usually work at prime focus, so the focal length determines how large the image is.

Remember, it's about 50 power PER USABLE inch and a Cassegraininan loses 2" because of the hole.

So an 8" cassigrain has 300x potential while an 8" newtonian has 400x potential.

Light loss also happens

An 8" cassigran against a newtonian with the SAME FOCAL LENGHT loses 1 or 2 f stops of light on the Cassigrainain

Maximum focal length should not exceed the 50x per inch concept NOR exceed that for a 4mm lens.

Thus there is no benefit in goiong longer if at 4mm on a 6" Newtonian you get 300x increasing focal lengh to get 400x makes the image distorted.

YOu want AT LEAST 200X with a 6mm lens so you can see Saturn nicely.

YOu want 1 1/4" draw tube.

You want Orthoscopic lenses for 6, 5 and 4mm.

Answer 3

Hey man,listen if u'r not serious abt astronomy,or is a beginner
my advise is don't waste the money.
if u are a beginner its much easier to use binoculars.If you don’t know the sky, you'll have a hard time setting up the telescope and aimming at things.
a binocular and a star chart would be enough to get u started.with a good binocular u can see lunar features, Jupiter’s moons,star clusters, nebulas.

but if u really want a telescope try these
Celestron C8-S GT Schmidt-Cassegrain
Orion SkyView Pro 120 EQ
Celestron C130-Mak GT Maksutov-Cassegrain

Answer 4

I recomend BUshnell, i have one, and it works great. I love it. It's so clear and you can see everything. GOod luck with your search.