Anyone know of a good telescope to buy?

Question

I fancy dabbling in astronomy and so would like a telescope, im only a student so dont have much money but dont want to buy a rubbish one either, any suggestions?

Answer 1

You'd be well suited with an Orion SkyQuest XT6 or XT8 dobsonian. They start at just under $300 new.

Alternatively you can buy the telescope used. You may be able to get a better telescope for the same price or a similar telescope for a lower price this way. Good places to look for used telescopes are...

http://www.astromart.com ($12 registration fee but worth it)
http://www.cloudynights.com
http://www.astrobuysell.com

When buying used, never pay by cash or wire transfers.

When buying a telescope, keep in mind, the most important aspect is aperture, NOT power or magnification. The more aperture the telescope has, the more you will be able to see.

Answer 2

I took the picture of Saturn in the first source with a 6 inch telescope and a webcam. There are many good telescopes that size for your price range. See the last 2 sources. By the way, using a telescope is not as easy as many people think. Just getting the object in the field of view and keeping it there is a major problem for most beginners. They spend a bunch on a telescope and don't know the constellations and so can't point it and get frustrated and sell it on eBay for half what they paid for it. So you might want to start small and simple. Even the smallest telescope will show Saturn's rings, so you don't need to spend $1,500 to start. There are good beginner telescopes for $300 or even less. Of course they won't be computer controlled, which means it will be even more important for you to get a star atlas and learn the constellations. No all of them, but the bright ones that you can see in that ridiculously bright city sky you have there.

Answer 3

There are so many good scopes to choose from at reasonable prices. It depends whether you want computer control or not. I have a very good Celestron 6 inch reflector with equatorial mount, that cost me just 99 quid.
I suggest you get a copy of sky at night magazine and read the reviews in there.

Another thing to consider is mobility. To do any astronomy these days you need to get away from city centres and from street lighting. It's no use having a good telescope if you can't take it easily to the place you are doing your observing. You may be better off with a good pair of binoculars. I've got some 15 * 70 (Again by Celestron) that cost 69 quid. You will need a tripod or monopod to stabilise them for Astronomy.

Answer 4

This is not a good place to get advice on a purchase like this.

Do a Google with the words Telescope Beginner. I was expecting a lot of online stores with trash refractors, but it actually came up with a lot of astronomy sites which give, you'll notice, very similar advice.

If you are on a limited budget and have no observing experience, the best thing to get first would be a good set of 50mm binoculars and a book of star charts. Many, including myself, would suggest the next step is a reflector telescope on a Dobsonian mount. I'll let you research those.

Answer 5

Looks like there is still a lot of misinformation out there, based mostly on hearsay.
After 48 years of Astronmy experience and advising first timers on how to get started in Astronomy, here is my advice, for what it's worth:
( I am taking you at your word, namely that you have made up your mind to purchase a Telescope)
First, the very, very important Don'ts.
DO NOT buy a Telescope from places like ebay, amazon, department stores or the shopping channel. Yes, you can find bargains there from time to time, but you need a lot of experience to separate them from all the junk sold there.
NEVER buy a Telescope advertised by it's magnifying power such as "575X 60mm Refractor. it is a sure indication of a junk Telescope.
DO NOT buy a telescope with lots of electronic gadgets, spend what little money you have on good Optics.!! ( Goto mounts, GPS etc. are strictly " nice to have", but they don't make your scope see any better ).
DO buy your telescope from a telescope dealer or manufacturer. These companies sell excellent quality equipment at very reasonable prices and stand behind their Products 100%. ( I have no idea what Costco is going to do for you if you end up with faulty optics or a mount that doesn't work ).
Orion, Celestron and Meade are often called "the big Three".
My personal favourite is Orion telescopes, because they sell great equipment at very affordable prices and they are famous for great customer service, which can be a real help for a beginner if you have questions before or after the sale. Their catalog is at www.telescope.com Check out their "learning" section, lots of good info there.
Considering your limited budget ( don't worry, mine is limited too) my recommendation would be to get the OrionXT6 dobsonian Telescope.
This is a Reflector of 6" diameter which allows for some worthwhile observing of all classes of sky objects from planets and star clusters to Nebulae and galaxies. This is a Telescope which, in addition to allowing some serious observing, is easy to set up, operate and transport, making it ideal for a beginner.
Now, for the single most important piece of advice anyone can give you in this regard: Find an Astronomy Club in your Area and attend one of their "Star Parties". These events are free and open to the public. While there, you will get a chance to look through lots of Telescopes at lots of objects and get tons of questions answered. You will learn more at one of these events in an hour than you will in a month of reading about it. So, "Get thee to a star party" !!!!!!!!!.
Good Luck !!

Adolph

Answer 6

not that I know stacks about these things, but I have read before that if you just want to dabble then you would be better investing in a good pair of second hand binocs.

as with anything, always get the best you can afford.

having said that, there are some nice telescopes in Costco at the moment, and they will track what you are looking at, useful when looking at the moon bcoz it moves so fast through a telescope viewer

Answer 7

I would like to add my 30 + years to Adolph's whatever.. His advice about a local club observing session is really what you (or anyone else thinking about purchasing a scope) need to accomplish in order to actually look through options and understand what is important to you. This is essential to avoid spending your limited resources on a piece of junk (there's a lot of it out there) that will gather dust in your closet and result in your loss of interest. That would be a shame.

I might add that it is important to learn the night sky - to know when and where to look for familiar signposts and objects that are of interest to you, so that you can demonstrate your interest to others in a reasoned fashion - which appears to be sort of rare these days. This can frequently be accomplished best with a reasonable set of binoculars - at least until you decide on which DECENT scope to purchase.

Adolph, excellent response as usual. Keep up the good work.

Answer 8

Go for a Tasco. Make sure you have a Barlow lens with it if you want to turn the image the right way around. When looking at stars it doesn't matter if the image is upsidedown. Effective mag of 175x useful.

Answer 9

make one yourself
from 5 empty loo roll cardbord tubes
sellotape
old pair of spectacles
paper glue
round ended scissors
and a wire coat hanger for the tripod
[water paint [optional]
paint the lens white for looking directly into the sun
for more than 30minutes in one go ]

Answer 10

The hubble is a safe bet