Cheap Good Quality Telescope?

[jasmimenicole]

I'm a newbie to Astronomy, I live in India and would like to buy some instrument to discern sky objects at least to the level of galaxies.

My budget would be around $100.

Any advice will be much appreciated.

Is the Starry Night Explorer Binocular Gazing Kit a good buy What objects will I be able to discern with it [Registered users can see links. ] Also, I came across another telescope which specs as: # 1.A 45mm Refractor Achromatic lens assembled in PVC tube.

# 2.Two Eyepieces 25mm & 12mm and a 2x Barlow lens # 3.90 degree Star diagonal for erect image # Range of magnification of 20x, 40x and 80x.

I don't know what the specs imply. Any help and advice would be appreciated.

Thanks

[admin]

Price below $100: The very minimum is a refractor at 60mm, 90mm or more suggested, but for your price range an example Swift 60mm would introduce planetary views, too small for much Deep Sky tho... I started years ago with the Swift 60mm, and viewed Saturn, Jupiters Moons, nice lunar views, but again is a bit small, will take you to 120X....fun star splitter, optics not bad for this range of scope...

[rocket]

I don't think you'll find anything suitable for looking at galaxies in that price range, not in Canadian or U.S. dollars anyway. I can see some of the brighter galaxies through a 4.5" reflector I own (M31, M81 & 82), but the view isn't that impressive, and even that setup was worth over $100.

Regarding the specs for the telescope you mentioned:

1. 45 mm (millimeters) is the diameter of the lense at the end of the pvp (plastic) tube. Achromat is the type of lense, which is normal for any entry level scope.

2. 25 mm and 12 mm refers to the focal length of the eyepiece. Without getting into a lot of detail, the higher the focal length of the eyepiece, the lower the magnification (power) will be when it is used in your telescope.

A 2x barlow lense is an accessory that goes in between the eyepiece and the telescope and doubles (2x) the power of whichever eyepiece is inserted.

The powers of 20x, 40x,and 80x would be the results of the 25mm, the 12mm, and the 12mm with the barlow respectively.

To calculate the power, you divide the focal length of the eyepiece into the focal length of the telescope. The powers you have listed would suggest that the focal length of this telescope is 500 mm., and that the 12mm eyepiece is probably a 12.5mm. 500mm divided by 25 mm =20 x 500mm divided by 12.5mm=40x 500mm divided by 12.5mm, x2 (barlow)=80x

3. A 90 degree diagonal is basically a small adapter with a 90 degree bend in it. Using this, if the telescope is pointing straight up, you don't have to look straight up through the bottom of the telescope. You look straight ahead, as the eyepiece sticks out the side at the bottom of the telescope tube.

An erecting diagonal means that when you look into the eyepiece while using a diagonal in a refractor, up is up, left is left, etc. This isn't always true with other types of telescopes.

What brand names of telescopes are available where you live

[admin]

At your price range you maybe better off looking into a 3 inch newtonian (reflector).

[speaker]

For 100 dollars......I think 10X50 binocular would be good that you can sweep milky way, many small fuzzy deep sky objects like M8, M13, etc. Fuzzy light M31 and nice 7 sister stars M45, and much more. More you learn the sky then later you would buy a better telescope!