Like
choosing neighborhoods, automobiles, or spouses, buying a first
telescope is a highly subjective undertaking. Theres no
"best" telescope for everyone. The one that's right for
you will depend on your lifestyle and your astronomy goals.
Spending a little time analyzing your motivations will help you
make an intelligent choice. Lets look at the different
types of telescopes, and in so doing, some of the considerations
that might influence your buying decision.
Power is Not the Important Thing
The first point to emphasize is that magnifying power is NOT the
most important consideration when choosing a telescope. Not even
close. It is the telescope or aperture, that determines how much
you will be able to see. Overblown claims of 450x or 575x s
light-gathering capability, power (or more!) in ads for
inexpensive telescopes are pure baloney, and a sure sign of
inferior quality. The brightest, sharpest images are obtained at
much lower powers, on the order of 25x to 50x.
Refractors :
A small, quality achromatic refractor of 45mm to 60mm aperture
makes a fine starter scope for observing the Moon and major
planets. Theyre inexpensive portable, and maintenance-free
all desirable factors if youre just "testing the
waters" of the hobby. Their small apertures arent well
suited for faint deep-sky objects, though. If nebulas and
galaxies are your main interest, a Newtonian reflector is the way
to go. Moving up to a 90mm or 100mm refractor will snare more
objects and provide better performance, for a higher price.
Renowned for crisp, sharp images, refractors are the priciest per
inch of aperture of all telescope types. Refractors are also
modified / useful for terrestrial observations yielding close-up
images at moderate magnifications.
A refractor is the scope of choice if you will be doing most of
your stargazing from city or suburbs, where the night skies are
moderately light-polluted. Or you are doing terrestrial
observations. Here, more aperture doesnt gain you much,
since viewing is restricted mostly to the Moon and planets. In
fact, a big scope would only amplify the sky glow, yielding poor
washed out images.
Reflectors
Newtonian reflectors are great all-around scopes, offering
generous apertures at affordable prices. They excel for both
planetary and deep-sky viewing. Of course, the larger the
aperture, the more youll see. Smaller, 3" and 4"
Newtonians will provide a nice "survey" of celestial
luminaries, and they plenty portable. Six-inch and 8" Newts
have enough aperture to deliver captivating images of fainter
fare-clusters, re galaxies, and nebulas-especially in a
reasonably dark sky. The tradeoff is their bulk and weight
something you should definitely take into account before you buy.
Telescope Mounts
A quick word about mounts. Telescopes come on three basic mount
types: altazimuth, Dobsonian, or equatorial. The altazimuth is
the simplest and is recommended for casual stargazing and
terrestrial observing. The Dobsonian mount is a boxy altaz-type
mount designed for easy maneuvering of large Newtonian tubes of
6" aperture or greater. Equatorial mounts are a bit more
complicated (and more expensive) than altazimuth mounts, but
allow the user to follow the motion of celestial objects with a
single manual hand control, or even automatically with a motor
drive a great convenience.
What About Astrophotography?
Before concluding, here’s a quick word for the beginner who wants to
jump right into astrophotography through their new telescope: Don’t! At least,
not until you have taken some time to learn the sky and become familiar with
operating your scope. Photography of the heavens can be a wonderfully rewarding
pastime, but is a combination of art and science with a steep learning curve
that can discourage beginners who try to take on too much at once. Of course, if
astrophotography is a primary interest there is nothing wrong with selecting a
first scope based on its easy adaptability to camera work in the future. While
most telescopes can be used for picture-taking (with varying prospects for
success), the most important qualifications for a photographic instrument are a
rock-solid equatorial mounting, and ease of attaching a camera so that it can be
focused. For a variety of technical and economic reasons, compound telescopes of
8" aperture and larger are most popular for photography. They also make
fine instruments for general observing.
The Bottom Line
OK, now that you ve gotten the crash course on telescopes,
heres some parting advice for aspiring astronomers:
Get as much aperture as you can reasonably handle, but not more.
Big aperture is desirable, sure, but you don't want to end up with
a scope that is too big or complicated to conveniently set up,
haul around-and use! For a first telescope, its recommended a
basic refractor of 60mm aperture or smaller, or a Newtonian
reflector of 6" aperture or less, unless you are really
committed. After youve learned the basics of observing and
developed an appreciation for the hobby, then you can move re
up to a bigger, fancier scope.
Buy from a company that’s knowledgeable about telescopes and astronomy, and who will support you even after your purchase (since you will likely have questions).
The advice is to select a well-made telescope, of a design matched as well as possible to your primary observing interest and most frequent observing site. Make sure it’s a size that can be handled easily (by your standards and no one else’s) and used often, and you will enjoy a lifetime of awe and wonder under the stars!
First time use |
Children | City (Poor light condit ion) | Lunar / Planetary Observ ation | Deep Sky Observ ation | Day time Nature Study / Sight seeing | General astrono mical Observ ations | Serious Astrono mical Observ ation | Easy Transpo rtation | Budget | Astro & General Photo graphy | |
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