Has anyone here owned a telescope?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Mike Rotch
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Mike Rotch

Mike Rotch

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I am thinking of spashing out on a telescope. Before I do though, I would like to find out if anyone here has ever owned one. Does it get boring after the novelty has worn off? Are they high-maintainance pieces of equipment?

Relevant feedback is appreciated.
 
I HAVE one its pretty damn big too its probaly 2 meters tall. It does get a bit boring. When I look at the moon in it I imagine its a giant skate park ohhh that would be soo coool!
 
I have one too, and yes, it does get boring. Unless you're really really into that stuff... :)
 
Hmm. What kind do you have i.t.o refractor/reflector etc and diameter of lense eg 4"?
 
I have a Mead 60mm refractor. I used to use it all the time, and then it got blown over and the eyepiece broke. It's been collecting dust in the garage ever since. I will replace it eventually, but I would recommend getting something bigger than 60mm. People will tell you that you can get all light-gathering and magnification power you'll ever need from a good pair of binoculars. I disagree. That can only be true if your expectations are fairly low. If you want to see Saturn's rings, Jupiter's moons, the topography of the moon, galaxies and nebulae, you'll need something even bigger than my 60mm. The other benefit of a telescope over binoculars is stability. You hold binoculars and the image will always be shaky. A solid tripod eliminates this.

If you have the means I would go for a 7" Schmidt Cassegrain (most consumer telescopes that big are Scmidt Cassegrain). You'll get much more enjoyment out of a more powerful instrument. Most consumer telescope companies also sell scopes with computers that can find any known object for you, and track it through the sky. My 60mm has this. It can be a bit tricky to set up, but once it's done it works great.

Good luck.
 
Originally posted by milefile
I have a Mead 60mm refractor. I used to use it all the time, and then it got blown over and the eyepiece broke. It's been collecting dust in the garage ever since. I will replace it eventually, but I would recommend getting something bigger than 60mm. People will tell you that you can get all light-gathering and magnification power you'll ever need from a good pair of binoculars. I disagree. That can only be true if your expectations are fairly low. If you want to see Saturn's rings, Jupiter's moons, the topography of the moon, galaxies and nebulae, you'll need something even bigger than my 60mm. The other benefit of a telescope over binoculars is stability. You hold binoculars and the image will always be shaky. A solid tripod eliminates this.

If you have the means I would go for a 7" Schmidt Cassegrain (most consumer telescopes that big are Scmidt Cassegrain). You'll get much more enjoyment out of a more powerful instrument. Most consumer telescope companies also sell scopes with computers that can find any known object for you, and track it through the sky. My 60mm has this. It can be a bit tricky to set up, but once it's done it works great.

Good luck.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the feedback guys. I was reading quite a good site on how to choose your type of telescope. They Went on about it depends on whether you are aiming for planetary or messier type object viewing. I must admit that I was looking at one of the Meade's, along the lines of what Sn00pie has. If i am not mistaken Sn00pie, that Meade has a built in computer with the option to track those objects via a motor tracker.

My concern with the Schimdt-Cass is that I'd probably doing 75% of my viewing in some sort of a city setting. That means poor light, and if I am not mistaken, the Sch-Cass requires quite a dark sky to get clear viewings. The fact that is is more versatile in good viewing conditions than a similar size refractor is attractive though.

Another thing that I wanted to know, how important are the extra's, such as extra lenses, light filters etc. How much extra do they add to the costs?

PS: Thanks for that site Mile, it looks very useful.
 
I wish I had one, but living in houston would kind of make it useless. All the smog blocks the stars.
 

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