I need to help to buy a telescope?

Question

I found a telescope store in toronto that is 3 hours away from me. I would like to buy a telescope from them which of the fallowing would be the best to buy. I am a beingnner

Sky-Watcher 80mm (3.1'') Table-Top Telescope

Sky-Watcher 153mm (6'') Dobsonian Telescope

NewStar Compact 4.5'' Equatorial Newtonian Reflector Telescope

Celestron AstroMaster 76EQ Telescope

NewStar 70mm Refractor - The Perfect Beginner's Telescope

Vixen A70Lf telescope


Here is the link to the website

http://www.telescopes.ca/telescopes/RENDER/5/1024/P1024.html

I live a round kingston ontario

Answer 1

If I knew exactly where you were in Ontario, I might be able to help you find a store closer than Efston. There are a _lot_ of good telescope stores in Ontario (including Efston).

Of the telescopes you've listed, my first choice would be the Sky-Watcher Dob, since it has the largest aperture and the most solid mount. Most of the others are on shaky equatorial mounts, very hard to use, and have pretty small apertures.

To the person who's never heard of Sky-Watcher, they're only the main brand of the world's largest telescope maker, Synta. Synta makes almost all of Orion's scopes, and most of Celestron's, except the high end SCTs. They're even making Celestron's 6" SCTs. The Sky-Watcher brand is well known everywhere in the world except the USA.

Answer 2

With telescopes, bigger is better. So I would pick the 6 inch Dobsonian as the first choice. If you really need the equatorial mount, the 4.5 inch NewStar might be a good choice, but be sure you know how to use an equatorial mount before going that way. I would not even consider the smaller ones. They are just too small. And binoculars are always good. Every astronomer should have good binoculars for low power viewing. But for planets or the Moon you need a telescope.

Answer 3

I've bought from telescope stores in Ontario and would recommend the 80 table top for well less than 300 dollars Canadian, if you don't mind chromatic aberration. This is inherent in inexpensive refractors. It is the blueish distortion you see around bright objects at higher powers, but for the price it is a nice portable scope. The equatorial mount EQ1 might not be of your liking if you will do any terrestrial viewing.

For a little more money I would recommend the SkyWatcher 102 or 127mm maksutov cassegrain telescopes. Very high power and very portable.

Probably the best scope for under 800 dollars, if this is within your budget is the SW 80ED PRO series. A liitle longer than the 80 table top, and you much less false colour compared to the SW80table top achromatic refractor, but it is over 400 dollars more.

Answer 4

March,

As I said in the previous answer, you shouldn't get anything smaller than 4.5". This rules out refractors. Refractors are also a bad idea because the ones you will be able to afford aren't apochromatic. This means they will have chromatic aberration. You will see color blurring with them. Because of their small aperture, you won't be able to see many things with them either.

You can order one from http://www.oriontelescopes.com or http://www.telescopes.com

There are many other websites as well.
I recommend you order a telescope online or from a catalog. Out of all the ones you listed, I'd go for the 6" one but Sky-Watcher isn't a brand which I know much about.

Answer 5

There is a brilliant podcast, AstronomyCast. And they are very helpful with everything. Here is a podcast that was made to help solve the problem that you have. Or you can read what they had to say.
http://www.astronomycast.com/observing/episode-33-coosing-and-using-a-telescope/

And just in case you think you're not totally ready for a telescope yet check this out:
http://www.astronomycast.com/observing/getting-started-in-amateur-astronomy/

EDIT: Personally, I would highly recommend binoculars as a start.