What should you look for when buying a telescope?

Answer 1

Quality of the Lenses and/or mirrors first. Coatings put on those mirrors/lenses. Telescope design - Refractor, Reflector, Catadioptric (Combination of lenses and mirrors. What do you want to observe in the sky? - Planets? (The highest quality refractor is the best but most expensive. Stars and Nebulae? you want to get a large diameter reflector to gather as much light as possible. Do you want a compromise in design quality choose a catadioptric. You want a good and sturdy mount (one with mass). many telescopes come with computer controls to make set up and locating objects easier. Telescopes and their uses are simple and very to extremely complicated at the same time. Quality = costs money, Quality + bigger size = often exponentially more money and weight The two leading telescope brands are Meade and Celestron. Perhaps if one wants the best compromise of resolution with light gathering capacity and portability at the lowest price you would choose a catadioptric which is probably why these are the most popular selling telescopes. If someone is a beginner they might want to choose a telescope 4" or smaller. intermediate 5" to 8". advanced - 8" to 10" to 20" etc........ There is an "Astronomical" amount of things one could consider in acquiring a telescope and Astronomy is a hobby that can entertain for a lifetime. One can get a very good feel for astronomy and its potential from a good quality 4" or 5" telescope for a beginner and would be a good choice for such at a reasonable price. This would help you decide if you liked astronomy. There is a lot more to learn than is what I stated here but these are good fundamentals. It is often stated that the best telescope is the one that's used the most. Meaning that if you buy a big expensive telescope and have to bring it in and outside it may not get used often, but a smaller one that is easily brought in and out may get a lot more use and satisfaction out of. I am talking with over twenty years experience and I know I will never run out of things to do with my telescopes. Oh, and did you want to take pictures? Sorry that's for another book.

Answer 2

Astronomy can be a rewarding hobby.On a good dark night,depending where you live,you can see not just stars and the moon but up to five planets,the Milky Way,the Magellanic Clouds(small galaxies that orbit our own),several beatiful star clusters and nebulas, even a very distant galaxy-all without aid. Of course binoculars or a telescope will improve your viewing enormously, and each has its own type.http://astromic.blogspot.com/2010/05/buying-telescope-for-beginners.html

http://astromic.blogspot.com/2010/05/starter-models-for-beginners.html

Answer 3

There's no clear answer to this question, since it will depend on your budget, the kind of observing you will be doing, and what you hope to see out there. Read Sky & Telescope magazine for some good articles on the subject.

You can look at howtobuyatelescope

Answer 4

Personal protection: Never use it to look at the Sun directly. That will severely damage your eye. You can, however, project the Sun's image onto a piece of paper.

Protection of the telescope: Obviously, having glass lenses/mirrors, you must take care to avoid the telescope falling and bumping into things.

Answer 5

The key feature driving telescope development is aperture diameter - the more light you can collect the fainter the object you can observe.

Answer 6

aperture, or the quality.