choosing my first telescope

[StaR BlaZeR]

hey guys, im new to this forum and was planning on buying a telescope for christmas. ive got a 500 dollar budget, im a begginer and just want to begin enjoying the sky. ive narrowed it down to 3 refractor telescopes and just wanted your opinion on which one would be a better decision, and if in fact these are well recommended first time telescopes that will give me a good view of the sky. thanks you guys for your help. the three telescopes are the celestron 102 slt, the skywatcher light chariot 102 AR-AZ and the makustov skymax 127. please if any other suggestions for a first scope, the advice will be greatly appreciated. im just looking for a scope that can last me a long time and will teach me alot, hopefully open me up into a new hobby. thank you

[astrokat]

im not the best one for advice as im quite new to all of this i would go for the slt 130 refelctor about the same price and bigger optics the celestron hand set is very easy to use more so than skywatcher and ive got both

thanks toby

[barkis]

Hi. and welcome to SGL.

Regarding your impending purchase of a telescope, have you given any thought to buying a used Instrument.

Some good bargains can be found on those for sale boards, and more aperture for your money is a distinct possibility.

Most amateurs do treat their scopes well, and you might find a very nice bargain. Just some food for thought.

Ron.

[Brunty12345]

i like reflectors (Y) im kinda new aswell so i would try and help out mre, but all i can say is that reflectors are worth thier money because you could probably see more out of a £130 reflector then a £160 refractor, thats what iv researched anyway haha i might be wrong so yeahh...

[jimhaleysscomet]

If you want a refractor than get one. But be aware that for your money, an 8" or 10" reflector dob would give you much better views of night sky objects.

[TheThing]

Ok, trying to answer the question posed...what do you want to look at thru the scope?

Of the 3 listed, I'd lean towards the SW 127 Mak, simply because it has a longer FL, a larger aperture and Mak's are just great.

Sure, some will say that they give a narrow FOV for DSOs, but for a 1st scope you won't know any differnent (anyway, it's not that narrow!)

[John]

.... ive narrowed it down to 3 refractor telescopes and just wanted your opinion on which one would be a better decision, and if in fact these are well recommended first time telescopes that will give me a good view of the sky. thanks you guys for your help. the three telescopes are the celestron 102 slt, the skywatcher light chariot 102 AR-AZ and the makustov skymax 127.. ...

Just to be clear, the Skymax 127 is not a refractor - it's a maksutov-cassegrain which means a mirror at the bottom and a specially shaped lens at the top. In my opinion it's also the most potent scope of the 3 you list by a significant margin.

John

[StaR BlaZeR]

yea ive learned the past couple days that picking your telescope is tougher than it sounds. im now narrowed down to getting the celestron 102, but the celestron se looks reall good too. im thinking about spending some extra money and getting like a 5 or 6 se. i dont know

[pvaz]

If you told us a bit more of what you want to see it would help a lot. Your budget is pretty good, specially cause your in the US and scopes there are cheaper then here in Europe.

For what you gave away you seam to want something light and portable. I'd say a Mak or an SCT would be better, if thats the case.

What do you wish to observe? Deep Sky Objects (DSOs) such as nebulas and galaxys? Planets? A bit of both?

[simon e]

yea ive learned the past couple days that picking your telescope is tougher than it sounds. im now narrowed down to getting the celestron 102, but the celestron se looks reall good too. im thinking about spending some extra money and getting like a 5 or 6 se. i dont know

My main scope is the Celestron 8SE which 2nd hand cost me £550.. Great scope and the goto is mint. The motors and the tracking are fast and once aligned on Polaris and Vega, it finds everything you could possibly want to see. 5se and 6se come with the field tripod with a wedge, so you are already on you way to taking photos on a ok mount. EQ mounts are very expensive £800 plus... things for the future i feel.

Bear in mind that you won't get much detail from DSO's. Saturn, Jupiter and the Moon look mint. You will only be able to pick DSO if you take photos and stack them. Ando Galaxy looks like a misty cloud in my 8" Nexstar, so in a 5-6" Nexstar will look like a even smaller fuzzie.

However great advantage is the goto, which is must have, espically as you are a beginner. You will look like a pro, in front of you mates when you hit the button and the scope goes straight to Mars. cool

si