Telescope for beginners

Guest2

Guest2

Guest2

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I have always been fascinated by stars and fancy a half decent telescope.
Living in the city centre, most of the time its hard to see them though so not sure if it would be worth getting one to look at the moon and a couple of stars

On a clear day I can see quite far out the centre and to suburbs and read some telescopes can be used in the day

What would you recommend for around £150. I would rather spend a bit more and get something half decent

So far I have looked at this one - Meade’s StarNavigator 102 - http://www.space.com/15655-meade-starnavigator-102-telescope-review.html
 
Do they come with tripods or do you have to buy them separate? If I were to buy second hand do they 'wear' or optics/anything else change or get worse over time

I have seen a Meade StarNavigator for £93 inc delivery
 
Dobsonians don't need tripods - it refers to the type of mount. It's a very simple design, easy to use and cheap to make so it's perfect for beginner scopes. Generally a lot more preferably to tripods at that price point also, since cheap tripods are just wobbly and unstable which is annoying more than anything and can just put you off.
 
I would go with a dob for your price range, any mount you get with that price will be very wobbly and will cause you more frustration than enjoyment, dobs don't wobble as much due to there design.
 
Have you gone along to your local astronomy club? Ask their advice about what you should buy and take a look through their telescopes at the type of things you can see.

Here's Sir Patrick Moore talking about telescope choice. It is a little old but still applicable.

 
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Have a look at the http://stargazerslounge.com/ forum there is a wealth of info there.

Some things to consider.
There are 2 types of mount (not counting the dob) Alt/Az which moves in an up down left right way, which is also suited for terrestrial viewing.

And an EQ (equatorial) mount. Which you should look up because i'm rubbish at explaining it. Which is not suited for terrestrial viewing.

Also what ever you do, do not impulse buy a scope. Or go for any thing that
focuses on high magnification as a selling point, there is a limit to how much usable mag we can use in the UK.

The scope you mentioned is more suited for planets then stars.

Have you considered a pair of good binos, something not more than 15x mag
and at least 50x objective. With a tripod adapter.
 
It took me about 2 months of waiting and watching to pick up a 200P off Gumtree in my local area - it cost me £150.
I'd prefer second hand for your budget, although your location will be a factor as most scopes are pick up only.
Have a look at uk astrobuysell also, e.g:
200P for £150
 
Is the 200P the one to go for then if I can find one in my area for around £150?

Can you see galaxies or are these scopes in the ~£200 range for only looking at the moon really?

As I am in the city, can they be tuned for looking at things at say 30 odd miles away. I can see high rises in the distance which would be cool to look at from our appartment
 
If you're wanting to use for terrestrial also then decent binoculars or spotting scope like the Celestron c90 mak with tripod may be more appropriate. Astro scopes flip/invert images.

This link might help you decide what you need.

You won't see images like the vid you posted - that's astrophotography where camera sensors are much more sensitive than the human eye and can catch much greater detail. Plus multiple images stacked together - it's a different ball game altogether.
 
JayMax said:
You won't see images like the vid you posted - that's astrophotography where camera sensors are much more sensitive than the human eye and can catch much greater detail. Plus multiple images stacked together - it's a different ball game altogether.
Click to expand...

This! I know a lot of people get so completely sick of Astronomy because they buy a scope, look through it and see faint smudges, they immediately regret the purchase as they are expecting views of Galaxies, Nebulae, etc. the like of which the BBC tend to show as taken by Hubble etc.

I had a pair of binoculars, 10X50 for about 5 years before I bought my first telescope, and I personally would advise to buy a pair of binoculars first imo.

I have an 8" SCT, in a mid size town, quite a bit of street lighting, and DSOs are very very faint smudges, almost on the edge of perception, you can't make out any colour and very difficult to make out any structure.

Jupiter is amazing however, still to see Saturn, and a lot of globular and open clusters are interesting as well as splitting double stars, best of which recently for me was Castor in Gemini.

So I would certainly advise not to be too optimistic on what you will see, you will end up looking for DSO (deep sky objects) and seeing very faint smudges and thinking to yourself is that it.
 
Is the Skywatcher Explorer 200P EQ-5 a good deal for £190?

Looks like a different stand to the usual Skyliner 200P Dobsonian.
Is it basically the same scope on a different stand?

It comes with the following;

EQ5 Mount with polar scope and both weights
Dual axis motor drives with detachable 5m cable extensions
Skywatcher electric focuser with detachable 5m extension cables
Bahtinov mask for 200p
Skywatcher Right angled and corrected 50mm finder
Ostara ED 7.5mm 1.25"boxed with bolt case
Skywatcher Long Eye Relief (LER) Eyepiece 20mm 1.25"

It looks like this one - http://www.firstlightoptics.com/reflectors/skywatcher-explorer-200p-eq5.html
 
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