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View Full Version : Anyone have experience with telescopes / refractors



greg lindsey
03-10-2014, 2:04 AM
:confused::confused: Having lived the Big City most all of my life, I occasionally get to see the passing stars (mostly airplanes & helicopters), but I have a place on a lake in upper NE TX. Perfect place for star gazing, very dark and the stars are out by the billions. I have tried using a telescope before , but for me I can only see what looks like looking through a microscope at a slide, lots of squiggly lines ( reminds me of cells in science class ) Once someone suggested using a refractor telescope.. I would love for my kids to get a good look into the night sky. I don't mind spending a few $$, just don't want to buy junk kiddie unit. I'm leaving for the country next week and was hoping one of you might have a decent recommendation. I looked at Amazon and they have what seems to be some nice choices, but don't really know what i'm looking for. Any help or direction would be greatly appreciated.

FWIW: I'm not trying to look for black holes or the end of time, just some planets, stars, moons and the occasional alien life form, ;):cool: If you see or know of what i'm looking for pm me a link.

Thanks, Yall

Greg

Jim Matthews
03-10-2014, 7:16 AM
We started with good binoculars and lawn chairs.

The difficulty with telescopes is relative rotation of the Earth to the stars.
Without a motor, some things are hard to keep in view.

I have a nice Reflector scope from a trade, but with young kids - we just hand them the binoculars.
Less fuss, more fun. They can't see what me and Mommy are doing while looking up...

http://mashable.com/2008/10/04/astronomy-sites/

Bill Huber
03-10-2014, 9:54 AM
Greg, do you have an Ipad or other tablet with a good sky app on it?

I have found that the kids really like the apps that show the sky and it shows what star is what and it will show the constellations.

Erik Loza
03-10-2014, 9:57 AM
Greg, I am no expert on astronomy but one of my college roommates was a pretty avid star watcher. We used to get a bunch of beer, go out to the lake, and star gaze. He had a medium-sized refractor telescope. This is my (very non-scientific) observation on refractors: They tube is just a tube but ehat you are really paying for is the eyepiece. Bill had a pretty cheap eyepiece that came with the kit he bought. It was terrible to look through! Getting your eye lined up just right was a pain and the eye relief was too short. Later, he purchased an aftermarket eyepiece that was a much higher quality and that was a huge improvement. I remember him finding Saturn for me once and just staring at the rings and going, "Whoa...". The other thing Bill told me that he wished he had was a motorized mount, to that the telescope would match the earth's rotation. I'm sure you are aware of that already, though. Also, he did tell me that he wished for a sturdier tripod. Anyway, just stuff I remember.

Best of luck with it.

Erik Loza
Minimax USA

Mark Bolton
03-10-2014, 10:19 AM
Greg,
Amateur astronomy and astrophotograhy and ccd imaging was my hobby for many years. I'm am just occasionally observing now with an 8" reflector and a 90mm short tube refractor.

I can only guess your squiggly lines was either a poor telescope or very light mount with small an eyepiece (too zoomed in) so the slightest breeze or bump made any points of light look like squiggles. Either that or a scope which mechanically was not in the right place to be useful.

Even reasonably inexpensive scopes will produce decent images to view.

As with anything, it's all about budget but for just a few hundred dollars you should be able to get either a small refractor or reflector that will give hours of fun. There is no need to with about tracking of motorized mounts unless you want the feature. With a stable mount and a reasonable field of view you can track manually.

Wade Lippman
03-10-2014, 10:57 AM
Refractors are normally much easier to use because reflectors have many adjustments to mirror alignment that have to be made all the time. But refractors are much more expensive and much larger. It would be hard to recommend a refractor unless money doesn't matter at all.

After that you pretty much get what you pay for. They get more expensive rapidly as you get bigger and better quality.
Whatever you do, don't grind your own mirror. DAMHIKT

Mark Bolton
03-10-2014, 11:03 AM
No different that tools... It's called "aperture fever" lol. It's a slippery slope for sure. Puts woodworking to shame.

Pat Barry
03-10-2014, 12:45 PM
To eliminate squiggly lines you need to have the scope set up on the ground. For example, I know this from recent experience where we tried to set it up on a deck. Any body moving anywhere on the deck cause dthe squiggly lines. It was horrible. On the ground - bingo - rock solid. Now you only need to contend with the relative motion of the object in the sky which is hard enough without a good polar mount and tracking method - you don't need the motorized auto tracking system though, you can easily do it manually and they have for centuries.

I have both types and both have merits - I think viewing comfort is the thing that requires the most consideration because a poor viewing position can be brutal.

Myk Rian
03-10-2014, 2:09 PM
The larger the objective lens, (the one you look into) the better.
A good mount for the spotting scope is a plus. I upgraded mine to a dual screw adjustment that holds the spotting scope better, and is easier to adjust. I also upgraded the 5x scope.
A moon filter is good to have, as I'm sure you'll be looking at that. Best viewed when not a full moon. as you don't see the shadows that highlight elevations on the edge of the viewable moon.
Seeing Saturn for the first time is really cool.

And: If you have a smart phone or tablet, install the Google Sky Map app.

Chuck Wintle
03-10-2014, 4:12 PM
my advice would be to buy the best cassgrain schmidt telescope with the motor that can follow the stars as the earth turns. I think some can even have a computer monitor added so looking thru the eyepiece is eliminated. The cheap kind where you look thru the end of the tube are worthless. this is only my opinion for what its worth.

Mark Bolton
03-10-2014, 4:25 PM
my advice would be to buy the best cassgrain schmidt telescope with the motor that can follow the stars as the earth turns. I think some can even have a computer monitor added so looking thru the eyepiece is eliminated. The cheap kind where you look thru the end of the tube are worthless. this is only my opinion for what its worth.

That really isn't true chuck. If your looking for portability and even more, bright crisp star fields, a small refractor is very nice. I have a relatively inexpensive 90mm short tube refractor that is very fun too use but your not going to get up close and personal with tons of things.

Any reasonably affordable scope with tracking is likely gojng to suffer badly in a lot of areas. To get into a good tracking scope in my opinion your going to be out of the entry level budget. (SAMs, Costco, etc, type stuff).

As myk stated, the eyepieces are as important as the scope.

Personally I think looking at a scope you have to quantify some things very seriously. How much are you willing to invest? How portable are you looking to be? What are you wanting to see? And so on. Then you can start to narrow your focus.

Some pretty efficient dobs (Meade light bridge) can be had right now affordably, as can short tube refractors, but portability may effect the decision. Neither will have tracking.

Ted Calver
03-10-2014, 8:29 PM
Greg,
I have lusted after a Dobsonian telescope for such a long time that the prices have doubled, and I still don't have one. This site will give you an idea of what's out there:
http://www.obsessiontelescopes.com/
Another way to get at this would be to get in touch with one of the astronomy clubs in your area. I know we have several here and one of them frequently sets up in one of the local parks to show folks their telescopes and introduce new people to the skies. They could steer you in the right direction and might have some used gear or even be able to help you build your own. Here's what I found for Texas:
http://www.go-astronomy.com/astro-clubs-state.php?State=TX

Greg Portland
03-13-2014, 12:41 PM
Don't go to the mall and buy the first telescope you see. A good bang/buck inexpensive telescope would be something like an Orion XT6 or 8. Finding the item in the sky is a challenge which is why the motorized (GOTO) mounts are popular. However, this adds considerable cost. I would suggest that you get a good set of full sized binoculars (7x50 or 10x70) and a star guide. If you decide you don't like astronomy then you'll use the binocs for other purposes. Check out http://www.cloudynights.com/ , there is a lot of good information about getting started.

Oh, and +1 to the astronomy club recommendations.