What is the best brand of telescope for viewing deep space?

Question

I only have around $400-500 dollars not much but hopefully i can get a decent one. soo what is the best brand for viewing deep space?

Answer 1

For deep space, you want to get as much aperture as you can manage. An 8" dobsonian might fit your budget, and is big enough to see quite a bit. Taking it out to really dark skies will help immensely.

A lot of brands are made by the same factory in Taiwan. Orion has a good reputation: http://www.telescope.com/control/product/~category_id=dobsonians/~pcategory=telescopes/~product_id=09707;jsessionid=ED7B26CA7435C4833A6BC26CA131C7AD.ivprod2

Edit: I would disagree with the poster above me. At your price point you want to put all your money into optics and not computerized mounts. Many amateur astronomers do quite well with fully manual telescopes. I have nudged my dob along at 300x with no problem; it soon becomes almost unconscious. And a lot of deep sky observing is done at more modest magnifications.

Answer 2

Who Makes The Best Telescopes

Answer 3

To view "deep space" you need something on the order of the Hubble space telescope or the Keck and infrared imagers.

If all you want is to look visually at interesting objects like nebulae and other galaxies, what you need is raw light gathering power, i.e. the largest aperture you can get for the money. Forget the fancy mounts and the computer controls. You need 6", better 8" or even 10" of aperture.

http://www.meade.com/lightbridge/index.html
http://scientificsonline.com/product.asp?pn=3102704&bhcd2=1196279339

Now... if you will be happy with this mirror in a tube (telescope on a stick?) designs, is a different matter. But you will get the cheapest photons for sure.

I don't think one cheap design is much better than the other. They are all crappy from a professional point of view. These "instruments" are for the fun of it. And if you keep in mind that Galileo could have done astronomy close to 200 years ahead of his time with one of these instead of his own tiny home made lenses, it probably puts things into perspective. Even if you are not Galileo.

Answer 4

Brand is probably one of the things you should be least worried about when it comes to purchasing a telescope.
Sure, we all have our prefences; but brand alone is not a good deciding factor in the buying of an instrument.
Before you sink all kinds of money into a purchase, consider how much you know of the night sky before you start.
If you're a beginner, I would strongly suggest you check out a local astronomy club before buying a scope. Members there often have several different types of scopes they use themselves, and will honestly give you the pros and cons of each type, as well as passing on their knowledge of the night sky.
A good pair of binoculars is what you truly may wish to start with, as they offer a much broader view of the sky at a fraction of the cost of a decent scope.
Either way, always remember that the best telescope for you is the one you are willing to use, night after night.
I would urge you to purchase as large a scope as you could afford, all the while keeping in mind that the larger the aperture of the instrument, the heavier it will be to transport.
I personally own a 10"SCT, and it is my favorite telescope, but it gets used far less than my 3.5"MCT, because of its weight and ease of set- up.
The more aperture, the brighter your views of the heavens will be...
I wish you luck, and welcome to the Night Sky!!!

http://www.telescope.com

Try shopping here!

Clear Skies!
B

Answer 5

Most of the telescopes you get aren't going to be able to see much of "deep space", if by that you mean "stuff outside the solar system". If I were you, what I'd look for is one with a computerized mount that will automatically adjust its orientation to track the motion of celestial objects. Otherwise, at any reasonable magnification the motion of the earth makes it nearly impossible to enjoy looking at things. There's some good free software applications that let you interface with these - KStars for Linux is an excellent one.

Answer 6

For that price range I suggest a good Dobsonian like the ones in the source. For deep sky, bigger is better, and a motorized tracking mount is not needed because you won't be using high magnification. Also, it is important the telescope be easily portable because deep sky observing needs a dark rural sky, and most people live in a brightly lit city and have to drive many miles to observe in a dark location.