Help choosing a telescope.

[vesper]

Hi,

I'm a beginner, and I've been interested in stargazing for years now. I'm just been thinking about getting a telescope, and knowing my dad he thought about getting this one off e bay, because the price is really good. I'm just a beginner when it comes to telescopes, so I don't want anything too complicated, but I do want something decent. I was hoping that some one with a considerable amount of experience would let me know if it is any good for a beginner, please.

It includes the following:

Aperture: 76mm

Focal Length: 700mm

Faintest discernable stars: 12 M (approx. 1,000,000 stars visible!!!)

Dawes Limit: 1.82 arc seconds

Focal Ratio: 1:9

Accessory threads : 1.25“ (31.7mm)

Magnification:

SR4mm/175x, SR6mm/117x, H12,5mm/56x, H20mm/35x

Magnification with Barlow Lens

SR4mm/350x, SR6mm/234x, H12,5mm/112x, H20mm/70x

Mount: Altazimuth

Weight: about 10kg

Suitable for astrophotography and usage of filters.

I'm not sure exactly if it's any good, so if some one could give me a hand i would be so grateful,

Vesper.

[Daryl]

"Faintest discernable stars: 12 M (approx. 1,000,000 stars visible!!!)"

hmmmm

Put a link to the auction so everyone can actually see it, it might help

[vesper]

Thanks,

I would if I knew how:)

[tooth_dr]

I'm guessing this one?

Seben 700-76 Reflector Telescope New Big Pack on eBay (end time 01-Sep-10 20:10:25 BST)

If so, avoid it

[tooth_dr]

Something like this would be a lot lot better:

Reflectors - Skywatcher Skyhawk 1145P

[vesper]

thanks for the suggestion Daryl, I linked it!

Seben 700-76 Reflector Telescope New Big Pack on eBay (end time 01-Sep-10 20:10:25 BST)

[vesper]

Thanks for your reply,

we went for this one because it was cheap and it didn't seem that bad. Can any one tell me why it's a bad choice because I don't really know what I'm looking for?

[tooth_dr]

I had a Seben for my first scope, I was not informed about it at the time, and it was a poor scope. For starters two of the supplied eyepeices/barlows wouldn't work properly, and the mount was very wobbly, so wobbly you couldn't actually really use the scope at all.

Do a search on here for SEBEN and read all the threads! They speak for themselves

[Daryl]

£60 including delivery with all those extras, get what you pay for I guess.

Go for the one tooth linked. It might be twice as much but youll only be wasting £60 by buying that seben one.

[vesper]

thanks guys,

i was just wondering what to look out for. thanks tooth for the link on the skyhawk, it's the top of the list now. cheers:)

[tarqs101]

Thing is, if you were going to spend £122 on the skyhawk which has 114mm aperture then you may as well spend £10 more and get the 130....

Reflectors - Skywatcher Explorer 130

More aperture = see more!!

There is a Celestron Astromaster 130 on ebay for £74.99 - here

A review of it is here

As far as I can tell, a decent scope but needs eyepieces upgrading - but isn't that true of most 'scopes!!

[Ogri]

There's some lovely beginners 'scopes often come up for sale on here secondhand - and the gear I have bought secondhand off here seems to be typical of the way SGL users seem to keep their gear.

Excellent condition, in other words!

If there's no mad panic to buy (it's always a mistake to rush in, but lessons are learned so never a total waste), read through the beginners advice here, and you can't really go wrong.

Some of the most helpful people you could wish to meet hang out here. There will be discussions about this 'scope vs that 'scope, but even if you plump for what either side of the argument suggest, it seems rather difficult to go wrong.

If you can save up a little more, there's been some tremendous bargains with secondhand dobsonian reflectors here recently, and if I'd been a bit closer to the sellers, I'd have even snapped one up myself.

Best of luck finding yourself a nice 'scope.

[vesper]

thanks very much for all your help,

tarqs101, thanks for pointing out the difference between the skyhawk explorer 130 and the 114. it helped me to choose what I'm looking for, the celestron astromaster 130 seems perfect, but it won't go for that price and i can't afford it within 12 days, but at least i know that i can search for more of the same scope around the time i can afford it:)

thanks ogri, i'll search for some second hand gear on here, if you say that all us users keep their gear in good condition:)

thanks every one!

[mark7331]

Hi Vesper, this may be a little late but before deciding what to go for maybe you could find a local astronomy club and ask the members if you can have a look through their scopes. Most of us, as you will be, are very proud of our scopes and would love someone to have a look!

Then you'd have a bit of experience of the different types and where their strengths and weaknesses are.

If you don't know where your nearest club is ask in the astro lounge and someone will know

Sorry this is late but I hope it helps!

Mark

[vesper]

Thank you mark,

much appreciated, I never thought of that thanks again! X