telescope?

Question

could someone help me in buying a good telescope? Also, if you could send me link to website to buy and also good specification to buy. Thanks

Answer 1

Is this a first scope? I'll save you 4 months of research, get a 6 or 8 inch Dob if you're looking for biggest bang/buck on a budget of under $500. My first scope was a 6" Celestron Starhopper, perfect choice in that price range.

http://www.buytelescopes.com/product_list.asp?t=287

Don't waste money on any department store refractor, it'll disappoint you so bad you'll probably hate astronomy afterwards.

Answer 2

Hi Gagan S,

That is quite a difficult questio and depends on what you want it for to observe and how much you want to spend.

Breifly there are 2 types, reflectors (which use mirrors) and Refractors (which use lenses).

Also the mounting of the telescope has a bearing on its suitability and cost. A flimsy mount is useless.

These telescopes and mounts come in many different forms, but since you said a good telescope, then that indicates a higher cost.

Do you wasnt a portable one or a big light bucket.

My own telescope is a 4" apochromatic refractor on an equatorial go to mount, and is reasonably portable and I suppose considered as good but there are much more expensive ones that are better. Mine cost me US$8000 with all the accessories (not including a very good CCD camera which is another US6000 alone but you can get cheaper).

Remember the best telescope is the ome you will use most often so portability is essemtial if you are using the back yard.

A decent reflector, but twice the aperture would cost a lot less , perhaps US4000 and you can get away with a much smaller camera say US$2000 but the contrast is not as good as a refractor although you will see more. If you go this route get am SCT or Cadioptric which is shorter length.

A popular telescope if you are just starting is a Dobsonian which will give you the best bang for a buck and these can be obtained for about US$500-1000 if you want to view deep sky objects with a big 10"-12" scope).

The best websites are www.skyandtelescope.com, or go to www.cloudynights.com, www.astronomy.com which have good articles and suggestions on what you might be interested in or just search "buying telescopes" and see what you can find for a beginner. But dont forget eyepieces, filters, etc etc which all adds to the cost

Whatever you do get a reputable manufacturer, do not under any circumstances buy a Chinese department store scope from a manufaturer not well known or some thing which is advertised a "700x magnification" .

For a good telescope in average areas the maximum mangnification is about 60x the aperture in inches, so a 4 inch telescope would magnify 240x, although I have had mine up to 400x on nights of very good seeing.

Also get a ''goto'' mount that will carry the load with plenty to spare if you can and good optics. It will save you a lot of greif in finding objects. Telescopes are often and usually sold with the mount, or you can buy them separately. Azaltimuth mounts on a small scope spells FRUSTRATION. You don't want to got there (I did when I srated out and it put me off for years)

Alternatively if you are starting out a good pair of 10x50 binoculars would be fine to get your bearings while you consider what you really want but if you get any larger than that you will probably need a tripod unless you have very stong arms, if so, 15x70 size is good.

For both binos and telescopes some well known brands are Celestron, Mead, Orion, TeleVue and the best of the lot, Takahashi (my favourite).

Good luck

Answer 3

My personal recommendation would be a 6-inch to 10-inch Newtonian reflector on a Dobsonian mount, or "Dob" for short. The best place to buy one is a local telescope store: look in the Yellow Pages under "Telescopes'. Do not buy from a department store, sporting goods store, Wal-Mart, or eBay. If there isn't a store near you, buy online from a reputable dealer. You don't say where you're located...most online stores ship only within the country they're located. In North America, Orion, Astronomics, and OPT are among the best dealers. If I were starting out, here's what I would buy:
http://www.telescope.com/jump.jsp?itemType=CATEGORY&itemID=9

Answer 4

To buy from...... I got pretty good service from TELESCOPE HOUSE when buying an eyepiece for my telescope last year.
http://www.telescopehouse.co.uk/
As they're a proper Astronomy store, with Astronomy gear, they only seem to stock good stuff... the MEADE ones being pretty much the best... and ORION not bad either.
TASCO ones.... most experts recommend to staying away from like you would stay away from a hooker with a serious case of the clap.
This is the rather handy eyepiece I got for my telescope:
http://www.telescopehouse.co.uk/page.aspx?theLang=001lngdef&pointerid=37301lyYpdZOOyyC8IYPkREOGcHKUDdT&action=lnk

For buying advice, there's an excellent article about it on the SKY & TELESCOPE magazine website:
http://www.skyandtelescope.com/equipment/basics

Answer 5

If this is your first telescope, you might consider "Astronomical Binoculars" as a first step. These are much less expensive than a good telescope, but will show you many interesting things, and you'll learn how much you really like observing. Be sure to get a sturdy tripod to hold them, because they're heavy---there are adapters for camera tripods.

Answer 6

Telescopes are some of the things that end up in attics , basements and garages. Put an add in your local news paper. " student looking for free telescope, will pick up"
Chances are you will have two or three within a week.

Answer 7

THE most important part of the telescope is the stand on which it rests. The best optics in the world won't help you if you have a stand that wobbles and cannot track objects.
Be sure your stand is solid and has the tracking you wish.

There are two types of tracking, planetary (for near space objects) and siedral (sp?) for deep space tracking.

There are 2 or 3 reputable companies, Mead Scientific is one of them. All are pretty good, but again, I can't emphasize this enough. Shop for the stand first!

Answer 8

Depends on what you want to do with it. Deep sky work requires a large expensive scope. Tracking with a drive requires a more expensive equitorial mounts. No tracking means you can get a big scope with a cheaper mount.

Simple lunar and plantary work can be done with a mid-level scope a 3-6".

Answer 9

This is a good site.
http://www.sherwoods-photo.co.uk/homepage.htm?kw=telescope&fl=93046&gclid=CLr68ribjo4CFQ0eEgodmhV7EQ
And they're having a sale at the moment,My mate has just bought a Celestron and he swears by them.

Answer 10

Have a look in a atronomy magazine eg;' Astronomy Now' and you should see "Telelscope House" which is in London and it will show you some scopes.