Im Interested in Buying a Telescope?
i have been thinking about buying a telescope and i was looking for some advice on what to get. i go to school and live in more suburban and rural areas and have never owned a telescope. id also like to have some suggestions on accessories like cameras or star finders or gps tools or something. any help is appreciated
Here are a few web pages with good information on beginner’s telescopes:
http://www.gaherty.ca/tme/TME0702_Buying_a_Telescope.pdf
http://www.scopereviews.com/begin.html
http://observers.org/beginner/j.r.f.beginner.html
For more advanced information, read Phil Harrington’s Star Ware, 4th edition (Wiley).
You’ll get the greatest value for your money with a Newtonian reflector on a Dobsonian mount, such as these:
http://www.telescope.com/Telescopes/Dobsonian-Telescopes/pc/1/12.uts
http://www.skywatchertelescope.net/swtinc/product.php?class1=1&class2=106
Buy from a store which specializes in telescopes and astronomy, either locally or online; don’t buy from department stores, discount stores or eBay as mostly what they sell is junk. Find your local astronomy club and try out different telescopes at one of their star parties:
http://www.skyandtelescope.com/community/organizations
I strongly recommend that beginners steer clear of astrophotography until they have learned their way around the sky. Astrophotography is by far the most expensive and difficult area of amateur astronomy.
Many people who buy telescopes have no idea how to find interesting things to observe. A good introduction to finding things is NightWatch by Terence Dickinson (Firefly). A more advanced book is Star Watch by Phil Harrington (Wiley).
One of the lower cost ones in the source would be good. Just start with the basic telescope and decide what accessories you would really use by experience. Subscribe to Sky and Telescope or Astronomy magazines and seek out your local astronomy club. Just google astronomy club and your city name to find the nearest one.