General Question

sandystrachan's avatar

I plan to buy a new telescope which one should it be?

Asked by sandystrachan (4417points) March 30th, 2009

STARTRAVEL-102 (EQ1) 102mm (4”) f/500 is the one i plan to buy unless you have a better one for me to pick. I want this one because it can view Planters, The sun , The Moon Galaxies and Stars. Also it is useful for taking photographs and this is a must !!!

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8 Answers

cheebdragon's avatar

We have a Meade LX900, it’s pretty nice.

richardhenry's avatar

Please, please, please do not look directly at the Sun through a telescope.

Benny's avatar

What do you plan to do with the scope? I’ve owned several. Before you jump into a purchase, let’s talk—I’ve advised a lot of people on scope buying. @richardhenry is correct—you need a solar filter. I can help you with this also—I’ve built one.

RocketGuy's avatar

What about this Galileoscope?:
https://www.galileoscope.org/gs/

Seems like it has half decent optics. You can’t lose with the $15 price, either.

tekn0lust's avatar

What is your level of astronomy experience? This is the first and foremost thing to consider. From what I can see this is a pretty decent beginning telescope but I urge you to read on.

If you are just beginning, please resist the temptation to go out and buy yourself a telescope. Instead find your local astronomy club and join them. Amateur Astronomers are well know for being very friendly and helpful to those starting out and they will generally tell you all about their equipment and you will learn a ton without spending a dime.

If you must go buy something go and buy a pair of good binoculars to use while you learn the sky and about those things which excite you.

Astrophotography is a wonderful endeavor but it is quite complex and without good optics and equipment often into the thousands of dollars you will probably not be getting what you think you will be getting.

sandystrachan's avatar

@Benny It says what i want in the description instead add planets not planters lol it also must be able for photography .
I am not a beginner i have always had a telescope there is no club from what i can see around me :( sadly .
he scope mentioned above produces great photographs even with a cheap camera ( i will be buying my camera later) one i know produces great photographs of planets and things.

tekn0lust's avatar

That’s fine. Nobody ever likes that answer.

@sandystrachan So what mount do you plan to get? How do you plan to drive the scope? Thought about eye pieces yet? What camera do you plan to purchase?

Benny's avatar

Well, I agree with everything that @tekn0lust has said. Astrophotography is a complicated endeavor. You need a guiding scope, an autoguider, software (usually in a laptop), imaging software, etc. The EQ1 mount may be sufficient for visual astronomy, but I don’t know about astrophotography. I have a Tec 140 with an EQ6 mount, and I’m worried about the EQ6 mount and its astrophotographic capabilities. Have you decided on your CCD imager yet? Are you going to go with DSLR? Are you going to modify the filter on your DSLR? Here is a Cloudy Nights review of the scope you’re looking at: http://www.cloudynights.com/item.php?item_id=745

You mention that your scope produces great photos. The photos are less of a function of the scope (although granted that is important) and more of a function of the mount and the guiding software. Don’t expect to buy a scope with an inexpensive mount, hook up a camera, and snap away. Sadly, it’s not that easy. I know people who have spent thousands of dollars on imaging equipment (and in one case tens of thousands of dollars). Lastly, imaging planets and imaging deep sky objects take two entirely different techniques—and often different equipment.

Be very careful lest you be disappointed. I know a guy who spent thousands of dollars and hundreds of hours before he realized he bought the wrong equpment and had to start over again.

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