Looking to buy

[dave480]

I was hoping to buy a nice telescope and im a little bit lost, i was hoping to see the full majesty of space, i was looking to spend around £100 any tips on what i could get that would satisify?

:stars:

[Cloudwatcher]

A £100 budget is a bit restrictive telescope wise, even for secondhand equipment but will get you a very nice new pair of binoculars.

CW

[John]

I agree with CW's advice. Get a nice pair of binoculars (10x50's are good for astronomy) and enjoy the views that they give. If you want some larger, more powerful binoculars the Celestron Skymaster 15x70's get good reports and cost around £75.

John

[Tim]

Hi,

Like you I am a newcomer. Like you I dont yet have a scope, (well, kind of, see my other post). However I have been caught up and swept along with the waves of benevolent encouragement they freely dole out here, and just HAD to offer some words of my own.

Apparently to see the full majesty of space, you require a higher priced entry ticket. I suppose a hundred quid would get you a pay per view on Sky, whilst to actually be there on stage with his majesty, you'd have to splash out a lot more.

I have enjoyed several nights lying on the floor with a pair of good (good because they were cheap) binoculars for about 30 - 40 quid. I lie on the floor for two reasons. Firstly it saves your neck from becoming sore looking up all the time, and secondly, laying horizontally helps the body process the evenings alcohol intake more efficiently, and additional quantities can be imbibed without compromising stability. I cant say His Royal Highness (AKA Mr Universe) appears in ALL his muscular glory, but you certainly get to see all the Dukes and Duchesses, with a princess or two thrown in. It is surprising what extra is there with binos, helped all the more by dual eye light interpretation, or whatever it is those who know what they are on about call it.

For a more immediate and budget sensitive approach, and to ensure you DO get to see all the majesty, why not print off colour pictures of all the great images taken by Hubble (gonna get my wife to start calling me that I think), print them off, and then stick them to the ends of kitchen roll tubes. You could even have two of these at once, and hence enjoy what nobody else here can, what I like to call Dubble Hubble. If this goes wrong, (Dubble Hubble Trubble), then you could always download the FREE program called Stellarium http://www.stellarium.org/. I swear by and at this program. I went from knowing nothing to knowing everything in about 49 seconds. And when you do get your hundred quid scope, it will save you time 'cause it will show you at what time it is worth going outside to see Saturn duelling for sky space with Venus and friends. Really, its great.

There, my first 'help' post. Please rate accordingly. Donations should be made by palpay to "TJ's Kitchen Roll Tube Fund".

Thank you. And Good Nights.

Cheers

TJ

[FLO]

A good binocular is your best bet. Alternatively, post a request in the Wanted section for a starter scope around £100.

[Neon]

Yup. Bins 'for the win'. £100 quid will get you a nice set of 15x70 bins and a fairly decent tripod. You'll see loads more with binoculars than you'd think, plus they're much easier to use than a scope and you can take them anywhere. Here's a good site to check out:

Binosky - best bets for stargazing with binoculars

And, like TJ says Stellarium is a truly superb bit of software. Other than Xubuntu Linux, it's (imho) the best free bit of software around.

[dave480]

A £100 budget is a bit restrictive telescope wise, even for secondhand equipment but will get you a very nice new pair of binoculars.

CW

Is it gonna be good though i live in the centre of manchester and light pollution as killed the sky at night im able to see about 10 stars at night max

[themos]

See if you can bag a 6" reflector, second hand. But only if it's a reputable make like Celestron, Skywatcher or TAL.

[Cloudwatcher]

A £100 budget is a bit restrictive telescope wise, even for secondhand equipment but will get you a very nice new pair of binoculars.

CW

Is it gonna be good though i live in the centre of manchester and light pollution as killed the sky at night im able to see about 10 stars at night max.

If I might precis TJ's post just a little bit........Yes,you will see a whole lot more.

I also live in a light polluted area and I think you will be very pleasantly surprised at the difference a pair of binoculars can make. You will benefit from a wider field of view than that provided by a cheap telescope and also get that '3D' effect not seen through a scope. The ultimate grab n go gear.

CW

[Whippy]

Dave, buying secondhand can be a bit of nightmare (Ebay? Noooo!!) but buying from astro forums such as this fine place do give you a better chance of not buying a lemon that you'll only end up using as an umbrella stand. Stick a wanted ad up, you may be surprised at what you might get offered. If you really want to buy new and you really want a telescope for £100, this will serve you well to start with: http://tinyurl.com/2tceo4 . Obviously it's not going to be the best in the market but the good thing is the mount it comes on will easily take bigger and better quality telescopes as or when you want to upgrade. Otherwise, I'd heed people's advice here and get yourself a pair of binoculars, 10x50's will serve you well and if you want get a bigger pair such as some 15x70's, you'll need a tripod as they're a fair bit heavier than the 10x50's.

HTH

Tony..

[dayglowill]

If you don't already have a pair of suitable bins they really are a great way to start. I would suggest picking up a reasonable quality pair of porro-prism 7x50, 8x50 or 10x50 binoculars. If you have an interest in using the bins for terrestrial viewing, such as watching wildlife, as well, then 7x42, 8x42, or 10x42 porro-prism bins are still usable for astronomy but a little less bulky for for lugging around. If you can save up a little more than £100 then there are scopes in the £200-£300 range that really will show you "the full majesty of space".

However if you have your heart set on a telescope, right now, and can't find a 2nd hand bargain, The Sky-Watcher Mercury 705:

http://firstlightoptics.com/proddetail.php?prod=mercury705

looks like a good bet. The scope itself is appears to be about as close to an all rounder as you will get for the money. More importantly it comes with the, very well thought of, AZ3 mount and tripod and a red dot finder. Buying these separately would cost you as much as the whole package. If you get hooked on astronomy and find yourself wanting a better scope (or several) you will probably always have a use for a good alt-az mount and a spare red dot finder, so you you won't have wasted £90.

All the best,

Will.

PS while I was writing this reply I notice Tony has just recommended the very same scope

[mhc]

Hi Dave,

I live ~ 5 miles north of Manchester city centre, so I fully sympethise with your light pollution woes.

Binoculars are definitely the way to go. In effect, you get TWO small aperture telescopes, one for each eye The flip-side is that the magnification is fixed, whereas a 'scope will change magnification as you swap eyepieces. But then you need a STURDY mount...

There's no perfect solution. Do you have a reasonable camera tripod? Modern binoculars can be mounted on a camera tripod [cheap adaptor needed], which is likely to be more stable than the tripods that the low-cost scopes come with. Or you can lie down.

IIRC, there are some binoculars that have in-built light pollution filters. I've no idea on the image quality. Perhaps the knowledgable people here can advise?

Finally, binoculars will still be usable and useful should you stick with it and eventually buy a 'scope. For one thing, there a doddle to transport.

Best wishes,

Mark

[Neon]

The guy I brought my binoculars from is selling some Bushnell Astralis 15x70's on eBay again. Here's a link to them here:

Bushnell Astralis 15x70's

He was a reliable eBayer, and although the cost of postage is quite high, it's still a good price. I think my winning bid was £32. However, I'm guessing that this guy is selling grey imports, since the ones I recieved weren't colminated (at all) so I had to spend some time sorting that out. But other than that, great binoculars for stargazing.

[jgs001]

Hi, I invested a small amount of money in a pair of 12x50 Binos. Even with the Binos, finding objects can be quite tricky and you have a nice wide Field of View. However, you can still see quite a lot. Definatly go with the lying on the ground idea, it's how I do most of my viewing at the moment. Gonna stick solely with the Binos for at least a couple more months before investing in a scope. Hopefully by then I'll be able to figure out what object I'm looking at and that will, so I understand, make the scope a much more useful device.

[rawhead]

I was hoping to buy a nice telescope and im a little bit lost, i was hoping to see the full majesty of space, i was looking to spend around £100 any tips on what i could get that would satisify?

:stars:

I regretted buying a really heavy scope (TAL 2M from EBAY for £70) Supposed to be a good one though....

[Whippy]

I was hoping to buy a nice telescope and im a little bit lost, i was hoping to see the full majesty of space, i was looking to spend around £100 any tips on what i could get that would satisify?

:stars:

I regretted buying a really heavy scope (TAL 2M from EBAY for £70) Supposed to be a good one though....

If you don't want it, send it this way .

Tony..

[peeceeTal2M]

There are several TAL1's (4.5inch) and a TAL2 (6inch) on Ebay now, good optics on both of them but as has already been said a bit on the heavy and bulky side. I've owned both types and wasn't dissapointed with either. I'd go for the TAL2 as a first scope and you could always put a bigger scope on that mount at a later date!

JMHO

Phill

[The Warthog]

For that budget, a decent pair of binos, a planisphere (starfinder) and a basic guide to the sky will get you started nicely. After that, quit one of your bad habits, and put the money into a money box until you can afford a 6" reflector or catadioptric.

Oh, peecee, I have bad eyesight, and reading green on black is a real strain for me. Could you possibly choose a brighter colour? I have difficulty with purple and blue, too. Thanks.

[petermartin5]

OK I am no expert and this is only my humble opinion.A couple of years ago I bought the Bresser Skylux from Lidl for £50. Bought the bins too.Poor weather has always seemed to be the major problem when I want to observe. However this cheap scope has provided much fun and enjoyment. Great views of the moon and some of the planets. I could see a little banding on Jupiter but not much.Its been fine on double stars and clusters.

For the money I think its great value and not a "junk" scope by any means.

When funds permit I would like to upgrade to a larger refractor--is there a bias in favour of reflectors on this forum?Probably not, perhaps its just me!!

Good luck with whatever you decide upon.

Pete

[Whippy]

is there a bias in favour of reflectors on this forum?Probably not, perhaps its just me!!

There's absolutely no bias with regard to any particular scope (or manufacturer) here Peter, but no-one could argue that for a beginner, the best 'bang per buck' would be a reflector .

Tony..

[The Warthog]

That being said, there are a lot of reflectors about simply because they do give you more aperture per dollar, or pound, or euro. They also don't exhibit chromatic aberration, and you have to spend a lot to avoid that in a refractor.

[peeceeTal2M]

Sorry about the Green Warthog, will stick to white in future.

Phill

[The Warthog]

That's more than OK! It's only the blue-green colours I seem to have real problems with. I like the size of your font, though. I can read it from the next office!