Another telescope question for a friend!

[Happy82]

Hi all!

A friend of mine is after his first telescope with the desire to observe the planets and nebulae (mainly the Orion nebula).

His budget is £200, so any ideas? I was thinking a refractor might be best for the planets but not sure if £200 will get him anything good enough to be worthwhile?

Cheers!

[VxDuncan]

If he wants to view M42 in any detail then for £200 pounds he's probably best with a cheap dobsonian reflector. Something like this maybe:
http://www.pulsar-optical.co.uk/prod/telescopes/sk...

That way he gets a bit of light gathering and an easy to use mount. There's no help from goto or setting circles to find objects, so possibly a good way way of learning!

No good for photography though.

Another option would be a second hand 6" reflector on an EQ mount. I sold a skywatcher 150 a couple of years ago for £150.

[Nimby]

I bought a Celestron 102GT (4" refractor with GoTo) at Costco recently for £169 but they'd all gone last week.

http://stargazerslounge.com is a worth a look for advice.

[nellyleelephant]

He'll have to be quick if he wants to see Orion this season, it's already quite low and will soon be gone until next Winter.

[Tycho]

I just bought a Skywatcher Explorer 130M and am really happy with it so far. It's a reflector on a motorised EQ2 mount so it will track the stars. I bought it from First Light Optics.

[Happy82]

Thanks everyone, I thought a Dobsonian would be suitable so will suggest the Skywatcher to him

Cheers!

[CHIEF]

Keep it simple and tell him to get a 70mm refractor.

[jmorgan]

Go visit a club and try a few first and get first hand info on what is good for what is wanted.