Astronomical telescope for a beginner.

penrhyn

As above, been thinking about doing some stargazing. So am looking at getting a telescope. I'm thinking of a Newtonian, or Dobsonian, budget up to say £250 ish .
Any recommendations whilst I catch up on Stargazing live?

paddyrg

No idea about telescopes, but you should certainly install 'Google Sky Map' on your phone/tablet (certainly on Android, no idea about other devices). You point it towards a bit of sky, it shows you what every single dot of light is, all the constellations, etc.

penrhyn

Thanks for the heads up, its because of Sky map, and good Saturn viewing conditions atm that has rekindled my interest.

debitcardmayhem

Hi stalwart , have you got a local astronomy society,they may let you play and give some advice too...

http://www.fedastro.org.uk/

Shimrod

I'd suggest a dobsonian, as the simple mount means you can get more aperature for your money. Something like this http://www.telescopehouse.com/acatalog/Skyliner_200P_8__Parabolic_Dobsonian_Telescope-1.html
at £288 might be a good starting point. The caveat on this is that the best telescope is the one that is used, so don't get something so big that you can't be bothered shifting it out of the house, or can't load into a car to get to a dark site!
You might want to check out some (photography) shops in your area. My experience is that telescopes are one item with little variance in price between shops and online.
You can find some reviews on telescopes in general in this forum:
http://www.cloudynights.com/category.php?category_id=24&pr=2x6
and the sky at night magazine has some reviews here : http://www.skyatnightmagazine.com/telescope-reviews/telescopes
as well as a beginners guide to buying a telescope.

If you look at telescopes on Ebay, don't buy any of the 'bargain' price scopes such as Seben without researching them first. They're normally low quality rubbish.

cootuk

Best way to learn would be to get a decent pair of binoculars and start learning the night sky with a planisphere or sky maps.
That way you can get to know the constellations first and learn your way around the sky.

If you desperately need a scope then a decent beginner one starts around £140 for a 130mm dobsonian. The problem is that if you don't know where you are pointing and can't star hop to a position, then you cant find much.

If you want things pretty easy (relatively speaking) then a GOTO mount with a 114.5mm tube costs around £250, though you might need a power tank too eventually. This, after alignment, can be set to any usable coordinates or a target name typed in to the control panel. it will also keep the object in the eyepiece as the earth rotates, which you have to adjust for all the time with a manual scope. Even having a drive on one axis is helpful for long observing periods.

I would join one of the many forums, then try a stargazing night where you can try a few. I like my old 3" F15 refractor for planets, but generally use a 6" newt despite the tube rotation niggle when the eyepiece ends up in a wierd position.

I would stick to decent brands like Skywatcher or Celestron to start with.

Mr_Toad

With optics you generally get what you pay for. Many people buy a cheap scope and get put off because they are so poor.

I agree that a dobsonian is a better bet but I suggest you try and look through a few by going to a local society event to get some idea of what you're up against.

I started out with binoculars and looking through other people's scopes. My first scope cost me about £1000 and has since been replaced by a better one.

In my experience one of two things will happen. You'll buy a scope and hardly use it.

Or, you'll get hooked and end up spending thousands :eek:

I fall into the later category and I'm still not sure it's a good thing! :rotfl:

SailorSam

debitcardmayhem wrote: »

Hi stalwart , have you got a local astronomy society,they may let you play and give some advice too...

http://www.fedastro.org.uk/

I agree with that, when Stargazing was on Tv i went to a couple of free nights in Cronton where Liverpool Uni have a centre, the people there said the best way to get involved would be ask one of the other members who was upgrading and selling a telescope.

thor

The late Sir Patrick Moore always recommended 6 inch reflector or a 3 inch refractor as the minimum size of scopes for the beginner. If that was not affordable then go for a pair of binoculars as they would be far more useful than some cheap telescope like the infamous Tasco brand with their 1000x magnifications.
A warning if you get hooked and look to progress to astrophotography. You would then need a sturdy mount which could in some cases cost more than the telescope.

demystified

I'd have to agree in my experiance a 3 inch refractor is the minimum size to consider, anything less and its worse than useless, a good pair of binoculars would be more useful in that instance.