Astronomy and stargazer friends, I'm looking for some recommendations on an entry level but good quality telescope. Now that I'm rural again I want to appreciate the lessened light pollution. Any thoughts are appreciated!
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@adequate what do you want to look at and how entry level are we talking? I’m not directly in touch with the telescope market but I do buy a lot of camera lenses and gun optics and glass has gotten insanely good for insanely cheap lately
No experience aside from looking through a telescope a few times. I'm not completely retarded IRL, only on the interwebs. I'm pretty good at figuring things out but I'd love for someone with experience to give me a starting point and some direction.
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@adequate oh I more meant financially, for some people “entry level” is 1-200 dollars, for others it’s 1-2000
I don't want to spend a grand on what could be a passing fancy. But quality is definitely a factor when I research purchases I expect to exceed $100 US.
@adequate on the lower end, you can get toy store refractors (the telescope you think of when you think of telescopes) for insanely cheap and like I said prior the Chinese print these lenses by the millions now, if it’s just gonna sit in your closet and go outside to look at Jupiter they’re fine enough
A little bit more expensive and you can get a proper desktop reflector. For telescopes aperture is everything, if you want to zoom in and out you do that with the eyepiece so the aperture is the only “power scale” measurement available. Reddit recommends this guy at the beginner level (edit: sold out, new rec: https://www.skywatcherusa.com/products/heritage-150-tabletop-dobsonian
On the high end this guy will outperform your eyeballs for the foreseeable future so would be the last big thing you need to buy other than a tracking base if you wanted to do astronomy as a serious hobby https://www.highpointscientific.com/apertura-ad8-8-inch-dobsonian-telescope-ad8
A little bit more expensive and you can get a proper desktop reflector. For telescopes aperture is everything, if you want to zoom in and out you do that with the eyepiece so the aperture is the only “power scale” measurement available. Reddit recommends this guy at the beginner level (edit: sold out, new rec: https://www.skywatcherusa.com/products/heritage-150-tabletop-dobsonian
On the high end this guy will outperform your eyeballs for the foreseeable future so would be the last big thing you need to buy other than a tracking base if you wanted to do astronomy as a serious hobby https://www.highpointscientific.com/apertura-ad8-8-inch-dobsonian-telescope-ad8
Alternative
Look for a used in excellent condition Orion XT8 8" Dobsonian on Facebook Marketplace. Then get the SVBony Red Line 3 Eypiece Set
https://youtu.be/E2Fq7ecjBvQ
Look for a used in excellent condition Orion XT8 8" Dobsonian on Facebook Marketplace. Then get the SVBony Red Line 3 Eypiece Set
https://youtu.be/E2Fq7ecjBvQ