which would be the best telescope for ~200 dollars?

Question

i'm new to amateur astronomy but love watching the planets, moon etc.
I have had some experience with my dad's surveyor's level (a civil engineering instrument which consists of a small telescope). I was able to see the moon better and saturn's rings (the image was very small, but crisp and one could tell by the small image that it was saturn) through it.

Now, I want a better telescope for around 200 dollars. which one would be the best choice? It should be powerful enough to show me all the planets well, although I won't refuse to see a bit more than that.

And please give me links where I can view some examples of images that it would show.

Answer 1

" I want a better telescope for around 200 dollars"

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Sure, and I would like a brand new car for 1000 dollars. Isn't going to happen, though. There is no such thing as a 'better' telescope for $200. There are some beginner-level scopes That might satisfy your planet viewing needs, but don't really collect enough light for deep sky objects, which is the main goal of most astronomers. I've pasted a link to the Orion site below, where you can search by price range. If I had a gun to my head and had to pick one for planets, maybe it would be the Maksutov-Cassegrain that I've also linked to. Perferably, I'd spend $40 more bucks and get the 4.5" Dobsonian, which will gather a lot more light, though not nearly as much as I'd like.

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You *can* buy a decent pair of binoculars for $200, so you might go with Arkalius' advice and do that. Look for something like 7x50 if you're going handheld. The '50' is the size of the objective lens (the front lens), which gathers more light than the commoner 7x35. I have a 10x50, which has greater magnification than the 7x, but it's also a lot harder to hold steady image with the 10x.

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Or, you can go with more powerful binoculars designed just for astronomy, perhaps a pair of the 20x80s shown on the Orion site (link below). Those would have to be steadied on a tripod or some other kind of brace, though. The special binocular mounts cost as much as binoculars themselves, but you might possibly be able to get along with just a monopod (though I wouldn't stake my life on that, I haven't tried it).

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The best advice of all would be to see if there is an astronomy club in your area, and hook up with them on a viewing night. You can get your hands on a number of scopes all at once, get some good advice, and quite possibly find a used scope that might fit your needs.

Answer 2

If your budget is only $200, then I would recommend getting a good pair of binoculars. $200 is a little on the low end for getting a decent quality telescope that you will enjoy looking through. Binoculars can be a great way to explore the night skies, and require little to no setup. Plus, they are equally useful for daytime terrestrial observing as well without any modifications or accessories.



As far as links showing example images, this is rarely a good idea. What you see in a captured image, and what you see with your own eyes rarely matches up very well. Also, magnification isn't really a meaningful thing to talk about in an image as well since how big the subject in an image looks depends on how big the image is and how close you are to it.

Answer 3

The best sub-200 dollar scope (assuming you can find a sturdy table or something like that to put it on) is Orion's Starblast 4.5. It's a good sized little widefield reflector that performs decently on just about everything -- though if you're mostly interested in lunar and planetary viewing, I'd advise spending a little extra and getting it's longer brother, the XT 4.5. The longer focal length makes it a better planetary scope, and it comes with better eyepieces as well (the Starblast's are servicable, but the XT 4.5 comes with a pair of Plossl style EPs, which are of fairly good quality).



Lastly, if you can afford to budget up a bit to 300-350, you can get one of the 6" or 8" Dobs, which are arguably the best possible overall telescopes around. They're big enough to be Serious telescopes, but not so massive as to be difficult to use, only weighing in at about 40-50 lbs fully assembled.



As for seeing Moons, Jupiter's big 4 (the Galilean moons) are extremely easy to see - in fact, I wouldn't be surprised if you could see them in that surveyor's level (I've spotted them in a scope stopped down 35mm) - they're actually bright enough that in theory they should be naked eye objects, they're just lost in Jupiter's overwhelming glare unless you have razor sharp eyes and super steady seeing conditions, neither of which I personally have.



Saturn's Titan is also an easy object to see, and several other of its major moons are viewable in a decent sized scope. I've seen Rhea and Dione in a 70mm (tough, but doable when they're further from Saturn), and I've spotted those, Tethys, Iapetus, and Enceladus (this one was hard) in my 8". I was also able to pick out Triton (Neptune's biggest moon) on one good night in my 8".

Answer 4

Your present telescope has an aperture of only about 1 inch (20 mm)



a 8x50 pair of binoculars has an aperture of 2 inches (50mm)

Plus it has 8 times magnification (at least equal to the telescope you have)



Binoculars that size are very easy to hold up to your eyes.



Beyond that, there are reflecting telescopes available for about $200.

A 6 inch (150mm) aperture costs about that.

But it needs a mount to hold it -- way too heavy and bulky to hold otherwise.

Look for a telescope with a Dobsonian mount. Don't buy a tripod - because in that price range the tripods will be too flimsy.