Need help Buying a Telescope. (10pts)

Question

I have 500 dollars and i want a telescope. what is a good telescope around this price range and since im new at this stuff i dont know what kind to look for so just go ahead and give me an idea of whats out there. I also really need image comparisons of different telescopes, cus i want to buy one with a 10" aperture but my neighbor says that an 8" is fine and there isnt much difference. Also if i dont buy one with a computer thingy "object locator" i think, will it really effect my viewing? I live 10miles out of town is that far enough to be away from city light? What telescopes are good for 500 dollars? should i save up a little more for an even better one. Have I asked too many questions? lol.

Can someone please just link me some pics of comparisons to 10" and 8" or of any other kinds of telescopes. Or of at least images of your telescope pics.

Answer 1

Telescopes comes in different types,sizes and models made by different manufacturers,Basically reflectors,refractors,cassegrains and dobsonians are now a days used more.Again, what you wanted to do with your telescope is imporatant.For watching planets, they say refrators are good.But for stellar observations reflector gives you more light for the same amount.Also the mount is very imporatnt unless you have a heavy mount it will suffer vibrations and adjustments will be difficult.Get the catalogues from different manufacturers from websites or find out any astronomical clubs in your area,get information from experinec people.

Answer 2

I have Orion's xt10i, and have performed a side by side comparison with an xt8i.  We looked at a half dozen objects over an hour.  The 8" scope was slightly dimmer, but i did not detect any detail that you could see in my 10" that wasn't there in the 8".  And, the best light pollution filter, the oxygen 3 filter, works fine in the 8" (the o3 filter makes everything really dark).

I can point my scope at the Moon, Saturn or other bright objects without the computer helper.  But for something dim, it can take a half hour for me to find the right field stars.  Experienced astronomers can do it faster.  But with the computer's help, i can be confident that i got something into my field of view that simply isn't visible because it's too dim - in about 2 minutes.  So instead of 2 objects an hour, i get to see 10.  And that's not limited by finding them, it's limited by how long i study them.  For double stars, there's much less for me to notice, and i usually can do 20 or 22 an hour.  That includes taking notes.

You could get the 10 inch Intelliscope without the computer, and buy the computer as an upgrade later.  But don't get the SkyQuest classic.  It isn't upgradable.

Please check out your local astronomy club(s).  Membership at my club is $30.  So, my $800 xt10i could have bought me 26 years of membership.  My club has a dozen scopes, some i can check out for months.  And, it has a 12.5" scope in an observatory, and a 22" dob.  This is quite the value.

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.

Answer 3

one tip i leared from the textbook is that the resolution depends on how much light is coming in which depends on the diameter. so the larger the diameter, the better quality you can see stuff farther away.

another thing is you would want to generally choose a reflecting telescope rather than refracting so you dont have to worry about chromatic abberation which is a bad thing.

so the diameter would be the first spec you look at when choosing one. other stuff like the quality of the lens and special functions should come second.