Telescope

[Garble]

I've read a couple of former postings about this, but was confused by the science. What I'm really after is some recommendations for people have made a successful choice.

I'm looking for a reasonably-priced telescope which would suit an adult who has shown an interest in the night sky. Ideally, it needs to be relatively portable.

Advice will be gratefully received.

[argorstran]

Go for a 100mm refractor . It will need to be an achromatic objective lens ( or better still apochromatic - but more expensive )to ensure you don't have colour aberrations . . The range of eyepieces which come with such a telescope normally include a correcting eyepiece so you can use it for terrestrial spotting too .A tripod is essential . For night sky viewing you could really do with an equatorial mounting too . That will increase the bulkiness of the whole thing but you should still be able to lift it in and out of the house . A lighter normal tripod will allow you to take it in the car for terrestrial / bird spotting etc . but it will be a bit big for this purpose .

[jomifl]

The following spec. should do;
1. Newtonian reflector
2. Minimum 110mm diameter (possible (just) to see the bands of jupiter).
3. Tripod with equatorial mount (necessary to track objects as the earth rotates).
4. Motor drive (enables you to track objects without touching the adjustments and shaking the telescope)

You should get something like this or better for under £150 from Skywatcher or Celeston. It will easily fit in the boot of a car, or can be carried around the garden completely assembled.
Any more questions please ask.

[jomifl]

As you can see no two people will agree on this topic however reflectors are cheaper and less prone to chromatic aberration but are limited to astronomical observation, so it comes down to what you want to use it for.

[jomifl]

Shop around, you can get a telescope from an internet shop for half of what the same model would cost in a shopping mall.

[Garble]

Thanks for your help. A couple more questions - are there particular makes which are better than others? Or is there a make/model which, in anybody here has had a problem with?

[jomifl]

I forgot to mention Meade as another respectable make which also distributes cheap but decent chinese made telescopes.

[jomifl]

At this level ignore claims of 300x magnification because although you may get the eyepieces which multiply up to 300X in practice and for theoretical reasons a 100mm lens or mirror cannot resolve enough detail to effectively manage much more than about 100X

[mibn2cweus]

At least 90% of successful telescope purchasing is doing the research, and that means active participation by the end user. Satisfaction is in direct proportion to your interest in and knowledge of what you are looking for and at, no less than what you're looking with. As for the latter component, I recommend this sight (sic) which has some interesting links of its own - http://findascope.com/

Ultimately, a telescope is only as smart as the user. Happy hunting. :o)

[jomifl]

^If you are wondering what a 'dobsonian' is, it is a Newtonian reflector telescope on a cheap altazimuth mount. They tend to be used for large mirrors at relatively low magnification and are used for looking at galaxies and anything else that doesn't need to be tracked accurately but requires good light gathering power. Wouldn't be any use for looking at the planets though.

[Garble]

Thanks to you all, again, for the helpful advice. It is most informative - I'm away to do some sleuthing!