Question For the Star Gazers Here

[Mickey Richaud]

The Betelgeuse thread resurrected some thoughts I've had over the years of getting a telescope, but have no experience whatsoever. When not overcast here, the night sky is not too bad; ambient light is fairly low. Plus, we have re-entered the RV world and plan to do more travel. Campgrounds and their locations can offer some pretty good opportunities for viewing.

So, any recommendations for a scope that would perform well enough to check out planets, constellations, etc.? Don't want to spend a ton of money, but also don't want to buy one and find it lacking. (Probably kidding myself here - there's always something better once one makes a purchase such as this!)

 

[DrEntropy]

Questar, Bro. Reflector 'scope.

 

[Mickey Richaud]

Thanks - will check it out.

 

[sparkydave]

Years ago my parents got me a skinny Tasco refractor that boasted a 450X magnification and had pretty pictures of Jupiter and Saturn on the box. We didn't know that a) the diameter of the telescope was important for light-collecting ability and hence, the limit of the upper limit of usable magnification, and b) if you think that looking at Jupiter and Saturn with this scope will look anything like those pictures on the box, you'll be sorely disappointed. I learned quickly that the 450X magnification was practically useless; even looking at a bright full moon it's very dim. Forget about looking at Jupiter. However, even at modest magnifications of 30-50x you can still see Jupiter's moons, Saturn's rings, Mars, Venus, lots of craters on the moon, and I did get an excellent view of comet Hale-Bopp when it came around. It also has a screen to project the sun's image so you can see sunspots and transits. The neighbors thought it was pretty cool when I set it up for the last transit of Venus across the sun.

The larger the diameter, the more you can magnify and still see something. Newer scopes have those fancy motorized mounts that automatically track what you're looking at, and even have computers that will point the scope at things you want to see. The one redeeming quality my Tasco has is it has an equatorial (4-axis) mount that can be aligned so you can keep following what you are trying to see as the Earth rotates just by turning one knob.

 

[DrEntropy]

I remember those Tasco refractors, brother had one. Good for moon gazing.

 

[Boink]

Depends on what you want to look at (a bit). I used to have an Odyssey 10" reflector it was fantastic for "deep sky" stuff (galaxies and nebula), but those are bulky beasts. A smaller refractor (not reflector) can work well across the board (and I still have a 3.5" one).
I like the Celestron line... though expensive (~$1000 and up), they use Schmidt-Cassegrain reflector technology, and that makes them rather compact and portable. One thing to consider with most scopes is to get one that has a good equatorial mounting (for tracking and photography).

 

[Mickey Richaud]

Thanks, guys. Truly in over my head here and definitely have a steep learning curve ahead of me.

 

[PC]

Questar, Bro. Reflector 'scope.

Always wanted one. Didn't really want to take out another mortgage on the house.

As much as I would love one, if I were looking to buy a scope I would likely consider Meade Instruments or Celestron first. Both are much easier on the wallet and both are headquartered in my back yard. I say headquartered because both are now subsidiaries of off-shore parent companies.


A friend of mine in Europe bought a Meade Instruments scope. I don't think the place he got it was an authorized dealer because it was missing some hardware and they couldn't figure out how to deal with it. They were just simple bolts, but not metric so his local hardware store couldn't help either. He knew Meade is in the US (but didn't know just how close I am) and he asked me to look into it.

I gave them a call and had a nice chat with one of their engineers. Turns out there were multiple versions of the unit he had and we couldn't tell from a distance what bolts he needed. Meade was willing to fix it for free, but they would have to have it in their hands. Shipping half the scope mount back and forth from Switzerland just to get a couple of bolts didn't seem like a good idea. I had my friend measure it as best he could (without thread gauges, he's not real mechanical) and I was able to estimate the bolt was 3/8-16. Mailed off a couple of bolts and he was up and running.

 

[Bayless]

At university we had a 12 inch reflector with a 10 foot focal length. It was so bright you could not look at a full moon. I'm not suggesting one like that though as it was a real monster. A cassegrain is pretty sensible though as it does make for a compact unit. If you want it for celectial use though you really want an equatorial mount and motorized if you are interested in photography.

 

[glemon]

There are all sorts of options.
I had a 60mm (mm or inches describing the scope goes to diameter of the main lens, refractor, or mirror, reflector).

This is about the bottom end for astronomical scopes, you can see moon craters, Jupiter's four biggest moons, and Saturn's rings but not all that well. You can buy this kind of scope new and used, here there and everywhere all day long for under $100. Small step up is an 80-90mm refractor or 4.5" reflector, will do all the things the 60mm scope will do and more. $200-300 with an equatorial mount that manually tracks objects as the earth rotates (more important the higher the power you use).

Next step up is a "go to" or computerized scope that will find and track objects for you. I think half the fun is the hunt and find, and I think once the novelty of it wore off I would be bored with a scope like this (if you like old British cars you may understand).

I now have a 90mm refractor, it is not as big a leap over the 60mm as I thought, though certainly much better. It is bulky, and even with the tripod collapsed hard to get around without banging into doors a little bit. If I had to do it over would have spent a little more for a compact reflector of similar capabilities, just because I don't really like pulling the big scope through the house and out the door. You can go on up in size and money from there, but I would try on the lower end before big investment in a big scope.

Samples of types NOT Recommendations

60mm refractor https://www.amazon.com/Celestron-21...ctor&qid=1597902127&sprefix=60+mm+ref&sr=8-10

90 mm refractor https://www.amazon.com/Orion-9024-A...elescope&qid=1597902290&sprefix=90+mm&sr=8-12


"Go To" reflector scope: https://www.amazon.com/Celestron-Ne...words=r+go+to+telescope&qid=1597902558&sr=8-8

Hope that helps, I would kind of like to get a set of big binocs for casual stargazing, another option. https://www.amazon.com/Celestron-71...ulars&qid=1597902853&sprefix=70+mm+bin&sr=8-3

 

[Mickey Richaud]

SHEESH! I said I was in over my head - water's pretty deep here!

As with most interests, one has to master the vocabulary first. Since I don't know a Cassegrain from a Nutri-grain, a Newtonian from a Fig Newton, I have my work cut out for me. Have to get in touch with my inner geek...

 

[Boink]

Good reminder point on binoculars. They are much more useful than many realize. 10X50 and up are terrific for a lot of star-gazing (and really best for a comet).

 

[Mickey Richaud]

Good reminder point on binoculars. They are much more useful than many realize. 10X50 and up are terrific for a lot of star-gazing (and really best for a comet).

I've never been able to hold them steadily enough for decent viewing of anything.

 

[Boink]

I've never been able to hold them steadily enough for decent viewing of anything.

Some had tripod mounts on them.

 

[DrEntropy]

Years ago I had a neighbor who was an astronomy nut. Had a Questar 'scope, fitted with a (then mechanical) tracking motor and a Nikon camera mount adapter. We had to infuse nitrogen into Ektachrome (ups the emulsion sensitivity) so he could get decent photos. I have a shot he made of the Horsehead Nebula that is stunning. The guy was a chemical engineer for Calgon, they shut down the facility he worked at and he had time on his hands to go out to the stix for good "seeing," so packed his rig in his MGB and headed for the Allegheny hills regularly. Astral photography has become much less arduous now with digital imaging, no darkroom necessary.