can anyone recommend a good telescope?

Question

i want to buy a telescope, i have about 400euro to spend. any suggestions?

i think you need to talk to someone professional, slash

Answer 1

Let's see....... 400Euro's is £268 in proper money, so... that'll get you a MEADE ETX 80TC from this site:
http://www.telescopehouse.co.uk/page.aspx?theLang=001lngdef&pointerid=2CE746C8A36244058E984CB3A43A8EFA&action=lnk with change leftover for some accessories.
There's a whole site dedicated to using these scopes @ http://www.weasner.com/etx/menu.html

Or you could also get this Bresser 114mm Newtonian, and have even more change leftover
http://www.telescopehouse.co.uk/page.aspx?theLang=001lngdef&pointerid=3333CCD2AB4948389357ED8A5441F1D5&action=lnk

One accessory I would recommend, no matter which telescope you get is an Orion Explorer II Zoom Eyepiece
http://www.telescopehouse.co.uk/page.aspx?theLang=001lngdef&pointerid=37301lyYpdZOOyyC8IYPkREOGcHKUDdT&action=lnk

There's a good guide to choosing telescopes & Binoculars on the SKY & TELESCOPE magazine website:
http://skytonight.com/equipment/basics

Answer 2

The short answer for that amount of money is probably a "dobsonian" relecting telescope with a 150mm-200mm (6in-8in) primary mirror or a Meade ETX-80. However there is a longer answer too:

A lot depends on where and how you want to observe, what you want to observe, and how much space you have to store it. Also, find out if standing outside on cold, clear nights staring up at the sky is something you enjoy doing. For that try to borrow a pair of 7x50mm binoculars (or get some cheap at a "garage sale") and spend some time outdoors with an introductory book getting to know the sky.

If there is an astronomy club in your area, contact them and see if they have any public "star parties". Those are often a great opportunity to meet people who have telescopes and try out different kinds of scopes before you buy one of your own. You can also get the benefit of their experience and possibly make new friends.

If you are past that stage or need to go it on your own and are planning on observing in or near a city, you probably will be limited to looking at planets and double/variable stars. For that a good refractor (lens-based telescope) might work well. However you need to beware of telescopes that come with cheap "equatorial" mounts. They are more trouble than they are worth. Something with a simple manual alt-azimuth mount or computerized alt-az with "go-to" mount may work for you.

Also beware of scopes that are advertised as "400 power" and the like. A rule of thumb is that the maximum useful magnification is about 1x to 2x per mm of the primary mirror or lens. (30x to 50x per inch). So, a scope with an 80mm primary lens would typically be good for just 80x to 160x magnification depending on the viewing conditions.

The trouble with most refractor (lens-based) telescopes is that they are "achromatic" telescopes that can be subject to color fringes when looking at bright objects like planets and brighter stars (which is what you can mostly see from the city). To get around this you need to buy a kind of telescope with higher quality optics called an "apochromatic" telescope. These normally cost more for the same size, and you might have a hard time finding one larger than 70mm to 80mm on your 400 euro budget. However you will probably get much better and more satisfactory views from a 80mm apochromat than a 125mm achromat in most cases.

Next, for 400 euros you should be able to get a fairly good "dobsonian" style relector with a 150mm-200mm (6in-8in primary mirror). That is a good starter scope which can also be used under darker skies. If I had to recommend just one type of telescope without knowing anything else about your needs that's probably what I would recommend. A 6in/150mm scope will be lighter and a little easier to move around than an 8in scope. I have a 10in/250mm dobsonian that I rarely use because it is so heavy and hard to move around, so take that into consideration too.

A compromise between the newtonian reflector and apochromatic refractor scopes are the small compact reflectors like the Meade ETX-80. These mostly combine the better points of each type giving a good image in a small size that's fairly easy to transport and setup. I don't have much experience with these myself, but most owners I've talked to like them very much.

Save a little cash for some star charts and accessories like a red flashlight and a "telrad" or "dot" style 1x finder since the one that comes with your scope will usually be so useless that you need to throw it away.

Also, don't be afraid to start with a smaller "starter" scope and move up to another telescope later when you have more money if and when you find you really love to stargaze. The best telecope is the one you use the most, regardless of its size, magnification, or price. A smaller telescope that is easy to set up, can be taken with you when travelling, or pulled out for just 10 minutes now and them may be used so much more and hence a far better value than a bigger telescope that sits in the corner most of the time because it's so heavy and hard to set up or to move.

Answer 3

The source has several possibilities. It is a US company but I think they ship to Europe. I have heard there are big tax problems with doing that though. Like 100% import duties or whatever.

Answer 4

I would suggest building your own. I have a 10 inch Dobsonian that has served me very well since 1986...