Buying a Telescope?

[JohnnyFlake]

Originally Posted by Footbag

I read that you can also use the telescope to take pictures, but that would require an expensive camera that I don't have.

BTW, you really don't need a crazy expensive camera to take pictures with a telescope. Well, let me clarify that, If you want to use a digital type camera, it can be fairly expensive, as you must buy a SLR Style Camera and right now, in digital, that can be very expensive. The best, low cost way of doing so is by picking up a SLR 35mm camera. You can usually find them for very cheap money at garage sales. Depending on the lens mount style of the camera you end up with, you'll be able to buy and adapter mount to mount it on the telescope. You can get some truly wild and amazing pictures with that type of set up!

[GoatLocker]

Astronomy is one of my hobbies that don't seem to be spending much time on lately. I have three scopes: an 80mm APO refractor, a 6" Maksutov-Newtonian and an 8" truss-dob, as well as a small room full of supporting accessories. What kind of scope you get should be guided by what you want to see and how you want to observe.

If you want to observe deep sky objects, like galaxies, nebulae and globular clusters, you need dark sky and plenty of aperture. I think an 8' f/6 Dob reflector is a great way to start and offers a lot of bang for the buck. They also provide great planetary views.

Refractors are nice too, but by the time you add a mount you'll be paying three time as much for half the aperture. Regardless of what type of scope you get, aperture rules (the bigger the better). But if a scope/mount is too large, it might not get used. The best thing to do is find a local club and stop by when they are having a "star party", so you can see and look through a wide variety of scopes. If you join, they might even have loaner scopes.

If you have any questions, feel free to PM me.

[skullnrose]

Not much I can add to what has already been said. I researched telescopes for quite sometime but still haven't bought one. On a side note their is a cool freeware program called stellarium that might be something your interest in.

[smokin machinist]

That is a nice looking set up, thanks for the pics!

Originally Posted by skullnrose

Not much I can add to what has already been said. I researched telescopes for quite sometime but still haven't bought one. On a side note their is a cool freeware program called stellarium that might be something your interest in.

And thanks for the info about stellarium, it's cool.

[MarkinAZ]

Originally Posted by GoatLocker

The best thing to do is find a local club and stop by when they are having a "star party", so you can see and look through a wide variety of scopes. If you join, they might even have loaner scopes.

My thoughts exactly