Telescopes

[TuxedoPk]

Does anyone have experience with telescopes? I'm looking to buy a decent scope for enjoyment and spending time with my nephews. I think I'd like to spend $150-$300. Any suggestions on what to buy?

[HollaGeo]

Go to that Discovery Store at Palisades Center Mall.

[McGary911]

Here's a good starter scope for what appears to be a good price:

Celestron Scope on Amazon (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B000051TMZ/104-5181918-7135923?v=glance)

This is a refractor scope, which is not quite as good for looking up as a newtonian scope, but is much better for terrestrial sighting. It still should do a kicka$$ job. It has an azimuth mount, which makes it much easier to track the stars as the earth rotates. I have a scope similiar to this, which is good for the stars (even in light polluted NJ) and great for land looking. Thats nice, because i live on the beach and like checking out the boats at sea (not bikinis -- EVER! :yes: )

Good site for some scope basics here: http://www.celestron.com/education/tel4ast.htm

That amazon seems to be a good price. You can go fancier, but that's a good one to get the kids interested. ( you too ). With the extra $$, you can get a lens filter or 2 (one for the moon is a great idea, usually amber) and a couple of extra eyepieces. Usually they give you a 6mm eyepiece, which is great, but getting a bigger one, makes it easier to see thru (26mm for example). You can also get a thing called a Barlow, which is an easy way to double your magnification. it goes between the scope and the eyepiece.

Good luck....

[pmreed]

Tux, let me do a little cogitating here. I've got 4 telescopes currently and belong to the local Astronomical Society. Couple of questions: How old are your nephews; is this something primarily for them or do you think you might take it out on the porch now and then. Is this strictly for the night sky, or would you like to be able to use it in the daytime. Even the dinkiest scope will require that you become somewhat familiar with the night sky; you'll be the authority :biggrin: . Don't worry about that, though; you'll have resources out the wazoo available.

Phil

[TuxedoPk]

Its amazing. I've yet to ask a question about anything on this board without finding people who've got experience in a given area.

My nephews are 8, 11 & 13. I suspect that Val and I will be out on the porch enjoying the dark nights alone as often as we've got the kids. Unlike where I lived in NJ, I'm in an area w/o much light pollution and the sky is beautiful even without a scope.

I'm not sure whether I should consider something with automation to allow for an easier time viewing or just invest in the optics and get a map of the sky.

[Ed Donnelly]

I bought my kids(5,7,& 9 at the time) the Nexstar 80 GTL
It has been used at least 3 times a week since.
As a bonus, I took it up to the north pole with me November 03
No lights, no pollution, and no sun 24hrs. a day
Blew my mind .................Ed

[TuxedoPk]

Phil, do you think that the Orion Skyquest XT6 or XT8 would do well meeting my needs?

[pmreed]

Tux, the Orion Dobsonians are excellent choices for a first scope. They're well made for the price, and a Dob is the most affordable way to get the astronomical equivalent of horsepower...aperture.

All of us involved in amateur astronomy are always faced with the tradeoffs between quality (= $), aperture (= image brightness and reach), and portability (we usually have to go far afield for dark skies).
Dobsonians are the most affordable "light buckets", being a classical Newtonian reflector on a mount simplified to it's most basic. The intelliscope addition makes it much easier to find things in the sky. I can tell you from personal experience, it takes a while to learn to sky-hop from visible objects like stars to invisible but beautiful deepsky objects.

XT6 vs. XT8? In telescopes, all other factors being equal, bigger is always better. My telescopes run from an old 3" refractor to a 10" computer controlled Schmidt-cassegrain; and the images you get from the 10" are staggeringly better than you get from the 3".

Sky and Telescope magazine did a review of the intelliscope and had mixed feelings about the accuracy of the computer pointing (recognize that you are the motor that moves the scope), but one of our members bought an XT8 intelliscope, and it pointed quite well. Once aligned, you could always find the searched for object in the field of view of a low power eyepiece.

Dob downsides: pretty useless for terrestrial viewing; and ,like all Newtonian reflectors, they're rather bulky.
Dob upsides: best bang for your buck for a basic telescope; and with their short focal length, have a large field of view.

The Celestron Nexstar 80 GTL is also a good choice. It's completely computer controlled, with motors to drive both axis. In fact, I bought one of them at Costco last year to give to my son-in-law for Christmas. Partly because it was a good deal ($199 ), but mostly because terrestrial viewing was a priority for them. For pure astronomy though, I'd opt for a Dob as a first scope. If it's just right, you keep it; if you get hooked, you move up and give the Dob to the nephews; if you get bored, you can still give the Dob to the nephews :biggrin: .

Good luck with your search for the perfect telescope. Very much like finding the perfect Donzi...which one is that :smile: ? Maybe, as with Donzis, you'll end up with more than one.

Phil