Here is my annual buyers’ guide to telescopes for amateur stargazers.
First of all, buy smart. That means avoiding the “big box” discount stores. There are a lot of junky telescopes on the market. In most cases I think the best thing to do is buy online from one of the major telescope brands. My favorite telescope brands are Orion and Celestron. Go to their websites and you’ll find many choices in all types of telescopes and many different price ranges.
There are two basic kinds of visual scopes out there; refractors and reflectors. They both have their advantages and disadvantages. Refractors are what most people think of when it comes to telescopes. The light from whatever you’re viewing comes in one end of the telescope through what’s called an objective lens and you view from the other end through the eyepiece. The most important thing any telescope can do for you is gather light. The more light you can bring in, the better and clearer you’ll see things. The magnification or power definitely takes a back seat to the light gathering ability. In the case of refractor telescopes, the wider the objective lens, the better. Refractor telescopes are sold by the diameter of their objective lenses. You need at least a 60mm refractor. Anything smaller is basically a toy, in my book.
Reflector telescopes gather light with a concave parabolic mirror in the back of the scope that bounces the reflected image to the front of the scope where another flat mirror directs the image to an eyepiece on the side of the scope. The wider the mirror, the more light you can gather. All reflector telescopes are sold by the diameter of the mirrors in inches. You really need at least an eight-inch reflector or larger for serious backyard stargazing.
I really think you get more bang for the buck with reflector scopes, especially reflector telescopes in Dobsonian mounts, better known as Dobsonian or “Dob” scopes. One disadvantage with reflector telescopes is that in general they’re bigger and bulkier than refractors, but the views you can get with them are so wonderful.
Now, for some specific recommendations. If your star watcher is a young person just getting into the stars, you want to be sure you buy smart. You don’t want to spend a whole bunch of money on a scope if stargazing is just a passing fancy. At the same time, you don’t want to buy so cheap that the poor quality of the telescope discourages a budding amateur astronomer. In that vein I highly recommend the Celestron “Firstscope” telescope. It’s a miniature 76mm reflector that’s permanently attached to its mount. The whole unit can easily fit on a tabletop. It’s great for the moon, brighter planets and brighter stellar objects such as the Pleiades star cluster. You can find it on the Celestron website at http://www.celestron.com.
For older youth in their teens, or even adults, I really like the Orion SkyQuest XT8 Classic Dobsonian Telescope. It’s a great Newtonian reflector telescope with an easy to use Dobsonian mount. With an eight-inch diameter mirror you’ll get really nice views of the moon, planets, nebula, galaxies, and more. The views you get are so crisp and clear. I know many people who have these and love them. My only complaint is that they’re tough on adult backs because you have to bend over quite a bit to look through the eyepiece. That’s an easy fix though. Just find a sturdy box or something to raise the base of the scope a little higher…or just sit down in a chair for long looks. You can order it for less than $400 from Orion telescopes at http://www.telescope.com.
A step up from the Orion XT Classic Dobsonian is the Orion brand SkyQuest XT8i IntelliScope for $700. It’s also an eight-inch Dobsonian scope that comes with a computerized celestial object locator that is such a great help.
Happy celestial shopping.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
