I need some advice on telescopes.?

Question

I need some advice on telescopes. My family are pitching in together to get me my first telescope and my limit to spend is $800. I don’t want to risk getting a useless telescope that I’ll regret buying, so could anyone give me advice on what type to buy and what things I should specifically look for. Thankyou

Answer 1

look for aperture or the size of the main objective. most of the time this will the the mirror of the reflecting telescope. you want as big a mirror as you can get. ignore magnification, you'll probably only use between 50x - 100x for most astronomical viewing.

you want a good solid mount. a dobsonian mount is a good and cheap mount. an equatorial mount can be handier but they also tend to be unstable unless you dish out big bucks.

ignore the gimmicks like eyepiece holders and barlowe lenses. they are mostly useless.

i would recommend checking out stargazer steve http://stargazer.isys.ca/ these telescopes are reasonably priced and you put them together yourself!! so you can truly make it your own telescope.

i would get the six inch deluze reflector kit and then the higth power plossl eyepeice and the widefield plossl eyepeice, if i was you and if you can afford it.

or you could look up the book building and enjoying telescopes, in it there is instructions for building a few different sized scopes, all the way up to a big ten inch one, and most of the supplies are quite cheap.

do not go to walmart and buy whatever they have, even if it has a brand name on it. those are almost always bad ideas.

i know that from experience, lol.

i hope you enjoy whatever telescope you do end up getting

Answer 2

Someone suggested visiting a local astronomy club and I cannot support that enough. Definitely do that, and see if they have stargazing parties where they all bring their scopes in to look through. That way you can try a lot of scopes in one night without having to go into their homes.

Ask them, the local amatuer astronomers, what they recommend. You can have the biggest and best telescope in the world; but if you live in an area with a lot of atmospheric disturbance, it wont matter.

Another thing to check into is getting a wonderful set of binoculars with a good tripod. You will most likely want a pair of binoculars anyway to go along with your telescope to start with, so that you can use them to help you find the objects you want to view on the larger scale with the telescope.

The best is not always the biggest and most expensive. One of my astronomy professors brought in all his telescopes and let us play with them, and in MY area... his biggest, most expensive, was just as effective as his medium grade one because of the atmosphere problems. The reason he has the BIG telescope that cost a ton and is a PITA to transport is because he travels all over the country and world with it, so having the extra bells and whistles is useful to him. If you'll be staying in one place, make sure its a good place to use an incredbily high-quality telescope before you fork out the money.

Answer 3

Dear Beginning Astronomer:

First of all let me tell you that the very best telescopes are the most fantastic thing you will ever own in your entire life. But,
as we all know, the very best stuff costs lots of money.

Therefore, before you purchase your telescope I highly recommend that you join an Astronomy Club near you which has at least 50 active members. Go to their meetings. Become friendly with as many of them as possible and if you are lucky, you will be invited to their homes to look through their optical equipment. That is your goal. Learn from them
and see for yourself what is possible.

In telescopes the best are also the biggest and most expensive. Biggest means clumsiest to move and haul around to various observation sites. Most expensive means several things - automated and motorized to deliver instant viewing of selected targets - Most refined optical systems and specialized. coated optics.

Refractor telescopes do not do as well as Reflector Telescopes for observation of deep space. Refractor scopes may be used for Earth bound purposes as well as star gazing. Reflector scopes get rather big as you move past
about 8 or 10 inches in mirror size. The Tube gets really big.
Several companies have a folded design which is far more convenient to move around, but these cost more. You will need to investigate these carefully before making your final decision, and I cannot do that for you. The money you mentioned is right on the edge of either a pretty good used reflector scope, or a good used folded reflector type scope of smaller size with all the fancy gadgets for positioning. You will need to learn from an experienced scope user how to protect your optics and set your scope up for usage. Transport and storage is also very important. your carefully adjusted scope must not ever be subjected to physical shock or dropped.

By your participation in Astronomy club activities you will hopefully become exposed to a few members who desire to move upward into fancier scopes - need to sell their older model. That is where you will meet success in your search
for a good scope with lots of accessories and helpful training in its usage.

Please try what I suggest, and you will be greatly pleased with the result. If you purchase your first scope right off the shelf there are a lot of fringe benefits, training, and possible accessories (lenses, filters, notes) you will loose out on. All of those cost extra money and before long you will want those
also.

Regards,
Zah

Answer 4

I think Orion has some good telescopes.......but don't just take my word for it. I am by no means experienced. :(

I DO know, however, that you should pay special attention to the the size of your primary mirror (or lenz). It will be a better indicator of the quality of your image than any amount of magnification. The larger in diameter your primary mirror, the sharper your image.

Good luck in your search! Hope you get a good deal! and when you do: enjoy exploring the universe!

(P.S. Saturn is particularly cool to look at if you can find it.)