Advice on which telescope to buy

[malcolm717]

Hi I am sure there will be some expert out there who can properly advise me. I have just moved into a house with amazing views across country. Binocs are not powerful enough so I am wanting a powerful long reaching telescope. I have considered getting one of those for night sky gazing but wonder if such a one would be right or just not right for looking at land based subjects in the stance. Any advice would be great. Thanks

[Obelix]

For land use vs astronomical use you are talking about two very different types of instrument I'm afraid.

 

Very roughly - land use you will want a high(ish) magnification but you are not too worried about light gathering power as the objects are illimunated by the Sun and are therefore already fairly bright. This means you tend to get a refracting telescope with a small lens, something like a 2 or 3 inch is usually fine for looking at distant objects in the countryside.

 

For astronomical use you will want something with only modest magnification, perhaps only as much as x20 to x60 but you do want a lot of light gathering power, so you tend to buy a large reflector with a mirror on the order of 10-14" across. This however whilst very good for deep sky work is no good for anything else.

 

If you want to look at the planets and the Moon then they are a sun lit object - get yourself a refractor as noted above.

 

http://www.telescopehouse.com/ - give them a ring and ask for advice.

[malcolm717]

Thanks Obelix, I am not really bothered at the moment at looking at the stars, though there is no light pollution to the back of out place at night and the stars are always putting on a good show, I am just wanting to look at distance objects say up to about 20 miles. < Have you any views on that please

[Obelix]

As above - land use you will want a high(ish) magnification but you are not too worried about light gathering power as the objects are illimunated by the Sun and are therefore already fairly bright. This means you tend to get a refracting telescope with a small lens, something like a 2 or 3 inch is usually fine for looking at distant objects in the countryside.

 

It all depends on how much magnification you want - a decent set of good quality binoculars can be more like what you actually want.

 

IF you do want a decent high magnification scope, I'd suggest something like a Bresser 70mm or 90mm refractor. The mount is tricky as most mounts are going to be GC equitorials which is astronomy mount - you ideally want an altazimuth system. You could do worse than something like this.

http://www.telescopehouse.com/acatalog/Bresser_Refractor_Taurus_90_900_NG.html

[malcolm717]

Thanks Obelix I much appreciate it.

malc

[kidley]

The well loved Patrick Moore allways said, do not wast your money buying a telescope to look at the night sky, buy a good pair of binoculars.

[scimsfan]

I think that was his recommendation for beginners.

Buy a decent ( £40+ not zoom ) 10x magnification 50mm pair of binoculars and learn the constellations.

If they're willing to do that and are still interested, they're ready for a decent telescope for use away from the cities.

It's a moot point anyway as the OP has already indicated it's for daytime use so a decent refractor will fit the bill.

[tinfoilhat]

Get yer sen down to Rother valley optics in kiveton. He does a decent cross section of stuff and gives decent advice (not that the advice on this thread hasn't be good)

[Skink]

Spotting scopes etc will show the image the right way up and may be a good place to start

 

Astro scopes mostly show an inverted image and arent really deigned for terrestrial use - but if you live with dark skies you really should look up, there is some stunning stuff above our heads. Get some freeware like Stellarium or Cartes Du Ciel, whatever telescope / binos you buy will show you some great stuff

 

Some people much prefer using both eyes, so one other option is Astro binoculars. Celestron and a few others do some good kit for £60 or £70 (plus a cheap tripod/mount) - just be aware the cheap ones are a little fragile and wont take knocks - but for home use maybe ideal.