OT: Amateur Astronomers, hook me up w/ a swanky telescope!

[thirdgenbird]

My dad was big into astronomy when his heath prevented him from riding.

We had A LOT of product to sell and I’ve been working with a local expert as it’s far past my knowledge. I’m not sure about shipping, but I could connect you with him if wanted. If we have a telescope that fits your needs, I am sure we could offer a very fair price.

[rnhood]

I have a Televue now, and it's decent, though not great. I grew up with reflectors and they tend to do better with higher mag eyepieces, imho. Celestrons and the like are good scopes for the money. That's probably the direction I would go for a start.

[weisan]

Perseid meteor shower

https://www.kxan.com/weather/weather...aks-this-week/

[steveoz]

talk about a post that hits the "I want one too" button!

[Spinner]

I have a pair of Nikko Big Eye Japanese Binoculars that my dad brought home from WWII. With 20 x 3 power, an autumn moon is unbelievable.

[Hawker]

Here is a great website and forum. I've learned a lot here and for the most part they've been patient and friendly with my newby questions. And there is an equipment section and a Beginners section.

Like this forum, do yourself a favor and do some homework first so you know what you're buying and why. You'll feel really dumb if you end up with a TT bike when what you really needed was a used Hybrid.

https://www.cloudynights.com

[Peter B]

Links from a pal who is a serious stargazer.

https://www.telescope.com/?msclkid=7...te%20-%20Exact

https://optcorp.com/blogs/astronomy/...e-buying-guide

https://astromart.com/

and a repeat from a previous poster:


https://www.cloudynights.com/

[mcteague]

Many years ago I got into astronomy thinking I might attach a camera to get great photos. I ended up with a Meade 8" Cassegrain. This was before all the computerized gizmos that take care of finding the object of interest. Looking at the moon was fun but finding other objects could be a chore. I also found that clear nights were not that common where I live and were most likely on cold nights.

On top of that, taking photos of nebula and such required long exposures and the scope needs to be guided during the shot. Plus, I'm not much of a night person so the scope got used less and less. After a while I sold it all. When Halle-Bopp came around,in the late 90s, I got a much cheaper 10” Dobsonian. Once again I found I did not have the patience to sit outside at night and use the thing. It was either too cold or too buggy. Now, if I need a star fix I just look at images from the Hubble.

Tim

[OtayBW]

Originally Posted by gasman

Good luck. Space is cool--about 4 Kelvin

Originally Posted by Louis

Ha Ha !

Absolutely! (but not quite...).

[Michael Maddox]

This is a huge rabbit hole, as deep as the one we're already in as cyclists. There are more varieties of telescope than there are bikes.

As an active amateur astronomer, I've owned a LOT of scopes, from an 8" Maksutov to a 24" hand-ground Dobsonian "light bucket". Yeah...mirror grinding is a thing you can get into.

I'm currently using a set of 100mm astronomical binoculars on an alt-az mount, sticking with a big lens on my camera for astrophotography.

I would HIGHLY recommend checking out telescope.com (used to be Orion Telescopes) for a look at the gamut of products available.

If you want to SEE things, a Dobsonian reflector is going to give to the most bang for the buck, by FAR, but it WILL require you to learn basic navigation around the sky. If you're more interested in local planetary observation and some basic astrophotography, something like a 6" to 8" Cassegrain on a computerized equatorial mount is going to be plug-and-go. You can go CHEAP and good, with something like the Orion StarSeeker line, which are Maksutov-Cassegrain refractors with computer mounts. You're looking at $550 to about $1300, easy. You're going to want more eyepieces. You're going to want to upgrade your finder scope. You're going to want a camera rig, then you're going to want a camera FOR the scope. It's JUST like owning a bike.

Anyway...there's a good buyer's guide on telescope.com and those people are HAPPY to talk with you. They carry good products and they'll keep you from purchasing a telescope-scoped-object. It's one of those hobbies where you can spend as much money as you have, and then some.

Feel free to PM me if you have specific questions. The range of "good" cheap scopes has expanded quite a lot over the past 20 years, so long as you stay off Amazon and department stores and other non-specialty sites.

[oldguy00]

I owned a Nexstar 8Se for a while. Eventually sold it. Main issue for me, as others have mentioned, is that light pollution is a real killer. And it was a royal pain in the ass to drive an hour+ to find an area to use the telescope, drag said heavy telescope with us, get it setup, star align it so the computer would work properly. Also, the tripods they come with look sturdy but they can shake pretty easy. I think a lot of folks in the hobby recommend upgrading the tripod.

So.....make sure you have an easy spot to go to that won't be light polluted before you sink a ton of money into a scope.

[josephr]

Originally Posted by MattTuck

I do admit I'm curious if this is just a trope in movies and TV, or if it is really something people do. I was on a zoom call earlier in the year with someone in their NYC condo, and there was indeed a telescope in the background... so it has me wondering.

I've never really lived in the downtown area of a major city, so it'd be hard for me to comment anymore than what I've seen in the movies. But with as many apartments and stuff around, i'd guess folks do it more often than they guess. Even without the erotic side, watching people in parks or gathering areas might be entertainment for some? There are people who go to the mall just to watch people walk around.

These telescopes look really cool...but I don't think I could get into it enough to justify the purchase. I'd probably check it out for like a month and then find something else to spring in to. You know what's better than a kick-butt telescope? HAVING A FRIEND with a kick-butt telescope!

[merlinmurph]

Originally Posted by josephr

You know what's better than a kick-butt telescope? HAVING A FRIEND with a kick-butt telescope!

Just like boats!