Anyone here know telescopes? I'm looking for a quality telescope for between $100 and $200. One guy on youtube says refracting telescopes are better in light-polluted areas, but reflecting ones can pick out fainter deep-space objects (DSOs) if you get out of town a ways.
People also say reflector telescopes need to be collimated all the time. I'd like a reflector because I tend to view refractors as cheap. Am I right?
Celestron 114mm reflector with equatorial mount
--or--
Following this with interest... Got my birthday and Christmas coming up soon...
Where do you live? Might help someone else answer your question... I'm outside of Cleveland, close to a shopping center so pretty decent light pollution at times...
I bought a Meade on clearance for 100.00 several years ago. Good enough to see the rings around Saturn. Maybe your local university has some space nerds in the Planetarium?
I live in Rochester (southeastern) Minnesota. Light pollution map-US
Reflectors can see distant objects because they are able to collect more light and focus it down. The bigger the mirror the more you can see. They're also a relatively cheap entry point for decent mirrors and a decent focal length.
Refractors become exponentially more expensive the larger you get because it is very difficult to produce a flawless, or nearly so, lense. A 5 inch Meade refractor will set you back well over 5 grand where as an 8 inch reflector can be had for a few hundred dollars. Generally they are best for local viewing.
I rarely collimate my scopes however I am not doing deep space photography and I view it as mostly hipsters bitching. If the image looks a little off I'll reach down to the wingnuts and adjust slightly but they rarely come out of set alignment unless you're E36 M3ty at moving your equipment. Notice I'm not mincing words here I seriously mean that.
If you're just starting find a decent (Meade or Orion) dobsonian mounted reflector at about 6 or 8 inches and get a good set of eyepieces. The eyepieces can be ported telescope to telescope. You'll want a good narrow angle one for viewing individual objects and a good wide angle for finding them.
Sorry this is really basic, stupid phone. If you want more info I can get my laptop later tonight for more specifics.
$100-200, even back in '97 my asto teacher told me that price range is a good set of binoculars.
But sub $200 can get you a decent entry Orion or Celestron. Maybe look at Dobsonian.
I should also mention you might want to look into a local or localish star party. Its like a good car show just in the dark with telescopes.
At some big ones like Starquest or Stellafane there's some seminars on how to grind mirrors or they'll have a big name physicist or astronomer as a lecturer. I've met David Levy, Neil DeGrasse Tyson, Chuck Yeager and Buzz Aldrin at them. Plus dark skies. It looks like Rochester has a few coming up through some of the local astronomical societies.
I'm resurrecting this one. Finances got a little tight last Fall--we bought the Flex-- and I never bought a telescope.
I've been looking into this small Dobsonian By Orion.
Would the cheaper Dobsonian mount be compensated for by better optics? I'd like to see deeper objects with more clarity than some of the smaller reflectors. But are Dobsonians hard to make fine adjustments on? I imagine giving a Dob even a slight brush could send it galaxies off one's target. Is that less the case with the geared (manual) equatorial mount?
As for reflectors, here's a Celestron that has some features I'd like. I like the thought of "erect imaging" eyepieces--(things look right-side-up when viewed) for land-or Lake Superior-based viewing, or even looking at airplanes (if that's possible). I would think erect imaging would really make this telescope way more intuitive for looking at things, and especially while making fine adjustments.
Thoughts?
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