If you’ve got a stargazing fan on your holiday gift giving list and you’re considering a telescope for that loved one, maybe yourself, I want you to buy right and buy smart. Regardless of who the scope is for, I want you to get the most astronomical bang for your buck.
The most important thing a telescope can do for you is gather light. That will determine how clear the astronomical target will be. Light gathering ability is determined by the aperture of the telescope. The wider it is, the more light you’re able to gather.
Magnification is clearly in second place to light-gathering ability. Too many folks go for scopes that brag of high magnification without considering aperture, and that’s too bad, because you could wind up with a scope that give fuzzy, disappointing views, and what good is that?
Beware of telescopes that claim something like 500 or 600 magnification power. That’s just asking for trouble. Even though you’ll see astronomical targets more than 500 times larger than you would with your unaided eyes, there’s a very good chance that all you’ll wind up with is a mess of fuzz.
Most of the time you’ll be very happy seeing heavenly bodies in a general range of 100 to 200 power range. In fact, some celestial goodies look their best with less than 100 power.
Magnification depends on what size eyepiece you use with the scope, and most telescopes come with several eyepieces to give you a range of magnification power. I really think you’ll enjoy the low-power images through your telescope, because those are the clearest.
The least expensive way to go with a telescope is to get a small refracting telescope. This is the kind of telescope most people visualize when they think of a telescope.
Light is collected by an objective lens in the front of the scope and is bent toward the eyepiece at the rear. The wider that objective lens is, the more light gathering you’ll have. The minimum diameter for the objective lens should be about 60mm (about 2.4 inches). Anything less than that and you have a toy.
Designated sizes for refracting telescopes refer to the objective lens. A 60mm refractor has a 60mm objective lens, a 90mm refractor has 90mm objective lens, and so on.
Refractor telescopes are the ones you usually see sold in big department stores, and honestly, beware of most them. Unfortunately there are a lot of junky telescopes that wind up on the shelves of those stores.
To get a decent refractor telescope you need to spend about $200 or more. Less than that and you’re getting what you paid for.
I think the best brands of telescopes are Meade, Celestron and Orion, and they all have Web sites where you can order scopes. Just give your browser a workout.
I really think the best telescope to get, if you want to spend a little more money, is a Newtonian reflector telescope, invented by Sir Isaac Newton. It collects light from celestial objects with a concave parabolic mirror in the rear of an open tube. The collected light bounces back to a focal point at the front of the tube and is directed by a secondary flat mirror to the eyepiece mounted on the side of the tube.
Just as it is with any telescope, different eyepieces give you higher or lower magnification. The easiest reflectors to use are the ones with Dobsonian mounts. The minimum size reflector scope you should get, in my opinion, is one with a 6-inch diameter mirror. You can get one of those on the Web for about $300 to $400.
If you really want to do it right, though, get at least an 8-inch reflector. I think the best buy out there is from Orion Telescopes. I’d highly recommend the Skyquest XT8 Intelliscope Dobsonian telescope that comes with multiple eyepieces. It has a computerized object locator that can be a huge aid in helping you find astronomical targets. It’s priced at just over $600, but I think it’s well worth the money. You can find out more on the Orion Telescope Web site (www.telescopes.com). Check under Dobsonian scopes.
Obviously, you can buy even larger telescopes that have many accessories, and you even can get into astrophotography, but then you’re getting into spending thousands of dollars. My advice is start slow.
Another important piece of advice I can give is don’t set your expectations too high. A lot of times when you buy a telescope, it’ll come in a box with all kinds of professional astronomical pictures that are full of bright colors. Unfortunately you won’t see those vivid colors through the eyepiece of your scope, no matter how big it is.
Those kinds of pictures are highly processed over time. Despite that, you’ll like what you see through your scope, especially if you take long continuous looks through the eyepiece. The longer you look, the more detail and color you’ll see.
Another very important rule to remember with telescopes is let them sit outside and cool off, especially in the winter. You should let your telescope sit outside a good half-hour before you use it. That lets all the lenses and mirrors stabilize, so you get a clearer image. Never poke your telescope out an open window. The heat currents coming from house are surely going to mess up the image.
One more important thing you need is a star map. You really need to get to know the constellations and where they are, otherwise it’s like buying a car and not knowing how to drive it.
I have a book I’m very proud of — “Mike Lynch’s Minnesota Starwatch” — that has many easy to understand maps. There are also books like “Peterson Field Guide of Astronomy” and Terrence Dickenson’s “NightWatch.”
A great piece of software to get for printing out your own custom star maps is Starry Night Enthusiast from the Starry Night Company. You can order that from www.starrynightstore.com for just under $80.
It’s a big universe of telescopes and gear out there. Happy shopping.
Mike Lynch is an amateur astronomer and professional broadcast meteorologist for WCCO Radio in Minneapolis and is author of the book, “Washington Starwatch,” available at bookstores and at www.lynchandthestars.com.
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