Hello all there fellow hobby-astronomers, and perhaps professional ones as well!

Ive lately gotten back to the thought of getting myself a telescope, as I remember my days as a teenager more than a decade ago now and how fantastic and interesting it was to sit there with my lonely 520x telescope, made of cheap plastic, and just watching the moon mostly. Actually the view was pretty good considering the low price of the telescope and horrible quality (took only couple months before it was broken though)..

But yeah, I long for those days, just to sit at night and watch the sky, zoom in on the moon and just let the mind be free and race along with the imagination of what I see up there.

So, you who've go some experience with telescopes and know how to use them, different models at different prices, quality and all that - What would you recommend for a newbie who wants a decent telescope that is good enough for nice views of the moon and perhaps other bodies, while at same time not busting my wallet nor getting broke in just couple weeks?

All suggestions on models etc, with prices and personal reviews of own experinces are highly appreciated!

Also feel free to post links to site with more information about this

Thanks all exploreres, hope to hear from you!

-EA

I truncated your quote. Do a search for a torrent: The Sky 6. It's quite good Astronomy software and, if you can plug an equatorial mount into a computer, the program will guide your telescope for you.
Building a scope? There are plenty of sites online for construction. Thing is, it requires a great deal of patience to polish the mirror, etc.
Here's a link for the torrent at Mininova: The Sky 6

Thanks for the info sounds highly interesting, I'll check that out for sure!

What about mehods to hook up webcams / digicams / video cams to ones telescope to acually capture the images for others to see as well? Any ideas on that?

thanks again!

Check Ebay. They post all manner of camera adapters for telescopes and microscopes on the Ebay site. But don't buy a scope from Ebay - unless it's Meade or Celestron. I think these are the two reputable companies. Maybe also Tasco...

Your experience with you 520x telescope is very typical -- so many people I think are turned off from amateur astronomy because these kinds of "dime store" scopes are so agonizing to use.

When I was a kid, I beged and begged until my parents got me a "real" 6-inch f48 Newtonian reflector -- talk about total bliss! (The f48 stands for 48-inch focal length.)

When it comes to telescopes, and for beginners, always think "low power -- high quality." It's always a good trade off to get easy-to-use simple telescopes that provide clear, wide field of vision, rather than going for raw power and a very narrow field of vision.

Also, to get familiar and comfortable with the night sky, a pair of giant binoculars is great. They will help you see a lot of nebulae and star clusters, moons of Jupiter, rings of Saturn, etc. -- and they are super easy to use and comfortable on the eyes.

So -- if you can get like a 6-8-or even 10-inch reflector (there are so many models now, I loose track) with a low or moderate focal length, that is the place to start.

Once you get comfortable with the night sky -- you can start going for power -- maybe even get a decent sized refractor, although they are expensive.

This is an interesting thread with some good advice being offered. I suspect it would have a larger readership if it was in the Space and Astronomy forum so I'm moving it there.

Great tips everyone! Highly appreciate all the input, learned a lot here already I never knew about telescopes

And Waspie thanks for putting the thread into the right forum, didn't notice I was posting in the news and media section

Seems I've got plenty of things to look into when it comes to telescopes before I decide on which one to put my money on. So far a lot of interesting info, thanks for that guys.

What I'm really aiming for is a telescope that is worth the money but still not overpriced, I'm not aiming for something professional and expensive here (I remember I tried find some a while back, and found prices up to $60 000 and stuff, that's a tad more than I have in mind hehe) , but something good enough for hobby use / amateur asronomy which will last and not easily get broken or have other malfunctions from normal use.

To those of you whom seem to know a fair share about these things, do you happen to know of any good and reliable websites on the topic? Either with reviews of various telescopes and equipment / accessories or pages that sell them.

Best regards and thanks.
-EA

dark...


I always recommend

MEADE


The website has lots of information, and links to dealers....

i agree with MID go for a meade, i messed about for years with a mickey mouse scope. then i got fed up or frustrated is a better word because i couldnt see what i wanted. so i saved up and bought a Meade Lx200R, sh** hot and have never looked back believe me save up and buy the biggest scope you can you'll save money and time in the long run, dont mess about with a small scope and then going down the road of advancing from one scope to another, jump in at the deep end.

http://www.meade.uk.com/meadelx200rteles.html

http://www.meade.com/photogallery/lx_gallery.html

I'd agree with you steve...

A. Meade in my opinion is the best manufacturer out there.
B. As large as you can go is the best way to go.

LX90, LX200...real pieces of work!
It's worth the expense. Personally, I'd wait until I could afford 10"...or 12".

These instruments are worth the expense X 10 for the person who's seriously interested in astronomy.

NOTHING is more frustrating that a cheap telescope...