First Telescope For Starter Help.

[Rabbayazza]

How is a Celestron FirstScope for someones first telescope?

I'm thinking about getting it.. so help?

It's also relatively cheap.

[yeti monster]

I'm not familiar with that scope, but if it's a teeny tiny one, don't bother, you will become dissappointed rather quickly I feel. What sort of budget are you working with?

[Rabbayazza]

Not a very big budget. Maybe £250 for a starter scope.

[yeti monster]

For 250 of your earth quids, you can get a much HUGER Dob than the wee dinky executive toy (I've just looked up the "first scope"). Have a good look at FLOs online shoppe (see forum sponsors banner/linky thing) and chat to Steve.

Also wait for other, more saner, forumeers to dip their oars into the water. Buying your first scope, especially if you are a noobie, is a dizzying and rather pitfallious game.

[yeti monster]

Also, there's heaps of used stuff on offer, both here and fleabay (but beware of "unknown" makes.) My 114mm Celestron was picked up for 30 notes, and was only 6 miles from home.

There's a couple of nice old TALs running atm..............

[Rabbayazza]

Sorry, but i'm a TOTAL newb, what is a Dob, and a TAL?

[Odd Dob]

A dob mean a dobsonian telescope. More accurately, it refers to the mount - it's a Newtonian telescope on a very simple mount that is easy to set up and use.

I can really recommend a book called "The Backyard Astronomer's Guide." It has some very good chapters on navigating the world of equipment out there, and discusses the pro's and con's of various types of kit.

Personally, I'd get a dob and a Rigel quikfinder and replace the finderscope with an erecting right-angled one instead of a straight through one. But that's just me.

[yeti monster]

Glad you asked..........

A Dob is a form of mounting (just like the one on the "first scope") which gives "push to" Alt (altitude=up/down) and Az (Azimuth=slwe=left/right) motion, rather than having to wind knobs or rely on electrickery.

TAL is a fine Russian make of telescope, well sought after, but NOT rare!

I've just bought one and can't wait to get home to see it.

Read though as much forum as you can, ask as many Qs as you can think of, and welcome to SGL, welcome to the whacky world of astronomy!

[Rabbayazza]

I'm glad I asked too. This community is so friendly .

[yeti monster]

Once we've lured you in, there's no escape!

[nicnac]

is the telescope just for observing or would you be interested in taking a few pictures down the line?

if so i would get a newtonian on an equatorial mount not a dob.

as yeti said the TALs are a fine bit of kit and you can get them for a decent price on E-bay. if you want to go down this route nip on to the TAL social group, you can find it by clicking on the community tab at the top of the page (you can find it in my profile too) and get advise from some of the fine TAL owners on there before you buy.