Handy

I am looking to get a decent scope for not a huge amount of money. I have not had great luck with the couple of second hand scopes I've gotten. That's my mistake. My main concern is not wasting more money in buying a scope I'm not going to be happy with. I'm going to hope to get a scope that will allow for viewing planets and brighter deep sky objects. Portability is not a huge concern as I live in a relatively dark area. I would also like to be able to hook up my DSLR for imaging. Are there pros and cons between reflector and retractor OTA's for that? And while I recognize this is not going to get the best quality, I'm hoping to keep the price to around 500 USD. Any advice will be greatly appreciated.

Right now, for some wide field shots, star trails, and moon shots, I'm using an Orion EQ1 mount with my Canon eo6. Lenses I've had some success with have been my 75-300mm telephoto, and my fixed 500mm telephoto sometimes paired with a 2x extender. I would be interested in being able to get some deeper field objects though (star clusters, nebulae, hopefully planets as well). Hence why I'm looking to upgrade into telescopic range. 🙂

So with all of this new information in mind, I'm definitely going to have to upgrade in the future. Are there ant recommendations on brand/ type of telescope? My end goal is to be able to take some photos with my DSLR through the telescope? Or should I start a new thread for that question?

I have to thank you all again for all the information. I took off all the extensions and just let the eyepiece rest in the 1.25" hole on the focuser tube. I had since fairly good results last night. I got the moon, and Orion's... sword. In focus. But I was getting very noticeable coma and aberration. And at the moment attaching my dslr to this rig is just right out. I'm going to continue working on alignment of the spider with the hopes that it's not a true collimation issue with the primary mirror.

And while probably not entirely necessary, the whole set up.

Extender/adapter for the 1.25" lens.

Focuser tube with 1" Inner diameter and threads, this is the first piece to have a place for a set screw for a lens. Hopefully I've got the hole in decent enough focus.

I just got a few shots, I'll start out with the focuser tube, and work up through the whole set up.

There is a secondary lens that I can see in the very end of the focuser tube. Also, the focuser tube does move smoothly throughout its range, from all the way in, to all the way out. There is an extension tube on the eye piece to accommodate the 1.25" lens. It is threaded onto another 1" Inner diameter piece which has a hole for a thumb screw to secure a lens. That is threaded directly onto the focusing tube which does not have a thumb screw hole, but is also a 1.25" I.D. I put the 25mm lens in that and had some good results so far. Unfortunately, I live in a fairly heavily wooded area, and can't get anything more than about a hundred yards off. I will see what happens later on but so far the results are promising. Thank you for the information! Any other insights will be greatly appreciated. Also, based on all that, is there anywhere I can go to find better accessories, such as shorter extension tubes, or different lenses? I knew going into this adventure there would be additional costs, and I knew this telescope wasn't exactly the best, but it was cheap (I am now at least its third owner, and I have no idea how old it is.) I've been looking at Amazon, and a few other sites for some replacement parts (I need to specifically replace one of the fine adjustment poles), but I don't really want to sink a bunch of money into a bunch of junk that will turn out to be useless for my needs, either in the short term, or in the future as my skills (hopefully) grow.

I am trying to get into astronomy, and astrophotography, and as I am just starting out, I'm trying to keep it on a budget. With that in mind, I realize that buying secondhand equipment is not always ideal. I recently purchased a Twin Star 150 1400 Reflector on an EQ mount. Aside from some other issues that I have already attempted to resolve, including getting my finder scope realigned, and ensuring the mount was properly assembled, I have run into another problem that I cannot seem to figure out. While attempting to focus on the moon after I first acquired this scope, all I could see was a giant white blob. The trees in the foreground, however were extremely clear. I called it quits for the night to see what things looked like during the day. And, not to be let down, I could focus on objects between 30-40 yards, but after a distance of 50-75 everything started getting blurry again. Past that, nothing is in focus at all. I've been using a Plossl 25mm AF 40 eyepiece. I will be grateful for any help.