So, who here wants to buy me a telescope? Or, Shirley wants to be a space cadet.

I found a kid’s basic starter telescope at the Salvation Army (brand new) for the whopping price of $5.99. It’s magnification is 20-40mm. Complete with a tripod.

It is plastic and exceptionally basic. If I paid full price, I’d be really disappointed. I also bought, same day, a pair of mid to excellent grade binoculars -20 years old- for $4.99 complete with the limited lifetime warranty info if I need to return them. Party On Garth!

It took me 20 minutes tonight to locate a bright glowing moon on a clearless night. Mind you, my kids were jostling the table. But, when I did find this elusive satellite, and the kids were able to see it through the scope, it was a pretty cool moment. I think I was able to convey, with an orange and a globe, how the moon moved, though after about twenty seconds, I was grasping for straws for more info. ( Og Bless Science Teachers who do this better than me.)

So, naturally, being fairly stoked about locating the moon, and some other star and/or planet/UFO ( yeah, as if) I want to upgrade now, now, now.

Naturally, now, now, now is not exactly in a cash solvent time period. I’m pretty sure next year or six billionteen won’t be either.

I am openly taking bids on who would like to buy me something bigger and better.

I have no pride. In fact, I’d like to say I’m shameless.

If that all fails, I wouldn’t mind links to star spotting guides on line.

Or a gift certificate to this not that I even know what exactly it does, but dang, I think it is the machine that goes PING!

If anyone has any suggestions on a good brand to start out with to build on ( if that is possible) I would appreciate it.

Thanks.

I found this place for a great starting point in looking at the night sky.

If you have $800 million or so, you can buy yourself one of these.

For that money, Max, I expect the scientist(s) to go along with it to tell me what the heck I am looking at.

Binoculars are often better than a telescope, actually.

But what you should do is hie yourself down to a camera shop - they often are the place to find telescopes of all scales.

Lipstick, I can manage.

Telescope, you’re on your own, babe.

      • I very-much suggest an inexpensive “stubby” short-F-ratio refractor. It will show a good amount of the night sky, and is still useful for daytime terrestrial viewing also. Meade and Orion are the two big manufacturers that sell lower-end telescopes (in the USA!)–both companies have starter refractor telescopes around $300. Orion’s is only $230 if you can use it with just a tabletop tripod. Places like Wal-Mart sell even cheaper no-name Chinese stuff, but it often doesn’t work nearly as well (as you have seen). The items from Meade or Orion will do what they claim, and there are reviews online if you search.

  • I would also caution against spending a lot of money on a first telescope. In my experience, the hobby of astronomy is FAR more attractive if you live far out in a rural area (where the night sky is actually totally black) and if there are few mosquitos in your area.
    ~

A great place to start. http://scientificsonline.com/category.asp?c=421194

Damn good book? http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0679408525/ref=sib_dp_pt/102-1816244-6787326#reader-link
(can some pne give me a pointer on how links can be abbreviated, like I’ve seen done?)

The best way to “upgrade” a telescope is to take it to a darker location. A place as far away from city lights as possible, with no streetlights in the vicinity. It would also help to pick a day between new moon and last quarter (1 week before new moon, at which point the moon doesn’t rise until midnight). A $150 telescope under a dark sky will show you far more than a $5000 telescope in a city. And I mean that quite literally, having done both myself.

Shirley, as referred to in this thread, the Bad Astronomer has a page on choosing telescopes.

Oh, and scr4, to embed a url with text of your own choosing, you start with an opening [ url=“your url” ] your chosen text, then .

Bugger. scr4 should be greenfingers. Apologies.

Back when Mars was getting nice and close, TechTV recommended the Orion ShortTube 4.5" EQ Reflector Telescope for beginners. In my searches, I’ve turned up nothing but positive reviews, and I was planning to get one for my dad for Christmas, but I got him a GPS instead. It’s not cheap, but it won’t break the bank either.

Binoculars will do the job. What you really need is a good sky chart.

Screw it. I’ve got a nice one my mom’s new husband dropped off here when he was tired of it. I’ve never opened the box.

It’s yours if you arrange and pay for shipping.

Wife used to be quite into astronomy. Upgraded her scope a couple of times. Now is quite satisfied with a nice pair of binos with image stabilization.

The S-C you link is an expensive compromise. Really neat, but limited.

We decided our biggest complaint with astronomy is that the good stuff takes place so late at night!

Enjoy your new hobby. It is really fun to share with the kids. A neat way to make science real. Check out Jupiter’s moons next.

      • I have seen this said elsewhere, and I would have to disagree with it. The first reason is that binoculars are uncomfortable to use, unless you buy the (very un-cheap) 90-degree eyepiece “astronomical” types. The second reason is that nowadays you can find even cheaper telescopes at Wal-Mart with electronic star-pointing mounts. The telescope itself is a POS, but the pointing mount is a beginner’s dream. A lot of authorities like to suggest that you should “learn the sky first”, but being able to find targets immediately and comfortably observe them goes a long way towards making the hobby interesting, and if you keep looking around long enough, you will learn the layout of the sky anyway.
        ~