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So You Wanna Buy a Telescope: Advice for Beginners (2015)

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Re: So You Wanna Buy a Telescope: Advice for Beginners (2015)

#71

Post by squeaky-clean »

vvanders wrote: post #69
aortega wrote: post #29

I disagree with the astrophotography thing. Even with a telescope your human eyes are limited to planets and the moon, that's it. Forget about seeing galaxies with the naked eye, unless you have a 1-meter diameter telescope. All other objects are basically points of light. Artificial satellites are really fun to see, but also points of light. But a 2006 DSLR (EOS400) that I found in the garbage, connected to a cheap…

Not really sure what you're talking about. I've seen at least 6-7 galaxies/nebulae from my 8" Dobsonian and plan to try and find more this year. You just need to get out to an area with low light pollution. FWIW this is from the deck of my house(one of the benefits of living in a rural area) but totally possible to do. There's also something surreal about seeing the milky way streaking across the sky with the naked e…

I have an 8" SCT and can see many galaxies, nebulae and clusters with it when we go to our dark spot. You can even see the spot on Jupiter on a really good night. They don't look like the hubble photographs of the galaxies, but there's something just breath-taking about seeing it with your own eyes, in real-time.

"I don't see anything, just a blurry spot"

"That's it! That's the galaxy."

"You sure? I think it might just be a smudge on the lense."

"No, no. Try moving where you're focusing your vision, around it, instead of looking at it directly. So you're viewing it mostly with your peripheral vision."

"Woah."

Re: So You Wanna Buy a Telescope: Advice for Beginners (2015)

#72

Post by dmfdmf »

aortega wrote: post #29

I disagree with the astrophotography thing. Even with a telescope your human eyes are limited to planets and the moon, that's it. Forget about seeing galaxies with the naked eye, unless you have a 1-meter diameter telescope. All other objects are basically points of light. Artificial satellites are really fun to see, but also points of light. But a 2006 DSLR (EOS400) that I found in the garbage, connected to a cheap…

Here is a tip for those on a limited budget. Get an inexpensive telescope you can afford but can only see a few planets and the moon. Take it to a star party and set it up and aim it at a planet or the moon. Walk over to the other people who have the expensive setup with the computerized mounts, expensive and large lens & etc and ask to take a peek. These hobbyists typically love to share and will usually be happy to explain in great detail what galaxy, nebula or object you are looking at and the technical details of their setup if you ask.

Re: So You Wanna Buy a Telescope: Advice for Beginners (2015)

#73

Post by gjkood »

Here is a nice mount for those wanting to do Astrophotography without a telescope. The problem with using long exposures without a tracking mount is that the objects being photographed is always in motion wrt. to where you originally pointed the camera and you end up with star trails. This may not be a problem if you are using wide angle lenses to photograph a large chunk of the night sky.

http://www.ioptron.com/product-p/3302b.htm

One of the most useful things that I did when I started out in this hobby was get a login to 'AstroMart' and bought used equipment. Amateur Astronomy is like buying Gym equipment. Everybody wants to do it and will buy fancy equipment but most will not use much of that (myself included). So you end up with a lot of very good used equipment available for sale. It can also be a very very expensive hobby, hence reselling some of your equipment to feed your habit is a common event. Astromart is a sort of self regulated auction site for used astronomy equipment. I personally bought a 10 year old telescope 12 years ago which I can still resell today at the price I bought it then.

The most useful advice I see on here is to get something that you will actually take out and use. Binoculars (7x50 or 10x50) or a good small apochromatic refractor (80 mm or less) with a decent alt-azimuth mount. Learning the common constellations, locating the north star (if you are in the northern hemisphere) etc.

The following site will give you the list of dark sky locations in California.

http://www.observingsites.com/ds_ca.htm

For those in the Bay Area, Henry Coe State park near Morgan Hill/Gilroy is an excellent dark sky site. I saw the Milky Way again in all its majestic glory after 30 years here. Camp out there for a night and you can have a great time stargazing. Just try and find a cloudless, moonless night for best experience. Learn to read the Clear Sky chart for each location and plan out your trip.

Its a fun but addictive and expensive hobby. So beware.

Re: So You Wanna Buy a Telescope: Advice for Beginners (2015)

#74

Post by dwc »

Starwatcher2001 wrote: post #51
aortega wrote: post #29

I disagree with the astrophotography thing. Even with a telescope your human eyes are limited to planets and the moon, that's it. Forget about seeing galaxies with the naked eye, unless you have a 1-meter diameter telescope. All other objects are basically points of light. Artificial satellites are really fun to see, but also points of light. But a 2006 DSLR (EOS400) that I found in the garbage, connected to a cheap…

"Even with a telescope your human eyes are limited to planets and the moon, that's it." Andromeda, M42, star clusters, can all be seen with the naked eye, but only from a dark location, and unfortunately not in most cities. I've seen scores of galaxies with just a 8.75" reflector. The virgo cluster that's available at this time of year is amazing. I agree with most of the rest of your post though, especially the weig…

You can see M42 with just binoculars!

I could get NGC 7635 in my meade LX90 from my light polluted suburban backyard.

Really dunno where this moon and planets only thing comes from.

Re: So You Wanna Buy a Telescope: Advice for Beginners (2015)

#75

Post by pklausler »

exhilaration wrote: post #61
jonathansizz wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can see Saturn's rings with my 16x70mm binoculars. Jupiter's Galilean satellites are easy with any decent pair of binoculars. You can track their positions relative to Jupiter from night to night. Binoculars are definitely the way to go for a beginner. Spend 12 months using the naked eye and binoculars to learn the entire night sky that's visible from your location. With the aid of an astronomy book and star charts…

Can you link to a specific pair of binoculars?

If you want the best, get Canon's image-stabilized 15x50 binoculars. Image stabilization is a miracle technology.

Re: So You Wanna Buy a Telescope: Advice for Beginners (2015)

#76

Post by jonathansizz »

exhilaration wrote: post #61
jonathansizz wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can see Saturn's rings with my 16x70mm binoculars. Jupiter's Galilean satellites are easy with any decent pair of binoculars. You can track their positions relative to Jupiter from night to night. Binoculars are definitely the way to go for a beginner. Spend 12 months using the naked eye and binoculars to learn the entire night sky that's visible from your location. With the aid of an astronomy book and star charts…

Can you link to a specific pair of binoculars?

Unfortunately, the pairs that I have are all no longer produced. If I was in the market today, I'd probably look on Craigslist for some high-quality second hand binoculars. That way, you can go and test them in person after you've researched them online, and you should be able to get more for your money compared with buying a new pair.

For astronomy, you want a large objective lens:magnification ratio, because the higher the magnification, the dimmer the view. For daytime use, this doesn't matter, but for looking at faint objects at night, light-gathering power is everything. Get this ratio at least up around 5, or ideally 7, so 7x50mm binoculars would therefore be better (and lighter) than 10x50mm. I'd start with those before possibly getting some larger (e.g. 15-16x70mm) ones, or just moving straight to a telescope.

Re: So You Wanna Buy a Telescope: Advice for Beginners (2015)

#77

Post by dr_zoidberg »

madaxe_again wrote: post #64
aortega wrote: post #29

I disagree with the astrophotography thing. Even with a telescope your human eyes are limited to planets and the moon, that's it. Forget about seeing galaxies with the naked eye, unless you have a 1-meter diameter telescope. All other objects are basically points of light. Artificial satellites are really fun to see, but also points of light. But a 2006 DSLR (EOS400) that I found in the garbage, connected to a cheap…

There's astrophotography and then there's astrophotography, however - and you get drawn deeper and deeper into it. I have a few scopes, but mostly use an 8" celestron schmidt-cassegrain - it's a decent all-rounder for astrophotography, particularly as I mostly do deep sky stuff. I started with a simple T-adapter and a DSLR, and of course, you start as you describe playing with the exposure, the iso - but then you wan…

About capturing a bit more fo that dim halo, I always wondered... Wouldn't a secondary scope (with similar characteristics) result in an increased light gathering potential? I've also tried to look into visible-light interferometry, but there aren't many accessible resources on the subject.

My feeling is that there is a point in equipment in which you are simply better off getting a new rig (to work in paralell) than trying to get slightly bigger aperture (let's face it, 16" vs 14" is not as dramatic in light gathering and image quality as 8" vs 6"), but I'm not sure where that point lies.

Re: So You Wanna Buy a Telescope: Advice for Beginners (2015)

#78

Post by talmand »

dmfdmf wrote: post #72
aortega wrote: post #29

I disagree with the astrophotography thing. Even with a telescope your human eyes are limited to planets and the moon, that's it. Forget about seeing galaxies with the naked eye, unless you have a 1-meter diameter telescope. All other objects are basically points of light. Artificial satellites are really fun to see, but also points of light. But a 2006 DSLR (EOS400) that I found in the garbage, connected to a cheap…

Here is a tip for those on a limited budget. Get an inexpensive telescope you can afford but can only see a few planets and the moon. Take it to a star party and set it up and aim it at a planet or the moon. Walk over to the other people who have the expensive setup with the computerized mounts, expensive and large lens & etc and ask to take a peek. These hobbyists typically love to share and will usually be happy to…

I have gone to such events without a telescope and most of them were more than happy to let us take a peek. One of them let my oldest daughter request objects to see and he entered the request in one of those nice automated setups.

Re: So You Wanna Buy a Telescope: Advice for Beginners (2015)

#79

Post by pklausler »

lake99 wrote: post #28

The advice here seems dated, even for 2015. Here's my advice: 1. Install an astronomy app on your mobile phone. Start with free ones, and see where it leads you. I recommend Skeye. This is good for going out by yourself and looking up things you see in the sky. For a PC, Stellarium is the best I have seen. 2. Get a camera capable of taking long exposure RAW photos, and get a tripod. There is so much hidden within the…

You left off this point:

0. Get a decent pair of binoculars. If you have money, get image-stabilized binoculars. Learn your way around the night sky, and learn what's up there during the seasons.

I get more pure astronomical enjoyment from my binoculars than from my telescopes and AP rigs, honest.

Re: So You Wanna Buy a Telescope: Advice for Beginners (2015)

#80

Post by lake99 »

pklausler wrote: post #79
lake99 wrote: post #28

The advice here seems dated, even for 2015. Here's my advice: 1. Install an astronomy app on your mobile phone. Start with free ones, and see where it leads you. I recommend Skeye. This is good for going out by yourself and looking up things you see in the sky. For a PC, Stellarium is the best I have seen. 2. Get a camera capable of taking long exposure RAW photos, and get a tripod. There is so much hidden within the…

You left off this point: 0. Get a decent pair of binoculars. If you have money, get image-stabilized binoculars. Learn your way around the night sky, and learn what's up there during the seasons. I get more pure astronomical enjoyment from my binoculars than from my telescopes and AP rigs, honest.

> and learn what's up there during the seasons.

That's a good point.

I haven't used binoculars myself, so I wouldn't know whether to recommend it or not. But generally, when people ask me, I drive them in the direction of learning as much as they can before buying specialized equipment.

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