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Please help me choose my first telescope


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Hi, in the next few months I will be purchasing my first telescope :)

Just cant seem to decide on what would be best for me, I have a budget of between £150 - £200, would mainly be used on camping trips to get away from light pollution, so would like to have something thats fairly easy to transport, and would love to be able to see Jupiter.

Many thanks

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Hi Candice and welcome to SGL.

Given that from what you say, space (physical not that in the sky!) is a key issue, do you have an approximate maximum dimension for the available room in your trailer or what have you? Some scopes can be pretty large although if you are observing at home too then a larger scope would benefit you. This information will help make a more informed recommendation.

Light pollution has no effect on seeing solar system objects including Saturn, Jupiter and of course our moon. You can of course see Jupiter, it's moons (and currently Uranus) in the field of any average to good binocular of about 8x magnification and above.

Cheers

Shane

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For me your budget leaves little room to manoeuvre. I would go for this.

Dobsonians - Skywatcher Skyliner 150P Dobsonian

This is a sensible sized telescope in the sense that is is big enough to BE a telescppe and it is easy to use. I might also buy a pair of very cheap 10x50 binoculars to take in the wider view.

Whatever you go for, keep seeking advice on the forum. There is a lot to learn and it never ends, hence the charm of this passion.

Olly

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can i ask what what you will be using to transport to camp as we do need to know what space you have in your vehicle/ trailer/ caravan obviously a 150p will be far too big if you only have a ford fiesta full of camping gear. how much space do you have in the car after you have packed the camping gear?

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A 130P is quite a compact size and the 150P just a spot bigger. On an eq3-2 they break down into 3 bits easilly packed into an average familly saloon for camping. Both within budget too. Mind you - I do drive a volvo estate so my idea of average might be out a bit out lol :)

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Thanks for the advice, welcomes and links , this forum is very helpful going to do a lot of reading on here for beginner advice

As we go camping regularly we do have a decent sized van for travelling around, so can spare some room for it. As long as it would be easy enough to pack down and not take up too much room then Im happy.

Have looked at this: Reflectors - Skywatcher Explorer 130P

what do you think? or would there be a comparable refractor that would be better?

thanks

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A refractor of the same size is considerably more costly by something like a factor of ten. So a 6" refractor of the right type would way out perform a 6" reflector but cost something like £1000- £2000. Glass is very expensive compared to mirrors :)

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