Telescopes

Archive for September, 2009

i am a beginner and i am looking to purchase a good telescope i was looking at this one Bushnell Northstar 5" Maksutov Cassegrain GoTo Telescope 1550 x 127mm which is about what i would like to spend i would like to keep it under 500 any suggestions?
Are there any suggestions for a good beginner Telescope like a model i would like something computerized and around 500

There are a number of good telescopes to buy for under $500 but computerized scopes for that much aren’t going to be too great.

Look at these sites. They sell some good scopes.

http://www.telescope.com/control/main/
http://www.meade.com/
http://www.celestron.com/c3/home.php

Although computerized "go-to" scopes are nice, you are spending more on "goodies" than aperture, which is the most important thing.

But as an earlier poster said it’s always best to get some hands-on viewing through some different scopes to see what you like. Different types of scopes have different advantages, some are more portable, some give you more aperture (mirror or lens size).

Don’t forget that you will need to buy some other things with your scope such as a star atlas and extra eyepieces. Eyepieces will run anywhere from $30 to $300, usually in the $50 to $100 range for stater scopes.

Hi there,

I have a meade ETX-125 PE telescope and want to view more then only "dots" in the sky with my current ocular that came with the telescope.

What I wan’t to view is Planets, galaxies and larger stars…
In order to do this I need new oculars to enable me to get a sharp image of the distant planets like jupiter and saturn or of deep sky and galaxies.
But the problem is, what ocular do I need for the planets and what ocular do I need for galaxies…?

Please help! Please include: Name and brand of the ocular and a website with description and/or where I can buy it.

Your help is very much appreciated and will be rewarded with thanks and the points for the best answer.

Regards,
Tristan Schendel
What your saying is only partially true. I’m a fairly experienced amateur astro-photographer ans have worked with several refractors and dobsonians, just never with a maksutov-cassegrain. I’m not familliar with the meade telescopes and this Telescope is new and I bought it as backup for my current 8" dobson. Since I’m not familiar I jsut need advice with oculars which ARE very well visible with the correct ocular since I’ve seen 100’s of images taken through this telescope.

Any other suggestions…?
Above detail note was for Tina L

That is actually quite a nice scope. It is comparatively expensive and a little on the small side, but good quality and will give you some nice views. Since you don’t state I presume the only eyepiece (ocular, EP) you have is the 26mm it comes with. From memory that is a 4000 series: not top of the range but perfectly respectable – there are certainly far worse. That will give you 73x which is quite a nice mid-range kind of power.

To see planets usually means bumping up the magnification. To complement your existing EP I would probably go for a pair of EPs for around 100-110x and 140-160x – it will be rare that you want to go higher than that. Meade don’t actually do an EP in the right power range for the former. I would suggest a Celestron X-Cel 18mm for 106x which is a good complement for this scope in terms of quality. I am not going to recommend a particular supplier since I don’t know where you are based (I’m in the UK), but a quick web search should bring up a few possibilities easily enough.

For the higher power I would get a Baader Genuine Orthoscopic 12.5mm for 152x. In my opinion these are the best planetary EPs out there, certainly in the price range, giving good colour and contrast and plenty of eye relief. Same goes here in terms of suppliers.

At the other end of the scale you may want a wide field EP for larger objects such as the moon or the Andromeda galaxy. The long focal length is working against you here – a 40mm Plossl will give you 48x. Meade do a 40mm 4000 series Super Plossl that will match your existing EP. Alternatively if you can find a slightly longer Plossl (up to maybe 48mm for 40x) that will give wider fields of view, but I think you will struggle finding those in a 1.25" barrel eyepiece to suit your scope.

However, make sure you understand what you are going to see and that you expectations are not unrealistic. The planets are easy enough to find in fairly humble scopes, much more so that yours, but stars do not change in any way – they will only ever be points of light. The only exception is for some binaries where you will be able to separate the two stars. Most galaxies are very faint and really need a bigger scope than you have. That is not to say it is impossible but you really need to get well out into the country away from the city lights.

Hi, ive just bought a Sylvan reflector Telescope, it looks amazing and so do the specs! i am just wondering if it was worth my money or does anyone know how i can get the most out of it?

Thx

I am glad that you are excited about your new scope. I must heartily disagree with c3 above, who, for some strange reason, feels that to enjoy astronomy you must do astrophotography. What a weird way to tell folks about the hobby.

I have not ever looked through this scope, so I know little about it. To get the most out of it, I sincerely recommend that you take it to a few open observing sessions sponsored by your local astronomy club. You can find them on line, and they will help you a lot.

I also suggest that you start by learning the sky. A good book to start with is "Nightwatch" by T. Dickinson. It has some very easy-to-use charts that can be seen in low light environments and will not be dew-damaged the first night out.

You may also want to invest in a Telrad (or similar) 1X finder scope that you can mount to the scope to help you locate objects. Eventually, you will probably want some better eyepieces, but first you should get familiar with using the scope.

Your local astronomy club will be a good source of help and support. By all means look them up. Welcome to a great hobby. Don’t think about astrophotography yet. Learn to enjoy what you’ve got. Clear Skies!