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helios lunar 1 refractor


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Hello all.  I'm new to astronomy and recently obtained a used Helios Lunar cadet 1 60x700 refractor.  I thought it better to buy a beginners' scope for now but I was overwhelmed by the choice available.  My gut instinct was to go for the Helios.  Have I chosen wisely?    

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Welcome to the SGL forums.

When I started "astronomy", looking for sporadic meteors with only my eyes, as a young teen at school in the 1970s, from time to time I was "rewarded" with a look through a borrowed telescope with similar characteristics to yours and it was a big thrill! Today's bigger aperture telescopes just didn't exist, at least unless you were rather rich, and I for one didn't move in those circles!

Your Helios scope will begin to open up a lot of possibilities in amateur astronomy. To begin, concentrate on trying to learn your way around the night sky by identifying the brighter stars and the constellations. See how the stars "move" through the night and through the different seasons. You will get great views of the Moon, and also the planets (although small) as well. A lot of clusters will be easily within your scope's reach as well as nebulae and double stars.

Most of your observing will be in black, white and grey - don't expect too much. Fantastic swirls of colour are only possible with quite specialised astrophotography not with your eyes. But as Dave says, you can have a lot of fun and you'll probably get hooked. Beware :icon_biggrin:!

 

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Should serve you well, but will have some limitations on magnification with the 60mm objective and 700mm fl. Stick with it and learn as much as you can roving the night sky, until you feel you are ready for a change. You should then be in a position to know what type of scope you want and the subjects you like to observe, enjoy :) 

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