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  • Telescope advice
  • Denno17
    Free Member

    Can someone please recommend me a telescope for my son. I bought him a cheapish refractor scope and he has really taken to the old looking at the planets so now looking to upgrade to a decent setup as he is limited as to what he can look at with his current scope. Now I don’t have a clue about scopes so any advice is gladly welcomed. So far I have been looking at a 5″ reflector scope.

    bencooper
    Free Member

    Depends on your budget, but Celestron are very good value. Also find out about mounts – unless he’s a total geek, a scope with motorised go-to will get used a lot more than one with a manual mount.

    Gweilo
    Free Member

    I tried to post a response just now an buggered it up.

    First some questions –

    What do you want to observe with this scope, Lunar and planetary stuff mostly or are you looking at Deep Sky observation, galaxies nebulae etc

    Whats the driver for a reflector and have you done any research into the types of reflector on the market – Newtoian, Schmit Cassegrain, Maksutov. The small good quality reflectors tend to be Maksutov’s and don’t come cheap

    Do you understand the relative merits of each type of scope, reflector vs refractor?

    Finally whats the budget.

    Assuming I were to be using the scope mostly for Lunar and Planetary observation and I were buying a 5 inch scope I’d be inclined to buy a better quality refractor for the same money as the reflector.

    Why – what you see, and the resolution of what you see, is all about the light you collect and the light that gets to the eyepice. In any reflecting telescope there are secondary mirrors that cut down the total light reaching the eyepiece.

    With a refractor you have a straight through light path, no secondary mirrors. In respect of straight light gathering and resolving capability a 5 inch aperture refractor gives higher performance, and almost certainly has better optics, than a reflector of the same aperture.

    Decent scope manufacturers – Celestron, Meade, Orion Optics

    I’ve got 2 Celestron’s a 6 inch refractor and a 9.25inch reflector

    Happy to waffle more about motor drives and guiding if that would help

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    jamesgarbett
    Free Member

    I would look for a secondhand Meade ETX – great scopes

    Gweilo
    Free Member

    Agreed Meade ETX are good scopes and highly portable. You’d be looking at the ETX 125 if you want something approaching 5 inch.

    Denno17
    Free Member

    Thanks for the advice, What i know about telescopes can be written on the back of a postage stamp and still have space. I was looking at the skywatcher scopes but after reading your advice i have found 2 scopes i would apreciate your feedback on. I don’t want to be spending more than £200 as my son changes his mind like the weather about his interests.

    http://www.morrisphoto.co.uk/ProductDetails~productID~8609~categoryid~206.html

    http://www.morrisphoto.co.uk/ProductDetails~productID~9207~categoryid~206.html

    Thanks in advance

Viewing 6 posts - 1 through 6 (of 6 total)

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