Anyone own a telescope?
- Thread starter moggy
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Prince Monolulu
Everything in Moderation
Take it to all home games
[MENTION=236]Papa Lazarou[/MENTION] has a bit of a beast.
clippedgull
Hotdogs, extra onions
Yes!
If you haven't already been, get yourself to these local guys. Friendly advice and service.
Based in Goring. http://www.sussex-astronomy-centre.co.uk/
Probably not a bad idea. Have recently dusted mine off and find polar aligning tricky.
The Andy Naylor Fan Club
Well-known member
Camicus
New member
Don't get a auto align. The battery packs are bulky heavy and don't last long. Spend the money on a decent scope (none of this made in china crap) with decent firm equatorial mount. Depending on where you are using your scope and budget you might want to think about binos the field of vision is much greater but they can be bulky.
The Pleiades Cluster seen through binoculars.
The Pleiades Cluster seen through binoculars.
pastafarian
Well-known member
myself and my niece wanted to get into this for a while as a hobby we could both do together,i promised to buy the equipment but having looked into it i am more confused than ever especially when reflective vs refractor telescopes are thrown in.
we are complete novices and simply want to see far away stuff bigger(legitimate scientific term).I thought maybe £300 was a good starting point to get something half decent but then from online advice you get crossed messages of you are spending far too much for a novice f@ckwit to if you want to see anything decent you need the budget of NASA......annoyingly confusing.!
Camicus
New member
Refractive V reflective telescopes. Its just a different way of gathering light to the lens. 99% of the time refractive scopes give better image quality than reflective. Reflectives tend to be smaller and more portable so once more its horses for courses. Can you see yourself lugging a massive scope up the downs? If so refractives all the way if not go for a smaller reflective. For about £350 there are some really good scopes on the market.
http://www.firstlightoptics.com/startravel/skywatcher-startravel-120-eq3-2.html have a look for one of these
And you can add a motor for £75 later if you choose.
http://www.firstlightoptics.com/startravel/skywatcher-startravel-120-eq3-2.html have a look for one of these
And you can add a motor for £75 later if you choose.
pastafarian
Well-known member
thanks,that makes sense.......finally
Camicus
New member
Your welcome its fascinating but a nightmare when you first start.
pastafarian
Well-known member
no crap
i read an amazon review on a telescope i thought might be a good beginner start only to come away feeling inadequate because the telescope in question was "pointless" because it didnt have autostar and an erecting prism......i have no idea what these things are let alone if they are beneficial
i will look at the link you posted more closely on another day,seems some quite good info
Camicus
New member
An erecting prism is used with a scope to turn the image the right way up and correct the left to right flipping of the image due to the mirrors most of the time for astronomy its not a problem but for terrestrial use its a massive hassle. A autostar is a computer guided motor that finds stars and maintains them in the scope as they travel through the sky.
If you're going to go that route, could I suggest that you ensure that you also get one with a GPS too. There are two things that a scope has to "know" if it is going to find a particular object in the sky: where in the sky the object is, relative to other objects, and from where on Earth you are observing. Some cheaper auto-search systems only give you the former; for the latter input to be automated, it needs a GPS.
Enjoy, and good luck!