Im looking to buy my first telescope, i have a budget of £200 gbp ($400 usd roughly) i would like to look at?

Question

the moon and planets and (if possible on my budget) deeper space objects like galaxies etc. the telesscope would need to be transportable as i will be taking it out in my car to various locations. im not to bothered about the photography side of things at this stage. I am a total beginner, could someone point me in the right direction of a suitable first telescope please?

Answer 1

Yes: meet with some local astronomers to see what is possible. There are nice low-cost Dobs that work very well. The mount is important: if you can't point a telescope at the sky and not have it bounce around, it doesn't matter how good (or bad) the optics are.

Beginners do not want to mess with astrophotography. Do not go there.

Answer 2

I do not believe in beginner telescopes.

I'd really try hard to get an Orion xt6i.  This is a 6 inch reflector on a simple but very sturdy Dobsonian mount, with a computer locator. You need to be able to find 2 (of 20) alignment stars, and then the computer can help you find anything else.  The scope comes with two very usable eyepieces.  And the scope's tube is short enough to fit across the back seat of any car.  I have the Orion xt10i - the ten inch version.  The xt12i has a longer tube and does not fit in my car.

You may be able to get a good deal on a used telescope.

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.  In your budget, that points to a 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.

Consider joining a local club.  My club has several loaner scopes from 4" to 10" - refractors, Newtonian and SCT reflectors.  They also have a 12.5" scope in an observatory, and a 22" reflector - very cool.  $30 a year buys you alot of telescope.  My 10" telescope cost $800.  That would have bought me 26 years of membership.  I was a member for 5 years before buying my telescope.  Some of that was research, some of that was waiting until i had the cash.

Answer 3

I really like the ETX. I'm a pro astronomer and I take my ETX on the plane to Hawaii,Chile and Australia when I'm doing observations for my research  just to do amateur observing on the side just to remind me of my roots.

OK you aren't going to see Hubble like images but for planetary work its good.

Answer 4

try a Celestron beginner telescope, probably a reflector

also its a good idea to get an altazimuth mount

Answer 5

Celestron NexStar 130SLT for $439

If you want to view the night skies above with certainty on what object(s) you are viewing, this is a great way to get started. Very simple to install and simple to operate. This was a great buy for beginner and immediate users.

It works well. The 2 lenses that come with the scope allow you to begin checking things out in the sky.

For the price, it's a great scope and the goto software is pretty easy to get the hang of. The sky mapping software that comes with the scope is also a great help and easy to use.

Take a look here: http://www.urlfunz.com/doCRh

Answer 6

Go and get some advice that would actually help you. Try your local astronomy club, or read a bloody good book on the subject. That being said, however, how about a Skywatcher 130 reflector, it offers a reasonable aperture at a reasonable price. Have you thought of a good pair of binoculars? That is also a good starting point specially for a beginner. Whatever you do eventually choose, I really hope you enjoy using it.