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Getting Back into Amateur Astronomy: Where to Find a Good Telescope?

posted by cmn32480 on Tuesday April 28 2015, @01:25AM   Printer-friendly
from the lucy-in-the-sky-with-diamonds dept.

chewbacon writes:

I pulled my telescope out of storage the other day and set it up. The family and I had a great time with it. It is a relatively cheap telescope with a hand held controller and it tracks objects once you align it to a couple of stars.

When I was a kid, it was challenging to be interested with out the computer guidance, so I'd like to make it easier for them to stay interested. Being a number of years old, I think it is standing on its last leg as the controller is acting flaky and the motors seem to get lost when turning to an object. So I'm asking the nerds out there: who makes a decent telescope today? Where should I shop for one? I'd like something with similar features that I have now. Computer guidance and tracking is the must-have. Perhaps GPS. I would like to spend less than $600, but I'm open to more expensive options.

 
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  • (Score: 4, Informative) by Michelle on Tuesday April 28 2015, @02:03AM

    by Michelle (4097) on Tuesday April 28 2015, @02:03AM (#175927)

    I hope you are fortunate enough to live in a place with little light pollution (and such places are getting hard to find!)

    I have a couple Orion scopes: 80mm refractor for photography and 10" dob for visual. And the dob is *huge*, at least by my standards, and pulls in quite a bit of light. The 10" works pretty well for me as long as I use a decent eyepiece (some of the Orion ones are good, most are kind of mediocre). Even with horrific light pollution (24-hour daylight) in the SF bay area, it's still somewhat usable. M13 just about explodes in my eyepiece!

    There are a few sites out there that deal in used equipment - you might want to dig around for them or see if there's any local astronomy clubs in your area. The cost of equipment can be prohibitive, so best to get "previously loved" gear if you can.

    Good luck - oh, and don't forget: http://cleardarksky.com/ [cleardarksky.com]

    --
    "Right now is the only moment you'll ever have; so why be miserable?"
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  • (Score: 3, Interesting) by takyon on Tuesday April 28 2015, @03:12AM

    by takyon (881) <{takyon} {at} {soylentnews.org}> on Tuesday April 28 2015, @03:12AM (#175945) Journal

    quick, grab the scope [bbc.com]

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    [SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]

  • (Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 28 2015, @11:51AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 28 2015, @11:51AM (#176021)

    If you live near the New York/Pennsylvania border, there is always Cherry Springs State Park.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cherry_Springs_State_Park [wikipedia.org]

    • (Score: 1) by nitehawk214 on Tuesday April 28 2015, @02:56PM

      by nitehawk214 (1304) on Tuesday April 28 2015, @02:56PM (#176090)

      I live nowhere near the border, but it is easily worth a 5 hour drive.

      --
      "Don't you ever miss the days when you used to be nostalgic?" -Loiosh

  • (Score: 2) by chewbacon on Tuesday April 28 2015, @08:41PM

    by chewbacon (1032) on Tuesday April 28 2015, @08:41PM (#176243)

    I live on the Gulf Coast. Have plenty of areas to go, mostly out on the beach, at night. Can see the milky way out there.