Budget telescope

[nellyleelephant]

Eric Mc said:

As an aside, Mr Dobson, who invented the mount which is named after him, died only a month or so ago.

He did indeed, I might make my own cardboard tubed reflector this year as a tribute!

[don4l]

willld said:

My wife in her infinite wisdom bought our 8 year old daughter a telescope described as "this brilliant beginner's telescope comes with everything budding astronomers aged seven and up need to start exploring space with 3 magnifications - 20X, 30X and 40X" in reality I could have made something better out of a loo roll and the bottoms of Stella bottles. Even on the lowest magnification there's too much vibration to to see anything.

So rather than her get completely dejected trying to use it, is there such a thing as a useable budget telescope (under £100)?

Bresser have a fairly good reputation in the budget telescope department.

Here is one that is not much over your budget:- http://www.telescopehouse.com/acatalog/Bresser_RB6...


If you can stretch your budget a bit I would recommend that you get a telescope with an "Equatorial" mount. This would make observing things much easier.

[Moonhawk]

Eric Mc said:

After all, the OP asked for advice. You might as well give him advice that's understandable.

How do you know it isn't.....even a cursory browse around the web for telescopes will have brought the OP into contact with many of the 'jargon' terms being employed in this thread.

You may be doing the OP a disservice by suggesting that they don't understand the replies.

[Eric Mc]

True.

I read quite a bit about astronomy but hadn't come across the terms "newts" and "dobs" - although I knew enough to work out what was being referred to.

I do have a bit of a bee in my bonnet about the use of jargon as it is very easy for people who work or deal with certain technology or legislation to become lazy and slip into acronyms and buzz words - which I always think is a bit unfair on newcomers.

[Moonhawk]

don4l said:

Bresser have a fairly good reputation in the budget telescope department.

Here is one that is not much over your budget:- http://www.telescopehouse.com/acatalog/Bresser_RB6...

The mount on that Bresser doesn't look too sturdy - from the OPs post, stability seemed to be their main complaint.

I'd also avoid small, cheap refractors. They tend to be more expensive on an aperture by aperture basis than a reflector - and you also have to contend with significant chromatic aberration (a purple halo around bright objects). A 60mm refractor will seriously limit the number of deep sky objects visible.

OP - as a general rule, the larger the aperture (the opening at the front of the telescope) - the more objects will be visible as the telescope can reveal fainter objects and the views will be sharper too. The light gathering power and the resolution of a telescope are both dependent on the aperture. As an example - a 114mm telescope will have about 3 times the light gathering area of a 60mm.

OP - If you want to view galaxies, nebulae, globular star clusters etc and not just the moon and planets - you really need to be looking at a telescope in the 100mm+ aperture range, especially if you have to contend with even a small amount of light pollution.

Edited by Moonhawk on Thursday 20th March 16:28

[don4l]

Moonhawk said:

OP - If you want to view galaxies, nebulae, globular star clusters etc and not just the moon and planets - you really need to be looking at a telescope in the 100mm+ aperture range, especially if you have to contend with even a small amount of light pollution.

Edited by Moonhawk on Thursday 20th March 16:28

Can you point us at a decent telescope with 100mm aperture for less than £100.00?

Light pollution isn't an issue when you are starting out. Vibration and your ability to track an object are issues that affect your enjoyment.

Don
--

[Moonhawk]

don4l said:

Can you point us at a decent telescope with 100mm aperture for less than £100.00?

Light pollution isn't an issue when you are starting out. Vibration and your ability to track an object are issues that affect your enjoyment.

Don
--

Challenge accepted......

Celestron Astromaster 114EQ - £99

http://www.parkcameras.com/10163/Celestron-Astroma...

Celestron Powerseeker 114EQ - £93

http://www.play.com/Gadgets/Gadgets/4-/26919260/77...

Personally i'd take the astromaster over the powerseeker - it looks sturdier.

That's just new scopes - second hand you can find some bargains (like this 150mm scope which has unfortunately sold)

http://www.astrobuysell.com/uk/propview.php?view=7...

Or this 130mm one for £100 (ok technically it's not "under £100" - but the OP has suggested there may be some flexibility in their budget.....what's 1p between strangers )

http://www.astrobuysell.com/uk/propview.php?view=6...

I agree about vibration suppression and tracking - hence the reason I suggested an EQ mount from the start of the thread.

Not sure I agree about light pollution. It can be an issue at any level of astronomy and can put many fairly easy objects out of reach. Charles Messier used a 100mm reflecting telescope to find all 100 Messier objects. With light pollution getting bad, on some nights I can struggle to observe some of the M objects with my 10 inch SCT. Going for a 60mm refractor would immediately put the OP at a disadvantage even if they have relatively light pollution free skies just because of the aperture......and that's not even taking into account the other problems cheap refractors can have.

Don't get me wrong - a good refractor can be a fantastic piece of kit. I have recently bought a decent 90mm short tube F5.5 achromatic refractor to piggyback on my SCT for wide field observing/imaging/guiding. Wasn't cheap though ~£250 for just the telescope - then I had to buy the mounting rings and dovetail plate on top. All in it probably cost about £400.

Edited by Moonhawk on Friday 21st March 10:03

[don4l]

Moonhawk said:

don4l said:

Can you point us at a decent telescope with 100mm aperture for less than £100.00?

Light pollution isn't an issue when you are starting out. Vibration and your ability to track an object are issues that affect your enjoyment.

Challenge accepted......

Celestron Astromaster 114EQ - £99

http://www.parkcameras.com/10163/Celestron-Astroma...

Good shout. That looks like excellent value!

[Mojocvh]

nellyleelephant said:

Eric Mc said:

As an aside, Mr Dobson, who invented the mount which is named after him, died only a month or so ago.

He did indeed, I might make my own cardboard tubed reflector this year as a tribute!

10" Dob with digital setting circles [battery] Take it out & plonk it down, align the setting circles [any couple of start will do] and away you go. Excellent lightbucket AND v good resolution for the planets.

FOR REFERENCE ONLY



http://www.firstlightoptics.com/dobsonians/skywatc...

none of this 3 way aligns, polar aligns, laptops bla etc,etc just get out and view, knowing what I do now I would forget the GE mounts and follow this path....the finest views I have ever seen of Jupiter were through a 10" Dob & a night of good seeing...

[nellyleelephant]

Mojocvh said:

10" Dob with digital setting circles [battery] Take it out & plonk it down, align the setting circles [any couple of start will do] and away you go. Excellent lightbucket AND v good resolution for the planets.

FOR REFERENCE ONLY



http://www.firstlightoptics.com/dobsonians/skywatc...

none of this 3 way aligns, polar aligns, laptops bla etc,etc just get out and view, knowing what I do now I would forget the GE mounts and follow this path....the finest views I have ever seen of Jupiter were through a 10" Dob & a night of good seeing...

No need to persuade me, I use a 12" dobsonian, the thought of having to align and be restricted by a EQ mount puts me right off, but each to their own!

[Moonhawk]

Mojocvh said:

10" Dob with digital setting circles [battery] Take it out & plonk it down, align the setting circles [any couple of start will do] and away you go. Excellent lightbucket AND v good resolution for the planets.

FOR REFERENCE ONLY



http://www.firstlightoptics.com/dobsonians/skywatc...

none of this 3 way aligns, polar aligns, laptops bla etc,etc just get out and view, knowing what I do now I would forget the GE mounts and follow this path....the finest views I have ever seen of Jupiter were through a 10" Dob & a night of good seeing...

Nice - but you are a factor of 10 out on the OPs budget

I know they said they may be able to squeeze in some budget creep - but i'm not sure they meant that much

[Mojocvh]

All things being equal [here in the UK with it's astro gear cartel] it's very good value and massive bangs per buck.

But yes, a wee bit above budget, LOL.

[uncinqsix]

I just recently bought an old 60mm refractor from a charity shop for the equivalent of 30 pounds. Turns out that it's a high quality Japanese one from a very well regarded (but defunct) manufacturer, probably 50+ years old

I gave it a bit of a clean up, and amazingly enough, it's brilliant. I had it aimed at Saturn last night and got a sharp, clear view of the rings and even some cloud detail on the surface. I can clearly see the two main cloud bands on Jupiter, and the moon looks stunning. I'm looking forward to a really clear night to see what else I can find.

Quite pleased really

[Toaster]

I think you will find these guys very knowledgeable and helpful

http://www.green-witch.com/acatalog/More_Info.html

Some good advice for a first scope http://www.green-witch.com/acatalog/Choosing_your_...

Don't forget just like cars astronomy has local area clubs all of whom will have helpful people

Such as http://www.sekas.co.uk/SEKAS/Home.html

http://www.covastro.org.uk

[scubadude]

willld said:

I already have a couple of pairs of binoculars. The larger ones are heavy and need resting on something solid to get a wobble-free view of anything.

I realise its late and perhaps not helpful but for the binoculars- grab a mirror!

Why? Binoculars are hard to hold and look "up" with, they are much easier to hold looking down! (You can lean them on stuff easier too.)
Try it sitting on a garden chair, mirror on your lap, look down with the binos = great, steady view of the sky :-)