Re: [OT] Telescopes...

["Mal Lansell" <mlansell@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

First, if you want to see anything worthwhile apart from the moon, you need
as big an aperture as you can get.  The best bet is a reflector - mirrors
are cheaper than lenses, so you get to see more for your money.

As a rough guide, I bought a cheapish 6" reflector (Skywatcher
Explorer 150)
for £350 from Venturescope (www.telescopesales.com.uk).  This is probably a
reasonable first scope, but if you get the bug you'll quickly want a larger
one.  It came with a motorised EQ3 equatorial mount (meaning it can keep
pointing at the same star as the earth rotates).  A motorized mount is
vital
IMO - without it the object you're looking at will quickly drift out of
view.

With this size telescope you can see Jupiter and it's four largest moons
(Jupiter appears as a small disk, but you can make out some banding - the
moons are just bright points).  You can also get a good view of Saturn -
the
rings are visible as a white circle around the planet (or they were last
winter - I don't know how quickly that changes!).

The moon of course comes out bright an clear - a bit too bright really. 
I'm
going to buy a moon filter soon.

I haven't really looked for nebulae etc - I only got the scope last
Christmas and there's been a lack of clear nights this year.  I imagine
that
they will mostly show up as faint fuzzy patches.  I've just ordered an
adapter for my digital camera, so I hope to get some good picks with a long
exposure.

If you're willing to spend a bit more, I'd recommend buying an 8" or
10"
reflector - it will be worth it.  The highest practical power
(magnification) is 2 x the aperture in mm, so a 6" reflector has a
limit of
150mm x 2  = 300.  If you use eyepieces that give a higher power, it will
be
impossible to focus the image.

Mal








----- Original Message -----
From: "Andrew Kilgore" <amkilgore@xxxxxxx>
To: <ukha_d@xxxxxxx>
Sent: Friday, October 15, 2004 12:21 AM
Subject: [ukha_d] [OT] Telescopes...


>
> Hi all,
>
> Firstly apologies for the off topic post, but I figured with all us
dreamers
> on the list some of us must occasionally look at the stars :o)
>
> I'm looking to buy a (basic) telescope but know absolutely nothing
about
> them.
> What should I be looking for feature-wise and magnification etc.?
> Also, what should I expect to see - what kind of detail with x675
> magnification etc.
> Lastly, any recommendations? I've looked at Argos' selection and
there's a
> couple on lxdirect.com (Littlewoods).
>
> TIA,
> Andy.
>
>
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