Jump to content

Banner.jpg.b83b14cd4142fe10848741bb2a14c66b.jpg

Complete Novice

Craig20264

By Craig20264
in Welcome

Recommended Posts

Craig20264

Craig20264

Posted
Posted

Hi all,

As you can see from the title I am a complete novice and willing to be guided.

My name is Craig and I have a keen interest in astronomy but am a late starter, (wrong side of 40).

I am looking to buy my first scope and as always there is a beginners budget set by she who must be obeyed!

I am looking to spend around £150.00 on a beginners scope but am old and wise enough to know that kind of money wont buy a lot where quality optics are concerned, so am willing to wait and explore the second hand market to try and get the best I can for the money.

Ther are lots of confusing terms out ther such as Dobsonian, Newtonian etc. so I was hoping for some advice for an outright novice.

Regards

Link to comment
Share on other sites
brantuk

brantuk

Posted
Posted

Hi Craig and welcome :D

The term "Dobsonian" refers to a dobson mount. Named after it's inventor it's simply a rocker box on a turntable so you can position the scope up/down and left/right to point anywhere in the sky.

"Newtonian" refers to the actual telescope - a tube with a parabolic mirror at the bottom which focuses the light back up the tube to a 45 degree diagonal mirror that deflects it through the side to a focuser tube and eyepiece.

Newtonians scopes can also be mounted on Equatorial mounts, which need to first be pointed at the pole star, and stand on top of a tripod. Dobs are cheaper to construct and slightly easier for a beginner to operate. Hope that helps :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Nosivad

Nosivad

Posted
Posted

Hello and welcome. Don't worry about posting plenty of questions in the forum. There is a great section for beginners where you can ask about anything to do with telescopes, mounts etc. Good luck in your search for a 'scope.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
teh_feckerer

teh_feckerer

Posted
Posted

From a newbie to a newbie, HI!

From the advice I've gleaned the best bang for buck is always a Dobsonian scope. If you look at newtonians for the asme price with a Dob you can usually get the "next size up" for the same price or only a tiny bit more.

Best of luck with it and enjoy your time here :D

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

Go to topic listing

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue. By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use.