How do i choose a good telescope for astronomy?

Question

ok im in east anglia england uk id be using it from back garden or going to local countryside, budget ?? say max of £2000 or $4000 us dollars hope that helps u help me cheers

Answer 1

That depends on several factors, the first being your experience as a stargazer. Where you live, how much weight and bulk you can handle, how much space you have in your vehicle, where you plan to use the telescope will determine what kind of telescope is best for you. Your mechanical aptitude, what you want to look at and how much money is in your budget are also important factors in your decision. For now, I would join a local club and try some telescopes before buying one. You need to find out what sort of telescope works best for you and what's good and what's not so good. Using them in the field is the way to do your homework before parting with what might be a substantial amount of money. Chances are, a good option for a first telescope is a Dobsonian of some sort, with an aperture of 6 or 8-inches. A 6-inch F/8 or 8-inch F/6 is a great performer on the Moon and planets, and they are no slouch on galaxies and nebulae from  reasonably dark sites. Another choice worth considering is a 4 or 5-inch long focus achromatic refractor or 5 or 6-inch Schmidt Cassegrain if the higher price is no problem for you. However, try some telescopes, ask questions and take note of what you like and dislike before buying. I would in any case start with a star atlas and learn your way around the sky too so you can find things when you do get your telescope.

Answer 2

First step, join a local astronomy club.  See first link.

Here are the 3 P's for picking a telescope.  Price, Performance, and Portability.  Price and portability can be show stoppers.  Price less so, since you may be able to wait until you have more cash. But a scope that doesn't fit in your car is stuck where ever it ends up.  That leaves performance.  For deep space, what you need is as much light gathering as possible.  That's usually a Newtonian reflector.

The push-to computer also comes under the category of performance.  Before buying my scope, i joined a local astronomy club and borrowed each of their loaner scopes in turn.  One was a ten inch reflector.  I spent half an hour not finding a fairly bright galaxy in my back yard.  It was too dim for my sky conditions.  Then, i repeated this for another galaxy.  Spending an hour to not find two galaxies is not something that will sustain me in the hobby.  With a push-to computer, i can observe a dozen objects an hour.  In in very short time, i found that very few galaxies can be seen from my heavily light polluted back yard.  And, an oxygen 3 filter lets me see most nebulae.

My scope is a 10" Newtonian.  The tube length is 48".  It fits across the back seat of any car.  I had a $1000 budget, so the $800 scope fit.  I bought an oxygen 3 filter (about $89) at the same time.  I might have bought the 12" scope, but the tube is 8" longer, and doesn't fit in my car.  I might have gone with a truss dob with a larger mirror, but at the time, it was over my budget, and there was no computer.

Answer 3

An excellent source for information on the hobby - including advice on telescope selection and intuitive charts to help you learn the sky - is the book "Nightwatch" by T. Dickinson. I recommend it a lot, because I found it to be a great guide. I still use it all the time.

I also recommend that you find a local astronomy club on line and go to a few open observing sessions. You will receive a warm welcome and an opportunity to see what to expect at the eyepiece and at the cash register.

Do not rush this purchase. You should know why you want the specific scope that you are buying, and that means try before you buy. Good Luck and Clear Skies.

ADDED: Chris - with that much money to work with, you have a certain charter to understand what you are buying before you buy it. I personally used about that much to buy an 11 inch Schmidt Cassegrain with an excellent mount and a good clock drive. If you do not understand the benefits of those features, then you should really do some research before investing serious cash and then regretting it.

To explain a little further, you could do what I did and end up with a scope that is optically decent, will track it's targets, is easy to transport and set up,and will remain stable in a hurricane.

Or you can buy a really big Dobsonian, which is heavy and needs two people to assemble, will not track, but can be used to see thousands of objects.

Or you can get a smaller SCT or Newtonian with all the equipment needed for astrophotography, or fancy GoTo technology, so you don't really need to learn the night sky and can find dim objects in light-polluted conditions.

Or you can buy a superior APO refractor for near perfect optics, easy transport, and tracking.

It really depends on where your personal interests lie in terms of the hobby.I'm not convinced that you know what your interests are yet. So the first step is probably to attend some open observing sessions to see what you like about each type of scope. You might see a distant galaxy and say "So what? It looks like a smudge on the eyepiece. I'd rather look at Saturn" You would be right. Or you might see it and say "I think it's really great that I can see those photons that have traveled 50 million light years - and I can show my friends without having to move the scope every 30 seconds by hand." And you would also be right.

So take your time. There is no way that someone else should be telling you what scope you should invest in with that kind of money. You need to know why you want the scope you are buying before you buy it. Do yourself a favor and go to a few open observing sessions. You will be glad you did.

Best of Luck and Clear Skies.

Answer 4

so much depends on where you live.

what altitude?

how close to a city?

oh yeah, and how much $ do you have to spend?

Answer 5

There are several different kinds of telescopes and all of them have some excellent features. Refractors and Reflectors, plus Schmidt-Cassegrain, APO refractors and more. There are also several mounts to chose from and the mounts are just as important as the scope is. All of the different scopes and mounts have some features that some people like and do not like.

There is no one scope that is "better" than another except for the junk scopes out there which are all just a waste of money. Never, ever buy from Walmart, Costco, Target, or any other discount store like that. Junk scopes are flooded into the market from those stores. You will be buying nothing but bad optics and plastic.

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http://oriontelescopes.com/

Orion is the very best for value and for customer service too. I have 2 of their scopes and I will only buy from them from now on.

The Orion site has some excellent diagrams and explanations of all types of scopes and mounts.

Things to consider are size--can the user lift and transport the scope to the viewing site easily? If not, then it will gather dust in a closet. Can the viewer reach all the k***s and buttons? I have a long tube large manual refractor and it is very dificult for me to reach the k***s when I am pointed to Zenith. I am not a tall person.

Take your time in making your decision.

I would like to suggest that you join a local astronomy club or astronomical society BEFORE you spend your money on a scope. There are many different kinds of scopes and what is perfect for one person is not perfect for another. Everyone has their own set of eyeballs and no two are the same. If you join a club, you can attend a few of their star parties and try out members scopes to see what works best for YOU, before you buy a scope. The members can also help you when you get your scope and show you how to get the most out of your new scope as well as to help teach you where the treasures in the sky are located. Hint: they will be especially helpful if you take cookies to star parties. Most clubs have loaner scopes and extensive libraries that you can gather more information from too.

Some people will suggest that you purchase binnoculars. Not a bad idea but dont buy anything less than 10x50 and you must have a tripod too or you will not be happy with your astronomical views because they will be too shakey from your movements. Personally, I prefer a scope to binos because if binoculars are not aligned properly at the factory, then you get double images and distortions that cant be fixed.

But when you buy go Orion and you wont be disappointed. Don't try to learn everything all at once or you will be overwhelmed and discouraged. Patience is the key to Astronomy.

You will also need a good star chart program.

http://www.stellarium.org/

This is great freeware that you can download. Just tell it where you are and it will tell you what you see.

I wish you all the best. Enjoy