First Telescope?
http://www.dearastronomer.com/
Jeremy writes:
I have recently grown an interest in astronomy and am interested in purchasing my first telescope.
What do you recommend brand wise? I am willing to spend a few hundred dollars.
Excellent question Jeremy!
As I’ve mentioned in the F.A.Q and in a recent article, My opinion is the best telescope is the one you’ll use often.
Celestron FirstScope 76MM Table-Top Reflector
Personally, I am a huge fan of the Celestron Firstscope Reflector. You can read a mini-review of the Firstscope in the article link above.
Orion SkyScanner 100mm Table-Top Reflector
If you want to move up slightly, for $99 Orion Telescopes offers the SkyScanner 100mm TableTop Reflector
The SkyScanner comes equipped with a finder and can be attached to a standard photo tripod. The SkyScanner is a 100mm telescope, and is almost 25% larger than the Celestron’s 76mm aperture. Given the additional features over the Celestron, it’s easy to justify the additional cost.
With either of these scopes, you’ll get great views of Solar System objects like The Moon, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, and some of the brighter nebulae like The Orion Nebula and the Pleadies.
Both telescopes mentioned above take standard 1.25″ eyepieces, so you can start building up your eyepiece collection and be able to use said eyepieces when you move up to a “bigger” scope.
Many amateur astronomers will say to not buy a telescope but to instead purchase a set of binoculars. While a pair of binoculars will give you good views of many objects, if it turns out you don’t enjoy Astronomy, you may still be stuck with equipment you no longer want.
Orion Beginning Stargazer’s Toolkit
Given your budget, my recommendation would be to subscribe to either Sky & Telescope
You can also consider a “starter kit” which includes a planisphere, a Red flashlight and a couple books to help you get started. If you have cash left over, consider a membership to your local Astronomy club.
After you get the hang of things, you can consider investing in additional eyepieces and some filters (Light Pollution and “Lunar” filters are a must have, in my opinion)
You can download Astronomy software for your PC, such as Stellarium or Celestia (both are free!), which will help you familiarize yourself with the night sky.
Ray Sanders is a Sci-Fi geek, astronomer and blogger. Currently researching variable stars at Arizona State University, he writes for Universe Today, The Planetary Society blog, and his own blog, Dear Astronomer
2012-12-04 08:05:37
Source: http://www.dearastronomer.com/2011/01/21/first-telescope/
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