..a little lost in the huge galaxy, help?

[sparkle!]

Good evening or morning or afternoon!

I need some brain power from you guys and girls please?

So, I plan on surprising my boyfriend with a telescope for Christmas as we recently went star gazing in Egypt and I know he loves it, plus he's a massive Trekkie, that counts right? hehe : ) anyway, I have a budget of upto £200 for it although as it's his first one, I wouldn't want to go over the top if he's still learning but great quality is always a must. I was going to go to a shop and ask there but as a sales person myself I know sometimes they are just in it for the money so I would like to get an idea on specifications I should be looking for... we live in Essex if that makes much of a different to the actual telescope? Any details you really need to know?

If someone could please please please help, lots of opinions would be lovely please!

Thanks Stargazer's!

[Paxo]

Could I suggest you give the people at first Light Optics a call, they can advise you as to your best options, just click on the logo at the top of the screen. For your budget you could pick up a 6" dobsonian telescope:

Dobsonians - Skywatcher Skyliner 150P Dobsonian

This would allow you and your boyfriend see the brighter objects and be able to find your way around the night sky.

Steve..

[pvaz]

I also think a dobsonian telescope would be best for the following reasons:

1) It haves the easiest type of mount for a beginner.

2) As most things in it are cheap to make, you get a lot more light gathering power for your money as most of it will for the optics quality/size.

3) I just love dobs.

Paxo gave you a link for a 6" dob.

As an alternative you can get something with a bit less light gathering ability, but with a GOTO system to help him find objects in the sky:

Maksutov - Skywatcher Skymax 127 SynScan AZ GOTO

This option will cost more and he will be able to see less, as a lot of the cash goes on the gadgets.

There are a few good online shops as first light optics, telescope house, etc.. I can vouch for FLO as they are a small company owned by amateur astronomers, who put more emphasis on the astronomy aspect then the sales part of the business. Just avoid ebay like the plague! Lots of expensive scopes there with plastic lenses being sold as the real thing.

[sparkle!]

Thanks! A few questions, what's the GOTO option? and when you talk about the lighting, is less best? and what is it referring to?

[Capricorn]

A Dobsonian is a newtonian reflector on a Dobsonian mount.

The mount is relatively simple so relatively inexpensive.

So for a fixed amount of mony you can spend more on the mirror. A bigger mirror collects more light so you see more.

A Goto is a motorised and computer driver scope.

You are paying for the morotrs and the computer (handset).

You have to set them up and if done correct then you can ask the system to goto to an object.

As you are paying for the motors and computer then for the same money you get a small scope.

Problem of the Dob is that it is fully manual, you point it at whatever and it is your skill to locate whatever object. Point being if you cannot locate the wanted object you don't see it.

Problem of the goto is that it is smaller and you need to set it up correctly otherwise it doesn't know where anything is to point to and you see nothing.

I think the 127 SW Mak is around the £350 mark, so may be more then you intended. Have a feeling that there is a SW 102 refractor that is a goto, believe it is a bit less so may faull closer to the budget.

[JamesM]

Hi Sparkle! Well GOTO is the name of the electronic gadget that sits in with the motors that helps you find thousands of objects in the universe. The snag is that the size of scope that you will be able to afford won't be able to see a lot of them. The other problem is that this gadget although useful will of course reduce the amount you have left to be put towards the actual scope itself.

Regarding the light question, the more of it you can capture in your scope, the more detailed you will get to see when looking at your chosen object in the sky. This is referred to as 'aperture' and can be seen clearly in the size of a telescopes tube. Some telescopes have a lens at the front others will have a mirror in the bottom - but the principle is the same. The bigger the tube the more detail you will get to see - at a price of course.

A dobsonian type of scope gives the best value but you will have to nudge it along to keep up the stars at higher magnification, a scope with GOTO will track the star across the sky once its locked on. I hope that's of help but come back to us for more info before you buy.

Clear skies

James

[pvaz]

General believe/knowledge is that the main function of a telescope is to magnify whatever you're looking at. Thats not true. The main purpose of a telescope is to gather light and focus it to your eye, so very faint objects that are invisible naked eye will actually be visible. The magnification part is mostly done by the eyepiece (EP). Most beginner scopes, such as the suggested ones, bring 2 EPs on the package.

Best analogy I know is: Imagine 2 buckets in the rain. The wider one will collect much more water then a thiner one. Same goes for telescopes and light.

So with 200£ you can get a fully manual dobsonian scope, 150mm wide which is pretty good to start with. The manual part actually haves some advantages: no time wasted setting up, ease of use, no need to carry power supply. The bad is you need your skill to find stuff and keep them in view.

I would strongly recommend you add a good beginners book such as "Turn Left at Orion" if you do get a manual scope. The book teaches all he needs to know to find things and it's pretty easy/lite to read.

[Astro_Baby]

Hi and welcome from me

[Paxo]

Check out Mel's (Astro_Babys) guide to buying a telescope, there's some very good advice in there.

http://www.astro-baby.com/articles/beginners%20guide%20to%20buying%20a%20telescope/so%20you%20want%20to%20buy%20a%20telescope.htm

Steve..