I have multiple astronomy questions. Please read the details inside.?

Question

I am 13, and I want to grow up to be an astronomer or a physicist. I have a few questions on how I should get started.

1. I need to know what telescope I should buy. Actually, I would like to build one to learn the ropes.. Money is a problem though, so I need to know what I need in a telescope and how much I should pay.

2. I love stargazing, but once I get a telescope, I would like goals. what should be a goal for me

3. My mother does not really see anything in this and I need help on how I can get started as cheaply as possible. I can't get a job yet, of course

Answer 1

I started off with a 150X power telescope, but I'd recommend one that varies from 50 - 400X. Start with the smaller powers - you won't get the detail, but you'll have a lot more success finding stars in your eyepiece. Decent ones can be had for around 75-100 dollars. If you can use any birthday money, I'd recommend the automatically-motor driven ones to sight stars in - it's a lot more convenient and much less frustrating.

2. Stars in your scope will always be, basically, points of light. My fascination was with the planets - I could see the rings of Saturn, the moons of Jupiter, and Venus looking like the moon. Speeking of the moon, it's wonderful in a scope - you can see the craters quite clear, but beware - the larger the power you use, the faster the moon travels out of it's view.

3. You might want to consider building your own... Grinding your own glass, creating your own housing - look up "Home built telescopes" or "Grinding your own mirrors" on the net - there are several sites devoted to this. The Dobsonian mounted mirror telescopes (I've seen several) work great, but they ARE a lot of work to create.


Good luck!

Answer 2

1. Binoculars are a good choice. They have a wide field and produce sharp (but small) images. You can see many nebulae, globular clusters, and galaxies with them. If you must buy a telescope get a name brand, not an off brand, and remember, you truly get what you pay for. For a homebuilt you can buy the equipment for a reasonable cost, to build a mirror, but it is very time consuming, and you still must buy a mount and the eyepieces. I'd opt for a 4" Meade, Celestron, or Orion Newtonian reflector. If you do that don't bother with any eyepiece that yields more than about 200 power...more than 50 X the mirror (or objective lens) diameter in inches just magnifies atmospheric and other problems.

2. As for goals, how about looking at variable stars? There is an organization called AAVSO (American Association of Variable Star Observers) you can join and get your own variable star to watch..you must learn how to estimate magnitudes of it during it's cycle, so you must keep at it. You can also sketch lunar features, such as craters and seas, at various phases.

3. Study mathematics and physics. If you are serious about a career you will need those. If you decide to just be a serious amateur you may not need them. Don't buy junk, just because it's cheap. You might try to find a local Astronomy Club, and see if any of the members have old good 'scopes for sale, or go online to a nearby but not local one.

My first telescope was made of cardboard (the tubes) and mounted on a ladder..but I saw the rings of saturn, craters on the moon, and so on.

Answer 3

My advice:

Get a good pair of binoculars and a good star map book, and learn the sky like the back of your hand.

Binoculars enable you to see a large field of view and don't require the same kind of skill locating things. If you get ones with 50mm objective upwards, you will be amazed what you can see, especially in the Milky Way region.

OK, they don;t have the mag that telescopes have, but for learning the sky, forget the telescope for now. Get it later - the things in the sky are not going to go away.

Also, note that binoculars are best for comets - I have been into astronomy now for 50 years. I am a successful science writer, writing mainly astronomy articles for magazines, but I do not possess a telescope. I have huge pair of 15x80 binoculars. That's not to say never get a telescope. If you want to be a pro, you should get one at some stage.

You will need physics and math at a high level eventually, but stick at it.

But first, get to know your sky so well that your Mother thinks you are a genius.

If she has any trouble with this, she can contact me - you can email me through my Yahoo profile.

Good luck.

Answer 4

If I were you, I'd check out Orion. They have the best telescopes. A Newtonian Reflector telescope is a good telescope to see distant objects with, but they cost anywhere from $199 to $10,000. A Reflector is a good telescope to view terrestrial and extraterrestrial objects with, but it doen't get as much distance as a Reflector. They cost from $99 to $500. A good goal would be to start out observing and recording information you find from the planets. Once you get real good at that, move on to something like the ring nebula, or the Horsehead Nebula. Keep moving on and you'll be real good. An astronomer and physicist doens't just look at stars. They record information and use complicated equations, trigonometric functions, and Differential Calculus. I would go into research or become a college professor after that. Tell ur mom that. Look at the BLS website and look at how much Astronomers, Physicists, and College professors make. Here's another tip. Get real good at math and science. You'll need it for college. I'm thinking of going into college to be an astrophysicist. I'm only 15, but anyways, your mother isn't the one that is going to be going to college and becoming an astronomer, is she? Do what your heart tells you to do.

Answer 5

Try making contact with your local astronomy club. If you are in a metropolitan area, you may find them listed in the phone directory (yellow pages under "clubs and associations") or in a local community activities directory.

If you are in a smaller town, try the sciences department (physics, if it's a separate department) of your local/nearby community college, college, or university. Or try a high school science teacher. Any of these people is likely to know how to contact the astronomy club.

Your local astronomy club may have a junior chapter, but in any case they will probably welcome you to meetings and observing sessions. This would give you a chance to find out what kind of observing you will enjoy most and what kind of telescope or binoculars will work best for you. And you may be able to do some real observing for free or nearly so, with the help of experienced observers.

Moms tend to be skeptical about their kids' interest in science. Sometimes you can startle her into paying attention by studying up on scientific concepts and starting to talk about really advanced stuff.

"Mom, did you know that many black holes emit strong beams of X-rays that express energy we can't account for by classical mechanics?"

See what she says to that!

Anyway, good luck. Be a person who does not give up easily. Read everything you can get your hands on. Keep studying. If you encounter a problem you can't solve, solve any part of it that you DO understand, and then look at it again.

Keep plugging. The truth will set you free...

Answer 6

1. actually if u wanna make a simple a lot of books do have examples on making them. but if u wanna buy one and a good quality at that i its very expensive, some costing few hundreds of dollars.

2. this depends on your geographical location. if you are in Singapore( like me) i suppose you will be very lucky if u get to see even 10 stars (due to light pollution). but well if your sky is extremely clear you can always get a stellar map n try to find all the diiferent constellations. there are about 3000 stars each night on a really clear night.

3. yes its true its not realistic to set your goal as an astromer only, because few ppl can actually make astronomy a profession. if u wanna take it as a hobby yes but career no. that's why you see only few countries really spending big bucks (like nasa and stuff)

well u can always take it as a hobby!

Answer 7

First you need to decide what type of scope you want, then its aperture. Magnification means nothing, you choose a telescope based on its aperture, not its magnification power. This will get you started below:

Read this: How to Choose A Telescope
http://www.telescope.com/content/learningcenter/content2main.jsp?iCategoryID=23&iContentID=623&CCNavIDs=19,20,23

Long version of the same article:
http://www.telescope.com/content/learningcenter/content2main.jsp?iCategoryID=23&iContentID=619&CCNavIDs=19,20,23