Your First Telescope

As wonderful as the night sky appears to the naked eye, there is much more to see with the aid of a telescope.  If you are like most amateur astronomers, you spend a lot of time thinking about telescopes.

For most people, the challenge is to get the best telescope for the available money.

Rather than tell you how to pick out a telescope, I have included links to some very informative articles.  I will just add a few thoughts to consider:

1. If you can get to a star party, the telescope owners will be glad to show how their instruments work.  They will help you to learn the advantages and disadvantages of the various choices.
2. Your local public library may be lending telescopes.  This is a new idea which is working well for many libraries.  These telescopes are usually in the very-low price category, but they will help you to learn how to use a telescope.
3. Binoculars are very useful because of their ease of use and their wide fields of view.  Even low-priced binoculars can give you a good view of the Moon, the planets and star clusters.
4. Stay away from sellers who emphasize the magnification which their telescopes provide.  Depending on the eyepiece selection, any telescope can produce 300, 400, or 500 power.  This level of magnification is useless for many reasons.  Even the finest telescopes are used at 50 to 100 power.  For special close-ups, 200 power may be used occasionally.
5. Some manufacturers of low priced telescopes of good quality: Celestron, Meade, Orion, Sky Watcher.
6. If you want to do astroimaging, consider doing it with your second telescope.  Scopes suitable for imaging are much more expensive than ones for visual use.  In addition, astroimaging requires many skills and much patience. For your first telescope, choose one that is easy to set up, and enjoy visual astronomy for a while. Later, you will be able to make a better choice for your imaging scope.

Think about size, weight and ease of setup when making your selection. When the Sun goes down, your energy level may be declining. If the telescope is hard to set up, you may be tempted to stay indoors!   If you want to carry it in your car, will it actually fit?

Enjoy your search for a telescope, and keep looking up!

John

http://www.skyandtelescope.com/astronomy-news/types-of-telescopes/

http://www.skyandtelescope.com/astronomy-equipment/telescope-buying-guide/

http://www.space.com/15693-telescopes-beginners-telescope-reviews-buying-guide.html

http://www.astronomy.com/-/media/Files/PDF/Buying%20Your%20First%20Telescope.pdf