I'm new - advice please

[Chris E]

Hi all, My name is Chris obviously, Ive only just got into all this and need LOTS of help, I've never looked at the stars before, Infact I don't even know what I'm looking at.

I'm obviously interested in a telescope, but have no idea which one to buy, what the termanology means , and where to look.

I probably have between £3-400 to spend, but I'm frightened of buying the wrong one.

Needs... I would like to see the stars in detail and would love to have pics like some of you guys have posted on here (particularly Saturn). I don't have a DSLR just a normal "samsung digital camera with 12.1 megapixels" (can these be attached to telescopes)

Terminology... What is meant by focal length of 35 inches, and focal ratio of F/8 ?? , I also dont understand the magnification side of things 100 x 59x etc etc ., and which is best, a refractor, or Reflector ??

If someone could post on here " you need this 8 inch daimeter lense, and magnifiaction of that, and focal ratio of this" this would be really appreciated, Please feel free to treat me like a 5 year old and explain the terminology as simple as possible,

Hope you can help

Chris................Ps, I would also like to see the ISS and Shuttle

[sandspider]

Hi Chris,

I am at much the same stage as you. I have asked in the forums about imaging and the advice seems to be to leave the imaging until you get established in astronomy. It seems like it is more difficult and more expensive than you might think!

I too am on the lookout for a 8 or 10 in telescope and would love to see the ISS, but I'm not sure if this is possible with these apertures. Perhaps someone more knowledgeable could give us some advice?

[MissMessier]

Hi Chris,

Check out this site: Starter Telescopes

Also, I would get a Planisphere and use your naked eye, get to know your way around the sky and identify stars first, like Globular Cluster and M31 etc...

[brantuk]

This thread contains much of the info you're asking about magnification, focal length, and focal ratio:

http://stargazerslounge.com/primers-tutorials/63184-primer-understanding-choosing-eyepieces.html

[Venus_is_my_friend]

Chris,

Welcome to the forums.

It can be extremely confusing when starting out, I am still at the stage of learning the basics. The best advice I can offer is to not rush into anything and don't make expensive commitments.

If you want to take photos like some of the amazing ones on here you will need to invest big amounts of money. You will also need plenty of patiences with your equipment and yourself.

To begin with do as MissM recommended and buy yourself a planishere (or even download something like Stellarium or StarWalk for the Ipod,pad,phone) go outside and get a feel for what is where in the sky. Try to work out what you will be able to see from where you are.

If you are still excited to see things closer buy yourself a pair of binos or a telescope.

As for the reflector Vs refractor debate. That will be on you to decide, I went with reflector (more specifically a dobsonian, as you get more light capturing for your money)

For the time being try not to get bogged down with terminology, that will come to you later. The main thing you need to know is that the focal length of a telescope helps you work out the magnification of what you are viewing (Focal length in mm divided by Eyepiece size in mm = magnification) e.g my scope has a focal length of 1200mm, if I use my 10mm eyepiece I can magnify Saturn (for example) by 120 times.

Hope this helps and if you want more help feel free to ask, if I can't help someone will be able to.

Stay warm and safe.

Neil

[malc-c]

Chris,

Welcome to the forum. Firstly there is no ideal single scope that will cover all bases. All scopes and types of mounts have pro's and cons, so you'll have to compromise somewhat on your requirements, but here are some general pointers.

Bottom end of the scale in simplicity terms is a dobsonian reflector. These are as basic a mount as you get and are ideally suited to visual observing. Dobs offer the most aperture for your money compared to other scopes.

If you want to use your camera then you'll be limited in what images you can take as often you can't do anything to set the exposure on these point and shoot cameras. This will be things like the Moon and possibly some bright planets. If you want to image then you should ideally opt for a telescope on an equatorial mount. These basically raise the alt axis so it points at the north pole and can track the objects by counteracting the rotation of the Earth. Ideally it's nice to have the axis driven which makes things better.

None of us can tell you what scope will suit your needs. It's a personal thing, but there are loads of scopes that are in your price range. Newtonian reflectors, Dobs or EQ versions tend to be around F5 which means you can divide the focal length (the distance the mirror / lens focuses the light) by the diameter of the lens / mirror, so for example my 200P has a mirror of 200mm and focal length of 1000mm so 1000/200 = 5. The downside is that a low F number means that the max magnification is limited, to around 250x using a 4mm eyepiece (focal length of the telescope / focal length of the eyepiece). A SCT (schmit cassagrain telescope) uses a corrector "lens" at the front and a mirror at the back, and thus have longer focal lengths, typically 1500mm to 2000mm, therefor for the same eyepiece you can get double the magnification with a scope having 2000mm focal length. This means that longer focal length telescopes are more suited than shorter ones for planetary work as you can get higher magnifications.

My advice would be to visit a large showroom and get to see scopes in your budget, work out if a goto system is to your liking, or if you want to learn the sky and find things the old fashioned way. Goto mounts are more expensive, but you should still be able to get something like a 150mm (6") Newtonian reflector on a EQ3-2 mount plus a set of motors. Or a 5" mak on a goto mount Skymax 127 SynScan AZ GOTO Telescope | Telescopes | Rother Valley Optics

Most of all do your research and take your time. Think of where you might be if you get smitten with the hobby, as you don't really want to be upgrading to soon, so think about what you could do with the scope later (especially if you go down the imaging route).

Hope that helps

[rowan46]

hello chris welcome to sgl. its all good advice so far. just one thing forgotten, you will also need to think about where you are going to use it, if your back garden is so bright that it washes out the stars you may need to think about putting it in a car and taking it somewhere darker, so size may be an issue. If you can get to a local astronomy club and look at some scopes you may find that helpful.