Telescope recommendation?

Winona · Nov 10, 2020

Hi. Wasn’t sure where to put this. I am looking for a Christmas present for my husband. Any recommendations for a telescope? I want something worth buying, not junk but not super expensive. It will be a hobby. The whole family enjoys looking at stars and the planets, but so far it’s with the naked eye. He has mentioned getting one for years. I have no clue what to look for and any information is appreciated. Looking at less than $400 unless that means buying junk. Thanks ahead of time.

photoflyer · Nov 10, 2020

What camera and lenses do you already have? I ask because for deep sky objects (think galaxies and nebulae) you could get either the iOptron or Sky Adventurer tracker. One of these, along with a very sturdy tripod, enable you to mount your camera and track objects for long exposures without star trailing. A 300mm lens on an APS-C is more than enough to capture Orion and other similar objects.

This video will explain.

I have the Celestron NexStar Evolution 6 (in fact just used it tonight to shoot M56) but, that kit is significantly more than $400. I really enjoy it but I live in an extremely light polluted area and cannot achieve its full potential without heading to the mountains. I got the Sky Adventurer tracker to take with my when I travel for both business and pleasure as it is very portable. When I visit clients in Colorado and California I planned to take it with my ... and then we decided to have a pandemic so that will have to wait.

Rickbb · Nov 10, 2020

I’ve always wanted a Celestron, but I’m not a sky watching expert so there may be better scopes.

I do recommend a motorized base to follow the object. Especially if you get an adaptor to mount your camera.

NexStar 127SLT Computerized Telescope | Celestron

photoflyer · Nov 10, 2020

Rickbb said:
I do recommend a motorized base to follow the object.

Agreed. Once you figure out how to align it...be patient...telling it to go to a specific object is like magic. My experience has been that you need to set the right expectations. You likely won't see what appears on the cover of " Sky and Telescope".

I mount my camera to the Celestron and execute time exposures. What appears to be mostly dark sky, after a 10+ second exposure reveals unseen wonders, but I'm fairly new and like anything, it takes research, a few failures and lots of practice.

Winona · Nov 11, 2020

Thanks for all the advice. I’ll start looking at these examples and the video as soon as YouTube is working again.

weepete · Nov 11, 2020

Wade through youtube, there's a whole host of info on there about what you want to view, what your budget is and how yu want to observe. I'll warn you, it get's technical quickly and there's a lot of stuff. I was looking into it myself, but came to the conclusion I was not in the right part of the world for casual observing.

One thing I would suggest is looking at the bortle scale for light pollution where you plan to observe. There's not much point trying to see nebulae from your backyard if you are in bortle class that's too high unless you plan to take your telescope elsewhere. That might limit your options, I'm in bortle class 8 skies, which is near the top of the scale, so realistically planetary observing would be the thing for my back yard. If you are in a dark sky area you might be able to see galaxies or even nebulae so opens up more considerations as each type of subject has it's own optimal gear. There is a lot of good info there on youtube if you put the time in though!

photoflyer · Nov 11, 2020

weepete said:
Wade through youtube, there's a whole host of info on there about what you want to view, what your budget is and how yu want to observe. I'll warn you, it get's technical quickly and there's a lot of stuff. I was looking into it myself, but came to the conclusion I was not in the right part of the world for casual observing.

One thing I would suggest is looking at the bortle scale for light pollution where you plan to observe. There's not much point trying to see nebulae from your backyard if you are in bortle class that's too high unless you plan to take your telescope elsewhere. That might limit your options, I'm in bortle class 8 skies, which is near the top of the scale, so realistically planetary observing would be the thing for my back yard. If you are in a dark sky area you might be able to see galaxies or even nebulae so opens up more considerations as each type of subject has it's own optimal gear. There is a lot of good info there on youtube if you put the time in though!

Agreed, light pollution makes this much more difficult and it gets technical very quickly. Winona is likely interested in traditional viewing through the eyepiece and light pollution makes that super tough.

If you are willing to image with a camera and image stack you can get reasonable results but like you said, it is tough and technical and time consuming. I live walking distance to downtown Washington DC so it does not get much worse. I took these the other evening from the back yard (garden). They are M-56 and Ring Nebula are each50 stacked images of 10 seconds duration shot through a 6 inch Celestron. When I want better results I head a couple hours away. I almost gave up but now the challenge has me hooked.

Ring Nebula

M-56 (Globular Cluster)

Polaris (North Star - Binary)

weepete · Nov 12, 2020

Thats a video I found pretty useful

VidThreeNorth · Dec 20, 2020

It's way the heck late for this topic now, but today I ran across this post. The last telescope turned out to be around $400 US, which surprised me, but you'll see why if you watch this. Any opinions about this opinion?:

"Top 3 Beginner's Telescopes!",
posted Oct 18, 2020 by "Ed Ting" [length 15:25]
""

photoflyer · Dec 20, 2020

If you are talking about the MCT telescope at the end, I'm sure it will provide good viewing. For me, however, I am sold on having an electronic tracking mount. The ease of use of the mount is so important to the experience. Once it is aligned, just tell it what object you want to observe and it slews to it and stays on it. The sky is a very fast moving target made even faster with the magnification of the telescope. Of course you can start with the telescope but make sure you can grow into a mount on a sturdy tripod.

VidThreeNorth said:
It's way the heck late for this topic now, but today I ran across this post. The last telescope turned out to be around $400 US, which surprised me, but you'll see why if you watch this. Any opinions about this opinion?:

"Top 3 Beginner's Telescopes!",
posted Oct 18, 2020 by "Ed Ting" [length 15:25]
""