Beginner .... Which telescope?

[rubbertoebooks]

Have decided to resurrect a hobby which I was interested in school about 25 yrs or so ago!!!!

Didnt really pic up a great deal at the age of 10 but have decided to get back into it.

Have been reading astronomy magazines, internet sites etc. Have made my mind up to purchase a telescope. Have about £250.00 to spend and have been looking on various sites.

Can anyone shed any light on these two scopes which have spotted? Have decided on a refractor.

Have Spotted a Meade 90 mm refractor goto, on the scopes and skies site for £200 and also a Bresser Messier 90mm refractor , priced at about £250?

Is 90mm a good entry level?

Or does anyone have any recommendations?. I have thought long about this and am hoping to take my new resurrected hobby very seriously.

Any help would be most appreciated.

Rubbertoebooks

[Vinnie]

G'Day Mate and welcome to the forum.

Its about my bedtime here in Aus, so I'll leave you with it till tomorrow, but just a quick thought, whatever your budget, don't spend the lot on an initial scope package. There will always be extras that you will need not included. Also, while I catch a few ZZZ's,here's a couple of questions that are relevant to which sort of scope you might buy. Are you in a major city or a rural (darker sky) area, and do need to transport the scope far to use it, like up and down stairs, or in the car for a ways, or will it be mainly in the one spot?

Your viewing conditions, and also the need (or not) for portability are very real considerations when selecting that scope.

[rubbertoebooks]

Cheers Vinnie,

I'm posting from Northern Ireland, supposed to be working but since I decided to get back into this hobby have spent quite a few hours surfing the net!!

I live in a small town called Tandragee, on the outskirts actually , so I live in a quite rural location , good conditions, not a great deal of light pollution. I dont have to take the scope that far actually to be where I want to view from, so it would be set up unless I was heading away for a few days etc

Thanks for replying so quickly.

Rubbertoebooks

[Michael Steen]

Greetings from NE Pennsylvania, and congratulations on getting into the most fascinating hobby!
Anyone who's read my posts here for a little while knows that I have a very strong bias toward binoculars for anyone starting out with astronomy. Not only are they less expensive than a scope, but they're portable, can be used for many things besides astronomy (try taking an XT10 to a football game!), and they're going to be an essential part of your equipment whether you have a scope or not. Every serious amateur astronomer has at least one pair, and most have more.
I wouldn't discourage you from a scope by any means! I love mine. But you will be amazed at how much you can see on a clear night just by going out and looking up. The view can be quite breathtaking.
Most recommend a pair of 10X50 binoculars as a very good all-around intrument. Powerwindows has just posted an astronomy hack on picking binos.
Good luck and clear skies!

[Vinnie]

Here's a link to a review of the Meade (on this forum)

[Registered users can see links. ]

I'll have to look up the Bresser

Back soon

[Vinnie]

Ok, I'm back LOL

Do you want to give us a first name, that user name sure is a mouthful.

First off, good advice from Mike, above. Yes we all use binos as well as scopes, and a half decent pair of 10x50 porros is certainly worth having.

I'm not going to try to talk you out of a refractor, (I am a bit biased towards refractors) but I will put it to you that a refractor is the most expensive way to buy aperture. The benefits are however, that refractors are almost maintenance free, and require the least cool down of all scopes. Plus they excel for planetary viewing.

I've looked up the Bresser, and for my money it is yet another incarnation of the Synta 90x900 achro (Skywatcher 909/Orion US AV 90) but the boys at Meade (Bresser is a Meade brand) have coupled it with a more realistic mount than the SW/Orion packages.

If its not the same scope it is as near as could be and specs the same. Also most Meade small scopes are now Chinese built so this also suggests it is the Synta.

I particularly like the tubular tripod. Looking at the supplied EP's I think that if you added a 2x Barlow you would be up and running for some time.

Comparing the two, I would take the Bresser (but its not a GoTo, which incidentally I have no GoTo mounts myself, but having been in the hobby since Noah built the Ark I sort of learned my way round the old way)

Anyhow the Bresser has a FL of 900mm, the DS is at 800mm and that bit extra FL in an achro is all a help to reduce CA (Chromatic aberration) despite narrowing the FOV a little. Also I really like the look of the mount under the Bresser. Nice and chunky.

FWIW a 90mm achro refractor is quite a good entry level choice if you are refractor inclined, and will give you quite reasonable planetary and lunar viewing, plus I like the idea of jumping straight in with the GEM (German Equatorial Mount) which ships with the Bresser. It will be a sharp learning curve for you, but well worth it long term.

Of course, if you really get hooked this will only be the first of several scopes, each having a particular purpose, because there really is no single scope (within the budget of the average home user) made yet that excels on all the targets and applications available to us in the night sky.

Good Luck

[rubbertoebooks]

Thanks Vinnie,

Robert is the name, rubbertoebooks for a username!!! dont even ask!!

Thanks for all the help and advice, its much appreciated. I'm leaning towards the Bresser as well. The main reason being, if i going into this in a serious way, I think I would prefer to find and learn my way across the night sky, rather than it being done for me.

I've also taken the advice on the binoculars and ordered a pair 10x50 porros.
Will get a bit of practice in before plunging into the telescope market.

Cheers for all the advice.

Robert

[Vinnie]

OK Robert I won't ask LOL

Yep, you'll find that a pair of bins will always be useful, no matter how far you go with telescopes.

Most important now is that you don't forget to budget for Extras.

So if you bought the Bresser you would probably add a 2x Barlow.

You will need some charts/atlas, all available by free download, but a well bound hard copy that you have to buy will serve better long term.

A red light torch

An adjustable height chair/small folding table (these you could well already have)

A variable polarising filter if you want to spend time viewing the moon.

Possible addition of an reflex finder, if you end up with a package that has a magnifying finder, or a magnifier if you end up with a reflex. I am a big advocate of having both types on on a scope

Be prepared to want to add extra Eyepieces, but I advise against buying "kits" with filters as they always have things included that you will never use.

For an achro refractor you may want to add a minus v type filter, although I would wait and see what the views are like first.

Just don't break the bank on your initial package as you will find that there are things that you will want/need to add.

HTH

[First Scope]

Originally Posted by rubbertoebooks

Thanks Vinnie,

I think I would prefer to find and learn my way across the night sky, rather than it being done for me.

I've also taken the advice on the binoculars and ordered a pair 10x50 porros.
Will get a bit of practice in before plunging into the telescope market.

Cheers for all the advice.

Robert

Hi Robert,

Very good advice being given here!

Are you stuck on the refractor? I only ask because for a first scope I hate to see people get frustrated with what they DONT see in their scopes... Plus, If you really want to learn the night sky...a dob is the way to go!

Remember,
What you will see in a refractor is a much better view than most reflectors...but, (there is always a but!) you can see the same things with a dob you can with the refractor and much much more!

In astro stuff.. bigger is better.. get as much aperture as you can afford<G>

I am just curious if you have done some viewing through other scopes like a mid size dob you can get for the same $ range?

Or even a short tube reflector on a GEM? again near the same $ range...

Don't get me wrong on refractors I have a couple. My favorite one being my Borg. Many many uses...but when your excited about seeing the universe...I would just like to see you get as far out there as you can!

BTW. Nice job on the bino's as stated before...every one needs at least one pair of good binoculars...10x50 are perfect to start.