Telescopes

[Stephaknee]

I want to get into astronomy...again.

I have this cheap telescope from when i was a kid. One of those discovery channel ones. Seems to be the same exact one every other kid brand has.


What would a decent one cost, and what would make it better than this one? And I hope they have decent tripods, more like a camera tripod, that i dont have to put screws in when i use?

[Tinaa]

Some quite knowledgeable people can answer your questions here.

[redshifter]

IMO, hands down the best beginner type scope would be a 6" or 8" dobsonian reflector. They are inexpensive, inherently stable due to the design of the mount (and this is at least as important as optical performance), perform well on all types of objects (planets, globular clusters, nebulas, galaxies, etc), and easy to operate. The dobsonian mount results in a scope that doesn't look like a scope in the traditional sense, but dollar for dollar, you can't go wrong with a dob. A comparably priced scope on a more traditional looking mount can be very unstable and thus not very usable.

Here is a great example of an 8" dobsonian. I've owned this model and can highly recommend it: http://www.telescope.com/shopping/product/detailmain.jsp?itemID=252215&itemType=PRODUCT&iMainCat=4&iSubCat=9&iProductID=252215

The 6" version would be a great scope as well. I personally prefer the non computerized versions, as they force you to learn the sky, which is part of the fun IMO.

Spend so time searching this forum, there are quite a few 'what scope to get' threads.