Telescope recommendations?

[maceemiller]

Hi all
As a child I loved looking at the stars with my tiny telescope with my Dad.

Time went by and girls became more interesting,  followed by work, marriage,  kids....some may know the drill!

Im now 45  and, following the unfortunate passing of a friends father she gave me his telescope. Its rekindled my love of star gazing and for the past few weeks its been great....I've seen Mars, the rings of Saturn and Jupiter with 4 of its moons.....

Its not a powerful telescope at all (D-60mm F-700mm refractor) so im looking to buy a reflector as I've always wanted one but never have.

Id like to get "a little closer" to the above mentioned planets but also need enough light to get in the telescope to be able to see some "deeper" objects (Andromeda Galaxy) for example.

Ive been looking at Orion and Celestron brands but is there a reflector you would recommend,  regardless of brand?

My budget is about £250 ($350)

Thanks in advance.

Edited September 19, 2018 by maceemiller

[Green Baron]

Well, there are a lot of tips in the threads on stargazing and astrophotography.

First i must say (being an owner of a 115/705mm APO and 200 f/5 Newton) 350 funds is not much, don't expect much more than you have now. If you can wait and save something, do so and use the 60/700 for another while.

Second, visit cloudynights forum as well.

You need: the tube (a newton, others are two expensive for the budget), a mount (probably a dobson rockerbox), 3 eyepieces. If the telescope is around f/5 (let us say a 15cm aperture/75cm focal length), maybe a 36mm, 20mm and 10mm eyepiece. Probably an adapter and a tube piece of 4 and 8 cm to vary focus distance for different eyepieces. Maybe you can find a good offer for a used scope ?

You're from GB i assume ? Here is a link to a telescope manufacturer just for information. Their mirrors have a good reputation.

http://www.orionoptics.co.uk/home.html

Don't confuse with the American brand Orion, though ! 

For a real thing that is visible better than your small refractor you'd have to spend around (Euro) 300 for the tube, 300 for a manual equatorial mount if you don't want dobsonian mount, 20-50 per cheap eyepiece, 40-70 for reasonable ones (Plössl). That's the low range if you don't want plastic lenses.

---------------

Just searched their website:

Their 15cm newton with a manual eq mount is around 520 pounds i see: http://www.orionoptics.co.uk/VX/vx6-6l.html . I find it a good offer. Order the polar view finder for another 30,-. Later, the mount can even be fitted with drives for the first photographic steps.

Edited September 19, 2018 by Green Baron
Link was broken

[maceemiller]

Thankyou @Green Baron
I will look into this information

[Adstri]

A bit late, but I would start out with a powerful pair of binoculars first.

[boltzens]

Hi there - you may want to check out some of the observing guides and telescope recommendations that Astronomy Magazine has published:
http://astronomy.com/observing/equipment-use

 

[0111narwhalz]

1 hour ago, boltzens said:

http://astronomy.com/observing/equipment-use

This URL invites questions. What other directories lie beside observing?

[boltzens]

Take a look at the other menu options: http://astronomy.com/ 

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