I am a total newbie when it comes to astronomy and the like and have only looked through a handful of telescopes throughout my life. I have always been very interested in the heavens and have decided to look at purchasing my first telescope.
This question has probably been asked many times before by other people new to the game but what is a good telescope to look for with a budget of around $1000.
I walked into a local retailer the other day and came away even more confused with my options. I had no idea there were so many different scopes. What should I look for? I dont even know what questions I should be asking LOL. Would something with a go-to (think thats what you call it) database be in the budget seeing it would make things easier to find.
Are there any clubs or groups on or around the Gold Coast that I can contact to get some hands on?
Any other info that would help me along would be appreciated.
First thing Bazooka - edit the above post to read astronomy!!
Secondly, the astronomy society that covers southern Brisbane and the Gold Coast is the Southern Astronomical Society(SAS). Their website is www.sas.org.au Many of the members live on the coast, so if you hook up with them you should be able get some direct help from them.
Otherwise, welcome the forum, ask as many questions as you like - people here are only too happy to help. We have all been noobes at some stage and the equipment can be daunting.
The advice you will probably hear (and its good advice) - take your time in deciding, get out and try before you buy (if possible), and decide on what you want to do (photography vs visual observation) primarily at the start as this will determine what features you require in your equipment. You seem keen to research and get advice so you are off to a good start
If visual astronomy is your desire, then you can't go past a newtonian scope on a dob base - this will give you the most aperture (light gathering / seeing fainter objects / more resolution) for your money.
I am sure some of the more equipment minded members will give you more details.
A telescope won't help you with astrology. You'd be better off spending that grand on a top quality crystal ball, some tarot cards and a ouija board
Seriously though, $1000 will get you an awesome 12" Dob, or a very small goto scope, or a 8-10" Dob with push-to. You'd need to buy the scope and the push-to computer separate and put them together yourself. Others on the forums have done that w/o much difficulty and I'm sure they'd be happy to help you with more specific advice.
Ummmm 1000 should get you a 10" DOB with a few standard eyepieces. If your looking for something with a GOTO then your going to need quite a bit more $$$$$$ a PUSHTO for a dob (no gears, push till it beeps) is around the $1000 mark.
Youll be told .... depends on what you want to look at, Planets or DSO's (deep space objects, like nebulas,galaxys ad stuff)........dont worry about it..... if you have a selection of eyepieces with your scope you should get.....something like...... 9mm,15mm,25mm,30mm. These allowed me to get good usage out of my scope and i have seensome magical sights......
Thats my opinion and im sure they will be shot down somewhere, but i am only a relative-newby to the "sport" too.
hi bazooka!
dont worry bout these clown!
I know what you mean
firstly, welcome aboard.
seconly how did you hear about the forum?
and finally... yes a dob is easy to use and you will get a bigger one for your money. you will have to learn your way around the night sky tho.
If you go the other way and get a goto scope you will end up with a much smaller scope and will see less.
by size I am refering to the aperture. the bigger the aperture the more light gathering the scope will do. you will see fainter objects and more detail with a larger scope.
I hope this helps.
most here will sugest either bintel or andrews communications for your purchases. both are good retailers.
Don't worry you'll get plenty of information here You might even end up more confused. Fortunately the beauty of this place is that you can keep coming back and asking as many questions as you like until you you feel comfortable and unconfused. That way going back to that shop you'll have a good idea of what you're needing. BTW what was the shop that you visited?
You'll find basically two groups of people offering suggestions here, Dobbers and Non-dobbers. You'll find those with Dobs to be the best bunch of friendly visual observers to be found anywhere. Unfortunately they tend to be a bit biased Probably rightly so but biased anyway. Then there are us Non-dobbers or more correctly known as GO TOers and trackers (which strangely enough contains some Dobbers as well (I think they all secretly want tracking shhh) who are never biased, just modest and just as friendly. BTW Dob stand for Dobsonian, like frogmans photo above.
For $1000 the Dobbies have got you pinned. A good aperture scope, 8" to 10", with some decent eyepieces will certainly see you on your way to exploring the wonders of the night skies. If you want GO TO then a small (about 4") good quality GO TO will cost you around $900 and then rapidly increase in price. You can get cheaper ones but the quality will disappoint you more often than not. Unfortunately $900 doesn't leave you much to get eyepieces with.
Think about what you would like to do. Whether you want to be able to find objects in the sky by tracking them down off a star chart, or whether you want to just press a couple of buttons to find that object. Both ways can help you learn the night sky. Dobsonians and other non goto scopes basically make you learn your way around and you tend to pick up a lot of additional astronomical info in learning that way. Goto I've found tends to let you just soak up names and numbers and if you find you're really interested, then you will go looking for that other info anyway. But if you're not interested you can still enjoy scooting around the sky looking at "stuff". Have a think about what you would like to do, contact SAS and see when they are having a viewing night. Have a look at, and try some different scopes.
You'll find it said somewhere on this site that the best scope for you is the one you use. If you get one you don't enjoy using then you've really missed out on a great hobby.
First up, WELCOME Bazooka. It has all been posted, so I will not repeat it except for, BEFORE YOU BUY, contact the SAS,as Paul & Andrew have said, & look thru some/all of their t'scopes, check out all that is avail., then think what you want to do in "Astrology". Save for a while & then decide.
If I may add, do not skimp on Eyepieces. You'll pay a "few" more dollars for the higher quality ones, but the views you will get will be tons better than thru a cheaper E/Pc.
Whatever T'scope you decide on, you have chosen a fascinating hobby. It will keep you in awe for years.
HTH. L.
LOL i didnt even realise I had typed astrology. D'oh. Well I am only new HAHA.
Thanks heaps for all the great info guys. I will get in contact with SAS and see what they have to offer.
Seems most of you recommend the Dobsonian. I did not see any in the shop I visited (Star Optics). I was shown Sky Watcher and Meade scopes. How do these stack up? The Sky Watcher scopes looked similar to the one Frogman posted and around the same price.
From what I understand I could purchase something like this and then maybe buy a motorised goto mount later if I wanted? How much would a compatible mount be?
Is there much more to a scope if I required photography? Sounds like a great option but unsure how different a scope would be to just visual observation?
What about other accessories like eyepieces and other things that I am sure exist but I dont know of them or dont know what you call them? What sort of other things should I be looking for to compliment my scope?
Yes you can transform your dob into something you can use for astrophotography but I suggest you wait a while and the cost factor goes up quickly......
I recommend you get a 8" Dob then consider a EQ mount to put your Dob(Newt) on later down the track.....once you have learnt the sky.
Just remember if your thinking to go larger then a 8" dob you would need a EQ6 mount....which will costs around $1400
8" dob you could get away with a EQ5 costing $499.
Their is other cost and factors related to astrophotgraphy but these are question you can ask at a later date...
Seems most of you recommend the Dobsonian. I did not see any in the shop I visited (Star Optics). I was shown Sky Watcher and Meade scopes. How do these stack up? The Sky Watcher scopes looked similar to the one Frogman posted and around the same price.
The skywatcher dobs are more expensive and optically inferior to the Guan Sheng dobs as sold by Bintel, Andrews and a few others.
The reason Dobsonians are recommended are that they simple and intuitive to use, have a stable solid mount and provide the best bang for the buck. Aperture does count.
Good solid EQ mounts are very expensive! Any scope in your price range on an eq mount will be shaky at high magnifications and just be a source of frustration. Photography ? forget it!
Why pay for a wobbly eq mount on an aluminium tripod when with a dob the money goes into the important part - the optics
This is your first scope so I would recommend forgetting about astrophotography for the time being and get some visual observing experience under your belt first.
I'll leave the Skywatcher/GS comparison to those that use them. If you have a stroll through the site you'll see which are prefered
There are a number of Meade owners here and the majority of us love them. The Meade LX series (55, 75, 90, 200) are all great scopes though they are "slower" than newtonians at f/10 while the Newts run at from about f/4 up to about f/6 (being probably the most common). For the same size aperture and object will appear brighter in an f/4 than an f/10, but it won't have as much contrast. Most Deep Sky Objects are view more clearly at the faster rates where as planetary and lunar viewing likes a bit of contrast, from f/10 - 12 and much slower, even down to f/30 & 40.
The meades run at between f/10 and (I think) f/12 or 13 (ETXs)So they are a good all round scope. I can pull galaxies no problem with my 8" (certainly not as clearly as an f/4 8" newt) and it excells on planets. The cheapest meade with goto is a Maksukov-Cassegrain ( The other type is the SCT or Schmidt Cassegrain telescope) and is the ETX90 for around $900. An excellent little scope but don't expect stunning views of galaxies though it does a pretty fair job on the brighter DSOs. Your next level are the LX 55s (if they are still available) and the LX75, both mounted on equatorial mounts. Then the LX90 and LX200 both fork mounted. These all have goto and tracking capabilities.
If you want to look at astrophotography then you can do basic planetary photography with a webcam and a tracking mount, some here are brave enough to try it with non tracking mounts and get reasonable results, but they hair is starting to get a bit patchy now. You can do afocal photography with just about any telescope by holding the camera up to the eyepiece and taking an image. But that's pretty muck confined to the moon, jupiter, saturn and venus. If youwant to get serious then start thinking about a second mortgage on your house. Well maybe not that expensive if you want just basic gear but easily that much if you want to get really serious. Minimum looking at starting around $5000 - $8000 for a setup that you will be able to get good shots but certainly not like the hubble. though amateur astronomers love to push the envelope and they're images are improving out of site over the last few years using pretty basic equipment. Good quality though, you can't get away from that.
Before you go looking for eyepieces, decide what you want to do. Theat will determine what telescope to get. Then work out eyepieces. Different eyepieces work differently/better in different f/ratio and aperture scopes.
Being a meade owner I can't help you much with the newt stuff but I hope its clarified a couple of things
Clear Skies
Last edited by [1ponders]; 09-04-2005 at 11:09 AM.
Originally posted by [1ponders]
For the same size aperture and object will appear brighter in an f/4 than an f/10, but it won't have as much contrast. Most Deep Sky Objects are view more clearly at the faster rates where as planetary and lunar viewing likes a bit of contrast, from f/10 - 12 and much slower, even down to f/30 & 40.
I dont beleive f-ratio has anything to do with visual brightness or contrast for that matter. Visual brightness is governed by aperture, magnification and light loss from optical components.
Contrast is governed by many factors such as smoothness of optical surfaces, quality of lens coating, shielding of extraneous light sources etc.
Ok lets forget the photography for now. That can wait a while
Looks like a nice Dob unit seems to be the go. What Dob scope is the pick of the bunch? Starkler writes that the Sky Watcher is inferior to others. How many other brands are out there and which one is better? Is there much difference between them?
from your earlier reply you seem to indicate that we haven't been as clear as we could have been. A Dobsonian is not a brand name, it is a design, and refers to the simple alt-az mount as shown in Frogman's picture. What you saw in Star Optics that resembled Frogman's scope is infact a "Skywatcher" Dobsonian. It is important to diferentiate between the designs (both optics and mounts) and the brands (Meade, Skywatcher, Celestron, GS). In terms of mounts there are dobsonian, equatorial(GEM), and fork types generally available in amateur equipment. All these mounts can be motorised to track and have goto, though some are harder than others. Optical designs commonly available include refractors (glass lense at the front that refract the light) and reflectors which include newtonian (Newt), Schmidt Cassegrain (SCT), and Maksutov-Cassegrains. All these designs differ and have advantages and dissadvantages over each other.
Do some research on the web and perhaps purchase one of the current astronomy magazines from your local newsagents. They contain photos in adverts and this will help you recognise what people are talking about.
Last edited by astro_south; 09-04-2005 at 11:38 AM.
The only dobs I have seen under $1000 are the Sky watchers, Saxons and Guan Sheng. There might be a Bushnell model but I personally wouldnt touch anything from that brand.
The Guan Sheng is the pick of the bunch and it also happens to be the cheapest size for size
You are right there Geoff. I should have been more specific.
Bazooka, when you are looking through two telescopes with the same aperture diameter, one is f/5 and the other is f/10 (ie the focal length of the f/5 is half as long as the f/10 )and you use the same eyepiece in each one, the f/5 will appear brighter and have a wider field of view because its magnification will half that of the f/10. If you use an eyepiece that is of the same contruction type in the f/5 that brings it up to the same magnification as the f/10 then the images will be pretty much the same through the central part of the feild of view.
Yes I did get confused in thinking the Dob was a brand as noone said otherwise. After doing some searching I found out the truth. These f/* numbers where confusing also and I had no idea what they meant but I did find some easy to read articles that explained that too.
After searching some more and taking your recommendations I am looking at either a Guan Sheng or Bintel. Anyone care to do a comparison on these 2 or maybe throw another in the mix? What do you think? Also are there any local suppliers of these in S/E Qld or do I have to order from Sydney?
I will continue to look around in the meantime.
Oh, one thing I noticed is that Andrews Communications lists 2 types of 10" and 12" Guan Sheng scopes. Whats the difference?
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BazooKa. 
L.
