HELP....... I'm buying my first telescope

[firelady]

Hello all

I'm going to buy my first telescope shortly and am totally baffled by all the equipment and specifications.

I want to view the planets and from what I have read a refractor is the best bet.....am i right?

I need some help with:

1. Is a 4" lens the best?

2. What is the minimum f/? length I should be looking for

3. Is a barlow lens a necessity?

4. Is a finderscope or a red dot finder better?

5. What are good makes of telescope?

I was thinking of getting a heavy duty equitorial mount also, are they heavy? And how heavy do telescopes get in general for the different sizes?

Any help or suggestions of models is much appreciated as the more I look, the more confused I get :?

Thanks

Gabrielle

:sunny: :sunny: :sunny:

[mcut]

1. more aperture the better but depends where you are going to use the scope, i.e you might want something that you can lug around easily

2. will leave that to others. for planets you would probably want longer focal length as that will give more magnification (having said that magnification isn't everything

3. no it is not necessary.

4. i have a maksutov 5" and use a red dot finder. some people find them easier for hopping around the sky to find things, a finderscope provides some small magnification. matter of choice really

5. i will not go for the high cost makes but for a first scope more aperture for your money with a Newtonian or a Dobsonian, skywatcher do good scopes, click First LIght Optics at top of forum. they get some very good reviews for starter scopes.

[Sparrow]

Hi Gabrielle - I've only been on this forum a few days and I've only just got back into this hobby after many years but I'll give you my thoughts on the matter:-

I agree that the choice is overwhelming - the two things you have to consider is: What is your budget and what do you actually need. If you're a beginner my personal suggestion would be don't spend too much to start with - you don't want to spend mega bucks only to find that you lose interest after a few months. On the other hand you don't want to buy something cheap and nasty that will put you off by disappointing results.

As a beginner myself I'm in no postition to advise on what's best to buy - there are plenty of people on here who can advise you better on that. - Perhaps you could post back and give a rough idea of how much you want to spend - that would give the experts on here some idea of what they could reasonably recommend.

Regards

John

[Whippy]

Welcome to SGL Gabrielle .

I think what maybe best is if you let us know what your budget is and then we'd have more of an idea of what you could get for your money. Your idea of buying a refractor to view the planets is a sound one, but they are the most expensive design of telescope for their relative size. Also you may want to consider not just looking at the planets as there are only really (and I'm sticking my neck out here) 3 that would give you worthwhile views (Mars, Saturn and Jupiter). There's thousands of other wonderful objects in the night sky that will keep you observing for a lifetime.

One last thing, how important is ease of use and portability to you? You may find yourself looking at a large scope only to find that you'll never use it because you find it too much of a pain to set it up. Apologies for all the questions and we've all been in your position but the more info you give us, the better the answer we'll be able to give you.

Tony..

[firelady]

Hi sorry, thought I'd put my budget on, I've got up to £500 to spend.

Thanks

Gabrielle

[firelady]

Hi Tony,

Thanks for the advice.

Ease of use is a necessity as a beginner and I would want to move it around, but if it's too heavy will get the other half to do it!!!! Also I don't want something that's too complicated to set up.

Hope this helps

Gabrielle

[jgs001]

Welcome to SGL Gabrielle. I'm not going to be able to advice much either I'm afraid. I haven't been at this hobby for long either.

[John]

Hi Gabrielle and welcome to SGL

There is a bewildering array of different scopes available each with it's strengths and weaknesses. It's no wonder that people starting out are unsure where to begin.

I would suggest that you don't spend your whole budget on a scope but get something straightforward to operate and capable of showing a wide range of things while you "find your feet" with the hobby so to speak.

Something like this would be a good place to start:

http://www.pulsar-optical.co.uk/prod/telescopes/sky-watcher/dobsonians/skyliner-150.html

Or something a little more sophisticated like this which has motor drives to track the stars:

http://www.acecameras.co.uk/asp/web/recorprod/1/product/13109/cat/1802/ph/cat/keywords//recor/1/SearchFor//PT_ID/1/product.asp

Either of the above has enough aperture (the size of the main lens or mirror) to show lots of objects from planets to faint galaxies and each is straightfoward to operate (and not too heavy !).

One thing though - don't expect to see planets, galaxies etc looking like they do in the wonderful photos you see in magazines and books - you will see some details with practice but not as much as the cameras can capture.

John

[Sparrow]

Hi Gabrielle - forgot to say welcome in my previous post

£500 budget - wish I'd had that For what it's worth I got myself the Celestron 114 EQ 4.5" Newtonian Reflector - cost about £125 from Amazon UK delivered. I'm delighted with it - fairly easy to assemble, portable, and relatively easy to use - the equatorial mount takes a bit of getting use to but I can already see it's advantages. With your budget though you should be able to go better than that but I would perhaps allow in the budget for getting a few good eye pieces - I've just been loaned a Plossl eyepiece to try out and it'sa much better than the ones that come supplied with the scope. You may also want to allow for a few filters if your mainly interested in planets/moon. Having bought a scop, my next purchase will be a moon filter, solar filter, and a couple of Plossl lenses.

Regards

John

[firelady]

Thanks for all your tips. Can't wait to get it now.

Gabrielle :sunny:

[Casus belli]

A good idea is to join your local astonomy club. You'll get loads of advice and quite probably a chance to see different telescopes and types of telescopes working.

The best scope for you is the one you'll use the most. Its no use buying something the size of a small house if you cant move it easily from living room to viewing site. (Dont count too much on better halfs help too often. I know my wife wont help me! )

A Dobsonian scope is great for pure light gathering. They tend to be cheaper as they're un-guided and are great for deep space objects. They're quick and easy to set up. They are however virtually no use for photography. And there my "expertise" on telescopes ends.

Do invest in some warm clothing. This is almost as important as decent eye-pieces