Need help with choosing a first telescope.

[ShakinsThyLord]

I live in Norway and don't have many choices for telescopes due to low stock and importing costs much, I was wondering if I should buy a "Sky-Watcher Starquest-102R", Or if I should buy a different one.

Budget: 5,000Kr/500 USD

This is the website I use for buying: https://www.kikkertspesialisten.no/

Edited July 11, 2022 by ShakinsThyLord

[AstroMuni]

Are you looking to do visual or photography?

[ShakinsThyLord]

@AstroMuni I'm looking to do visual

[Cosmic Geoff]

That particular telescope is intended for wide fields and does not do well at high magnification.  With low power/wide field the manual equatorial mount is less useful and an alt-azimuth mount would be easier to use.

Some beginners find the equatorial mounts a pain to set up, and they are not particularly useful unless motorised or in full GoTo form (highly desirable for imaging).

I could not navigate the Norwegian website but (if available) you might look at a longer focal length version of the 102mm, or a table-top Dobsonian of 130mm or 150mm aperture.  Or a ground-standing 150mm Dobsonian.

[AstroMuni]

You have chosen a good scope. If you want bang for the buck go for a Dobsonion with maximum aperture that you can afford.

Your scope will show wide star fields and the brighter Deep sky objects. Planets will however look small compared to the pictures you are used to seeing in forums, magazines. Unfortunately there isnt one scope that works well for both planets & DSOs.

EDIT: You beat me to it @Cosmic Geoff 🙂

Edited July 11, 2022 by AstroMuni

[Spile]

I would echo the recommendation to get a Dobsonian https://astro.catshill.com/why-did-i-choose-a-dobsonian/