I was thinking about getting one of the two telescope...Which would be best?

Question

Check it out...the first two..

http://www.telescope.com/control/category/~category_id=starter_scopes

I'm really into space, and would love to see deep craters and really good images of anything and everything..

Answer 1

As it seems that you have already made a 'pre-selection' and know how much you want to spend, I like to give you my opinion.
1 - General: Orion is known to have a good price to quality ratio. You get what you pay for. I own an Orion telescope myself.
2 - The two proposed scopes: Both are beginners scopes. But the first one has clear advantages above the second one:
a) Longer focal length = better magnification with normal eyepieces.
b) less obstruction of the optical path by the 45° Newton mirror = slightly better performance in light gathering and resolution power.
c) Longer tube standing on the ground = much more comfortable viewing with out bending down or sitting down.

The second one is not bad for the price, but it is aimed at the youngsters at ages between 7 and 11 years. They have no problems with the much lower height of the position of the eyepiece.

Answer 2

In this price range, a few dollars more or less makes a big difference in the quality of telescopes.

The Orion StarBlast is the least expensive telescope that I would recommend, but I do recommend it regularly because it has good optics, a good mount, and is easy to use. Because of its small size, it needs to sit on something like a bar stool to get the eyepiece to adult height. Because of its short focal length, it is best suited for wide field views of the Milky Way, and large deep sky objects like the Pleiades, the Andromeda Galaxy, and the Orion Nebula. With the right eyepiece (which might cost as much as the entire StarBlast!) it will also give good views of the planets; I've seen Mars' polar cap and dark surface markings with my StarBlast.

For $60 more, the Orion SkyQuest XT4.5 has the same size mirror as the StarBlast, but a longer focal length. This makes the tube longer, but the eyepiece is still low for an adult; the scope works well sitting on a milk crate. The longer focal length means that you can get the higher magnifications you need for observing the planets more easily.

For $30 more, you can get an Orion SkyQuest XT6 with a significantly larger mirror. I own one of these myself, and it gives much better views of the Moon and planets than any 4.5" scope can. It will also show you much fainter deep sky objects.

All of these scopes are well made and easy to use. The price differences give you more versatility and better, deeper views. You get what you pay for, and you won't find value like this from any other source. I currently own an XT6, IntelliScope version, and also owned a StarBlast for a while, so I have a lot of first hand familiarity with these scopes.

Answer 3

Keeping within your selection, the two Telescopes, while having the same diameter optics, are actually two very different telescopes.
While both can be considered beginners or Kids scopes, make no mistake, they are very good quality instruments.
The first one, the 4.5" Dobsonian Reflector, is actually a pretty good Planet hunter. It's long focal length gives good contrast to the view and allows fairly high magnification with eyepieces that are comfortable to use.
The Orion Star Blast, is physically a much shorter Telescope and meant to sit on a Table top. The optical quality of this Telescope has been praised by all the experts and is not at all kid-like. As a matter of fact, Orion makes a version of this Telescope specialized for Astrophotography. You cannot do that unless you have very high quality optics. But unlike the 4.5" Dobsonian, the short focal length of this Telescope makes it especially suited for wide angle views of the sky. It is designed to work at lower magnifications to allow a wide view of the sky.
For general purpose use, the long focus 4.5" Dobsonian would be the better choice of the two.
In general terms, the purpose of a Telescope is to gather light ! (magnification is of much less importance) How much light a Telescope can gather is determined by the Diameter of it's optics. Even a small increase in diameter (aperture) brings a large increase in the light gathering power since that increases as the square of the Diameter. Thus a 6" Telescope will gather about twice as much light as a 4.5".
If you can swing it, the 6" Dobsonian will provide a substantial increase in performance.
A word about Orion Telescopes. Aside from featuring excellent equipment at very reasonable prices, they are also famous for their customer service, even long after the sale. This can be a real boon to a newcomer if you have questions later on. A call to their Tech service will get you answers.
I cannot say the same for many of the other dealers or manufacturers from my own experience.

Adolph

Answer 4

As usual Geoff is right. Listen to his words.

If the two you list, go with the first, but like Geoff says, for a couple bucks more go for the 6 instead of the 4.5. There is a HUGE difference in what you can see between the two.

Orion is the best. I own 3 of their scopes. They have the best customer service too.

I recomend that you join a local Astronomy club or astronomical society. The people there will be able to teach you much more than you can learn here on Yahoo answers.

Answer 5

Both of the first two telescopes are 4.5 Inch reflector telescopes which are light weight and fairly easy to move
around. Of the two, I would choose the first one if I had no problem storing a large tube object in my bedroom, or recreation room area. The second one is smaller in total size and appears to provide similar performance if it is adjusted correctly.

Either one of the two will yield good views of the moon and all of its features in pretty good detail. My guess is that you will be amazed at how fast the Moon travels through your view as it circles around the Earth. You will also need a "Moon Filter" to use with your eye pieces to reduce the glare down to a tolerable level. Make sure you get one. They usually cost about $10 to $15.

Telescopes are like a really fancy pair of shoes. Many people only use them once and a while and then put them in the closet (unused) for the rest of the time. So, while I don't want to be negative in any way, what I do wish to suggest is that you join a local Astronomy Club in your area and attend their meetings. They will have periodic STAR PARTIES where members gather to look at some particular event through each other's telescopes. By going there you can get some opportunities to look through fantastic equipment items that you normally could not afford to purchase and use. Many items of information can be learned from your fellow club members, and an entire new world of science will be opened up to you - sample and try out at your own pace, as you wish.

Optical equipment, the really good stuff, is high price. You cannot pay to much for the best optics. What you can do is run out of money. So, in everything that you do, you can stay within your budget, and by making friends with others who do have some of the better equipment, you can learn and share viewing experiences at practically no cost to you. I am not sure what your age is, so I recommend that you speak with your parents about this EMail Message and let them help you research clubs in your area.

Your chosen telescope has a 4.5 Inch Mirror in it which will be the gizmo that collects all the available light and sends it to your eye through an Eyepiece. There are many Eyepieces available on the market. Some can be had for as little as $10 or $20 used. Others (Good Optics cost Money) cost as much as $600 each. The point here is that your ability to "see" things is the combination of those two things. Want to see more? Need a bigger mirror or lens (if you have a refractor, and not a reflector)...or a better Eyepiece.

Eyepieces come in a wide variety rangeing from about 3mm up to 40mm. They are made with various combinations of glass lenses and glass materials. The word "Plossl" is used to describe what I call the "common" eyepiece. Specialized eyepieces might have wide fields of view, deep eye relief, and higher degrees of fineness in manufacturing (for better viewing). So another reason to join a club is to gain the opportunity to try other Eyepieces in your telescope to see which ones work best, or better than the ones you already have. You will be amazed.

Finally, two cautions...
1.) Never look at the SUN with your new telescope. Permanent eye damage will result.
2.) It will not be possible to produce fantastic pictures of deep space objects with a $200 telescope such as those that come from the Space Telescopes and are printed in various magazines. Getting close to that kind of performance requires a monster of a scope on a huge mount. My personal telescope is a used 6 Inch Meade Refractor on a Go-To Mount, and it is large and cumbersome to move around. The telescope weights about 30 Lbs and the Mount weighs about 75 Lbs. I cannot carry it very far. Keep that idea in mind.

Good Luck and Welcome to Astronomy,
Zah

Answer 6

Personally - neither. You are not going to see much through a 4 - 4.5" scope that will limit you to the moon, planets (but don't expect to see a lot of detail on Mars) star clusters and the brightest Nebula in the sky (but then you'll only see smudgy blobs of the latter).

A good 6" Dob with quality eyepieces is a good starting point and should not set you back much more than the 4.5" Dob. BUT I would strongly recommend you rock up to your local astronomy club and actually take a look through various scopes first so you know the practicalities of what you can see and how to find the targets (it doesn't matter how good the scope is, if you can't find it - you certainly won't be able to see it.....)

Answer 7

I have used Mead telescopes for years and they are the best that I have seen.Look at there products before you decide.
http://www.meade.com/productguide/index.html

If you are just beginning to be a stargazer then I suggest that you do not spend a lot of money at first until you are sure that you are really enthused.