How much Telescope do I need?

I want to be able gaze at the Moon, the local planets and a glance or
two at something like the Seven Sisters now and then.

I doubt my reentry into viewing far would need tracking motors or other
type of doodads so I'm thinking bang for buck and clarity of image.

Any thoughts on re-entry level setups would be great.


TBerk

Subject: How much Telescope do I need?
From: T
Date: 10/23/2004 6:05 AM Eastern Daylight Time
Message-id: m



I want to be able gaze at the Moon, the local planets and a glance or
two at something like the Seven Sisters now and then.

I doubt my reentry into viewing far would need tracking motors or other
type of doodads so I'm thinking bang for buck and clarity of image.

Any thoughts on re-entry level setups would be great.


TBerk
*****************************
A 6 to 8" Dob would do the trick, or a good 3 to 4" refractor would also work
nice!

Check out what Orion telescopes has to offer, they range in price from about
$375 to 800...
Be warned dont get the cheapest scope you can find, nothing is worse than a
junky scope, with bad optics and a bad mount!

Chas P.

Telescope Buyers FAQ
http://home.inreach.com/starlord


--


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Arthur C.Clarke 2062dyssey three

SIAR
http://starlords.netfirms.com
Telescope Buyers FAQ
http://home.inreach.com/starlord
Bishop's Car Fund
http://www.bishopcarfund.netfirms.com/

"T" wrote in message
. com...


I want to be able gaze at the Moon, the local planets and a glance or
two at something like the Seven Sisters now and then.

I doubt my reentry into viewing far would need tracking motors or other
type of doodads so I'm thinking bang for buck and clarity of image.

Any thoughts on re-entry level setups would be great.


TBerk



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I want to be able gaze at the Moon, the local planets and a glance or
two at something like the Seven Sisters now and then.

HI:

How much do you want to spend, and how much of the above do you want to see?
I'd say that a nice Short Tube 80 or StarBlast from Orion will do the trick for
you.

Peace,
Rod Mollise
Author of _Choosing and Using a Schmidt Cassegrain Telescope_
Like SCTs and MCTs?
Check-out sct-user, the mailing list for CAT fanciers!
Goto http://members.aol.com/RMOLLISE/index.html

I want to be able gaze at the Moon, the local planets and a glance or
two at something like the Seven Sisters now and then.
I doubt my reentry into viewing far would need tracking motors or other
type of doodads so I'm thinking bang for buck and clarity of image.
Any thoughts on re-entry level setups would be great.

Under $250:
4.5" Orion Starblast
ST80 Refractor

$250-400:
6-8" Dob
90mmEQ SCT/MAK

SSX

Alternative plan b:
www.astromart.com

Visit the classifieds there. Lots of affordable scopes, ep's, barlows, field
guides etc are available in the used market. Good prices, well moderated.

john

On Sat, 23 Oct 2004 10:05:56 GMT, T wrote:



I want to be able gaze at the Moon, the local planets and a glance or
two at something like the Seven Sisters now and then.

I doubt my reentry into viewing far would need tracking motors or other
type of doodads so I'm thinking bang for buck and clarity of image.

Any thoughts on re-entry level setups would be great.


TBerk

My suggestion (depending on budget) would be
an Orion Shortube 80mm f5 on it's alt-az mount or the Orion 80mmED
on the same mount. Ultra portable, very competent. No maintenance
required.

Any thoughts on re-entry level setups would be great.


TBerk

Lots of options, small refractor (ST-80), Medium DOB, probably your best bets.

Its really a question of portability vs capability. That $300 will buy you a
small refractor that will easily fit in the trunk or a a medium DOB (6-8
inches) that will show many more deep sky objects and better detail on the
planets but will take up more space...

jon

(Rod Mollise) wrote in
:


I want to be able gaze at the Moon, the local planets and a glance or
two at something like the Seven Sisters now and then.

How much do you want to spend, and how much of the above do you want
to see? I'd say that a nice Short Tube 80 or StarBlast from Orion will
do the trick for you.

I second these choices. But I also suggest that you attend a local star
party to make sure (before you plonk your money down) that hunting faint
planetaries and galaxies isn't your cup of tea.

T wrote in message .com...
I want to be able gaze at the Moon, the local planets and a glance or
two at something like the Seven Sisters now and then.

I doubt my reentry into viewing far would need tracking motors or other
type of doodads so I'm thinking bang for buck and clarity of image.

Any thoughts on re-entry level setups would be great.


TBerk

I use a 60mm Tasco on an alti-azimuth and a
pair of 7x50 binoculars, works good for me.
It has a inverter lens for terrestial viewing,
that's handy.

I started with a 40mm Tasco that had 25-50x
which was pretty good. I modified it up to
1000x power for fun, totally useless for
astronomy, but interesting to fill the view
with a light bulb a half mile away.
Later I shuffled that into a finder.

Anyway most of the viewing you're talking about
takes place from 15x to 50x mag. Occassionally
I'll use 100x (atmospherics permitting), and
easily see belts on Jupiter, stunning lunar
relief etc. more mag than that really needs
an equatorial mount and a drive. The cheap but
light and portable tripod can be unsteady.

Finally we bought a home in the country
with nil sky glow (wow) you hardly needed a
telescope! Sit on a dock sometime beside a
calm lake and it feels like floating in the
universe, stars down and up.
Well now I can build my dream telescope, big
reflector in an observatory, my life long dream!
Right, wrong, along comes the internet and a
flood of images, I could never afford...sold
the country home and upgraded my monitor.

Now I only get out my scopes when something
unique occurs, comets, alignments etc. which
must sound frightfully pragmatic in this NG,
but the hobby of the serious amateur astronomer
is much more than imagery, that I do understand,
though I don't know what the passion is, and
I don't mind saying I may have lost something.

Is that passion an expression of a premordial
hunter instinct that looks for new things in
real time?

Regards
Ken S. Tucker