I want a telescope. Which one ?

Question

I want a telescope to see the great objects in the sky. I've never really bought one and i have no clue whats good or bad out there. Any suggestions? I just want a scope that can be used to see stars, planets, etc. Please help.

Answer 1

This is a very bad place to get advice on this. Not because some people don't know their stuff, but because there's a lot you have to consider.

There's no hurry. Do your research. Find a local amateur astronomy club and ask. And read this link, especially the bit about "Money and before you buy". Never mind that the site is Australian. It applies to you.

http://astronomy.concreteairship.com/scope.htm

Answer 2

Hi ToFu -

I agree, there's some great stuff to see out there. For what it's worth, I think you really need to:

1. Go to some local astronomy club observing nights. They are all online and easy to find. See what you can expect to view through the various types of scopes that are there. If you are more interested in the moon, planets and double stars, then you should look into a refractor. If you are interested in deep sky objects like galaxies and globular clusters, you will be happier with a dobsonian with aperture of 8 inches or more. If you have sufficient funds (>$1000) and want to keep your options open for astrophotography, you may want to consider a catadioptric.

2. Bring along a decent set of binoculars. You will see most of the things being observed through the scopes, but with less magnification. You will find that magnification is generally not terribly important. Learn the sky so you know where to find what you like to see.

3. Once you know what kind of scope you want (I can't tell you this - you will have to decide) then you can expect to pay at least $500 to get something that will not result in endless frustration due to a wobbly mount, poor optics, etc. Be sure to buy it from a reputable dealer who can help you find the right product. Do not buy online unless you go to Orion, Meade or Celestron directly.

4. In the meantime, use those decent binoculars - you can get them from the same sources for less money - it's amazing what you can see.

Good Luck - it's a great hobby!

Answer 3

Well, telescopes may be had for almost any price you want to pay. i suggest that you look at a Meade Five Inch Refractor with Mount. Another practical way to go is to get a medium size Reflector Telescope on a Dobsinion Mount. An Eight Inch Unit would be neat.

Either way you should expect to pay around $1000 for a good used unit with several eyepieces and stable mount.

I have a Meade AT-6 6 Inch Refractor Telescope and about 5 eyepieces. It is a lot of fun to play with and look at the heavens. However, others have simply fantastic telescopes that make mine look like a toy, or a hunk of junk. Really, some people have telescopes costing $20,000 - $50,000, and those REALLY do a fine, fine job.

Look at Ebay dot com.
Look at Astromart dot com

There are lots and lots of telescopes out there, and you will find that "good" optics cost a lot of money.

I recommend that you join a local Astronomy Club near you and learn a lot about telescopes before you take the plunge.

Answer 4

look, human beings will inform you that it rather is a new child's toy, and in evaluation to telescopes some human beings have used or equipped, it rather is. notwithstanding it rather is lots extra beneficial than the bare eye. i might say in case you're questioning some telescope that length, you will possibly evaluate a pair of binoculars. i don't comprehend what budget you're conversing approximately, yet you'll be waiting to locate some good 2d-hand ones with a minimal of 50 mm lenses for the comparable value. examine it out on e-bay it sluggish. I actual have viewed numerous them there.

Answer 5

Depends on what you can afford, how much you intend to use it and what frills you want.

A $100 one will get you the basic planets and moon.

To see more you need to invest over $500. You get more scope with a simpler mount.

You get to do pictures if you have the right camera set up with a lesser scope and an eqitorial mounts with clock drive.

If you want a semi-professional scope you have to spend over $1,200. That's like a 8" Cassigrainine with fork equitorial mount.

Answer 6

You have already received some excellent advice, so rather than repeat it, I would offer a few additional considerations:
Let me state right up front that the "best" Telescope does not exist, so don't waste your time looking for it.
You can get a very good basic start in Astronomy for an outlay of about $ 300.-, but there is no upper limit.
As a beginner, you want a good, all-purpose telescope of good optical and mechanical quality .
Which telescope you choose, will depend on lots of factors not necessaritly related to Astronomical performance alone.
If you have to transport your Telescope to a dark site for observing, that is a far cry from rolling it out to your back porch.
Setting up a 10Lbs Telescope with mount is a whole diferent matter compared to wrestling a 150Lb. Monster into submission
If you can leave your scope set up permanently in the same place, then we envy you and we'll all come out to your place and we'll even bring the Hot Dogs. :)
The most typical scenrio for most of us is that we do most of our observing from the back yard or driveway etc. and Transport the scope to a dark site for those special nights that promise excellent observing conditions.
You can observe solar sytem objects from even a badly light polluted location. But when you are chasing Galaxies and dim Nebulae, there is no substitute for a dark Sky.
Consequently, size and transportability do matter quite a bit. A scope sitting in it's closet because it is a chore to set up is pretty useless, no matter how good it is.
Simplicity of operation is another important point for beginners. If the thing is so complicated to set up that you are already ticked off and frustrated before you even look through the eyepiece, I can guarantee you that you will not be doing much observing and I get to read another ad: "Almost new Telescope for Sale"
For all the reasons and more, cited above, it turns out that a "Dobsonian Telescope in the 6" to 8" range makes an excellent beginner's scope. It is versatile, easy to set up and operate and there is nothing there that you can't fix yourself. ( many types of scopes have to be sent back to the factory when something goes wrong).
Just a word of Explanation: A "Dobsonian" telescope is a Newtonian Reflector mounted on a simple alt-azimuth mount popularized by John Dobson of San Francisco, hence the name.

It is a serious Instrument capable of observing all classes of Celestial Objects, from planets to Galaxies, from Star clusters to Nebulae. "This is not a Toy!!!!!!!
The nice thing is that you can add accessories for special purpose observing as you go along and gain experience. Who knows, you might want to measure Variable stars and participate in research? ( You can, you know )
So how to go about it?
Follow the advice about "Star Parties", it is the single most important piece of advice we can give you. You will learn more in an hour at one of these than you will in a month of reading about it.!!!
Do Not buy a telescope from places like ebay, amazon, department stores or the shopping channel. Yes they do have bargains there, but you need quite a bit of experience to tell them apart from all the junk sold there. Unless you can personally try it out, I would not recommend a used telescope as your first one.
NEVER buy any telescope advertised by it's magnification, such as: 675X power Refractor.
Do buy your first telescope from Reputable dealers such as Orion, Celestron or Meade, sometimes referred to as the "big Three".
My personal favourite is Orion since they sell excellent equipment at very reasonable prices and stand behind their products 100%.
Do Not go crazy with accessories. You can spend an awful ot of money on fancy electronics such as "goto"and GPS etc. While these are "nice to have", none of them make your telescope see any better. To start with, spend your money on the optics instead.
The most useful accessories in the beginning are eyepieces and Planetarium software.
The eyepieces provide the magnification necessary to let you see things and the Planetarium program will provide you with your own tailored sky charts to help you locate things in the sky. Both are supplied with any Orion telescope. The only thing I would add soon after purchase would be a low-power eyepiece. Yes, much of the deep space and other viewing is done at low power. ( now you know why the Magnification claims are pure hype.
Good Luck with your search!

Adolph