what characteristics do you look for when buying a good telescope to gaze at stars?

Answer 1

Try to get the largest lens you can find and one that will allow you to take pictures. Having an azimuth scale to change directions precisely would be good too.

Answer 2

By way of background, I've owned 25 telescopes in my life, so I have plenty of experience at buying telescopes.

There are two main things I look for in a telescope. The first is high quality optics, and the second is a solid, easy-to-use mount. Most of the telescopes you'll find in department or discount stores, or on eBay, fail on both counts. The place to buy a telescope is a telescope store: they specialize in telescopes, can answer your questions, and want you as a ongoing customer. Look in the Yellow Pages, or ask around at your local astronomy club, observatory, or science centre. If there isn't a local telescope store, buy from an online telescope store, such as Orion, Astronomics, High Point, etc. Buy an astronomy magazine, and look at the ads.

Regarding quality of optics, you want to get the largest aperture (size of main lens or mirror) you can afford, as that determines the resolution and light gathering power of the scope. At the same time, you want a good quality objective, which usually means a major brand name like Celestron, Orion, or SkyWatcher. Generally you will get a lot more aperture for the smae amount of money by buying a reflector rather than a refractor. The most solid and easiest to use mounts are called "Dobsonians." These have very little vibration and are smooth and easy to move. Don't spend a lot of money on electronic gizmos: they may help you find things, but they won't help you see things.

Here are some excellent examples of the telescopes I recommend to beginners:
http://www.telescope.com/control/category/~category_id=dobsonians/~pcategory=telescopes/~VIEW_INDEX=0/~VIEW_SIZE=1000000
http://www.skywatchertelescope.net/swtinc/product.php?class1=1&class2=106

My personal favourite among these is the Orion IntelliScope XT10 (10" aperture) but this may be a bit big and heavy for some people.

Answer 3

In no particular order:

1) Pick a telescope that you will use. Having a overly cumbersome or finicky piece of equipment is not going to help you if you don't have the strength, time, or energy to set it up.

2) Find something within your budget. The scope is only a part of the system. The eyepieces can get very expensive and you may also want warmer clothing, storage cases, observing chair, flashlights, power supplies, charts, books, binoculars, photo equipment, computers, and a pile of other useful items.

3) Look for a good optical tube assembly that works for you(the actual telescope). Of the main types; refractors tend be very reliable and provide excellent contrast; nor, do you need to worry as much about collimation. But, quality is critical. The objective lens should be well corrected, and the focuser should be both solid and smooth. This adds to the cost of this type of telescope, making it the most expensive in terms of cost/inch aperture. Newtonians are much less expensive; but, they are also larger, much more sensitive to tube temperature changes, and need ocassional collimation. The Schmidt-Cassegrain is a more modern form of Newtonian that uses multiple mirrors and a corrector plate to provide a much more compact scope. They can be easily knocked out of collimation, so they may require frequent adjustments.

4) Look for a good mount. Popular types include the Alt-Az (up-down, left-right); Equitorials - which allow you to follow a target using only right ascension; and, Dobsonians (another simplified version of Alt-Az) used with newtonians scopes that eliminates the tripod and most of the gearing/counterweights. Which ever type you use should easily be able to handle the weight of the scope. Stability when loaded comes first; you should be able to elevate or slew the OTA without alot of slop or play. I cannot overemphasis how important the mount is to the overall performance of your scope. This is especially true if you want to use a motor drive, or do photography. Be warned that a good mount may cost as much as the scope itself.

5) A good finder is a big help. The 30mm finder is poor, the 24mm is all but useless; go with a good red dot finder or a 50mm and things will be much easier.

There are plenty of accessories available on the market. Focus on buying a good OTA, and then plan on upgrading mounts, eyepieces, finders, as you go along.

Answer 4

If I was looking for one, which I'm not, I'd want a large aperture, and a reflector instead of a refractor. A motorized mount would be necessary and maybe a computerized tracker. I would use a telescope strictly for photography, however (requiring the motorized mount), since light-gathering at high magnification is only possible with long exposures. High magnification without time exposed photography won't reveal anything unless you're looking at planets (or a few galaxies or globular clusters. You have to know where to look, though). My own star gazing is with binoculars and a tripod.

Answer 5

The first thing you should look at is the price & brand name.... there's a few around (Tasco are / were among the worst offenders) that make cheap Telescopes that are totally hopeless, with over-powered eye pieces & rickety tripods that wobble like crazy.
MEADE / Celestron / Orion are usually a safe bet.

Then read these articles on the SKY & TELESCOPE magazine website written by people who know what they're talking about for the finer details of what to look for.
http://www.skyandtelescope.com/equipment/basics

If in the UK, I recommend buying from http://www.telescopehouse.co.uk

Answer 6

I think the moon is a good spot to try out any telescope. Some can zoom right in on the craters.

There is a good one for sale at the moment in Audi's Oswestry, (England)

Give them a ring if you like, but they are not as friendly staff as Sainsbury's.

But some of them are OK.

Answer 7

How well it is made. Quality of mirrors and lenses. Clarity of the image. Good solid mount that will not wobble or vibrate when focusing on objects.

Answer 8

Go buy yourself an Astrophysics refractor ,or a Takahashi.

Answer 9

Um, I'm don't usally buy telescopes. But if I did I guess I would by one that can see stuff really far away. Like maybe ALIENS!

Answer 10

1. Just point it at the sky and look inside. If you see the stars, it works.
2. Look at the price tag, then into your purse. If you can afford it, it works even better.