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First Time Telescope Purchase Question?


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There’s really no one scope that can do everything.

An 8’ Dobsonian is the best purchase you can make for looking at the night sky, Its super simple to use and you will learn so much more. Just pick out a constellation and tour around it. You should be able to pick one up for very little money in the US and if at a later date you have some extra cash for an equatorial mount. you can pop a set of rings on it and use it on the mount.

Throw in a reasonably good pair of binoculars, a stable tripod and you have the best of everything for next to nothing. The double setup will also let you share the views with family/friends

Have Fun

Steve

Edited by bilbo
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If you want to watch drones flying around then I think the best option is to go with something that birders woukd use, and look for a decent spotting scope. I think the Celestron Regal series is probably the cheapest decent option. 

However, spotting scopes are not really good for observing planets. The best compromise to observe both drones and planets is probably a small Maksutov, say 90 or 100mm, but the field of view will be quite narrow which may make tracking drones in flight difficult. 

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23 hours ago, bilbo said:

There’s really no one scope that can do everything.

An 8’ Dobsonian is the best purchase you can make for looking at the night sky, Its super simple to use and you will learn so much more. Just pick out a constellation and tour around it. You should be able to pick one up for very little money in the US and if at a later date you have some extra cash for an equatorial mount. you can pop a set of rings on it and use it on the mount.

Throw in a reasonably good pair of binoculars, a stable tripod and you have the best of everything for next to nothing. The double setup will also let you share the views with family/friends

Have Fun

Steve

For that celestial, at night, there are at least three telescopes that come rather close to being all-rounders.  I have one, a 150mm f/5 Newtonian.  Another is the next size down, a 130mm f/5 Newtonian.  Lastly, a 130mm f/6 ED- or apochromatic-refractor.

The refractor would also be an ideal for that daytime/terrestrial(birds in trees, ships at sea, et al), including solar observations; but for a price however.  Obviously, said refractor would be the ultimate in all aspects; a bit of this, a bit of that, and a bit of everything else.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Ok, I'm back.........Looked at Mars last night. What's that black vertical line on it? I haven't seen it mentioned in searches, but I haven't searched it for that long either. Yeah I could make out some craters with my $80 scope. Also could make out a ring around Saturn but it was like looking at a pinhead (my eyes hurt today).

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6 hours ago, hardworkinpd said:

Ok, I'm back.........Looked at Mars last night. What's that black vertical line on it? I haven't seen it mentioned in searches, but I haven't searched it for that long either. Yeah I could make out some craters with my $80 scope. Also could make out a ring around Saturn but it was like looking at a pinhead (my eyes hurt today).

You might have been looking at Syrtis Major Planum.  Did it look sort of like the following images?

spacer.png

Along with the polar caps, it tends to be the highest contrast feature visible on Mars from the Earth.

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I don't know about that vertical line I was seeing, probably optics. I did see one video on YouTube where a guy in India was getting similar . If I come across it again I'll post the link.........but yeah I need a better scope......... 

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