The sky at night time offers us so many interesting things to see, although it’s great to look at the sky with our eyes, what is even better is when we can get up close and personal and see more of what there is to see up there. If we have our own telescope then we can see far more than we could before.
One thing that should be noted straight out the gate, is that with telescopes you get what you pay for, if you want anything decent then you are going to need a decent budget, maybe $400 upwards to start. You can go for cheaper models but you will most likely be disappointed with the performance. If you are gonna go cheap on a telescope then you might be better off buying some binoculars. Cheap telescopes will often provide a poor viewing experience and distorted images.
We would recommend that you start looking at a price range of around four to eight hundred dollars and consider a 60mm refractor telescope if you are just getting started, you will be impressed with what you’ll be able to see. If you have more money to spend then you can get into the higher end models which offer more features such as computer control, so they can actually track stars and galaxies that you program in! Pretty cool.
A telescopes magnification is often a big consideration for many people but you need to bear in mind that bigger magnification capabilities on cheaper telescopes is almost useless. At a lower magnification of say 32x, you can still see a lot. You will be able to see some great detail on the moon on a good viewing night, plus see Jupiter, Saturn and the rings. The image will be quite small, but crisp and sharp. You should if you can go for at least a magnification specification of 50x as this will offer a bigger viewing image and enhanced detail.
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The next scale up is 100x magnifications and that will result in a far superior detailed image, but again in a cheaper, basic telescope you will have a much duller image and it will be made worse by any turbulence in the air. After a hot day for example over cities the heat rises and can cause your telescope image to ‘swim’ in and out of focus. A high magnification will accentuate this problem. If you are buying a cheaper telescope then the highest magnification is not going to always be the best option.
Should You Buy A Reflector Or Refractor Telescope?
The operation of a reflector scope is very simple and therefore these scopes are cheaper. The light from the lens is bounced from a primary mirror onto a mirror in the eye piece which allows you to see the image.
A refractor scope however works on a different principle and the light is sent straight to the eye piece where the image is then seen by the human eye, these telescopes are actually sealed tubes. If you are going to go with a refractor (recommended) then you might want to consider the 60 mm lens as a good starting point.
We would recommend going to a specialist store to find your perfect telescope plus it’s well worth looking online as you will find some great deals and at great prices, the main thing is to research the model that you intend on purchasing.
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