Choosing a Suitable Telescope
February 7th 2011 12:27
Category: Equipment
A typical Dobsonian telescope
Choosing a suitable telescope can prove a bit of a challenge.
Firstly there is the budget how much will my dollar buy me?
There is a multitude of telescope makes and models available nowdays.
what should I buy and what should I avoid ?
Firstly price matters, buy the best telescope you can afford. The question now is what should I buy? If I purchase a telescope and use it what is my motivation for buying a telescope in the first place.
A moderate starter telescope can cost $400 or more, but some great choices are available for under $300.
Quality does matter stay clear of cheap telescopes made in China although these telescopes are cost affective their optics are often of poor quality. Any telescope you purchase should have high-quality optics and a steady, smoothly working mount or tripod.
There are 3 main categories of telescopes, (there are sub categories within these telescopes)
The reflecting telescope uses two mirrors and an eyepiece.
The refractor this type of scope use lenses one for the objective and the other is the eyepiece.
Cassegrain telescope
Cassegrain telescope has a primary mirror that is ellipsoidal and a secondary that is spherical.
An example of Cassegrain Telescope from Celestron CGE pro series
Refractor
The Refractor is the most common scope we are familiar with. The refractor consists of two or more lens elements which are either air spaced or united together in a tube like construction. One end forms the "objective" lens.
Light passing through the glass lens and is bent (refracted) to reach a focal point through the eyepiece.
Refractor telescopes are better suited for looking at planets the Moon.
Light gathering is all about aperture, the diameter of its light-gathering lens or mirror, often called the objective mirror or in the case of a refracting telescope it’s lens.
Newtonian
Very popular type of reflecting telescope has 2 mirrors a concave parabolic serves as a primary mirror. A small flat mirror, called the Newtonian Diagonal. The focus and eyepiece are placed directly over the Diagonal.
Reflecting Telescope
Dobsonian is another type of reflecting telescope sometimes referred to as light buckets.
Great value for money and have excellent light gathering power, excellent scope for seeing fainter objects. The Dobson is not generally suited to astrophotography.
Rent A Telescope
This in an option if you share an interest in astronomy and don’t want to outlay capital.
This way you get to keep your cash but still be able to log –online and rent a telescope world wide to snap a few images. This option I tend to use frequently to take astrophotos or study an cosmic object.
This option lets you pay for the time you use while you use when you are on-line.
A free online telescope operated by the Bradford university will let you take images and they do accept donations there website is www.telescope.org.
Visit the Bradford university[ Telescope
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Comment by James Rickard
unlucky_ fishermen.com
Angling Fish
Check this out...
Comment by MelissaA
Fun Facts
However, as she is so far in the top 1% of the state for science, I try to encourage her as much as I can. Any suggestions on which direction I should take on this would be greatly appreciated....
Comment by CarlCan
Astroearth
Camera Sense
It's great that you encourage her.
I agree it can get expensive and telescopes are sensitive to vibration and damage.
May I suggest that you use the on-line telescopes sites like www.slooh.com or http://mytelescope.com/
They offer reasonable rates. At least by using an on-line telescope you have control and can choose what objects and when you would like to observe and photograph them.
This way you can monitor her interest and decide later if you need to buy a telescope that may end up in the cupboard.
If you need further information I will be happy to do my best to offer answers.
Comment by CarlCan
Astroearth
Camera Sense
Yes I can relate, I have had telescope envy for many years. Many dollars later I am still not satisfied LOL.
I came to the conclusion that I would not win the “better “telescope dilemma.
Since then I have sold most of my equipment and opted to use the on-line telescopes they offer the latest technology and much larger telescopes than I could ever hope to afford, The upside is if it’s cloudy there is a telescope somewhere in the world that has clear skies.
Comment by MelissaA
Fun Facts