Thinking of buying a Telescope
can anyone give me any advice from personal experience or hearing from other on what the best telescopes are ? brand? features?
any help would be appreciated
any help would be appreciated
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My father is an astrophotographer. I will be glad to answer any of your telescopic questions.
Essentially, what it comes down to is this: What do you want to do with your telescope? Do you just want to look at stuff through eyepieces? Do you want to take photos? Are you more interested in looking at space objects or would you rather look at people through windows?
And, of course, the quintessential question... how much are you willing to spend?
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i just want to see planets, stars, moons space in general. i don't want to take pictures. as for money i would prefer to keep it under $250 if possibly.Comment
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Well, in that price range, I would say that the best quality optics are found in the brands Meade or Skywatcher.
Generally speaking, a refractor telescope will give you a better image than a reflector. The reflector is always a bit fuzzy, but the refractor, especially with good eyepieces, can give great images. Problem is, refractors are far more expensive. So, for under 250, you're probably going to end up with a reflector. Which is still good.
Meade has a bunch of starter scopes that range from about $200 to $400 here. The skywatcher website isn't nearly as helpful, but they have similar products available at stores.
At 250, you're not going to get a whole lot by way of features. They'll all pretty much going to be of similar quality, so its tough to go wrong with either brand, as they both make quality products. You may be able to get a feature called GoTo on a scope, which just makes it super easy to find planets and stuff. All you do is push a button, and the scope finds it automatically. This isn't a make or break feature, as pointing the scope at stuff is still good... but its nice.
Also, do consider second hand scopes. A good telescope will last forever, and a second hand one is just as good as a brand new one, only a lot cheaper. You'll get more for your money that way. So I'd try to find a reputable telescope store, and go in and have a chat with the owner. They'll be more than happy to help you out.
Hope I was of some assistance.Comment
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Cool!Originally posted by Pharaoh Atem View Post I don't really know anything about telescopes, but I think it's awesome you're getting one. Lemme know if you see anything interesting....like an approaching alien invasion force...
Also, Cow's awesome points went way up. I learned something.
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