Gilly wrote:
Does anyone know much about telescopes? I bought my son a cheap one a few years ago, and he uses it a lot to look at stars. So I was thinking about investing in a more powerful one. He's only 11, so I don't want anything too sophisticated, & wondered if anyone could give me any tips as there's such a big range of gear that I know nowt about.
Basically if you want one that can see the planets reasonably well such as saturn (jupiters much easier) then you'll be wanting an 8 inch or larger dobsonian/reflector or one of the more expensive cassegrains.
Refractors have more magnifying power but tend to distort colour IMHO, the refractors that are available to joe public aren't worth a toss anyway so probably best avoid.
www.preloved.co.uk/adverts/show/10878880...dob-plus-extras.html
^Thats a dobsonian for example, although that ones 12" which is plenty big enough lol, in fact prolly too good if anything.
The makstov-cassegrains tend to be electronic models with a motor which can automatically align and track objects, they're also much smaller but surprisingly powerful.
www.preloved.co.uk/adverts/show/10878878...-90-plus-extras.html
Thats a good example of a starter in that range, expect to fork out a fair bit for a decent one.
Don't bother with the crap in toyshops etc, they're a complete waste of time.
www.telescopehouse.com/acatalog/Meade-LX90-Telescopes.html
The LX90 on preloved there is around 1800 quid new as seen there.
Do not expect to see much with telescopes unless you're prepared to fork out some serious money, 100 - 300 quid will basically let you see jupiter as a bright dot with 2 or 3 small dots either side (its moons) with new scopes. beyond that price range you start to get into the range which can discern patters on mars and just about make out the rings of saturn this would be around the 500 or 600 quid mark.
1000 quid and up can usually discern saturn clearly and jupiters cloud patterns and red spot. Thats a rough rule of thumb so to speak for brand new models.
The larger diameter reflectors let more light in which should always be your primary concern far more so than magnification, you can always tweak magnification with barlow lenses (you'll want to read up about those, they're for the eyepiece)
