Astronomy Telescope Advice

[AndyB]

Hi, my adult son wants to get into astronomy. We are complete novices and we don't even know what magnification would suit a beginner. My spotting scope (60×60) can get a great full screen view of the moon but is useless at anything further away. I don't trust info on Amazon ( based on frequent duff binoculars information. The words "high powered" appear far too often!). Therefore can anyone suggest, based from their own experience, a sensibly priced and suitable telescope for a beginner?
Many thanks.

[H.A.Bucken]

Don't know about telescopes, but when using bins there's an 'optic number 5' to go for; that's the magnification (1st number) divided into the diameter of the object lens- should be 5x or greater: 8x40, 10x50 etc. Otherwise the field of view narrows and becomes dark.
Roger

[Del]

I'm a member of The Society For Popular Astronomy. There is a guide here you may find useful
https://www.popastro.com/main_spa1/help ... telescope/
and you can always join the forum and ask questions (it's not a very active forum, but folk there are generally very helpful)

[gyvespa]

Binoculars are more my thing but have a look here

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/beginn ... copes.html

https://www.firstlightoptics.com

They seem to have all prices and qualities available, I’ve never used them but occasionally have a browse around. Happy viewing.

[raptor9]

Vespa. I own a pair of Canon 10 x30 stabilized. They are brilliant. Not as good as a proper Astronomical telescope, but looking at the moon is fantastic. Expensive tho'.. I paid £320 for them 6 years ago, but they have been worth every penny. Regards.

[Del]

One or two thoughts (got a bit more time today).
Don't get too caught up about magnification, aperture & light gathering capability is more important. On any proper astronomical telescope magnification can be changed by using different eyepieces. Telescopes have focal lengths just like camera lenses. A 900mm scope with a 10mm eyepiece would give you 90x , a 20mm eyepiece 45x etc.

50x will give you very nice views of Saturn's rings & Jupiters belts. Once you've looked at those, assuming they are around at any given time of year, you need to decide what to look at next, Deep sky objects are pretty dim, hence the need for good light gathering.

Computerised scopes are great and do make observing easier, but I often think there is a danger you don't really learn about astronomy if you start with one and just use it all the time. Getting to know the constellations & stars and the way it all works over different time periods (day, month, year) is important if you're going to do this even semi-seriously and keep it going.

Be very aware that you are not buying the Hubble telescope. Many people get really disappointed when they expect to see images like that and it really doesn't work that way. Even bright(ish) objects like the Orion nebula, where you see these great images full of colour of pinks & reds are nothing like that viewed with the human eye through a scope (but it is still awesome and my favourite target).

That's enough for now, probably bored you already.

[Johnny]

What's the budget , a great youtube channel is astrobisciut, some of his videos he does budget telescope challenges , and look into difference with apo and achromatic lenses

[C24]

There’s some sound advice for you here. Del’s comments about learning the sky before forking out on computerised’scopes rings true.
It takes motivation to be out viewing on a cold night, so assembling kit can be less appealing.

A solid garden lounger with footrest and thick cushions would be my first buy. A pair of x50 binoculars, not too heavy and a pair of mittens would be next. A set of charts and a flask of hot drink and get out into the garden to look at the sky.
We got zapped several years ago when the street lights were updated which ruined my efforts. I sold my 10” Meade, currently using an LX90 for a small patch of sky but now head off for the threshold of 06 at Cottesmore. It overlooks the valley and is relatively light free.
Join a club too but in the early stages the garden or somewhere local will give you “ little and often” to see how keen you are.
George Alcock of comet fame was a cousin who introduced me to a partial solar eclipse in about 1952/3.
If you decide against continuing without buying a scope at least you will have a fine pair of binoculars for general viewing.

Have fun