Please help me to choose a "TELESCOPE"!?

Question

I've been stargazing for a while now with a 7x50 Binoculars, and although it's better than naked-eye stargazing, still I don't really see much with them and then I live in London (UK), so as you can imagine light pollution and UK weather doesn't help much either. I want to buy a telescope but don't know how to choose a beginner one. A refractor, reflector or Newtonian? Which aperture, 6 inch (150 mm) or 8 inch (200 mm)? What about those computerized, "Go To" telescope? And are they expensive? Please explain. Thank you!

Answer 1

First of all, this is not the best place to get reliable advice on telescopes. There are very few people here that even own telescopes, let alone know anything about them. I'd strongly recommend asking the same question in a forum with experienced users such as "Talking Telescopes":
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/telescopes/

But first you need to do a bit of homework. For starters, here are a couple of excellent articles on beginner's telescopes:
http://www.scopereviews.com/begin.html
http://observers.org/beginner/j.r.f.beginner.html

For more in-depth treatment, read Phil Harrington's book Star Ware (Wiley) 4th edition.

A lot of the answers so far have a U.S. slant; most U.S. dealers won't ship to the U.K. An excellent web site with a UK point of view is Steve Tonkin's Astronomical Unit:
http://www.astunit.com/astro.htm

I've personally helped dozens of beginners get started, and the best telescope for most of them has been an 8-inch or 10-inch Newtonian reflector on a Dobsonian mount, such as these:
http://www.opticalvision.co.uk/astronomical_telescopes/sky-watcher/dobsonians

GOTO computers add a lot of expense to a telescope, usually at the cost of optical performance. You'll do better to spend your money on a scope with good optics, and learn to find your way around the sky yourself.

Answer 2

You will get more telescope for the money with a reflector. In the old days the basic serious telescope was a 6 inch Newtonian reflector, but now days it is an 8 inch Schmidt-Cassegrain, often computer controlled. The cheap option is a Dobsonian, which is a Newtonian on a simple manual alt-az mount, often quite large, like 12 inches or more.
Check out the sources.

Answer 3

I agree with Geoff's choice, a 8 inch or 10 inch Newtonian telescope, but I would choose an equatorial mount instead. It's more expensive but will be easier to track the stars, and eventually you can motorize it. If budget is a limit, try to choose then the larger diameter mirror.

Another good choice, more expensive, are the cathadipotric telescopes. It will depend on your budget. You can take a look at Celestron or Mead pages: http://www.celestron.com/c2/category.php?CatID=2
http://www.meade.com/productguide/index.html
I wouldn´t choose a refractor for example. The larger diameters are very expensive.

Also eyepieces are important. If the telescope comes with Huygens or Ramsden means that optics are not very good quality. Plossl or Kellner are much better.

Your choice will depend finally on your budget, try to gather as much information as you can. Also I can say by experience that if you really like star gazing, try to choose the biggest telescope you can afford. They can last a life long and a too small telescope can be disappointing in a couple of years. Good luck!

Answer 4

The "go to" scopes with GPS are usually quite costly.
As a general rule, the wider the aperture, the better. A "reflector" and a "newtonian" are pretty much the same thing. I like them better than the "refractors".
The only solution to city lights is to get out of town as far away as possible. You won't see much fainter than the Moon and the Planets in London.

Answer 5

Try www.bigbinoculars.com they have everything youcan imagine for stargazing inexpensive to very expensive. Great website.