…… Any Amateur Astronomers Here?

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ktrapper

Veteran Member
My daughter and I love gazing at the stars and what limited view of the planets we can get with binoculars.

We live in the mountains. City lights are not a issue.

Are there any members here who have telescopes suitable for star and planet viewing? If so, what kind do you have, recommend?

There are tons of them on Amazon to choose from. A lot of them look like cheap crap. I am willing to invest in something decent.

With warmer weather approaching its something we are looking at for the grand kids and the old kids alike to enjoy.
 
C

CELLO

Veteran Member
Celestron, great line up of quality telescopes. Mead had a comparable quality and line up and is what I have, a six inch reflector on an Equitorial mount. I wanted to upgrade to their similar 8 inch but last I looked it seemed to be discontinued. I never cared for the computerized models but many people buy them.
 
PghPanther

PghPanther

Has No Life - Lives on TB
Sorry I can't help you with telescopes but from a lay person's prospective I love and know a lot about astronmy and the universe in general.

What I can tell you is get very familiar with the the three main types of telescopes....refractors, reflectors and combination scopes.

Get familiar with them and the plus and minus of each based on how you intend to use them ...before you decide to invest in one and then enjoy.

I had the opportunity to see the rings of Jupiter and its red spot through a very expense backyard telescope once and it was a mind blowing level of enjoyment.
 
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wab54

Veteran Member
I have an CELESTRON 8in Schmidt Cassegrain(sp) telescope. I added all the tracking motors and controllers and several filters,eye pieces, photography tracking lenses and such. I bought it in the 1980's and still going great. Dont use it much anymore however.
Dont buy a cheap kids telescope. Those only kill the hobby. A refractor telescope ( look straight thru). These are almost useless. A reflector telescope is a lot more useful(Look thru the side). The size of the mirror is what makes a telescope, not magnification. Most useful is only 20 power or such, low power. They gather more light therefore makes image brighter and easier to see details.

WAB
 
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Blue 5

Blue 5

Veteran Member
I can recommend Celestron scopes. I used to have a 6in Newtonian reflector that produced great views. Got to see at least 4 of Jupiter's moons with it.

If I had it to do again, I'd get an 8in reflector with an automated tracking mount. That way you could just type in the object or location in the sky you want to observe and the mount points it where you want to look.
 
Jackalope

Jackalope

Irregular
I have a Meade Schmidt-Casgrain. It's been a good performer. It has the automatic motorized feature with a hand held remote control. Mine is at least a decade old, if not older. I imagine the newer models probably have wireless remote controls, but I haven't researched them lately.
 
StarGazer

StarGazer

Contributing Member
I have long been involved as an Amateur Astronomer. I can second the comments that most (if not all) of the telescopes offered on sites like Amazon are, pretty much, garbage. A specialty vendor is strongly recommended.

If possible, I advise contacting a local Astronomy club. Most clubs will have periodic Star Parties where members get together with their equipment to view the heavens. In general, Amateur Astronomers are eager to share views thorough their telescopes and to discuss the various features and pros/cons of their equipment..
These sites offer listings of Astronomy clubs. Maybe one or more are close enough to you so that a visit is possible:
U.S. Astronomy Clubs and Astronomy Clubs & Organizations Near Me

It is good that you have already been observing with Binoculars. This is a very good way to start and learn about the sky.

A major consideration is, as always, budget. A lot of pleasure and learning can be done with relatively modest equipment. However, literally, they sky is the limit! It is possible to spend a tremendous amount on the Astronomy hobby. I advise you to resist the urge to drop a lot of money on a complicated or large instrument until you have learned what aspect of astronomy most appeals to you.

In general, when starting out, I recommend a smallish Reflector telescope, usually with a Dobsonian mount. This vendor sells many such scopes: Orion SkyScanner
Another good site could be: Dobsonian Telescopes
A simple reflex finder such as Telrad Reflex Finder is a good, easy to use way to point your new telescope.

edited to improve link
 
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D

Dystonic

Senior Member
Stargazer makes excellent points. First one being is there a club anywhere near you as they love showing off their toys. A lot of them will take the time to discuss pros and cons of their telescope.

Reflectors are definitely the way to go. But with everything, we have questions. How old are the grandkids? Because one small bump and you just lost the object you were viewing.

It's not quite as easy as take out of the box and you're all set. Spend time during the day with it so you are not totally fumbling around in the dark. And whatever finder it has, you'll need to align it.

Speaking of alignment, the scary word that is not hard with reflectors is collimating. Collimating is making sure the mirrors are aligned to the eyepiece. I bought an Apertura AD8 off a teenager on Facebook marketplace for $500 and they retail for $750. He thought it was broken, it just needed collimating.
 
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Publius

TB Fanatic
Have not used my telescope in a long time, now if your not sure how much you really want spend and want good bang for the buck try looking at the Dobsonian telescopes these telescopes do not have a motorized tracking system so you have to push it around and they are affordable to the point you can buy a 8" or even a 12" and they make them bigger.
The bigger diameter the better or as we amateur astronomers say the bigger the light bucket the more you can see.
The man that made this telescope design Mr. Dobson passed away some years ago was said to be a regular at the yearly Vermont telescope makers convention.
 
BadMedicine

BadMedicine

Would *I* Lie???
Jackalope said:
I imagine the newer models probably have wireless remote controls, but I haven't researched them lately.
Click to expand...
For ppl with long arms, or long necks? :D


Best internet hack, place a "wanted" ad on Craigslist. Put these three terms/initials in your subject: WANTED ISO WTB.

(IN SEEK OF & WANT TO BUY.)

Then list off brands & types and put $20 as price. I guarantee you'll have people who'll sell...
 
packyderms_wife

packyderms_wife

Neither here nor there.
StarGazer said:
If possible, I advise contacting a local Astronomy club. Most clubs will have periodic Star Parties where members get together with their equipment to view the heavens. In general, Amateur Astronomers are eager to share views thorough their telescopes and to discuss the various features and pros/cons of their equipment..
These sites offer listings of Astronomy clubs. Maybe one or more are close enough to you so that a visit is possible:
U.S. Astronomy Clubs and Astronomy Clubs & Organizations Near Me
Click to expand...

This is what I was going to recommend. Most university towns have an astronomy club. If you are out of town and feel generous to do so give them an invite to your place to view the sky... I'm betting they'd take you up on it! Our club is just on the north side of town and while you can see the night sky decently, it's still to bright.
 
Jez

Jez

Veteran Member
I finally got a telescope about 10 years ago after wanting one for years. I was blessed in that there was a store nearby that specialized in selling them, sadly the closed when the owner retired.

I bought a 10 inch dobsonian. As many have stated, the sky is the limit so your budget will be your limiting factor. The bigger the diameter the more light you can gather and the better the picture. You also want to decide if you want to try astralphotography (taking pictures). Many telescopes have computers attached and motorized controls so you just tell the computer what you want to look at and it will find it. That comes at a cost so you may have to decide if you want that or a bigger diameter.

For myself I chose a bigger diameter. This also forced me to actually learn how to find things which I appreciated in the end.
 
PghPanther

PghPanther

Has No Life - Lives on TB
I like the idea of a manual were you must find the object in the sky to view rather than a computerized control for imagining location.

kInd of like a car...........I love driving a 4 speed manual..........the automatic is easier and more convenient but there is something about controlling the car's engine and drive train with a manual I still love to this day.
 
K

Kennori

Contributing Member
The sky is the limit. You can get a refractor from a number of sources and see planets, moons, sun with filter, and a few nebulae and galaxies. If you have the bucks you can get a reflector like a Schmidt-Casgrain with a huge mirror and a motorized mount that tracks the image you want and slews there at command. Long exposures with a camera yields amazing pictures with the right light conditions. I have a Meade 10 inch simple equatorial mount, I drag it out periodically but honestly the space telescopes are so advanced and the pictures so elaborate that it's like looking through a glass darkly. There are sites on the net with gigapixel long-exposure pics that are breathtaking.
 
K

ktrapper

Veteran Member
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One of the guys I work with has a friend with $10k set up. He shared these with us.
He had a 8 inch Celestron he started and had put it up for sale so he could upgrade and was taking it to the post office to ship it and ran into a older guy with the $10k set up and that guy gave it to him to further his interest.
Thought you all would enjoy the photos
 
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