Quote:
Originally Posted by AppleGecko
Hey all,
Im new to astrononmy, but i know the basics. I would like to buy a telelscope soon, but am not sure which type or where to get one, preferebly under $400.00 AUD. I am looking on andrewscom.com at the moment at a Guan Sheng GS-580 6" Limited 150mm x 1200mm Dobsonian ($299.00 AUD)
Help would be greatly appreciated
Thankyou in advance,
Brent (AppleGecko)
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Hi Brent,
You will know that the contest is between a reflector and a refractor. You get more aperture (and you see fainter objects) for your money in a dob reflector, but this will require you to become more intimate with your scope and learn to collimate (align) the thing. You must do this for good seeing or your money is wasted.
Generally these scopes are bulkier and it can become a problem if you want to transport them to someplace with darker skies.
There is a huge range of quality and cost in refractors, and some can be collimated, others not. The scopes which have no such adjustment may be quite OK even so, if you spend a few dollars more.
If you buy one of these refractor scopes it will probably be easy to transport but not quite as acute. For dark skies this will possibly not be a bother, but in light polluted locations it will be a different story.
The next thing is to mention that the scope is truly only
half the story. You can buy a $900 eyepiece that will make a stunning improvement to the view in a $500 telescope. I have seen this, and it was a revelation. You would not be advised to do this as a regular practice tho (wrong priority).
You can also fit a $50 eyepiece to a $900 telescope and lose half the viewing quality you might have had for the money.
So we are getting to the basic questions....
are you in an urban area?
do you anticipate visiting dark sky sites with your scope or not?
do you wish to set the scope up and just get on with it, or are you amenable to some adjusting and aligning first?
I would say:
- if you are not in an urban location, and you really do not want to fiddle around with the scope before viewing, buy something like this
http://www.tasco.com.au/Products/tab...8/Default.aspx
However if either of the answers above is no, get something like the scope you mentioned above, excellent value, but remember the eyepieces in your budget.
Cheers