Telescope view?

Question

I want to find a telescope from which i can see the moon perfectly, planets etc. $500 max is there one?

Answer 1

Yes their are many to choose from. Stay away from department stores, (walmart, target, etc.) Search for orion telescopes, Meade pr Celestron. These are quality scopes. Orion is the best for price and quality. The bigger the apeture (lens or mirror) the more things you will see. Magnification is based of of apeture. Magnification is not everything, the amout of light the scope collects is the key.

Answer 2

A 6" to 8" Dobsonian is an excellent beginner's scope, relatively inexpensive, versatile and easy to set up and operate. For your first scope, stay away from used, and places like ebay, amazon, department stores and the shopping channel and places like it. And stay away from ANY telescope advertised by it's magnification.!! Advertisements such as 675X power Reflector are a sign of a junk scope.
Now, taking you at your word that you are only interested in solar system objects such as the Moon and Planets etc., This is a specialty subject wthin Astronomy and you can guess that there is an instrument among the many available that is especially suited for this task.
And there is... Planetary observing is the specialty of the Refractor telescope. One of the reasons is that a Refractor has no central obstruction in the light path like all the other types of Telescopes and is therefore capable of rendering an image of higher contrast and sharpness. This also allows higher magnification which is what's needed to reveal the fine details visible on the moon and planets.
This is about the only application in Astronomy where observing is done at high Magnification. Observations of Jupiter are routinely done at powers of 250X or even more to reveal surface detail.
However this is only possible during excellent seeing conditions which may only happen a handful of times a Year, depending on where you live.
Refractors of 120mm aperture can be had within your Budget from orion telescopes with a decent equatorial mount and drive motors. For observations at high ower, an equatorial mount is really a "must have" since the object moves very rapidly out of your field of view. ( when you magnify the object, you also magnify it's motion due to the rotation of the earth)
BUT!! I do NOT recommend getting this as your first Telescope! The dobsonian Reflectors mentioned will give wonderful views of any solar system object and perform better on deep sky objects as well, due to the larger aperture.
If you tried to buy a Refractor of the same size, let's say 6", Not only would it be more expensive, but a 6" Refractor is huge, requiring a very heavy ( read expensive ) Equatorial mount. My 6" Refractor when set up for observing weighs in at over 150 Lbs. Hardly a scope to grab and go take a look at the Moon.
Depending on the type of Refractor, you could spend anywhere from a couple of thousand Dollars to the price of a House.
Go with the Dobsonian.

Adolph

Answer 3

Sure.

Go to EBay dot com.

Search for a used 8 Inch Reflector Telescope on a Dobsinian
Type Mount. Hopefully it will come with several different eyepieces and some other accessories.

This is a long tube about eight inches in diameter sitting in a cradle type mount that is flat on the bottom. The telescope tube swings up and down in the pivot points of the cradle.

I have a Six Inch Meade AT-6 Refractor which I purchased used for about $500 and now need to pay about $700 for a good mount to put it on. Via an Internet site called AstroMart dot com I was able to purchase several various size eyepieces to go with it. However, you could also go onto EBay dot com and get eyepieces by the bucket full. Eyepieces are of various optical grades (quality) and the finer ones are around $150 to $250 each. Start with the cheap ones and as your needs dictate, experience grows, etc., purchase one or more quality lenses of your favorite size.

You will want to pick up a Moon Filter to reduce the brightness of the Moon by about 30 to 40 percent to make viewing it under magnification much more pleasant. Those cost anywhere from $10 to $15 each.

In your search for a good used telescope, remember that the best views come with the largest objective lens or mirror you can possibly get. Do not settle for a Wal Mart 60mm, 80mm, or something like that... If you are willing to settle for something like that, stick with binoculars. They are much more portable and handy to use.

AstroMart wants $12 for use of their site. Considering all of the news articles and photos people send in, I guess that is a fair price because the material they have there is really top notch. You will also see some very - very expensive equipment listed which is nice to know about.

Hope this helps you out some.
If you want to look at some top of the line scopes,
go to the Takahashi website. In the Gallery they have photos taken through some of their scopes and it will drive you nuts. Really cool pics.

Cheers,
Zah

Answer 4

I agree with Astrokev5: talk to someone in a telescope shop (there is usually one in every major city, and they will give you helpful advice, and won't rip you off). They may even have reconditioned second-hand units available

You should be able to get a 6 inch reflector (mirror) telescope for about your budget. (8" is better, but might be out of your price range).

But you will soon get bored with looking at the moon.
That is where a telescope of this size comes into its own: there are LOTS more interesting things to see than the moon; star clusters, nebulae, the Andromeda galaxy (northern hemisphere), Magellanic clouds (southern hemisphere).

Magnification is not nearly as important as light-gathering power, which depends on the size of the mirror. Even at a magnification of 25 times, you will see things bright and crystal clear that will blow you away.

A higher magnification, up to say 100 is good for viewing planets (if you have not seen Saturn 'live' through a telescope before, your first view even at moderate magnification is spectacular); but you will get most enjoyment at lower magnification.

Surprisingly, it is not only the telescope that is the expensive thing: a set of good eyepieces can be as expensive as the telescope itself.

If you do buy a reflector 'scope, don't get a complicated equatorial mount at first, they can be fiddly and difficult to set up. Instead, get a simple 'Dobsonian' mount (looks like a wooden box), which is very easy to use, and at low to medium power, you can easily manually track objects across the sky.

Good quality refractor (lens) telescopes giving high magnification and suitable for astronomical use can be extremely expensive.

If you get interested, take a trip out of town, away from the city lights. It also helps if you are an insomniac!

Answer 5

Any scope you buy for $500 will be able to show you stunning views of the moon. Here is a link to a photo of the moon that I took through a $350 Meade DS-2130ATE: http://www.incolor.com/rbrown/astro/images/moon.jpg

Keep in mind that I used a cheap, wobbly camera for that shot. The view through the eyepiece was actually much clearer than the photo indicates.

With my Meade I can also easily see the rings of Saturn, the moons of Jupiter, and the phases of Venus and Mercury. Sometimes when Mars comes close, I can see its polar ice caps.

Answer 6

The fact that you say "perfectly" shows you may not have done any astronomy before. We all had to start somewhere, so ask at a local amateur astronomy club. And yes, a reflector on a Dobsonian mount gives good value for general observing.

Answer 7

You will get the most value for your money with a Dobsonian reflector like these:
http://www.telescope.com/jump.jsp?itemType=CATEGORY&itemID=9

Excellent views of the Moon (I'm still not bored after 50 years!), planets, and deep sky objects, on a solid, easy-to-use mount.

Answer 8

You can spend a whole lot less to see the moon clearly. But in your consideration, check out computer controlled systems especially if you are willing to spend that much. You will rapidly tire of the moon and there are a lot of other things up there to see.