new to this

[john bishop]

Hello

I am looking to buy a new telescope, which is the best telescope to use to for the moon and the sun, I don't want to buy 2 telescopes

John

[nightfisher]

MAKE SURE YOU KNOW WHAT YOUR DOING BEFORE TRYING TO OBSERVE THE SUN sorry to put that but pointing a scope to the sun without the correct filters and such will lead to full blindness, back to a scope, whats your budget

[WayneR]

Hi John and welcome to SGL! More of a lunar man myself, but best of luck with your observing .

(Please be careful with the solar stuff, if you damage your eyes - you won't be able to read the threads )

[John]

If you are content with white light viewing then a 4" refractor such as the TAL100 and a good full aperture solar filter will do both jobs pretty well.

If you want hydrogen-alpha viewing (when you can view the solar prominences) then you do need two scopes - H-alpha viewing is pretty specialised.

As has been said, when observing the sun, through any sort of optical aid, get the proper protective filters and read up about how to do it. Don't skimp and use welders glass, exposed film etc, etc - your eyesight is just not worth the risk.

[rowan46]

welcome to the site john, as has been pointed out don't look at the sun without the proper filters. I guess you watched stargazers live and that fired your interest. All of those scopes on the eclipse observing piece had special filters for observing the sun a quite reasonably priced filter containg baader solar film can be had to put over a telescopes objective this will show you sunspots. if you wish to see the suns structure you are going to need a dedicated solar telescope which are very expensive but please make yourself fully aware of all the safety protocols before trying to view the sun. The moon and sun do not require big telescopes so a small reflector will be adequate. this is fine for just looking at the sun and moon Reflectors - Skywatcher Explorer 130 but if you decide you want to see anything else this will be a little better Reflectors - Skywatcher Explorer 130P again i must warn you be very safety conscious about looking at the sun and do not get cheap glass filters which screw into your eyepice as although they are advertised on ebay as safe for solar observing they really are not. the only cheap method to look at the sun through a telescope is to use baader safety film. other than that you are looking at spending a lot of money. I hope this helps and welcome to the site

[john bishop]

thats great thanks for the advice guys,

John

[john bishop]

I have about seven grand, what equitment can I get

[John]

I have about seven grand, what equitment can I get

Almost anything you like - thats about 20x the budget needed to get what will work well for you

[WayneR]

John, I'm sure the guys at First Light Optics would love a call from you !

Seriously, they're top notch chaps (see relevant threads) and all the advice is free. Just click on the logo at the top of the page (they sponsor this forum).

[E621Keith]

Hi John, Welcome to SGL. Have you consider visiting a local astronomy club? Go to a few viewing session and see what you enjoy seeing.

Seven grad can get you almost anything unless you are really into imaging or supernova hunting.

Don't look at the sun through a telescope without purpose made front mounted solar filter. The sun heat is more than sufficient to burn through a rear mounted filter and your eyes in fraction of a second.

[JamesM]

I would certainly like to reinforce Keith's point above about going along to observe through some kit first. You have a healthy budget but it is important to get the most appropriate kit that will satisfy your expectations otherwise that budget might start slipping through your fingers a bit to quickly. Getting up close to the kit will also give you the chance to get the measure of some of this gear as scopes can get pretty big and fairly heavy and could be a problem should you need to move it around or travel to a dark site. You will certainly have enough to spend on very good eyepieces, as those that may come with the scope won't be great, so remember to make a note of what eyepiece you are looking through as I'm sure the owner of the scope will have experimented with other eyepieces to obtain the best view.

The stars aren't going anywhere so there's plenty of time to do the research but please come back and ask more questions as you go along!

Clear skies

James

[john bishop]

thanks eveyone I will take all your advice, but we are opening a club in portsouth in a couple of weeks, I have done some astromony but a few years ago,

[brantuk]

Hi John - Lunt and Coronado are two popular makes of solar scope. I haven't seen these mentioned yet. You can start your research there as you will see a range of different models with different properties. Then as mentioned - give FLO a call who will have some great ideas for you.

Hope that helps