new and need info about telescopes

[sneezer1]

i'm new to this. i'm from california.i've always wanted a telescope,but i've never got one.i'm saving up for one. any suggestions on what type and brand to get? thanks for advice.

 

[bbrock]

Sneezer<br /><br />I suggest a Dobsonian Reflector. Check the Orion Website. Dobsonian telescopes generally are the best value and largest aperture for the price. I think you will find the SkyQuest XT scopes to be what you are looking for. <br /><br />Clear Skies<br />Bill

 

[CalliArcale]

One word to the wise: the Dobsonian Intelliscopes that Orion sells do not point themselves. The built-in computer system merely aids you in manually orienting them.<br /><br />In general, you want bigger apeture. That's what you should sink most of the money into. Computerized pointing systems and "goto" systems (which have motors to literally slew the telescope at whatever you want to look at ) generally don't add enough value to warrant the expense, although if you're interested in astrophotography, you might want to get something with an equitorial mount that either has a clock drive or is compatible with clock drives. Clock drives rotate the mount exactly once per sidereal day -- in other words, they counteract the motion of the Earth, so that stars don't drift through your field of view and get all smeared in long exposures. But you don't need the clock drive neccesarily, especially for starting out.<br /><br />So invest most of your budget in apeture. For large apeture, the best quality usually comes from Newtonians, although large Schmidt-Cassegrain telescopes offer nice portability as their tubes are much shorter. (The SCTs tend to be proportionally more expensive, though.) A Dobsonian is actually just a Newtonian telescope on a very inexpensive mount; it basically sits on the floor. This is not practical for small Newtonians, but it is great for big ones, which would require enormous and expensive tripods if you wanted to put them onto some kind of equatorial mount. A lot of homebuilt telescopes are Dobsonians.<br /><br />My next telescope will probably be a large Dob, or possibly a large SCT. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p><font color="#666699"><em>"People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect, but actually from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint it's more like a big ball of wibbly wobbly . . . timey wimey . . . stuff."</em>  -- The Tenth Doctor, "Blink"</font></p> </div>

 

[BReif]

I must echo what others have posted, the Dobsonian Reflector is the best bang for the buck. I have the Orion XT10 and I love it. It pulls in lots of light, and it sees very deep, and its reasonably good on the planets as well.<br />

 

[dick_in_mi]

Some quick questions about dobs:<br /><br />1. is it at all awkward to bend over and look through the eyepiece on them? With a tripod, you can adjust the height somewhat. But how about the viewing angle on a dob?<br /><br />2. do you simply set the dob mount on the ground or do you have it on some sort of platform? And what about winter climates...you'd not want to set the mount on the snow I'm guessing.<br /><br />3. And with the comment about them working reasonably well on planets, is that compared mainly to refractors? Or do other types of telescopes work better on planets than dobs?<br /><br />Right now, I'm thinking about an 8" Orion dob when things calm down a bit (two kids in college, 25th anniversary next week, wife's b'day a few weeks ago....all of which divert $$$$ and justifiably so. But the dob is in my future sometime over the next 6 months. I have a cheapo 3" telescope now but rarely use it, prefering binocs for most of my viewing and learning)

 

[BReif]

Answers to your questions:<br /><br />1. It is very helpful to have a chair or a stool to sit on when viewing through the eyepiece on the Dob. The lower the object in the sky, the lower the eyepiece will be to the ground. Without a chair or stool you will be bending over quite a bit.<br /><br />2. I set my Dob on the ground. I wouldn't want to set it on the snow, so I may get a rubber or gum blanket to set over the snow to put the Dob on in the winter.<br /><br />3. Reflectors are generally better suited to deep sky objects as opposed to the moon and planets, which is the real strength of a refractor. It depends on the focal length of the scope, however. My 10" Dob is F4.7, which is better for the deep field, but the 8" Dob you are looking at has a longer focal length, which will make it better suited to the planets than my F4.7, however, even at F4.7, it is still very good, and I think, if well collimated, will outperform a 4" refractor, because it is a 10" scope, and apeture always wins.<br /><br />

 

[BReif]

Crazzyeddie:<br /><br />Thank you for your correction...

 

[njbanshee]

First time on a message board. I also have some ? if any body can help ?<br />1 I own a 10" intelliscope Orion dob the scope is great i'm not <br />sure what eyepieces to buy . I want to view every thing money is not a promblem i just don't know what i need i'm new at this.

 

[bbrock]

Any of the TeleView EP's work well. The Expanse 6mm and 9mm work well. Any of the Epic ED EP's work well. Consider buying the Orion Shorty Plus 2x Barlow. <br /><br />I tried the Ultrascopics and didn't like them. The 20mm Expanse gives good views in the center of the EQ but poor quality along the edge of FOV. The 6mm and 9mm Expanse are my favorite EP's. I use TeleVue Radian's ( 3mm and 4mm ) for my high power viewing of planets, lunar and binary stars. Excellent. I plan to replace the 20mm Expanse with a mid-range Nagler or Panoptic next year ( 15mm or 16mm ). <br /><br />Clear Skies<br />Bill

 

[njbanshee]

Thanks for the info . I want to start off buying 2 EPs . What 2 should i start with . I was told to start with a 5mm,41mm & 2x <br />barlow lens sound right.

 

[njbanshee]

thanks alot

 

[njbanshee]

1 more ? if i use a 3mm or 4mm will i be able to view the surface of Mars ? or what would it take?