Telescopes

Archive for March, 2010

Its been my long waiting interest of owning one Telescope and now that I managed to earn am planning to really buy one. Can you suggest what specifications should I be looking for?

To give you more information let’s say I want to see pluto planet(if it actually exists..:} ) . Any input is welcome!. Will choose a best answer!!

To see Pluto (which definitely exists — it just isn’t classified as a planet any more) you need an aperture of at least 10 inches. However, if that’s your main objective in buying a telescope, you’re going to be severely disappointed, since Pluto never appears as anything more than a very dim star-like object…its only distinguishing characteristic is that it moves from night to night. Most amateur astronomers use their telescopes to look at the Sun, Moon, planets, comets, double stars, variable stars, star clusters, nebulae, and galaxies.

Here are a few web pages with good information on beginner’s telescopes:
http://www.gaherty.ca/tme/TME0702_Buying_a_Telescope.pdf
http://www.scopereviews.com/begin.html
http://observers.org/beginner/j.r.f.beginner.html

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/category/~category_id=dobsonians/~pcategory=telescopes/~VIEW_INDEX=0/~VIEW_SIZE=1000000
http://www.skywatchertelescope.net/swtinc/product.php?class1=1&class2=106

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/organizations

I strongly recommend that beginners steer clear of astrophotography until they have learned their way around the sky. Astrophotography is by far the most expensive and difficult area of amateur astronomy.

Many people who buy telescopes have no idea how to find interesting things to observe. A good introduction to finding things is NightWatch by Terence Dickinson (Firefly). A more advanced book is Star Watch by Phil Harrington (Wiley).

Focal length of Telescope divided by focal length of eyepiece, using the same units of distance.

I’ve been offered a Meade ETX-90 for 200 dollars with the alt mount and a few lenses. However, I’ve seen from reviews and pictures before on this same telescope where they were all GoTo telescopes. This one has no ports on its base for the sort, so I am a little skeptical if this is an older, but still equal telescope, than its computerized partner.
I’ve been looking for weeks for a amateur Telescope that I can afford but not worthless. Should I go for it?
What strikingly relevant advice. Ive been looking for binoculars for weeks, but nobody has a pair they are willing to part with. I also have set the Orion XT10 as my main goal of a telescope, as I’d like a dobsonion, but 500 dollars is out my range for the next few months. That’s why Ive been looking for used telescopes.

All I can say is wait to get the funds for the XT10,it is a fine instrument and well worth the wait.
Join a club,members are always willing to help and you can get some eyepiece time at a star party or two.
Wally