Telescope for a beginner

[Peter Easterling]

My wife and I are interested in star-gazing and are complete novices. An astronomer friend mentioned getting a high quality pair of binoculars. Any one have some ideas/experience with Puna astronomy? I see telescopes for beginners under $200.

[terracore]

A lot of people buy telescopes worrying about things like optics and then find out they are really hard to use unless you just want to look at the moon. I'm no amateur astronomer but if I buy a telescope it will be a computerized model that can find things for me. A nebula looks really cool but if you can't find one then what is the point of the telescope?

Back in the 90's I had the opportunity to look through the world's largest privately-owned binocular telescope. To put it into perspective one had to climb a ladder to use it. If it was a regular telescope it would have been impressive, but because it was binocular everything was seen in 3D. It was one of the most amazing things I've ever done. I was looking at Saturn and it's moons, all in 3D and after it went out of view (you would be amazed how brief a time these things are visible after aiming) the guy was like, you want to see a nebula? A couple of adjustments and BOOM, I was looking at a real life nebula in 3D. I have no idea how he knew how to find these things in the sky so quickly, but it was not something I could ever do.

A year later I had a second opportunity to look through the telescope, but after about 5 minutes clouds moved in. Shortly thereafter the van that was used to transport the telescope was stolen with the telescope in it. It was probably just a vehicle theft with the people having no idea what was inside. I have no idea if another telescope like that was ever made.

[Guest]

2nd ur friend .. jmo.

Dual purpose .. look @ whales too ..

200 does not buy "high quality" .. and NOT being a snob here.

Study about stability of the higher magnifications and don't be tempted to go for those 10xS right off
Eta ..

[birdmove]

If you get binoculars, I'd maybe get a pair of 7x50. That is seven power with 50mm objective lenses. There are some binoculars with 80 mm lenses, but I think they'd be unwieldy for general use. The larger the front lens, the more light collected by the device, and the brighter the image will be.



Jon in Keaau/HPP

[randomq]

I've used a big set of binoculars during lunar eclipses etc. They are OK, but you won't be seeing any nebulas or anything. Best IMHO would be a higher powered spotting scope or self-aiming telescope with a camera or USB eyepiece adapter. Then multiple people can view on a laptop screen, or even take pictures to study in detail. So hard to stare through those little eyepiece with things moving.

[HereOnThePrimalEdge]

A telescope is mounted on a tripod, so will keep the image stable.
You can’t hold binoculars steady enough to pick out much detail when skygazing, even on the moon with its easily discernible craters and streaked plains, and other features.

There are two main types of telescopes, refractor and reflector. With a refractor you look straight down the barrel of the telescope directly at the object, which some people (me) find more straightforward and intuitive when looking for smaller objects. A reflector telescope bounces the image off a mirror, so the eyepiece generally faces into the tube at a right angle to the object you’re looking at. None of that matters with a computerized scope as it does the aiming for you.

A $200 telescope is a decent entry level instrument, probably a good place to start, and depending on lense quality and magnification, you should be able to see Jupiter and 4 of its moons, or the rings around Saturn, as well as brighter nebula.

[TomK]

Peter,

The choice of a first telescope can be very important as getting something useless is likely to put you off astronomy than encourage you, so it's worth taking the time to research things. The advice used to be to get a decent pair of binoculars rather than a cheap store-bought telescope, but there are some decent beginner-type telescopes around these days. My suggestion would be a Dobsonian refractor with an aperture of at least 6-inches as small reflectors tend not to have good optics. At some point, reflectors rule, but that's for larger and much more expensive telescopes. Aperture rules; the greater the aperture the greater the number of photons so you can see more and use more magnification, but you also need to be confident the optics are decent which is why I suggest a refractor to start with. They tend to be prone to something called chromatic aberration but I suspect you won't be too bothered by that at the start of your hobby.

Orion has some pretty good Dobsonians that are between $250 and $500.

https://www.telescope.com/Telescopes/1.uts

However, my advice would be to attend a meeting or two at an amateur astronomy club and join them for some night-time observing sessions. You won't need a telescope and you'll be able to talk to experienced amateur astronomers and, on occasion, professional ones, and you'll get lots of excellent advice and see if it's really for you.

I suggest getting in touch with the West Hawaii Astronomy Club (I believe our own dan_d is a member) and go to one of their meetings in Waimea. A few weeks ago I saw something about another Big Island club but don't know anything about them, if anyone knows more about them, please post.

The West Hawaii Astronomy Club website is here:

https://www2.keck.hawaii.edu/whac/home.html

[dan d]

Hi peter and tom. Please feel free to meet us in person at WHACO west hi astro group.
We can set u on the right path. The whaco web site is old and not supported by the club
Please goin our discussion on the whaco yahoo forum. Meetings once a month. We just had a star party last nite. Wow skys were awesome. Come try my astro stuff first. U definitely want to get a good pair of binos. 8x50 or bigger,a tripod to put them on and a good chair to sit while viewing.

We have fun!!!
Also ck out
http://darkerview.com/wordpress/
It has a report of last night along with pics of the recent comet
Which can be found at our yahoo whaco site.

We have a dedicated group of long time astro buffs that love to show u the sky.
Pm me

Aloha Dan



HPP

[dan d]

Hey tom,
The other clubs are the uh astronomy club which was active volunteering up at the Maiuna kea visitor center

http://www.ifa.hawaii.edu/info/vis/
NOW we observe across the street from vis at the power station and AT Kohe on saddle

And we had a hilo astro club ,but most guys over here were to busy to keep it going

Aloha Dan


HPP

[dan d]

Thanks for the plug Tom. I would love to get a group of interested people to view twice a month here on the east side. I used to view up on kiluea turn off before Jaeger museum. But its closed now, maybe the pull off going down hill from the park on chain of craters road. Or my back yard when there is no clouds. We usually view at 3k feet,or the vis at 9 k.

See us on most mondays on

https://www.nightskiesnetwork.com
U can login to ask questions as well
We are friendly and there is no such thing as a stupid question
Aloha



HPP