Get a hold of Sky and Telescope magazine or even Astronomy mgazine for ideas and pricing.
With $400 you can get a good 4″ reflector with money left over for filters and accessories. But the only way you will truly learn about the telescopes is doing your homework on them.
Some camara shops also deal in telescopes. Do a yellow page search. Stay away from Wal-Mart and the likes.
Geoff G Said,
In this price range you either have to sacrifice the electronics or sacrifice the optics, and I’d always vote for optics over electronics. It’s great to have a computer point the scope at something, but if you can’t see what it’s pointing at, what’s the point?
So here are the best deals you can get for around $400. I’m using Celestron and Orion as examples because I know their product line and own many of their products.
Full GoTo, 5.1″ aperture: Celestron StarSeeker 130, $399.95:
The first two can be hooked up to a computer, but also operate stand-alone with their built in computer. The first is motorized and goes to the object automatically. The second gives you two numbers on its hand controller and you move the scope manually until both numbers equal 000. If used with a computer, the computer software will show you onscreen where the scope is pointing, and you move the scope manually so that the pointer onscreen is on the object you wish to view; personally I find zeroing the numbers on the controller faster and easier to do. The third scope is strictly manual; you find objects by the traditional technique of starhopping. I own the second scope myself, and find that it is faster and quieter than a GoTo scope, and its battery lasts for months. The first option needs an external source of power, or you’re replacing batteries every night. The third needs no batteries at all.
My choice of the three would be the 8″ manual Dob, because aperture always wins. But the other two are valid choices if you want electronic assistance in finding things. But you need to realize that you are sacrificing aperture in the process: objects will not be as bright or as sharp as in the 8″.
B. Said,
Geoff’s answer is right. I wouldn’t change one word. Really. Orion is best.
nuscorpii223 Said,
Orion, Zhummell, Antares and other companies offer 6 and 8-inch Dobsonians in your price range that would get you started. What you are looking for is however beyondf your budget, good computerized telescopes that can be linked to a PC cost $1,000 dollars and more. That does not include a 12-volt power supply and other things you will need. Laptops and computerized telescopes are power hungry to say the least. If you try to power them off your car battery at a dark site, you will find yourself in for a long walk in the dark.
Geoff is correct that in this price range, it’s a choice between quality optics or quality electronics. Quality optics will always win over quality electronics paired with poor optics.
Do yourself a favor and get a good Dob, a Telrad electronic aiming device, and a star atlas such as Sky & Telescope’s Pocket Sky Atlas. I have a 6-inch Dob and found hundreds of nebulae and galaxies with it, and I did it under hazy and light polluted skies. Orion does sell some lower priced Dobs with a Computerized Object Locator, including a nice 6-inch F/8 model. I recommend the non-computerized model because you need a few accessories to get started right. A 6-inch F/8 Newtonian or Dob was and still is the gold standard of beginner’s telescopes. What you would get is a telescope that is forgiving of simpler eyepieces and easier to collimate, has enough aperture for brighter galaxies and nebulae and yet will be an excellent planetary telescope as well. If you find that your interest in astronomy is more than casual and desire a more powerful telescope, the 6-inch will be a useful second telescope. I started with a 6-inch and I still use it despite owning a far more powerful 10-inch that leaves a 6-inch eating dust on galaxies. If you can afford to spend somewhat more, an 8-inch will serve you even better for only a modest increase in weight and bulk. Either telescope can show some amazing objects from a good site such as the Veil Nebula or the galaxies in the Virgo cluster.
Before you spend any money though, find a local astronomy club and try as many different telescopes as you can at some starparties. You will see when it comes to telescopes the good, the bad, and the ugly. A star party is the best way to see what will work best for you in the real world. That way when you buy a telescope, you’ll do it knowing that it will meet your needs and abilities. The best telescope is the one you can use the most often and enjoy using it too.
Adolph K Said,
Geoff is right on Target !!
Spend your money on the optics, not the electronics.
If you think you need the computer to find things, a Program comes with every Orion telescope that helps you do exactly that.
Besides, goto electronics are not as easy as they make them out to be. They have to be calibrated aligned and initialized. A single glitch can send you on a merry chase. And if you don’t know how to find an object on your own, how do you know what the computer is pointing at?
Comments
a fairly good one
Get a hold of Sky and Telescope magazine or even Astronomy mgazine for ideas and pricing.
With $400 you can get a good 4″ reflector with money left over for filters and accessories. But the only way you will truly learn about the telescopes is doing your homework on them.
Some camara shops also deal in telescopes. Do a yellow page search. Stay away from Wal-Mart and the likes.
In this price range you either have to sacrifice the electronics or sacrifice the optics, and I’d always vote for optics over electronics. It’s great to have a computer point the scope at something, but if you can’t see what it’s pointing at, what’s the point?
So here are the best deals you can get for around $400. I’m using Celestron and Orion as examples because I know their product line and own many of their products.
Full GoTo, 5.1″ aperture: Celestron StarSeeker 130, $399.95:
DSC Dobsonian, 6″ aperture: Orion XT6 IntelliScope, $499.95:
Manual Dobsonian, 8″ aperture: Orion XT8 Classic, $369.95:
The first two can be hooked up to a computer, but also operate stand-alone with their built in computer. The first is motorized and goes to the object automatically. The second gives you two numbers on its hand controller and you move the scope manually until both numbers equal 000. If used with a computer, the computer software will show you onscreen where the scope is pointing, and you move the scope manually so that the pointer onscreen is on the object you wish to view; personally I find zeroing the numbers on the controller faster and easier to do. The third scope is strictly manual; you find objects by the traditional technique of starhopping. I own the second scope myself, and find that it is faster and quieter than a GoTo scope, and its battery lasts for months. The first option needs an external source of power, or you’re replacing batteries every night. The third needs no batteries at all.
My choice of the three would be the 8″ manual Dob, because aperture always wins. But the other two are valid choices if you want electronic assistance in finding things. But you need to realize that you are sacrificing aperture in the process: objects will not be as bright or as sharp as in the 8″.
Geoff’s answer is right. I wouldn’t change one word. Really. Orion is best.
Orion, Zhummell, Antares and other companies offer 6 and 8-inch Dobsonians in your price range that would get you started. What you are looking for is however beyondf your budget, good computerized telescopes that can be linked to a PC cost $1,000 dollars and more. That does not include a 12-volt power supply and other things you will need. Laptops and computerized telescopes are power hungry to say the least. If you try to power them off your car battery at a dark site, you will find yourself in for a long walk in the dark.
Geoff is correct that in this price range, it’s a choice between quality optics or quality electronics. Quality optics will always win over quality electronics paired with poor optics.
Do yourself a favor and get a good Dob, a Telrad electronic aiming device, and a star atlas such as Sky & Telescope’s Pocket Sky Atlas. I have a 6-inch Dob and found hundreds of nebulae and galaxies with it, and I did it under hazy and light polluted skies. Orion does sell some lower priced Dobs with a Computerized Object Locator, including a nice 6-inch F/8 model. I recommend the non-computerized model because you need a few accessories to get started right. A 6-inch F/8 Newtonian or Dob was and still is the gold standard of beginner’s telescopes. What you would get is a telescope that is forgiving of simpler eyepieces and easier to collimate, has enough aperture for brighter galaxies and nebulae and yet will be an excellent planetary telescope as well. If you find that your interest in astronomy is more than casual and desire a more powerful telescope, the 6-inch will be a useful second telescope. I started with a 6-inch and I still use it despite owning a far more powerful 10-inch that leaves a 6-inch eating dust on galaxies. If you can afford to spend somewhat more, an 8-inch will serve you even better for only a modest increase in weight and bulk. Either telescope can show some amazing objects from a good site such as the Veil Nebula or the galaxies in the Virgo cluster.
Before you spend any money though, find a local astronomy club and try as many different telescopes as you can at some starparties. You will see when it comes to telescopes the good, the bad, and the ugly. A star party is the best way to see what will work best for you in the real world. That way when you buy a telescope, you’ll do it knowing that it will meet your needs and abilities. The best telescope is the one you can use the most often and enjoy using it too.
Geoff is right on Target !!
Spend your money on the optics, not the electronics.
If you think you need the computer to find things, a Program comes with every Orion telescope that helps you do exactly that.
Besides, goto electronics are not as easy as they make them out to be. They have to be calibrated aligned and initialized. A single glitch can send you on a merry chase. And if you don’t know how to find an object on your own, how do you know what the computer is pointing at?
Adolph