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i dont know anything about telescopes specifically but i do know a bit about tasco telescopic sights. they are not the best optics available but then again unless you are planning on making this a major hobby i guess it wont matter too much.
That’s kind of what I thought Hippo. I used to have a Tasco scope on my old El Gamo Magnum, and that wasn’t bad at all. If I’m just looking at stars every now and then, rather than five times a week at 4.49am, then I doubt it’ll matter too much.
However, a lot of the sites I’ve visited trying to read up on this stuff say you need to spend £200 to get a decent telescope. I was thinking more in the region of £50 😉
Article on buying your first telescope .
http://physics.weber.edu/planet/telescope.html
This is a superb free bit of software ,
http://stellarium.sourceforge.net/
Stellarium is a free open source planetarium for your computer. It shows a realistic sky in 3D, just like what you see with the naked eye, binoculars or a telescope.
It is being used in planetarium projectors. Just set your coordinates and go.It’s funny you should mention this Neon as I’m also coming up to 35 and I’ve always had a great deal of interest in cosmology and the universe. You know, how the universe was formed, our place in the grand scheme of things, whether mankind will ever explore other galaxies and the far reaches of space. I’d be very interested to know what you manage to find out.
Nah! Not really of course, I’m pulling your leg! Eeeh lad, give your head a shake – what’s wrong with you today? Stop all this silly talk and get yourself down the pub you big Jessie.
you’ll definatly get what you pay for, and 50quid might get you little more than a kids toy. When they say “amazing x240 magnification”, you’ll actually be lucky to get x10, because anything above that will just be too blurry.
i’ve had this beast for 5 or 6 yrs http://www.orionoptics.co.uk/acatalog/Europa_200_f6.html , though for the last 3 it’s been gathering dust in the garage. It gives great views of the inner planets (saturns rings and jupiters spot) but to get the best out of the scope you need to transport it far away from the city’s lights, which i just don’t have time for anymore.
By all accounts get a cheap scope, but don’t expect “OMFG!!!”234” views with it. It’ll be great for lunar viewing, but not much cop for anything else, you might just get a faint blur of saturns rings, but it’ll be enough to keep you interested if thats your bag.
I’d actually suggest buying some decent binoculars, you still get some great lunar viewing, it’s amzing how many more stars you can see compared with the naked eye and you can use them for other things 😉
AS a bit of an amateur astronomer I would recommend stellarium as mentioned above mainly because it is the only one I know of that has a night viewing mode, meaning you can take it out side on a laptop and it will display in a red tint so as not to ruin your night vision. Genius in my mind. It is also bloody accurate and will give you the right information from your area (you need only click your position on a map to give it the right co ordinates too!
I would also recommend a reflecting telescope similar to Beer_Monsters, the clarity is often much greater (it’s easier and cheaper to make a perfect mirror than it is a perfect lens) and the viewing position is a lot more convenient. They are also much shorter for the same focal length (as the light beam is reflected back on itself the light travels almost twice the distance in the same length of tube).
AS Beer said you need to spend a decent amount on it, no less than £150, but I would recommend at least £200, or else buy binoculars. Did you know that 75% of the British people didn’t realise it was possible to see the moon during the day? I foyu need any help to find stuff you could always get in contact with your local Astronomical societ, there will be one near you, but you will need to make an effort to get out of the city, it’s less than pointless to do observations there, especially London.
nothing wrong with a bit of planet gazing. especially out here in Spain . I just cant imagine London being that good a place to do it .
Ive got one of these: http://www.astroshop.de/en/telescopes/seben/big-boss-150-1400?sid=459e03097ff292f74fa9430577e7d9ca
Which I got off their ebay shop for about £100 of your fine pounds. But it’s also worth noting that you may want to buy other lenses even though you get quite a few free. The manual focus can be a pain in the arse as stuff is so far away (eg Jupiter or Saturn) that the minute you touch it it’s wobbling like crazy. Lenses aint fantastic but they will do for starters. you can get pretty close on the moon. And Jupiter and it’s moons are wuite an awesome sight when you consider its like looking at a mini version of our solar system. And Saturn… Well that goes without saying but here goes. Nothing more awe inspiring than looking up and seeing Saturn and its rings with your own eyes, Bit like Guernica by Picasso. Not that impressive untill you visit it and find out its as big as a double decker bus. Im actually going to upgrade to a larger scope as I want to start checking out all them multi coloured nebulas out there.
I guess some of the folks here need to learn that its not like train spotting or playing WOW unless you want to make it like trainspotting or WOW.
Neon in his mature years will find that he will be content to only whop it out from time to time and either so will or wont be his wife (contented that is) 😉
Oh and if you be needing software Im sure I can sort something outhere have a blurred dirty lensed closeup of teh mewn:
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