What is a good telescope for a newbie to looking at space?

Question

I am new to this so all I want to see right now is the moon and a few planets and maybe a few galaxsees I dont want to get a that costs over 500 dollars yet seeing how I am new to this and might be a bad idea, because I wonld not know how to use it yet.

What would be a good telescope for a beingner

Here's what is sold in my town

1.Tasco 40114675 Luminova 675x114mm Reflector Telescope

Here is a link to the telescope above

http://www.dogbytecomputer.com/xcart/catalog/product_7710_Tasco_40114675_Luminova_675x114mm_Reflector_Telescope.html

2.Bushnell 78-8831 NorthStar 525x3'' GoTo Reflector Telescope w/Real Voice Output

3.and a few Celestron types

Answer 1

The Tasco seems like a nice deal at a good price and is more than you need to see what you want to see.

Answer 2

For $500 I wouldn't buy a Tasco or a Bushnell. You can afford way better.



When buying a telescope, you typically want to look at the aperture, the mount, and maybe the focal length, though most beginners don't need to be concerned with the focal length.



Aperture is the diameter of the telescope's primary mirror or lens. The more aperture, the more light it will collect, and the more you can see. Larger aperture will also give you more resolution.



Magnification is usually misleading. That Tasco says "675x" but in reality, you can only magnify something 225x with that telescope due to the resolution constraints. On most days you will get a blurry view if you try to use the 225x magnification anyway. This means that 3x barlow, which is probably of poor quality anyway, is fairly useless.



High magnification is really only needed to view planets in great detail. For most things you will have to use low magnification, but this is the norm.



So to cut to the chase here. If you want to see the planets in great detail, and lots of nebulas and galaxies for not more than $500, or maybe a little more than $500, I recommend the 10" Zhummell dobsonian.



This is a huge, yet simple telescope that will totally blow your mind. Since it's a dobsonian, you won't be able to do astrophotography with it, but it's very easy to use.



Unlike the 4.5", in a 10" telescope on a good night you can use up to 500x magnification without exceeding the resolution limit of your telescope. With this you will easily be able to see detail on Mars and Jupiter and Saturn will look like a picture.



The telescope collects enough light to see many many deep space objects. It collects almost 5 times as much like as a 4.5" telescope.



You may have been wanting a telescope that has goto, but the cost of goto detracts from the aperture, and it really isn't needed. Here's why. In small telescopes like 4.5" telescope, you can see a fair amount of things, but you are very limited. The goto may have a 30,000 object database but most of those objects will either be stars, which look the same in telescopes, or galaxies and nebulas which are too faint for you to see in your telescope. You also have to do some initially adjustments to align the telescope for goto. You will quickly realize that you would have been better off spending the money on a larger telescope and learning the sky yourself.



You can find the 10" Zhummell at http://www.telescopes.com

If you'd like to spend less, you can find smaller dobsonians at http://www.oriontelescopes.com



If you really want to stay below $200 you can buy a 4.5" telescope, such as that Tasco, but make sure it has a sturdy mount, and do invest in a quality 2x barlow and some good eyepieces. I question the quality of the optics in the Tasco. I think I might go for a Celestron. Don't get anything smaller than 4.5"



You may want to consider buying a used telescope. You will get more for you money.



I suggest you learn more about telescopes at http://members.aol.com/siriusbc/telescopes.htm

Answer 3

Generally, it's best if you buy a telescope from a store that specializes in telescopes. If Tasco and Bushnell are what's available in your town, then I guess you don't have a real telescope store there, because both are total junk. Your best bet will be to buy from a telescope store online. The one that I've dealt with most is Orion, and the scopes they sell which I would particularly recommend are what are called Dobsonian reflectors, which means that they are reflector scopes (using a mirror to form the image) on a Dobsonian mount, which is a solid and easy-to-use mount, unlike the shaky mounts you'll find on Tasco and Bushnell scopes:

http://www.telescope.com/jump.jsp?itemID=9&itemType=CATEGORY&iMainCat=4&iSubCat=9



You should also ask yourself the question, "Will I be able to find anything with my new telescope?" Most people can find the Moon, and if they point at bright objects at random, a planet or two. But even the smallest telescope is capable of showing you hundreds of objects: double stars, star clusters, nebulae, and galaxies, if you know where to look. I've put some good books below which will help.