First telescope

[Redterry]

Hi all, i haven't got a massive budget and just  looking to get a entry level telescope for me and my kids to get involve and maybe progress to something more professional.

Ive seen the following:

Celestron explorascope 114az currently half price currys £89.99

Polaris 130md reflecting £99 second hand

Celestron powerseeker 127eq

£135 second hand.

And advice, thoughts would be gratefully received, thanks for looking

 

Terry

[Carbon Brush]

Before recommending, you need to tell us more.....

You viewing environment. 3 flights of stairs to get outside? Overlooked by lots of lighting?
Maybe drive out to a dark place to view?
Kids ages & attention span. Will they use the cope unsupervised? Do they need an instant view to avoid boredom?

As for 2nd hand purchases. From where? On general sale there is a lot of stuff that has been neglected, or has bits missing.
Having someone experienced go with you to look would be a good idea.

And last but not least. Welcome to SGL. We are all happy to help.

Keep asking the questions.

 

[Redterry]

Wasn't expecting extensive questioning lol. Thanks for replying

Decent sized garden that i can go out in. Im going to be the main user, just think it will be me and my son. He's nearly 16yrs old. There are few street lights in the area. 

Don't have have anyone that would have same interest that why i signed up here.

What about the new one from currys? 

 

Thanks for the welcome and yes definitely more questions to follow 😀 

 

[M40]

Hello Redterry and welcome to the site. 

One of the challenges with an entry level telescope is that it can very much be a disincentive to continue into the hobby and one of the main reasons for this is the mount. Frustration sets in, you put it away, it collects dust, game over. Can I point you in the direction of first light optics beginner telescopes. Have a look at the skwatcher heritage 130p tabletop dobsonian, it has a lot of good reviews for a reason. 

All the best

[Cosmic Geoff]

1 hour ago, Redterry said:

Celestron explorascope 114az currently half price currys £89.99

Polaris 130md reflecting £99 second hand

Celestron powerseeker 127eq

£135 second hand.

Some of these could put you off astronomy for life.

You should buy from a specialist astronomy retailer. 

Astronomy is not a cheap hobby and you should be prepared to spend for something that performs well and is not a pain to use.  The 130p dobsonian quoted above would be a good choice to start. 

[RT65CB-SWL]

The Hi @Redterry & family and welcome to SGL. 

What is your ‘maximum’ budget? - If you have not already seen or read this... https://www.firstlightoptics.com/beginner-telescopes.html would be a good place to start.

I am no expert, but I think they all maybe what is called a ‘Bird-Jones’. Basically they have a lens element built in to the drawtube/eyepiece holder which doubles as some sort of Barlow lens. They can be a PITA to collimate... and best avoided.

Also, some cheap/budget high street retail outlets may sell telescopes with 0.965” e/p’s and accessories. Nowadays, trying to purchase 0.965” e/p’s and accessories is going to become frustrating. You will better purchasing a ‘scope that accepts 1.25” e/p’s and accessories or a dual-fit [ie 1.25” & 2”]. Your wallet and your later life will thank you.

 

 

 

Edited August 29, 2023 by RT65CB-SWL

[Stickey]

Hi Terry and welcome to SGL. You'll find loads of advice on here and your question is a fairly typical one for someone just starting out. 

Equally typical are the counter questions trying to find out what you're hoping to observe with your family through whatever scope  you decide to get. 

There's no perfect scope, no one scope to rule then all, just many horses for courses and of course the no. 1 query is your budget. From your  initial note, you seem to be in the £100 - £150 range and are willing to consider 2nd hand.

That is good. If you go 2nd hand, use SGL Classifieds or AstroBuySell UK, you should be able to find something useful. 

The next question is whether you're keen to see planets or are happy with stars and some bright deep sky objects?

To keep it simple, for the former, you'd be better with a decent starter refractor with a decent focal length. For the latter, a starter reflector.

Others have commented on the Celestron 127Eq - like they said, I wouldn't bother with it,  but the table-top dobsonian can give very nice views and fits into the decent reflector category. 

For planets, you could try one of the starter refractors, like the Celestron AstroMaster 70. The ability to use your mobile phone to help you find targets is a real benefit to keep beginners interested.

And ideally, find a local astronomy club and join it. You'll get so much help there too. 

Regards, 

Mike

[Elp]

Will you be content in viewing planets as small dots, the moon will usually look pretty good in most scopes and star clusters? If you're expecting to see nebulae, even galaxies, temper and dial back your expectations. Light pollution is a defining factor of what you'll be able to see, what are your conditions like?

[Astronomist]

All the scopes you listed are Bird jones designs, with the exception of the Polaris 130. these cheap bird jones scopes have a reputation for mushy views, so probably best to steer clear of them. I agree with previous posters that a small long refractor or table top dobsonian would be sound choices. 

[Naughty Neal]

I think you would be best with a Celestron Starsense telescope , this with the use of a compatible smart phone form their extensive phone list of makes/models will guide you to all types of celstial bodies .  One will though if has a suitable phone then downlaods a free app which ten also guides you to ythe object and also gives you info on the object.

If you can go to £200 then the celestron LT80az refractor will be a good start and not to expensive, the value of the guided app and phone use can't be ignored and is a valuable asset to have.

Edited August 29, 2023 by Naughty Neal

[Naughty Neal]

This is good value at the mo .

Celestron StarSense Explorer LT 80 AZ Refractor Telescope | First Light Optics

 

Also can you tell us which phone model you or your son are using  ?

[woldsman]

Welcome to SGL. I’d suggest asking a slightly different question, namely the following:

”What is your favourite grab-and-go scope for visual observation of the Moon, planets, and easier to find deep sky objects? What accessories do you take out with you and how much did the setup cost? And could you post a photo of your setup?”

My favourite is an 80mm refractor on an alt-azimuth mount. The accessories are a finder-scope (unfortunately not a right-angled one so like the scope it shows the sky “upside down”), a Rigel quikfinder (a red dot pointer that shows where the telescope is pointing to in the sky), and a dew-strip heater for both the telescope and the finder-scope which run off a single usb power pack (the type that give your phone some extra power). I use it with three eye-pieces: a 30mm (25mm is just as good), 15mm, and 10mm. I also have a collapsible chair to observe from.

This setup is light, fits into the car easily, and takes only a few minutes to assemble.  I work away from home and it comes with me and can be stored very easily in the room I rent.  I’ve not had the scope very long but I love using it after work, when the skies are dark and clear, and last time out had great views of Jupiter, Saturn, globular clusters and even galaxies.

The cost actually came in at around your budget  - the scope, mount and eye pieces all being preowned. Many members of SGL have at least one more scope than they have time to use. Were you to put a wanted in the classified,  for a refractor scope of around 80mm  aperture and an easy to use mount, quite possibly someone near you will respond and you could go and see what they have to offer.

Edited August 29, 2023 by woldsman

[Redterry]

Thank you all, very in depth replies.

All replies are appreciated, im not going to rush in and read all the comments. Plenty of research to be done.

A little confusing at the moment, thought it would be simple enough with a set budget.

My mobile is a Samsung s22+ 

[happy-kat]

If you're a desktop user then a great planetarium is stellarium and you can tune it for your location

[RT65CB-SWL]

On 29/08/2023 at 20:35, happy-kat said:

If you're a desktop user then a great planetarium is stellarium and you can tune it for your location

Also check out the Astronomy Tools - Field of View calculator/app at the top of this page. I am doing this on a smartphone/tablet and it does not show up on it.

Screenshots above of the Astronomy Tools - Field of View calculator/app as shown from a desktop/laptop.

Edited August 31, 2023 by RT65CB-SWL

[Emperor!Takahashi!]

4 hours ago, Redterry said:

Thank you all, very in depth replies.

All replies are appreciated, im not going to rush in and read all the comments. Plenty of research to be done.

A little confusing at the moment, thought it would be simple enough with a set budget.

My mobile is a Samsung s22+ 

I'd add: Please don't get deterred by the information overload or fall into analysis paralysis. The scopes that you mentioned are fine, and you can always learn and upgrade as you go if you wish. The main thing is to enjoy the process. Welcome to SGL!

[Emperor!Takahashi!]

I'll also add: Of the three telescopes that you listed, I recommend the first because it comes with a simpler mount (called an alt-azimuth mount). These move in a simple up-down fashion, which I think most beginners would find more intuitive. They are also lighter than equatorial mounts, which come with the other telescopes that you listed. Equatorial mounts, especially inexpensive ones that are packaged with beginners' scopes, can be a frustrating turn-off when one is just getting started and wants a simple observing experience.

(And finally, to echo others: the SkyWatcher Heritage 130p is a great alternative.)

Good luck!

Edited August 30, 2023 by The60mmKid

[Naughty Neal]

The s22+ appears to be on the compatible list for phones that can be used with starsense esp if the phone designation is SM -S901B.

The list of compatible phones is very long.

[Naughty Neal]

With your low set budget it is suitable for a lot of cheap rubbish to be had and may be off putting not knowing what you are looking at , a pc or laptop screen with one of the various astronomy tools is a good insight but having the phone app and search directly on the telescope will be far better and for a little extra outlay . 

The bonus with the Starsense equipped telescope  is it will be far easier to sell as a used item given that one has the code to  sell on with the scope in the future, another bonus is one can renew  the code via the Celestron tech website should you use up the five device allocations or wish to sell it with five new device allocations.

 

I recently bought the very plastic and cheap LT114AZ as a used item, simply for the starsense device.  The seller had the app code and there were still four available device allocations left to use, I have retrofitted to my main heavy duty tripod /mount to use with my refractors.

 

The slightly extra cost of the starsense to be guided at the scope  to the celsetial bodies available with all the info at hand has to to worth the slight extra cost for a more rewarding entry in to the world of astronomy as a beginner.

The 80AZ mm refractor imv will be far better then the newtonian LT 114az.

Edited August 30, 2023 by Naughty Neal

[Guest]

Someone on here mentioned finding an astro club and going and checking out scopes.  This is the very best thing you can do.  Getting hands on experience is always the best thing.  Doing this will show you what is available to you and you will be able to see what things look like through those scopes, which will in turn show you what you like to look at.   Then you can decide what scope and eyepieces to get .