Telescope Buying Guide
Welcome to my telescope buying guide, before buying your first scope I always suggest first getting some star charts and a pair of binoculars and learning your way around the night sky. If your ready to jump right in to buying your first scope then Please read this guide so that you dont make the same mistakes alot of beginners do. I have compiled some good links to get you going. Welcome - and thanks for checking out my article!
Your Guide to Buying a Telescope Beginners Guide on what telescope to buy and what telescopes to avoid
Many of nights I've gazed up at the heavens, analyzing the night sky. As a kid I studied astronomy books and learned constellations. I enjoyed looking up at the stars imagining what mysterious objects hid up there. Finally one day I asked my parents for a telescope. That year for my birthday guess what I got....yep a telescope, with a picture on the box showing saturn and its huge rings, a picture of a huge spiral galaxy like the image above here, and on the box in huge letters... 900 X MAGNIFICATION!!!!!! I couldnt wait for it to get dark that night. Unfortunatelly with the purchase of a new telescope comes cloudy weather as soon as you open up the package. A few days pass and it was finally a nice,dark night, I took the little 60mm telescope outside and put the moon under my sights, It was pretty neat to see the craters but soon i found out that other than the moon this little scope was pretty useless, with small cheaply made optics, a wobly stand, and a sloppy focuser it ended up spending the rest of its life destined to be a lost junk artifact in the closet untill one day I sold it at a yard sale. The problem with this telescope was that it was cheaply made,over-dramatized and came probablly from walmart. I then spent the next decade and a half thinking of astronomy as a waste of time- and that it was too hard - and not rewarding. Well I grew up and had kids of my own and -HEY- now i have the perfect excuss to buy another telescope and get back into backyard astronomy!!! So being older and more knowledgeable (I thought) I got on ebay and bought a 4" newtonian telescope for about $200. It looked big and shiny and it promised alot but after receiving it and using it a few times i realized it was no better than the little 60mm refractor telescope from my childhood years. The problem with this scope was that it was an noname brand - manufactured in mass amounts in china with horribly made optics. Now this time I almost gave up on aronomy untill I found the cloudy nights forum By joining this forum I talked with alot of helpful people and learned alot of things, Since then Ive bought various nice telescopes that show me and my kids awesome views that i almost missed out on due to these chinese junk telescopes that they sell at shopping outlets and on ebay. So this following guide is for you to learn from my mistakes, saving you money,patience,and preventing these bad buy scopes from turning you away from astronomy altogether.
The number one mistake to avoid is DO NOT buy a telescope from a outlet store! These are overpriced junk telescopes often with horrible plastic lenses and optics.
The next mistake is do not buy a telescope without first researching about it.
Always try to stick with name brand manufacturer's such as Meade,Orion,Celestron,Hardin,Discovery,Antares ect.
My single suggestion for a beginner telescope is the dobsonian telescope, also called dobson or dob. You get alot of light gathering optics size for little money. These scopes are also very easy to use compared to other types.
A 4" dobson telescope is the perfect first scope for children, combining decent apreture(size of light gathering optics), and an easy to use mount at a good price. For an adults first scope I would suggest a dob in the 6,8, or 10 inch range. You can check around with the trusted manufacturer's I mentioned earlier as alot of them have special deals on 4"-6" dobs. Ive seen nice Hardin 6" dobs go on sale for well under $200 before. For an alternative to a new scope you can check out used telescopes at astromart.com - this is a great astronomy site with many reasonable deals on anything from scopes to eyepieces in there classified sections.
I do encourage any potential amatuer astronomers to pick up a decent pair of binoculars and a star map , and learn the night sky before jumping into buying a telescope. This is a good way to learn abit about what you will be getting into.
Another important factor of having a enjoyful astronomy outing versus a frustrating experience is the darkness factor. It is very important to find nice and dark skies to have good views of deep space objects. You can have the biggest and most expensive telescope intown but if your viewing from a big city with a heavy amount of light polution youre views will be faint and fuzzy. You need to find a good dark sky viewing area to get the most enjoyment from this hobby. Your eyes will fully dialate and you will have much better views in dark sky sites since theres no light pollution from the city to wash out the objects to be viewed. There are sites online where you can find the nearest dark skies for your location - Darksky.org is one. Again cloudynights forum has a trove of info for beginners and thousands of friendly members willing to answer your questions, I highly recommend spending some time reading and asking questions there.
With the right equipment and a little knowledge astronomy can be an amazing,fascinating, and peaceful hobby, as long as you avoid the junk scopes marketed towards beginners. With a quality scope, some dark skies, and a star map your on your way to great views of the heavens!
Your Guide to Buying a Telescope Beginners Guide on what telescope to buy and what telescopes to avoid
Many of nights I've gazed up at the heavens, analyzing the night sky. As a kid I studied astronomy books and learned constellations. I enjoyed looking up at the stars imagining what mysterious objects hid up there. Finally one day I asked my parents for a telescope. That year for my birthday guess what I got....yep a telescope, with a picture on the box showing saturn and its huge rings, a picture of a huge spiral galaxy like the image above here, and on the box in huge letters... 900 X MAGNIFICATION!!!!!! I couldnt wait for it to get dark that night. Unfortunatelly with the purchase of a new telescope comes cloudy weather as soon as you open up the package. A few days pass and it was finally a nice,dark night, I took the little 60mm telescope outside and put the moon under my sights, It was pretty neat to see the craters but soon i found out that other than the moon this little scope was pretty useless, with small cheaply made optics, a wobly stand, and a sloppy focuser it ended up spending the rest of its life destined to be a lost junk artifact in the closet untill one day I sold it at a yard sale. The problem with this telescope was that it was cheaply made,over-dramatized and came probablly from walmart. I then spent the next decade and a half thinking of astronomy as a waste of time- and that it was too hard - and not rewarding. Well I grew up and had kids of my own and -HEY- now i have the perfect excuss to buy another telescope and get back into backyard astronomy!!! So being older and more knowledgeable (I thought) I got on ebay and bought a 4" newtonian telescope for about $200. It looked big and shiny and it promised alot but after receiving it and using it a few times i realized it was no better than the little 60mm refractor telescope from my childhood years. The problem with this scope was that it was an noname brand - manufactured in mass amounts in china with horribly made optics. Now this time I almost gave up on aronomy untill I found the cloudy nights forum By joining this forum I talked with alot of helpful people and learned alot of things, Since then Ive bought various nice telescopes that show me and my kids awesome views that i almost missed out on due to these chinese junk telescopes that they sell at shopping outlets and on ebay. So this following guide is for you to learn from my mistakes, saving you money,patience,and preventing these bad buy scopes from turning you away from astronomy altogether.
The number one mistake to avoid is DO NOT buy a telescope from a outlet store! These are overpriced junk telescopes often with horrible plastic lenses and optics.
The next mistake is do not buy a telescope without first researching about it.
Always try to stick with name brand manufacturer's such as Meade,Orion,Celestron,Hardin,Discovery,Antares ect.
My single suggestion for a beginner telescope is the dobsonian telescope, also called dobson or dob. You get alot of light gathering optics size for little money. These scopes are also very easy to use compared to other types.
A 4" dobson telescope is the perfect first scope for children, combining decent apreture(size of light gathering optics), and an easy to use mount at a good price. For an adults first scope I would suggest a dob in the 6,8, or 10 inch range. You can check around with the trusted manufacturer's I mentioned earlier as alot of them have special deals on 4"-6" dobs. Ive seen nice Hardin 6" dobs go on sale for well under $200 before. For an alternative to a new scope you can check out used telescopes at astromart.com - this is a great astronomy site with many reasonable deals on anything from scopes to eyepieces in there classified sections.
I do encourage any potential amatuer astronomers to pick up a decent pair of binoculars and a star map , and learn the night sky before jumping into buying a telescope. This is a good way to learn abit about what you will be getting into.
Another important factor of having a enjoyful astronomy outing versus a frustrating experience is the darkness factor. It is very important to find nice and dark skies to have good views of deep space objects. You can have the biggest and most expensive telescope intown but if your viewing from a big city with a heavy amount of light polution youre views will be faint and fuzzy. You need to find a good dark sky viewing area to get the most enjoyment from this hobby. Your eyes will fully dialate and you will have much better views in dark sky sites since theres no light pollution from the city to wash out the objects to be viewed. There are sites online where you can find the nearest dark skies for your location - Darksky.org is one. Again cloudynights forum has a trove of info for beginners and thousands of friendly members willing to answer your questions, I highly recommend spending some time reading and asking questions there.
With the right equipment and a little knowledge astronomy can be an amazing,fascinating, and peaceful hobby, as long as you avoid the junk scopes marketed towards beginners. With a quality scope, some dark skies, and a star map your on your way to great views of the heavens!
posted by leny at
2:28 PM
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