Beginner loking for telescope advice.....

[delilahtwinkle]

Hello Stargazers, I am new to astronomy (I always watch the sky, know all my constellations etc but never had a telescope) I am now looking to buy my first telescope. I have looked on Ebay and other sites which has made my decision of which to buy even harder.

I would like to buy a telescope that will keep me going for a long time, got a couple of hundred to spend. Would appreciate some advice before I jump in and buy one that is either no good for the job or so confusing that I would not be able to use it. Regards Delilahtwinkle.

[storebror]

My first bit of advice - be VERY careful with telescopes from eBay - you will no doubts have seen 'bargains' on such makes as Seben - steer clear of them - their optics are vastly inferior compared to well known makes such as Celstron, Meade, Skywatcher, Tal etc. Don't get suckered into those 'scopes that claim 'X magnification' - it's aperture that's important, not magnification; the bigger the aperture, the more you'll see. Also, what type of telescope you eventually buy will, to a large extent, depend on where your interests lie. I'm certainly no expert, but if it's planets you're mainly interested in, then a refractor would be a good choice. If it's deep sky objects, then probably a reflector would be better.

If you eventually want to get into astrophotography, then you'll need an equatorial mount, rather than Alt-Azimuth so that the scope can track objects in the sky as the earth moves.

It's not an easy decision and you'll no doubt get plenty more opinions on what would be best.

Actually, I'd say go for a good pair of binoculars first but I guess that's a personal decision.

Good luck.

[SteveP]

Hello Delilah

My advice would also be to avoid buying from ebay unless you already know what you're wanting.

The best piece of advice I could give you is to ring First Light Optics - who happen to be this site's sponsor - and ask them. From my experience, they're reliable, honest and impartial. An alternative would be Modern Astronomy - many people here also recommend them

[John]

You are right to be cautious - there are good scopes and not so good ones and e.bay is crawling with the latter type I'm afraid.

My advice would be to talk to Steve at First Light Optics (see banner at the top of the page). He is very helpful and will ask you the right questions before suggesting anything.

Good luck !.

John

[ZOG]

Hi, I would also take a look at the for sale section of this site. There are often bargains to be had.

[Doc]

Excellent advice there....

There's lots of other points to think about as well. Such as how strong are you as some scopes are heavy. Have you anywhere to store a big scope. Where are you observing as you don't want to carry a big scope to far. Are you a photo or visual guy as some mounts are purely visual.

[Merlin66]

A good refractor is an easy way to start. If you can find an ED80 on a EQ3 type mount you'll have lots of fun!!

[TheThing]

People always knock ebay, but it has it uses. I bought my first scope, a Skywatcher 130m from a dealer on ebay. Cheaper than local retailers and was delivered quickly, with no fuss. Don't discard ebay straight off. It is an excellent source of astronomy equipment.

If you're just starting, you can't really do much better than the Skywatcher 130PM. A good sized, Newtonian reflector, suitable for moon, planets and DSOs. Again, some will knock the EPs that come with it, but when you're just starting out they are perfectly suitable. You can always buy more later.

The 130PM should also come with a x2 Barlow (effectively doubling your EP collection - the 10mm 'becomes' a 5mm with the barlow, the 25mm a 12.5mm) and a motor drive to keep objects in the field of view once you have located them.

An essential to purchase is 'Turn Left at Orion' (or borrow a copy from your local library). Also download Stellarium (sp? can never remember how it's spelt!) or Cartes du Ceil. Both are free sky software programs which will show you real time what the sky above should look like and where to find things.

[John]

People always knock ebay, but it has it uses. I bought my first scope, a Skywatcher 130m from a dealer on ebay. Cheaper than local retailers and was delivered quickly, with no fuss. Don't discard ebay straight off. It is an excellent source of astronomy equipment.

I agree but you do need to know what you are looking for. Amongst all the Seben stuff and 60mm scopes on wobbly mounts labelled "Professional" there is some really nice stuff on e.bay at times.

The trouble is that the poor stuff actually looks superficially fine - just like the good stuff in fact - when you are new to the hobby why would you pay £300 for a chinese made scope called a "Skywatcher" when you can have one that seems just the same called a nice German name like "Seben" for half that ?.

"Caveat Emptor" certainly applies to e.bay.

John

[delilahtwinkle]

Hello again, I am amazed at how helpful you have all been, Thankyou very much. Once I have posted this I am going to phone First Light then download Stellarium. I appreciate all the advice, must dash, I have a telescope to buy. Regards Delilahtwinkle

[mdstuart]

Just to support the other posts e-bay can be good when you are carefull. I would suggest any skywatcher telescope from a 130mm upwards will be a good start. Make sure you compare the skywatcher offering against anything else before making the decision...

Mark

[gobes]

I recently got my first telescope... a Skywatcher 'Skymax 127', and delighted with it.

I'm told that anything under the £350 mark will most likely have poor optics, but no idea if that's true.

[delilahtwinkle]

Telescope bought.... I am now the very proud owner of a Skywatcher Explorer 130P SUPATRACK AUTO, power pack and a collimation tool, to be delivered Tuesday. Stellarium is downloaded, Roll on Tuesday night, could be Wednesday by the timie I get it set up. So pleased once again Thankyou Stargazers everywhere. Delilahtwinkle

[ZOG]

You will love that scope, so many of us started out with a SW130.

BUT you do realise that from Tuesday you're going to have 40 cloudy nights..........don't you

[storebror]

I recently got my first telescope... a Skywatcher 'Skymax 127', and delighted with it.

I'm told that anything under the £350 mark will most likely have poor optics, but no idea if that's true.

Absolutely NOT true - I've just bought a Skywatcher 150P from FLO - £190 - (before the price hike). Before it was stolen, I had a Skywatcher 130PM which, at the time, cost me about £145, again from FLO. Price is not always a good guide to the quality of a telescope - and this is where some research, reading reviews and reading what people say on forums such as this is so valuable.

[Astro_Baby]

Totally agree - the other big problem with ebay is people often pay over the odds being scared they will miss a 'bargain'.

Plus as already has been said - after I ordered my Sky-Watcher I looked at ebay and did wonder of Seben were any good. I bought the Sky-Watcher really pretty much on the fact it won reviews and Patrick Moore endorsed them - I figured if its good enough for SPM it would be good enough for me

Even so I was a bit dubious about a Chinese telescope when I ordered it. Happy to say I made the right choice.

[TheThing]

You've bought a cracking scope, well done!

Don't forget 'Turn Left...'. Roll on those cloudy nights you're cursing us with!

[delilahtwinkle]

I think this forum is great, bet you all get sick of me soon. I have always wanted a telescope but never had the information needed to buy one also as I do not know anyone else who watches the sky I do not have anyone to advise me of where and when to look or to listen to me going on about what I have seen up there, Were you joking about all the cloudy nights? Delilahtwinkle

[dark knight]

Nope, Murphy's Law states "buy astro gear and it will be clear for forty days and cloudy for forty nights" Hope you have great fun with your new telescope.

Carl

[Doc]

Keep us posted with how you go on with your new scope and donn't forget post some piccies

[Astro_Baby]

Its all to do with the box - if you open it carefully the clouds dont get out

And actually the weather gods smiled on my first scope and gave me lots of clear nights - it was only when I fell into the sins of Aperture Envy, Eyepiece Lust, Focuser Avarice and and upgraded that the weather gods turned against me :)

[delilahtwinkle]

I have a plan, On Tuesday I am going to open my telescope in a darkened room with the radio volume up high. Until Tuesday I am going to mutter the words "they had none in stock" while doing a weather dance for clear skies.

I might push the boat out and try not to stand on any cracks in the pavement aswell, actually better not, they may get suspicious. Delilahtwinkle (Dt)

[dark knight]

AB I read somewhere you had problems with the mirror cell retaining clips when you first got your OTA. I looked at mine the other day and they too were loose as hell!!! Do you think the cold causes the rubber bushes to contract??

Delilah - Woah, mustn't tread on the cracks, they are related to the black hole family, you'll just disappear.....

[Astro_Baby]

The mirror retaining clips were loose on bothe SW 200 tubes I had. Noticeable by a dull thumping sound when the tube was rotated.

I took the mirror cell out and found the screws were slightly too long so wouldnt pull tight againts the retaining clips. I filed the ends of the screws a bit - you only need about 1/2 a mil filed off and then replaced them.

These dont have to be tight and they shouldnt be or else you'll cause the mirror to stress which produces strange aberrations. The most common of which is when you do a star test the defocused star will appear triangular.

I used a thin piece of paper as a feeler gauge to make sure the clips werent pulled tight on the mirror - very carefully - and not had the loose clip problem ever since and collimation is perfect plus the scope holds collimation really well.

[Stars in Their Eyes]

I bought a skywatcher 130pm following Astrobaby's advice and am really pleased with it. It arrived 2 weeks ago and although I've only been out twice with it due to the cloudy nights (at least there hasn't been 40 of them......yet!) I'ts already given me great views of star clusters, saturn, venus and the moon.