I want to buy a telescope to see:?

Question

Craters on the moon
Rings around Saturn
and stars.

I don't know much about Astronomy...except a 100 level course. I live in the city and saw Venus in the east, even with 8X25 binoculars could not see m uch.

I looked at Costco website and they range from $69-275 (the most I want to pay is $300.)

What should I look for...or is money spent in this range a waste because quality would be terrible?

Answer 1

Join a local Astronomy club first. Attend a star party or two to see the wide variety of telescopes available and ask the people about their first hand preferences.

Do not buy a scope from costco, walmart, kmart, target, toys r us, or any other discount place. They are junk and waste of money.

Buy from Orion oriontelescopes.com
Buy from Celestron
Buy from Meade

Answer 2

Sir:

While I own a 6 Inch Refractor Telescope myself, in the low budget range that you set (around $300) it will be very difficult to purchase a telescope which will produce "startling and exciting" views of planets and stars. Doing that requires a much bigger telescope than you can purchase for that amount of money.

However, within that range you could purchase a very nice pair of huge astronomical binoculars. If you go to telescopes dot com and click on their binocular section you can see what is available. They also have a close out section wherein you can pick up some real deals on binocs...

Look for the largest lenses you can purchase... say 75mm, 80mm, 90mm, or even 100mm. The bigger that these lenses are, the more light they will gather and deliver to your eyes.
Magnification powers in the range of 20X and 30X will be found there and just wonderful for views of the moon and all of its craters, etc. Good views of the skies will also be obtained which will show all of the stars as tiny pinpoints of light.

As with any optical device which provides magnification over about 7X, some method of stabilizing the device will be necessary. If you don't have a tripod or mount for the higher power binocs:

1.) Your arms will become weary from supporting the binocs.

2.) Your neck will get stiff from being in a "bent back" position.

3.) Without a stable mount, your views will be all shakey and wobbley... unpleasant to view.

I recently saw a chaise lounge recliner that had been modified for use with large binocs... It had a bent tube
arrangement suspended over the back with a balance weight. You mounted the heavy binocs to the bent tube
and the balance weight reduced the effort required to hold the binocs up to your eyes. In the particular device I looked at, it happens that the whole affair was also motorized to swivel and tilt using a small electric motor. That motorized feature surely adds some extra cost $$$, but I mentioned the chaise lounge because if you are a tinkerer, you might throw together something like that in your home work shop if you are handy with tools. The fun of doing long observations of the Moon would then be painless and much more enjoyable.

http://www.telescopes.com
http://www.cloudynights.com

Answer 3

The fact that you're asking about a "powerful" telescope suggests you don't know much about them. Before wasting your money, do a bit of research. The best book on telescopes is Star Ware by Phil Harrington (Wiley). Most libraries have this. Here are some online articles with good information:
http://www.gaherty.ca/tme/TME0702_Buying...
http://www.scopereviews.com/begin.html
http://observers.org/beginner/j.r.f.begi...

Since you're specifically asking where to buy, the answer is "a telescope store." That is, a store which specializes in selling telescopes and other astronomy equipment, not a discount or department store, and definitely not eBay. Look in the Yellow Pages, or, if that doesn't work, buy online from a dealer who specializes in telescopes, such as Orion, Astronomics, OPT, Anacortes, High Point, etc.

Answer 4

Get the largest Dobsonian you can afford from the site Peter posted above. Anything from Costco is useless junk.

[Edit] Gee, "another girl"'s remarks below sound familiar, maybe because they're an exact quote of something I posted a few days ago! The only trouble is that Yahoo truncates the URLs, so they no longer work when quoted.

Answer 5

Assuming you just want to view, for that sort of money, I would suggest a 'Dobsonian" reflecting telescope. You should be able to pick up a 6" or 8" scope which will suit you fine

Answer 6

Don't buy a telescope at Costco. See the source.

Answer 7

Yep, a 6-8" dobsonian would be a good choice. You'll see quite a bit for a small price..