newbie

Hi all,

I'm thinking of buying a telescope so I can spend many hours in toal
darkness observing many wonderous things. I've read quie a lot about
astronomy. I've found a telescope ha I think will be a good starter one
within my budget and was wondering if you could give me your thoughts
on whether its a good purchase. It can be found he

http://www.skywatchertelescope.net/1309EQ2.html

and I've found it online for £140 which I think is a very good price.
Also what should I expect to see with this telescope (with lots of
practice that is, not as a beginner) would I be able to get good views
of planets, nebula and other DSO's?

Any other advice you have would be great.

Kind regards,

Richard

wrote:
Hi all,

I'm thinking of buying a telescope so I can spend many hours in toal
darkness observing many wonderous things. I've read quie a lot about
astronomy. I've found a telescope ha I think will be a good starter one
within my budget and was wondering if you could give me your thoughts
on whether its a good purchase. It can be found he

http://www.skywatchertelescope.net/1309EQ2.html

and I've found it online for £140 which I think is a very good price.
Also what should I expect to see with this telescope (with lots of
practice that is, not as a beginner) would I be able to get good views
of planets, nebula and other DSO's?

Any other advice you have would be great.

Kind regards,

Richard

Are eyepieces included?

yes a 10mm, 25mm & x2 Barlow

wrote:
Hi all,

I'm thinking of buying a telescope so I can spend many hours in toal
darkness observing many wonderous things. I've read quie a lot about
astronomy. I've found a telescope ha I think will be a good starter one
within my budget and was wondering if you could give me your thoughts
on whether its a good purchase. It can be found he

http://www.skywatchertelescope.net/1309EQ2.html

and I've found it online for £140 which I think is a very good price.
Also what should I expect to see with this telescope (with lots of
practice that is, not as a beginner) would I be able to get good views
of planets, nebula and other DSO's?

Any other advice you have would be great.

Kind regards,

Richard


Hi

I'd feel better if the mount looked more robust, but it's probably not a
bad deal.

It'll do a nice job on planets, and reasonably bright deep sky objects.

wrote:
http://www.skywatchertelescope.net/1309EQ2.html

Crap setup. You'd be better off trying to find a used dob on-line:
http://www.astrobuysell.com/uk/

Before buying ANY telescope, read the Telescope Buyer's FAQ

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


--

The Lone Sidewalk Astronomer of Rosamond
Telescope Buyers FAQ
http://home.inreach.com/starlord
Astronomy Net Online Gift Shop
http://www.cafepress.com/astronomy_net
In Garden Online Gift Shop
http://www.cafepress.com/ingarden
Blast Off Online Gift Shop
http://www.cafepress.com/starlords




wrote in message
ups.com...
Hi all,

I'm thinking of buying a telescope so I can spend many hours in toal
darkness observing many wonderous things. I've read quie a lot about
astronomy. I've found a telescope ha I think will be a good starter one
within my budget and was wondering if you could give me your thoughts
on whether its a good purchase. It can be found he

http://www.skywatchertelescope.net/1309EQ2.html

and I've found it online for £140 which I think is a very good price.
Also what should I expect to see with this telescope (with lots of
practice that is, not as a beginner) would I be able to get good views
of planets, nebula and other DSO's?

Any other advice you have would be great.

Kind regards,

Richard

wrote in message ups.com...
Hi all,

SNIP -- telescope purchase question

Any other advice you have would be great.

Buy or borrow a copy of the December 2005 issue of Sky&Telescope.
It has reviews of several budget starter scopes near or below
your price point. Even if your don't buy one of those scopes the
article's judging criteria will give you valuable guidelines on
whether the scope you buy is worth keeping or returing for a
refund.

--

Hilton Evans
---------------------------------------------------------------
Lon -71° 04' 35.3"
Lat +42° 11' 06.7"
---------------------------------------------------------------
Webcam Astroimaging
http://home.earthlink.net/~hiltoneva...troimaging.htm
---------------------------------------------------------------
ChemPen Chemical Structure Software
http://www.chempensoftware.com

Thanks for your advice everyone.

Crap setup. You'd be better off trying to find a used dob on-line:

Would you care to elaborate on this Mean Mr Mustard as I don't see
what's wrong with it for the price and as a first telescope.

Richard

Manual GEM is an overly complicated setup. Go with a 6" or 8" dob +
telrad.

Richard wrote:
Thanks for your advice everyone.


Crap setup. You'd be better off trying to find a used dob on-line:


Would you care to elaborate on this Mean Mr Mustard as I don't see
what's wrong with it for the price and as a first telescope.

Ignore him; he's a troll, and not even very good at trolling.

Some good comments in other replies, My comments are that while an
equatorial mount is useful it does at complexities for a beginner; you
can probably get a larger aperture Dob mounted telescope that would be
easier to use for the same money. If a German equatorial mount continues
t have appeal, you can later acquire a somewhat larger GEM and mount
your (former Dob) tube on it.

I'd check out Starlord's review of telescopes for beginners - lots of
useful information.