What would be a good beginner telescope to get?

How is this one?





http://cgi.ebay.com/Meade-114-EQ-DH-4-5-鈥?/a>What would be a good beginner telescope to get?
Assuming you are a first time buyer and have little experience, here are a couple of pointers.


Do Not buy a Telescope on places like ebay etc. It is not that you can't find true bargains here, but you don't have the experience to tell the difference between the good stuff and all the junk out there.


(In this case, the fellow who wrote the description has no idea what he's talking about. A Reflector telescope is not recommended for Terrestrial viewing because everything is upside down. This makes no difference in space, because there is no right side up in space)


Never buy a telescope advertised by its magnifying power. EX.: 675X 60mm.


This is pure hype and meaningless.


Do buy your first Telescope from a reputable source such as Orion, Celestron and Meade.


( often referred to as the big three) I personally prefer Orion because of their excellent customer service.


Again, assuming you're new at this, stay with Refractors of 80mm and above and Reflectors 114mm (4.5';) and above. My favourite starter scope would be a 6'; Newtonian Reflector on a dobsonian mount. This is a simple to operate Telescope of a size large enough to keep you interested for quite a while. If you want to upgrade later on, you can take the optical tube Assembly and mount it on an Equatorial mount to allow tracking and even some photography.


Telescopes get big very quickly with increasing aperture diameter. An 8'; or 10'; can be a real handful to transport and set up. The best telescope in the world ( which doesn't exist by the way) is no good if it ends up sitting in the closet. So, keep it simple and managable to begin with, you can always upgrade later and grow with the Hobby.





AdolphWhat would be a good beginner telescope to get?
No. This is what is known as a ';Christmas junk scope,'; meaning that it usually ends up in a closet by New Year's Day! Poor optics on a wobbly mount.





I'll second the answerer who recommends a 6'; Dobsonian reflector, such as this one:


http://www.telescope.com/shopping/produc鈥?/a>





This will keep you satisfied for years and will give you crisp contrasty views of the planets and fine views of deep sky objects, while being user friendly and easy to use and transport.
I would recommend an Orion 4.5 inch over the Meade. The Orion is a bit bigger, definitely less expensive, and of nearly as good quality. For a beginner it is ideal. OrionTelescopes.com
Under $110 not bad. Over iffy, over $150 keep looking.
Not really. It's not that you wouldn't see anything with it, but you may be a bit disappointed and you'll quickly decide you want a bigger one.





For those who don't want to do astrophotography, I recommend a dobsonian, because you can buy an 8'; one for just over $300 from Orion, and a 10'; one for just about $500 from Zhummell, and trust me, you will see ALOT with a 10';/





The 8'; will collect about 3 times more light than the 4.5'; telescope and the 10'; telescope will collect 5 times more light than the 4.5'; telescope.





If you do want to do astrophotography you need something on a sturdy german equatorial mount or computerized fork mount and this makes the telescope more expensive. The Celestron AstroMaster 130 EQ might be a good choice for the price but you will have to outfit it with a motor drive and I can't vouch for it because it's new. A used 8'; Schmidt Cassegrain would be an excellent choice for under $1000. Sometimes you can even get them as low as $500. Meade and Celestron makes good ones.
I prefer the Meade and sounds good for the price. Is a good beginners telescope.


I have 2 Meade's telescopes and I believe they are the best ones available for the general public.
Honestly, I would pass on this one and get a good 6-inch Dobsonian. Those are simply Newtonian reflectors mounted on alt-azimuth mountings. You get a steady mount, you get a larger finderscope, and you get a lot more light grasp and resolution. For your dollar, no other telescope has more bang for the buck when it comes to light grasp and resolution, both or which are paramount in astronomy.It's the driving force behind building ever larger telescopes, both ground and space based. A six-inch has enough of both in fact for to keep you happy for many years. What counts the most when it comes to telescopes are aperture, optical quality and steadiness of the mounting, not magnification. You change it when you change eyepieces. A good 6-inch Dob has enough light grasp for all of the Messier objects and hundreds more star clusters, nebulae and galaxies, and enough resolution to show you features on the planets and incredible views of the Moon. They come with at least a 30mm finderscope, which you should eventually replace with a 50mm optical finder or a Telrad, which projects a red bullseye on the sky like a gunsight on a fighter plane's heads up display. They make finding things easy. Best of all, you can get one for 300 U.S. dollars, with a couple of eyepieces and a few other accessories too. They weigh less than 30 pounds assembled and fit into almost any car for trips to dark sites. I started with a 6-inch F/8 Newtonian reflecting telescope more than 30 years ago and I still have it. You'll get off to a good start with one, and even if you buy a much more powerful telescope later it will still be a good scope to have.