Does anyone have a telescope? please look?

Question

I am thinking of buying a telescope. What can you see with a $100 - $200 telescope?

Does anyone know any good info sites?

Answer 1

Here are a few web pages with good information on beginner's telescopes:

http://www.gaherty.ca/tme/TME0702_Buying...

http://www.scopereviews.com/begin.html

http://observers.org/beginner/j.r.f.begi...

For more advanced information, read Phil Harrington's Star Ware, 4th edition (Wiley).

You'll get the greatest value for your money with a Newtonian reflector on a Dobsonian mount, such as these:

http://www.telescope.com/control/categor...

http://www.skywatchertelescope.net/swtin...

Buy from a store which specializes in telescopes and astronomy, either locally or online; don't buy from department stores, discount stores or eBay as mostly what they sell is junk. Find your local astronomy club and try out different telescopes at one of their star parties:

http://www.skyandtelescope.com/community...

In the $100 to $200 price range, there are very few telescopes which I would recommend, in fact, only one, the Orion StarBlast 4.5":

http://www.telescope.com/control/product...

This scope is currently on sale, as its big brother, the StarBlast 6":

http://www.telescope.com/control/product...

If you can afford it, go for this one...it's a terrific bargain: good optics and solid mount. Other scopes in this price range have too small an aperture and very shaky mounts, and aren't recommended.

With either of these scopes, you will be able to see tons of detail on the Moon (craters, mountains, rilles, domes, etc.), Jupiter's cloud belts and moons, Saturn's rings, and hundreds of deep sky objects (star clusters, nebulae, and galaxies).

Answer 2

with the exception of teh orion star blast, no telesscope in your price range is worth buying.

this question is asked several times a week around here. please look at some of teh previous answers. the usual answer is an 8 to 10 inch dob. these are amazing value and will show you lots of stuff, but cost a little more than what you want to spend. my best scope cost as much as a nice used car.

for that kind of money i would buy binoculars and some star charts.

Answer 3

I agree with the previous post, you really wont get anything worth using for that money. I have one and it really doesn't get used.

With that sort of telescope you will be able to make out the moons around Jupiter and see the rings around Saturn, however it wont be that clear.

I would go with the suggestion of getting some decent binoculars instead of a telescope, not only will it be better value for money and it will be more usable, but it will also be easier to find the heavenly bodies you're looking for.

Go to a astronomical event and speak with some of the people who have had experience. Use their telescopes and see what the differences are. You may find someone there who will share their telescope with you, or offer one for sale at a very reasonable price.

Answer 4

You should make sure you try it out first, because it might not work well for you.  You should attend an astronomy event or convention, and many people will help you try out different ones.  You also might want get a magazine such as sky and telescope to see their different reviews.

Answer 5

$100-$200 isn't going to get you much of a telescope. telescopes in that range are small, have the short tube flaw, no goto or gps technology, bad quality lenses, they are fragile, and they suck at astrophotography. if you get lucky, you might see a saturn's rings, but if so, they would be in very little detail. The best low-price telescope I can recomend is the Celestron NexStar 130 SLT telescope. its not the best telescope, but its great for the beginer. you don't have to know anything about the night sky to get it aligned. just point it towards the three brightest objects, and it does the alignment for you.

http://www.telescopes.com/telescopes/ref...

if you are a beginner, this is the cheapest way your going to get good results. the really good telescopes start at about $1000 and go up from there. These are some telescopes not to buy:

http://www.telescopes.com/telescopes/ref...

bad lenses, unstable stand, short tube, bad finderscope, awful for astrophotography, sucky motor, and a pain in the !#@ to set up. its also extreamily hard to transport.

http://www.telescopes.com/telescopes/ref...

you can forget seeing galaxies or nebulas with this scope. you'd be lucky if you could see mars' ice caps. awful stand, bad base, bad tripod, unstable, flimsy tube, poor finderscope, again, a pain to set up. you can't see any galaxies in good detail with this one. NO BUY!

http://www.telescopes.com/telescopes/go-...

at first glance it looks great, but is has some serious flaws. bad eyepeice qualitiy, short tube flaw, small primary mirror, pain to set up, almost impossible to align if you don't know the nightsky.

Scopes to consider buying:

http://www.telescopes.com/telescopes/ref...

great scope. easy to set up, great quality, only problem is it doesn't have goto. but if you know the night sky, you don't need it. this is a great buy. Dosbians are great scopes.

http://www.telescopes.com/telescopes/dob...

great quality scope. again, no goto or gps, but if you know the night sky, this is the scope to buy. pain to set up, but its completely worth it. great primary mirror, and you get some great quality images. not good for astrophotography though.

http://www.telescopes.com/telescopes/go-...

best scope for the price. it has goto, and is easy to align. it has a strong base, and a good motor. its also great for astrophotography. has excellent lenses. you won't be disapointed with this puppy!

sorry to disapoint you, but you won't get a good scope for only 200 bucks. your best bet is to go with the celestron nexstar 130 slt in my opinion. thats the cheapest scope thats going to give you any results.

Answer 6

If you Google telescopes, there is a ton of infor, when decided what to get, have a look at Ebay before buying, make sire they have over 90% positive feedback

Answer 7

Look on Ebay but make sure they have good feedback, 90% plus maybe? I have not got much experience with telescopes so I am not sure what you could see with a $100 - $200 one. I am guessing you could see quite a lot.

Answer 8

I do, and let me say straight away you will not get a usable telescope for $100, and they guy who said try eBay obviously is clueless about them (I see he has deleted his post).

Allow at least $500 for a half decent scope, and like the other answerer said, go to a site like www.skyandtelescope.com to find out more about telescopes generally.

A good telescope with a decent mount and eyepieces and other accessories will cost you about $3-4000.

$100 will get you a toy fit only for the trash can, you would do far better buying a pair of 10x50 binoculars for that money.

Answer 9

Umm,nope none there,and none there I guess not.