WHAT TO BUY FOR FIRST TELESCOPE.....celestron???

[Lsanim]

Have never owned a telescope before but keen to get one for my b'day. Live in Townsville NQ any suggestions on good first telescope, have been looking at Celestron 114 or 130?

[Allan_L (Allan)]

Hi Lsanim,
Welcome to IceinSpace.

First scope?
Should be something you can afford.
Yet, quality optics.
Easy to use, set up, etc..
That will best deliver what you want.
Do you want to use it primarily from home, or will you be transporting it to Dark Sites (by car, etc.)
Do you want integrated goto?
Set your budget.
Work out what you can easily handle/manoeuvre.

Research, and test a few out at observing sessions near you (see star parties thread)

Then buy the biggest Dobsonian you can afford.

Welcome to a wonderful hobby, and a web site of good people who want to help you achieve.

[Lsanim]

Hi Allan, Integrated GOTO .... this is how new this is to me. This means that the telescope will find what I am looking for by putting in co-ordinations?? That is what I want, something very easy to use.

[Allan_L (Allan)]

What is your budget?

Goto starts around $800 for about 4 inch diameter scopes (100mm)?

[Lsanim]

Exactly that $800 Budget.

[renormalised (Carl)]

You can buy a much better scope than those Celestrons for $800. You don't necessarily need a goto scope first up to get your foot in the door. They're good and convenient, but you really need to learn about the sky and where to find objects first. To familiarise yourself with what you're looking at. I would suggest that a good scope for yourself, as a beginner, would be a 8-10" dobsonian mounted reflector. That's your basic alt-az mount that you point yourself in the direction that you want to observe. You'll be able to observe a lot more with this size scope than you will will those Celestron scopes.

Have a look at the scopes at these sites, in your price range....

Bintel

Andrews

MyAstroShop (check the goto and dobsonian links under "telescopes")

Also, I'd suggest you join the Townsville Astronomy Group. That way, you'll get to meet us all at some stage and you'll also get to see scopes you might like and have a look through them. You'll also learn a lot off the members

[Allan_L (Allan)]

4SE Maksutov-Cassegrain computerised Go-To package
4SE...$899.00 AUD
In stock!
Free freight Australia-wide
You save A$700 off RRP of A$1599!
4" Maksutov-Cassegrain telescope
StarBright XLT high transmission coatings

Great little scope, I have one (as my little grab and go).

But really, if you could stretch to $1299 they have a Skywatcher 8inch.
goto DOB ;
or DOB without goto you can get a (collapsible) Skywatcher 8 inch DOB for $599 or 10inch DOB for $899
http://www.andrewscom.com.au/site-section-10.htm

[Allan_L (Allan)]

Thanks Carl,
Good advice. (although the 4SE is a good LITTLE scope, for the features for that money).
I was hoping a local would advise local observing site for a touch and feel experience.
Lsanim, I Absolutely recommend you take advantage of this before you spend anything.

[Liz]

Hi Lin
Wonderful advice on the forum to your question, and its very tricky trying to decide what you want.
I am kind of with Carl here, that an 8" or 10" is great for a first scope. Gotos a good, but they are a bit fiddly, and you need to know some stars to do an alignment. In saying that too, you will learn those main stars very quickly , and find more in the night sky, if its working Ok.
Bigger the mirror = more seen, so an 8" which show you much more than a 4". My main starting scope was an 8" dob, and I had it for many years, it was great. i have an 10" Dob now that am happy with.
I also have a 5" GOTO which is still causing me grief - alignments, being level, facing south ......... can be frustrating. I am nearly there with it, but the Dob is easier!!
We have a viewing night at Donnington Airfield (Woodstock) next weekend 2nd July, that you should come to. We will have Dobs and gotos there,that you can look at and through. It is great to have a look at the set up of the scope and peer through the eyepieces. see what you like.
Look forwared to meeting you.

[Barrykgerdes]

There you are lasnim

Liz has the best suggestion of all. I am sure they will point you in the right direction.
A viewing night at Woodstock

Barry

[Liz]

Lin, have you got Stellarium?
A great piece of free astronomy software - after you download, pop in the you lat/long and it will show you what is in the sky at the moment.
You might see a bright star above you at home, you can then check on Stellarium (easy to use) to discover it is Saturn!!
Also, grab a copy from newsagent of Australian Sky & Telescope - if you cme to Donnignton, I will give you last months as I bought 2 for some reason!!
Do you know some of the stars and constellations?

www.stellarium.org

[Brian W (Brian)]

Nothing like jumping in at the deep mend of the pool and you may have just learnt an important lesson in this passion.

To whit; there is always something bigger and more expensive.

In my never humble opinion Liz is bang on. Go to a star party and get some first hand experience.

There is a reason they produce a multiplicity of telescope types... the reason is simply that there are a multiplicity of astronomy niches.

No one scope does everything well. As an example, my idea of fun under the stars is to try to replicate what the astronomers from the 1800's were seeing. For this niche a 4.5" reflector gives me what the casual observer might have been using, 8" gives me what serious but ill funded pros may have used and eventually a 16 to 24" will allow me to see what some well funded pros would have seen.

All 3 scopes will be reflectors and only the biggest will have tracking capability.

But the above is only me.

A good reflector in the 4.5 to 10" range on whatever mount appeals to you in your conditions will help you to find your niche.

Now if your niche happens to be astrophotography or really really faint fuzzies or magnificently constructed refractors I hope you are independently wealthy cause this can be a very expensive passion. though it does not have to be.

Brian

[Barrykgerdes]

Originally Posted by Liz

Lin, have you got Stellarium?
A great piece of free astronomy software - after you download, pop in the you lat/long and it will show you what is in the sky at the moment.
You might see a bright star above you at home, you can then check on Stellarium (easy to use) to discover it is Saturn!!
Also, grab a copy from newsagent of Australian Sky & Telescope - if you cme to Donnignton, I will give you last months as I bought 2 for some reason!!
Do you know some of the stars and constellations?

www.stellarium.org

Try this for stellarium

http://barry.sarcasmogerdes.com/stel...11.0-win32.exe

It doesn't come any later than this version!

Barry

[Rob_K]

Great advice from Carl & Liz - go to the viewing night and get a hands-on feel of the scopes available.

Also good advice from Brian. If you have dark skies, any size or type of telescope will give you brilliant views, provided it's of reasonable quality and not a cheap plastic scope from Coles! The Universe is beautiful at all scales. Not true that you see more with a big scope - a short focal length, small scope will give you views of big star clusters and rich starfields like you'll never see with a big scope, but a big scope will take you much deeper for faint galaxies etc if that is your bent (not that a small scope won't show you lots of galaxies). However if your skies are light-polluted, a small scope may prove effective for little more than planets/Moon.

The old truism is that the best scope is the one you use the most. People who maintain their keenness report no issues with handling, storing, transporting, setting-up and regularly collimating 'big' Dobsonians (8-12"), or waiting for cool-down. But they are large units and if the interest wanes just a little they can quickly become dust gatherers. Be aware that the great view you might have through someone's 12" dob sitting on the observing field does come at a cost, beyond financial!

Good luck with it!

Cheers -

[BlackWidow (Mardy)]

Go the Dob for sure as a starter scope. As many have already stated that you will still need to know stars to get a GOTO Scope setup anyway. You will see more in a Dob and knowing what stars and objects are above you is really easy now.. Most of the Oldies on the site use charts or computers LOL but young operators use Mobile Phones and Iphones. Thier are some fantastic apps and some free ones that allow you to point your Iphone at objects in the sky, and tell you what they are. In fact you can ask them to guide you to objects you want to see, then point your telescope at them. I use star walk on the iphone 4 and you can also get stellarium for the iphone. Spend all your avaliable money on the biggest DOB you can handle instead of paying for electronics..


Good luck with your choice and welcome to the site..


Regards
Mardy

[stephenb (Stephen)]

Hi Lsanim,

Some great advice here. Yes, definitely check out the local astro nights. There's always a great variety of scopes to look at (and look in).

There is no issue with going for an "all singing, all dancing" GOTO telescope. Many newcomers to the hobby purchase them and have no problems. However the trade off is GOTO features and other gadgets versus aperture (diameter of the mirror). That is why a lot of advice is aimed at getting a simple, no frills Dobsonian telescope, with no electronics, no tracking or GOTO features, but in compensation you get a BIGGER mirror! And as has been stated, without the fancy gizmos, you'll learn how to navigate around the night sky!