# telescopes??



## Woreout (Apr 4, 2010)

What advice can someone give me about telescopes. I live in the country, have lots of time. Thought about a telescope, maybe I could see Hillary riding her broom past the moon. I have never owned one and prices are anything you want to spend. Although I have lots of time, not a lot of dollars for such, maybe $150 to 200 range. Lots of them on Craigslist, but know nothing about them. All advice appreciated. Wes


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## Charlie B (Dec 24, 2015)

*Starry Starry Night viewing*

Great hobby to get into. There are "as Carl Sagan, Says" Billions and Billions of stars to see. Set a goal and try to observe every planet, Nebula, Galaxy Satellite , moon and with the proper equipment even the sun. Look for the rings of Saturn. Good thing you like in the country .The light interference of a large city will hide over 50% of what you want to look at. I would stay around mid range of your budget in buying a telescope . You can always upgrade when you have the urge to look father. ... Then on the other side of the coin is the microscope. There is an entire different unseen world to be discovered. I may sound like I know what i am talking about , I don't. My only experience is in using my childrens Telescope 35 years ago. Good luck


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## fishingcacher (Mar 29, 2008)

I would see if there are any local astronomy clubs in your area to see if they have a scheduled time to view stars. That way you can see what you get for what you pay for.


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## bbquman (Oct 1, 2005)

[I would see if there are any local astronomy clubs in your area to see if they have a scheduled time to view stars. That way you can see what you get for what you pay for.[/quote]

Wish I had . still can't figure out right ascension, and declination.


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## fishingcacher (Mar 29, 2008)

bbquman said:


> [I would see if there are any local astronomy clubs in your area to see if they have a scheduled time to view stars. That way you can see what you get for what you pay for.


Wish I had . still can't figure out right ascension, and declination.[/QUOTE]

http://www.physics.csbsju.edu/astro/sky/sky.11.html


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## Bubbaette (Apr 10, 2005)

Check out an 8" Dobsonian style telescope. They are not small but very easy to use. We even bought a small 4" for our son when he was about 8 years old that he could take outside and operate all by himself.


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## Jerry-rigged (May 21, 2004)

Woreout, did you ever get a scope?

There are lots of choices out there, and a lot of different scopes depending on what you want to do and see. Different people get their kicks looking at different stuff, and different scopes are needed.

A few thought - 
1. A good mount is more important than a big or high quality scope.

2. Don't buy a scope based on the "X Power" - all scopes have a range of power they can use, and near the coast, they are all limited by what we call "Seeing" or air quality. South of Houston, I can rarely use more than 100x power, even on scopes that should be able to push more power - just because the air above me is smugging the image.

3. A bad / flimsy mount will kill any enjoyment.

4. Bigger is better, within your budget, and within similar scope styles. by bigger, I mean, the diameter of the primary objective, not overall size. Getting a bigger objective is like getting a camera with more mega-pixels.

5. Plan on getting a better mount than the scope, if you have a choice. bad scope on a good mount is unusable. Good scope on a bad mound is unusable.

6. Eyepieces are as important as the scope. for starter scopes, look for "plossl" eyepieces.

7 - have I said, get a good mount?

8 - avoid cheap computer mounts. Worst of both worlds...

Best bang for the buck are "reflectors" on a "Dobsonion" or Dob mount.
Reflectors are an open tube with a big mirror on the bottom. The eyepiece is at the top of the tube, on the side. Simple. The Dob mount is also silly simple, a lazy-Susan kind of base, instead of a tripod. Simple, solid.

Looking at the $200 budget, about the best scope out there in that price range is the "one Scope" sold by Astronomers without borders. It is a 5" "Dob" reflector. Decent mirror, 2 decent eyepieces, and a solid smooth mount. Good revies, but back-ordered.
http://store.astronomerswithoutbord...roducts_id=4&zenid=frbiovr7pgfsu27oortf62nln1

A bit out of your budget, (but they offer a payment plan) - Orion 8" "classic" Dob. Big 8" mirror, GREAT starter scope. 8" will allow you to see nebula, clusters, galaxies, and will give great detail on planets.

http://www.telescope.com/Telescopes...12/sc/398/p/102005.uts?refineByCategoryId=398

Myself, I started kind of like you, just wanting to look at stuff on a budget. Now I have a 10" dob, a 80mm APO refactor, and a 90mm Mak cat, and a box full of eyepieces. The 80mm refactor is the easiest to set up and use, but my big dob gets used the most.

Jerry

Oh, and look at the Cloudynights.com forums. Great group. like 2-cool for telescope people.


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## FLATSDADDY (Mar 25, 2008)

I know this thread is old, but I haven't logged in a while.



I bought this one in Telescopes.com several years ago and was not disappointed. Was not a real cheap toy then, but its an awesome toy/scientific instrument. Its a MEADE LXD-75 10" Schmidt-Newtonian telescope.

I have seen them cheap on Ebay, CL, or amazon.

Good luck.


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## SwampRat (Jul 30, 2004)

For someone just starting out, I would suggest exploring the possibility of binoculars on a stand.

I bought a Celestron 15x70 for ~$100 and then a Orion Paragon stand for another $200 and that was it.

The first time I set them up in the backyard and looked at Seven Sisters, my only comment to the kids was a gobsmacked, "go get yer Momma.." Way cool.

Very easy to transport, setup and maneuver.

Get some star charts and start looking.


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## BGT (Mar 9, 2016)

Great Intel here, my grandsons 4 and wants to see some planets up close, also in the market for something reasonable, will check out the aforementioned options.


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## Jerry-rigged (May 21, 2004)

For the planets Venus, Saturn and Jupiter, you can get a good look at 50x-100x. Most any scope with at least a 3"/75mm objective and a long-ish focal length (F8 or longer) will work. For other planets (Mars, Uranus, etc) you need a lot of power to see anything more than a slightly colored blob. Well, Mars is kind of on the edge. Good seeing conditions, and 150x and it starts be an orange ball with some light and dark shadows. My 80mm scope can hit 150x, but at that magnification, the mount becomes super important - if you are on the driveway, some one can walk by and it will shake your view! My mount is a decent one - a Vixen Porta II - but my 80mm scope at 150x is about all it can handle.

A new cheep Chinese 8" dob will put up a great view at 150x, but the problem becomes tracking with the dob at that high power - the planet will only stay in view for about 30-45 seconds, as the earth turns.

Looking at planets at high power is where computer controlled scopes are great. On the rare occasion I can get my ETX90 to work right, it is wonderful being able to watch a planet for several minutes at a time. If you want a computer controlled scope, Don't cheap out! Low end versions have the worst combo of cheap, shaky mounts and cheep drive trains that either wear out quick, or are not repeatable, or both.

What Price range are you looking at?

Jerry


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## fishinguy (Aug 5, 2004)

Jerry-rigged said:


> For the planets Venus, Saturn and Jupiter, you can get a good look at 50x-100x. Most any scope with at least a 3"/75mm objective and a long-ish focal length (F8 or longer) will work. For other planets (Mars, Uranus, etc) you need a lot of power to see anything more than a slightly colored blob. Well, Mars is kind of on the edge. Good seeing conditions, and 150x and it starts be an orange ball with some light and dark shadows. My 80mm scope can hit 150x, but at that magnification, the mount becomes super important - if you are on the driveway, some one can walk by and it will shake your view! My mount is a decent one - a Vixen Porta II - but my 80mm scope at 150x is about all it can handle.
> 
> A new cheep Chinese 8" dob will put up a great view at 150x, but the problem becomes tracking with the dob at that high power - the planet will only stay in view for about 30-45 seconds, as the earth turns.
> 
> ...


What computerized scope do you recommend?

I have a 10" Dob and a 8" Cassegrain, I'm considering selling both and going with a modern computerized scope . It is really hard to show stuff to my kids though because they either bump the scope or the object moves out of range too fast.


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## impulse (Mar 17, 2010)

I see someone resurrected this old thread and that's great. 

Now, my question... With the advent of digital cameras and Bluetooth, I can imagine someone putting out a computer controlled digital telescope with Bluetooth to show the image on a laptop instead of having to squint and hope nobody brushes up against the mount and moves it half a minute of angle. That way, a bunch of us can watch instead of one at a time. And record the view for later, too.

Or is that out of my non-billionaire budget?

I know I can cobble it together with my Nikon, a telescope, some lens adapters and an app to show the Nikon's image on an Android device. Anyone tried it and satisfied with the results? 

Or is someone already selling a solid system to take all the jerry rigging out of it? 

On an aside, I could have used that setup last night to watch the frantic efforts at the chemical plant across the bay... They had a huge flare going, and I suspect there was a lot of personnel activity that would have been interesting from a few miles away.


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## reel thing (Jul 1, 2010)

with telescopes you pay for what you get. go cheap you get cheap. Tasco and a few other Walmart store stuff is ****. Get a Celestron or a Meade telescope much better quality. But it is very enjoyable hobby.


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## acoastalbender (Jul 16, 2011)

I lived in the Houston area until about 30 years ago and I remember when Brazos Bend park was developed with an observatory and a 36in. telescope was installed ... a gifted scope from a school in Louisiana is what I heard ... does anyone know if it's still there? Never had the opportunity but would've liked to have seen it and through it ... at sea level it would've really helped the 'seeing' ...


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## impulse (Mar 17, 2010)

acoastalbender said:


> I lived in the Houston area until about 30 years ago and I remember when Brazos Bend park was developed with an observatory and a 36in. telescope was installed ... a gifted scope from a school in Louisiana is what I heard ... does anyone know if it's still there? Never had the opportunity but would've liked to have seen it and through it ... at sea level it would've really helped the 'seeing' ...


When someone mentioned telescopes, that was the first thing I thought about. We used to go down to the park on scheduled events when groups set up their own telescopes and made an entire evening of it. With the high point being our turn in line to get in to look through the big telescope.

I'm curious, too... Whether they still do it.

We always brought a bucket of chicken for a picnic dinner and to feed the raccoons.


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## reel thing (Jul 1, 2010)

You go cheap you get cheap. Other words you get what you pay for,true in astronomy. I would spend at least $1200 and get a real telescope.


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## KayBurton (Jul 23, 2020)

I have a Celestron telescope and can absolutely recommend it. I bought it in a lockdown, when I had nothing to do really. It has good lens and approximate stars good. Completely worth its money.


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## reel thing (Jul 1, 2010)

When buying a telescope you get what you pay for. Same thing with eye-pieces.eye-pieces can range from $25 for a cheap eye-piece to $350.00 for nice telvue eye-piece. The more the better. Plossol's are more reasonable and decent. Astronomy you can spend a-lot if you want.Bigger is better but more costly and usually heavier which might translate to less use.


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## KayBurton (Jul 23, 2020)

reel thing said:


> When buying a telescope you get what you pay for. Same thing with eye-pieces.eye-pieces can range from $25 for a cheap eye-piece to $350.00 for nice telvue eye-piece. The more the better. Plossol's are more reasonable and decent. Astronomy you can spend a-lot if you want.Bigger is better but more costly and usually heavier which might translate to less use.


I am not a fool and I understand that you need to be able to properly handle expensive professional equipment. It will not work as well as with wood. There are times when a person buys expensive equipment and does not know what to do with it in the end. This is not only about telescopes, but also about home appliances.


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