How do I choose from the variety of telescopes?

Question

I want to add stargazing to my evening hobbies. What budget telescopes can I buy so I can view other planets in our solar system.. or far away stars?

Answer 1

Without question, the best budget telescope is not a telescope at all but a pair of decent binoculars. I was in amateur astronomy for 15 years or more before I could afford to buy a decent telescope - so I used binoculars. If you buy a cheap telescope, you will see the following:

1. The moon - it will be fuzzy and will jiggle around a lot.
2. The planets will look like blobs with no detail.
3. Deep sky objects will be impossible to find. If you do get a momentary glimpse, the mount will not allow you to keep it centered or even still in the eyepiece.

In short, this is about the best way for you to get so frustrated that you will chuck the entire hobby, and that would be sad.

I would highly recommend that you go to a dealer you trust, or check out Oriontelescopes.com on the internet. A decent tripod is also a good idea. Once you purchase these, go to an astronomy club meeting, buy a book or two, and spend some time learning the night sky. This will be satisfying in itself. Plus if you go to a club gathering, you will be able to look through 20 or 30 scopes at different objects and use the experience to decide what you really want in a scope, once you can afford to buy one.

Answer 2

Individuals stars look very uninteresting in telescopes. It's when they are in star clusters, or starfields, or maybe when they are double or variable stars that they are interesting.

First decide how much you want to spend. Be warned, a good telescope starts at $300.

For telescope dedicated to planetary viewing, apochromatic refractors with fairly long focal lengths are usually assigned for the task. These are the most expensive types of telescopes per inch of aperture though, and most people would rather spend that money on a reflector or catadioptric such as a Schmidt Cassegrain, which has enough aperture to see a fair amount of galaxies and nebula too.

I can't tell you what to get exactly but here is what I recommend and what I don't.

1. Don't get a refractor for the reasons stated above.
2. Don't buy from a department store.
3. Don't buy a brand such as Tasco or Bushnell.
4. Don't buy a telescope that advertises "900X power!" and has a lot of pictures on the box.\
6. Don't buy a low end telescope for $160
7. Don't use a 3x barlow.
8. Don't get goto on a telescope with less than 8" of aperture.
9. Don't buy a telescope with less than 4.5" of aperture.

10. DO buy a Celestron, Meade, Orion, or even a Zhummell.
11. DO buy the largest telescope you can afford and don't mind hauling around.
12. DO buy from a certified dealer or used.
13. DO make sure it has a sturdy mount. A metal german equatorial mount for newtonian reflectors.
14. DO buy a high quality 2x barlow.
15. DO make sure the telescope takes real telescope eyepeices, and not microscope eyepieces.
16. DO learn more about telescopes at:
http://members.aol.com/siriusbc/telescopes.htm

I think the best bang for your buck right now is the 10"Zhummell Dobsonian for $500. Dobsonians are simple, easy to use telescopes and 10" is huge, in fact it's the smallest size that is considered large enough for serious deep space viewing of galaxies, and will perform well on planets as well. It's at http://www.telescopes.com

Answer 3

I've been into astronomy for a few years, and here are some things i have learned about buying telescopes: -Try to not get a telescope under $200, you will be disappointed with the views of planets and you probably won't see any nebulae at all -Basically, the realistic maximum magnifications are about 40X per inch of aperture (primary mirror or lens diameter) -There are 3 main types: Refractor, Reflector, and Catadiopatric Refractors are generally used more for planetary views The aperture can range from 2 to 6 They have long narrow tubes, a classic example of a telescope.-provide sharp and clear views of the planets. Reflectors are usually used for both planetary and nebulae. Their aperture can be from about 4-16 inches. This type of telescope is the cheapest per inch of aperture. They can be big and heavy to carry. Catadiopatric telescopes are the most compact telescope, and they provide medium quality views of clusters, nebulae, and planets... But they can be pretty expensive. Remember a 3 inch refractor can be 20- 30 pounds, a 7 inch reflector could be 50-70! Here's a roundup of what you can see through different sizes of telescopes: 2-3 Inch aperture: -very small views of Jupiter, Saturn, Venus, Mercury, and Mars. -rings are visible on Saturn -Nebulae are out of the question for this size of telescope 3.5-4.5 inches: -small to medium size views of the planets mentioned above. -Neptune and Uranus are visible as very small blue disks -4 brightest moons of Jupiter and 1 of Saturn. -Nebulae and clusters are visible 5-7 inches: This is where telescopes really get expensive -awesome medium size images of planets -Clusters show thousands of stars, Nebulae are clear and sharp 8+ :Don't even go there. If this is your first telescope, stick to the smaller sizes. I would recommend telescopes by Meade and Celestron. Probably go for the 3.5-4.5 inch range if you want to get a refractor, and 4-6 range for reflector telescopes. $200- 500 is your best bet for a high quality entry level telescope. A bit long, but I hope it helped...

Answer 4

This is really a hard question to anwser because if you get a scope thats too cheap you might become dicouraged and give it up.for planets wal-marts got some cheap refracters (best for planets) from $40-200. get one that doesnt have all of the crap on the mount at first so you can swivel it around yourself without getting confused how to operate the mount. 60-90mm scope will be good first scope.make sure it has 11/4'' eyepiece. Dont worry about high magnifacation.if you want to spend a little more $250-600 go to orion telescopes online and order the free catalog.they will mail it to you,and order a 6 inch dobsonion....have fun...its a very rewarding hobby if you stick with it....oh yeah,get a star chart and learn the constellations,and when you find them on the chart,you will see were all of these cool nebulas and galaxys are too

Answer 5

The best advice I can give you is probably one you don't want to hear.
Find an Astronomy club in your area. They all have "Star Parties" where the public is invited.
There you will get a chance to look through lots of Telescopes at lots of objects. This will give you a realistic idea of what you can expect from the various sizes and makes of Telescopes. These folks will gladly answer any questions you may have. You will learn more in an hour at one of these events than you would in a month of reading about it.

Adolph

Answer 6

This is not a great place to get answers aboiut telescopes, because very few people here know much about them. A much better place is theYahoo Group "Talking Telescopes":
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/telescopes/

Here are a couple of really good articles on choosing a first telescope:
http://observers.org/beginner/j.r.f.beginner.html
http://www.scopereviews.com/begin.html

The best buy in telescopes is the Dobsonian reflector:
http://www.telescope.com/jump.jsp?itemType=CATEGORY&itemID=9
http://www.skywatchertelescope.net/swtinc/product.php?class1=1&class2=106

Answer 7

I personally am putting all my money in the to buy the Hubble space telescope.

Answer 8

Go with Tasco, its very low priced and will get you started on star gazeing.