Why are telescopes so expensive?

In My Humble Opinion
21

I have a 10" Dobsonian. I bought it for about $500. I think that is reasonable for the aperture.

The newer dobs have encoders and computers so that you can easily find stellar objects. The only thing a dob won’t do is track the sky like a good equatorial mount although some have come up with contraptions to make a dob do so.

Orion make a decent dob here: Starter

Spend a few evenings at a dark sky site with one of these and a good field guide and you will be hooked.

22

Right, it has nothing to do with the costs of the item, which are higher than you’d expect, as evidenced by, you know, this whole thread.

23

And they sell a 50" one too. A snip at $128K. :slight_smile:

24

It does come with FREE Starry Night software :smiley:

Brian