I need help buying a telescope?

Question

I was thinking about buying an 8 inch orion telescope. Can any one tell me what things I could see with it and how hard it would be to locate objects? Am I getting a good deal if I buy it because it comes with a LaserMate Deluxe collimator and DeepMap 600 star chart.

Link to the website with the telescope:
http://www.telescope.com/shopping/product/detailmain.jsp?itemID=252215&itemType=PRODUCT&RS=1&keyword=xt8

Answer 1

You don't need help: You've made a good choice. Do it and enjoy.

You will want a better place to ask questions about your equipment, and your observing, than here. Try the discussion groups at

www.cloudynights.com

The other good place is www.astromart.com. There is a one time fee of $12 but tremendous discussion groups and you get to use the classifieds area where you can buy used equipment a significant discount.

The Deep Mar 600 is a good star chart. Since you ask I'll suggest two things. One is a *planisphere* which has a rotating circle so you can set it for the time and month you are out under the sky. This helps find constellations. My favorite one is from the Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles and costs about $5.00 last I looked. Eastern Mountain Sports sells planispheres and so does Barnes and Noble.

If you want a more detailed and inexpensive maps of where things are in the sky, all things considered, I prefer BRIGHT STAR Atlas by Skiff and Tirion. Sells for something like $10 including postage. This is thin, excellent maps, and even though the title says "stars" has a thousand or so objects for you to find, and they're all among the brighter ones to go for. There are many other catalog options but these are easy, inexpensive, and very high quality.

A zillion other guide book options are on the provided link; the Sky & Telescope "Essential Guide" is increasingly popular but I like the larger format maps in Skiff's book.

Order the scope and enjoy.

GN

Answer 2

When it comes to telescopes, the light gathering ability is everything. Hence bigger is typically better. Not always. What you can see depends on your sky conditions and your patience. This telescope requires you to move it around, or "starhop" to find objects to observe. It will be necessary for you to select an object from the chart, and then find it with a telescope. Somewhat daunting at first. Collimation can be done w/out a tool, but requires good sky conditions and high power eyepiece. Are you ready to find objects on your own? Or would a computerized be better? If you want to see a lot I recommend a computerized scope w/a database. This maximizes what you will be able to see in any given night.

Answer 3

Becasue of the nature of this scope it is primarily for objects or neary by objects you can see with your eye.

A dobsonian mount is just another type of Alt Azumith mount but without the ability to add a drive.

It's a good, basic telescope and you'll basically be on your own for finding things the hard way, like Newton had to do it.

With an equitorial (fork or counterweight) you can use graduated dials (RA and DEC) to set the scope to a plotted object you can't see with your eye (like Neptune)

You can find Neptune with this scope, you just need to look for a star you can see NEAR Neptune and then move the scope around until you FIND Neptune.

An equitorial mount will add more weight and cost to the final telescope, so you'll be paying more like $800 for a computer drive equitorial and on an 8" you are going to have a hard time moving it in and out.

Those are you only considerations

Do you want a computer to help locate things

Do you want a drive to keep it in the eyepiece for minutes or hours at a time

Or do you want a low cost,do it by hand telescope that visually won't see any more than the others, they only make seeing them easier to find.

Answer 4

Orion makes very good dobsonians at very reasonable prices and I often recommend the telescope you're looking at.

How hard is it to find things? Well if you're new to the sky it will take some time but you'll eventually get it, and if you keep at it, you'll get to where you can reckon pretty good without using "guide" stars....people tend to "star hop" to find objects. This is why you should also buy a pair of binoculars, to find smaller stars near your object.

What can you see with it?
You'll be able to see some detail on most of the planets. The calmer the night, the more magnification you can use and the more detail you can see.

With deep space objects, you don't need such magnification but you do need dark skies. You will be able to see many galaxies, and you might be able to see detail in some of them. M104, the sombrero galaxy, will look somewhat like a little sombrero. Most galaxies will look like oval blurs though.

You will be able to see many nebula and some of them will present with a lot of structure. You can enhance this with filters like a OIII filter.

Answer 5

This is an excellent choice for a first scope. You'll need a good map and a guide book or two to help you find objects. I'd recommend Roger Sinnott's Pocket Sky Atlas (Sky), Phil Harrington's Star Watch (Wiley), and Consolmagno and Davis' Turn Left At Orion (Cambridge. 8" aperture will give you fine views of the Moon and planets, hundreds of double and multiple stars, and hundreds of deep sky objects (star clusters, nebulae, and galaxies). Highly recommended!

Answer 6

Try web. For observing the Moon and major planets and separating out binary stars—a small, quality achromatic refractor of 60mm to 80mm aperture will make a fine starter scope.

Answer 7

Looks ok but I bought one for my granddaughter and it didn't work too good as they live in the edge of a large city and the lights blind you.

Answer 8

wow Mira gave my suggestion !
ask an astronomer !

she helped me use my scope and accesories and now i am really enjoying them
she'll really help you!!
and teach you about using your scope and finding things out in the night sky

go for it !

Answer 9

easy...everything...in fact, with that kinda telescope you can see shooting stars, planets, and house from afar!