What is the best type of telescope if you live in a city?

Question

I live in London and would like to get a telescope but am really unsure which type of telescope and which specifications would be best for a heavily light-polluted area, can anyone help?

Answer 1

Quite honestly, you are limited by what you can expect in a city. Light pollution is such a problem that you can't hope to do any serious astronomy. Assuming it is astronomy that your are interested in, since light pollution is less of an issue for spying on the neighbours...

I would suggest a pair of binoculars - they have a reasonable light-gathering power and nowadays you can get image stabilisation, which really helps. Go for the widest aperture (= light gathering power) plus nifty bits like image stabilisation (though lens quality is paramount) that you can afford. Don't bother too much about magnification, as magnifying a c**p image gives an even crappier one. And limit what you intend to do to the equipment you can afford.

Of course, if you can get out of the city once in a while then go for an 8" reflector with massive magnifying eyepieces... as long as it fits in the boot of your car!

Answer 2

Light pollution has no effect on telescope choice, despite myths to the contrary in older books. The best telescope in any situation is the one with the largest aperture that you can afford and transport.

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...

Answer 3

If you're in London there is a  place you really should visit to get advice and a hands-on look for  astro telescopes. It has a good reputation amongst astronomers. The Widescreen Centre,off Baker Street,is excellent. You don't need to buy anything in a hurry. Just go and look and talk about types of telescopes,light pollution filters,(pleasant surprise,eh?).........Telescope House (previously Broadhurst Clarkson and Fuller) are out of Holborn now,moved to Kent,but their website is worth looking at,as is David Hinds in Tring,30 miles north of London.You can get a direct train from Euston to Tring,and have a very enjoyable day out there.I grew up close to there and visit quite often.He has a huge range of astro gear and usually has some second-hand equipment(see the classified's on his website) He ran his own mirror-making company for a few years,so he knows what he talking about. His mirrors are top class.A small portable scope and a train ticket will show you more celestial objects than a big scope in the middle of London,but it's not hopeless. Just find the darkest site you can away from the direct glare of streetlights. A few trees work wonders for that,so if there's a park nearby,head for it.I've seen quite a lot of nebulae from Burgess Park with a short-focus 4-inch refractor,and even 20x80 binoculars.Have fun.

Answer 4

Before you buy any telescope--- attend a local public star party-- look through the telescopes and ask lots of questions.

Answer 5

My driveway can be described as downtown in a large city, but with the flood lights of a grocery store parking lot.  It doesn't get much worse.  Yet, since it's nearby, it's my primary viewing site.

I'm quite happy with my 10" (254mm) reflecting telescope on a Dobsonian mount, with computer locator.  It's the Orion xt10i.  About $800 ($430 GBP).

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 on a Dobsonian mount.  The Dob mount is a lazy susan with a tilt.  They're inexpensive, but stable.  They don't track the sky, but it's not bad.  You have to spend more money on a good tracking mount than you do on the scope.

I have the Orion xt10i.  This is a 10" Dob with a computer push-to locater.  I love it.  $800.  I don't expect to have to buy another scope unless this gets broken somehow. The oxygen 3 filter will show you nebula with this scope even in London.  Galaxies, however are gone except M31 - the Great Andromeda Galaxy.

I also routinely use 8x21 binoculars.  They're 100 grams and can be hand held for long periods.  They also fit in my pocket, and are very rugged.  $50 (27 GBP).  And, finally, i have 1x7 binoculars, which you'd call naked eyes.  I almost always have them with me.  They're the best instrument for meteor showers and spotting orbiting satellites.  You may already have a set.

You may have heard that a small refractor will outperform a reflector in high light pollution.  That may be true if money is no object.  But for less than 500 GBP, reflectors will give you more performance for any given amount of money (and probably alot more).

Check out a local astronomy club.  They can show you want you can see in a variety of telescopes. Since your eyes are part of the optical path, and your eyes are different from everyone else's, the advice is try before you buy.

Answer 6

What's your budget?  Decent amateur scopes start around $300, and can go up to thousands.  I don't think you want to spend too much money on a first scope, but there is a really big difference in performance between, let's say a $300 and a $1000 scope.

Answer 7

chroot03.19.03, 12:19

1) DO NOT BUY ANY KIND OF TELESCOPE FROM THE DISCOVERY CHANNEL STORE. I cannot stress this enough -- even if it's a brand name telescope (like Meade or Celestron), do not buy it from a hobby shop. Go to a reputable telescope shop that knows and sells real instruments. It's quite likely that no one that has ever worked at a Discovery Channel store actually knows how to operate a telescope.

2) Many newer telescopes are computer-controlled, and can locate things for you. This is, in many cases, overkill for a new observer -- what good is a 50,000 object database when you're not even sure which constellation is which?

3) The digital camera that comes with this scope is almost certainly a steaming pile of c**p. If it's one of the Meade video camera eyepieces, it's really only good for doing public displays on a TV screen. If it's one of the Meade CCD cameras, they suck. If it's a standard terrestrial digital camera, it probably sucks worse.

4) My advice to new amateurs (I teach community astronomy classes here and have introduced probably 200 people to the hobby in the last five years): buy a good quality fully-manual Dobsonian mount Newtonian reflector, 8" or so in aperture, a couple of good eyepieces, and some star atlases. Orion makes an excellent Dobsonian 'scope. Total cost: around $600. If you're a gadget freak and simply must have the computer-controlled jazz, look into the Meade LXD55 series or the Celestron NexStar series. I personally recommend Celestron, due to a higher reputation of quality.

5) Don't bother with an equatorial mount unless you plan on photography. It's a waste of time, space, and money if you're just going to use it for visual work. Besides, most of the cheaper equatorials are steaming piles of c**p.

6) The best telescope for you is the one you will use. Seriously consider portability, setup time, and ease-of-use. If you find you don't have the motivation to drag a 200 pound electromechanical equatorial 'scope up to the local freezing mountaintop, you won't do it. Keep in mind that larger scopes require longer equalization times. My 11" SCT takes about an hour to really get stable at ambient temperature. Bottom line: you may find that a good quality refractor from a company like Stellarvue on a lightweight, quality alt-az mount will much more inviting to use on a nightly basis.

Let me know if you have any questions -- if you'd like, I can post some of my educational materials for you to read.

- Warren

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