Need Advice.

[hallam91]

I have about 250 pounds to spend on a telescope, i would like a little bit of advice on the best one i could get for the price, and also where i could get a solar filter from. thanks for your help.

[John]

Do you have any preferences about the sort of things you want to observe, scope portability, ease of use, that sort of thing ?.

[hallam91]

i would like to observe as much as i possibly can to be honest, i've only just started getting into astronomy and i'm really interested but i don't know much about telescopes to be fair. i would like it to be easy to move around and tkae places. and i want it to have strong magnification so i can see deeper into space and further out.

[John]

You will get further suggestions I'm sure but, for your budget, you can get a nice 6" newtonian reflector on an equatorial mount. A scope of that type has quite a lot of potential and enough aperture (the diameter of the main mirror or lens) to produce good views of a wide range of objects:

Reflectors - Skywatcher Explorer 150P EQ3-2

[hallam91]

that looks incredible, i think i may have to invest in it, i don't suppose you know of anywhere i can get a solar filter for that telescope do you?

[John]

that looks incredible, i think i may have to invest in it, i don't suppose you know of anywhere i can get a solar filter for that telescope do you?

Wait a bit until some other suggestons come in - there are a number of options in that price bracket.

The same dealer (First Light Optics) does solar filters as well:

Solar Filters

It would be worth giving them a ring when you have had time to think and get some other suggestions - Steve & James are very helpful and don't push "the hard sell" at all in my experience.

If your total budget is £250 then you might want to think about getting a lower cost scope which would leave some £'s in hand for accessories such as a solar filter. Something like this perhaps ?:

Reflectors - Skywatcher Explorer 130P

[hallam91]

could you tell me the difference between a reflector and a refractor please?

[John]

could you tell me the difference between a reflector and a refractor please?

Basically, a reflector uses a mirror to collect light and focus it wheras a refractor uses a lens to do that job.

Good mirrors cost less to make than good lenses so you can get a larger aperture (diameter of the mirror or lens) telescope for your money with a reflector.

Both have their strengths and weaknesses as you will find out as you learn more about scopes. Both are very useful for astronomy (I've got 2 refractors and 1 reflector ).

Keep asking the questions

[hallam91]

i bet that cost a bit then, i take it a reflector would be better for my level then?

i think i'm going to get a Sky-Watcher Explorer-130P SupaTrak AUTO it seems like a good one for a beginner.

[Rui]

If you are not familiar with the night sky, my advise goes to a pair of binoculars. Give you amazing views of the

Milky Way and, when you buy a book such as this: Exploring the Night Sky with Binoculars: Amazon.co.uk: Patrick Moore: Books, you'll be amazed of how much you can see with binoculars.

Size maters... a pair of 10X50mm (magnifies 10X and has a pair of 50mm front lenses) is the biggest you can hand-hold confortably. But it already shows the Pleades, the Andromeda galaxy, The Orion nebula, etc.

And in the end, when you already know your way around the night sky and buy a telescope, you can still use the binoculars. They'll be always around.

And they are nice to birwatching (looking at the birds in your neighbour's gardens - not the neighbours themselves...), and casual daylight observing.

And did I mention holydays? They are pratical, small and light enough to go with you everywhere on Earth.

[hallam91]

i'd rather get a telescope though, they're more powerful and i can see deeper into space.

[krs01]

another good scope would be a dob(dobsonian relflector).they are good for most aspects of viewing.if you can squueze abit more in to your budget you get an 8" dob and a 6" are fairly cheap for the appeture too

[benjy85pb]

I wouldn't underestimate binoculars, they're invaluable because they help you find your way around the constellations, especially if you're looking for a specific object. They make life so much more easier than just pointing a telescope into the night sky and expecting to see something amazing.

In all honesty, from the budget you've stated it may be worth considering the Skywatcher 150p Dobsonian with a good pair for 10x50 bino's from FLO. With those you'll be able to find your 'targets' with the bino's and then use the scope for the better views.

But that's just my two pence though...

[krs01]

and also maybe to get a good book like turn left at orion and a star chart aswell,to help locate spefic targets.

[KingOfColly]

I purchased my first scope recently. I bought the 130P AZ GOTO first then changed my mind and swapped it for the Skyliner 8" dobsonian: Dobsonians - Skywatcher Skyliner 200P Dobsonian

I decided that a larger aperture was more important to me than a GOTO mount but hey that's me

[Astro_Baby]

You could take a look at my guide for beginners here So you want to buy a telescope ? - Part 1

Also I am nervous that you are asking for magnification and 'seeing deep into space' even big(ish) telescopes dont show galaxies in the way that they show in pictures - most of them, with a few exceptions, shows as smll smudges of smoke.

Solar filters of the type your looking at are white light filters so you get a pretty basic view of the sun - if your expecting to see the vividly detailed and color images then you need Ha filters which are very expensive.

I would put off the solar aspect at the start and get some advice from Steve at FLO on that. Generally speaking refelectors dont make good solar scopes.

[brantuk]

Hi Hallam - I started with a 6" reflector on an eq mount and you really can't go wrong with that. It's a very good general purpose scope just a bit up from beginner level apertures. I got the manual controlled version cos I wanted to learn the sky "properly" lol.

As mentioned above the 6" can be mounted in a Dobson alt/az mount which usually makes it a tad cheaper. The main difference being that it would be marginally quicker to set up and you don't need to polar align (as you would with eq). But to me they are both as easy to use - just different.

If you're considering motors or goto then bear in mind that when you buy electronics you sacrifice aperture. You can allways upgrade later. Plus you'd need to budget for a power pack as well.

The ep's supplied are usually basic (eg 25mm and 10mm are common). At some stage you will want to upgrade these and extend the viewing range. Better quality ep's make scopes a lot more pleasant to use - but they can get expensive. I look to the s/h market for most of mine - there are bargains to be had.

You'll also need a collimation tool which vary in price from pennies to over £100. It's pretty essential so factor that in too.

A good book is very useful (e.g. Turn Left at Orion) and download "Stellarium" - free planitarium software.

I would advise you visit your local astro society and get a "try b4u buy". Most astro socs welcome newcomers and will let you look at/thru the different scopes available to give you some idea what you're getting.

Hope that helps and all the best with your choice