AMATEUR ASTRONOMY: CONSIDERATIONS BEFORE INVESTING IN YOUR FIRST TELESCOPE.
AMATEUR ASTRONOMY: CONSIDERATIONS BEFORE INVESTING IN YOUR FIRST TELESCOPE.
Amateur astronomy is a hobby whose participants enjoy watching the sky, and the abundance of objects found in it with the unaided eye, binoculars, or telescopes (from Wikipedia).
The best place to enjoy your first explorations of your night sky is at your own backyard with your family and friends. Share your initial explorations of the night sky, your viewings of the Moon, the planets and your learning experience with them.
Begin by getting familiar with the main objects visible in your sky. With a very inexpensive tools: a PLANISPHERE and your own eyes during a clear dark night.
You see, after about 20 minutes of sitting in the dark, you will be amazed at how many objects in your sky your own eyes will be able to distinguish (your eyes are actually the equivalent of about a 9 mm pair of binoculars).
This is why it is also important that you purchase a small "red led" (IR) flashlight. Its "red" light will not disturb your eyes while you read the information on the PLANISPHERE and match it to your viewing of your night sky.
By downloading the free Stellarium software into your cell phone, laptop or desktop, you will be able to see, in real time, how your sky looks each night and the names and locations of all the planets, constellations, stars, clusters, galaxies and nebulae.
Now that you are getting familiar with the objects in your sky, these simple guidelines should help you make a smart entry level investment in a small, quality telescope that should always remain useful and compatible with the level of interest you may later elect to participate in and, at the same time, limit your initial financial exposure.
What we suggest is: a small, compact table top 80mm refractor telescope (crown/flint air spaced doublet) optical assembly with a Universal Vixen Dovetail Connection, simple/compact/accurate Azimuth/Elevation (left/right and up/down) mount and with the necessary accessories: i.e. 25mm and 10mm 1.25” eyepieces, EZ Finder II reflex site (w/red dot)... All this for less than $140.00?
Please read the following:
Note 1. Newtonian Reflectors require frequent collimation and should not be considered entry level telescopes. Dobsonians are Newtonian Reflectors and are considered by many experienced Amateur Astronomers the best mid level and advanced level "best bang for the buck" telescopes.
Note 2. The academic term “chromatic aberration” is often used referring to refractor telescopes. “Chromatic aberration” may only be present in its most serious form in single lens refractors. “Chromatic aberration” is significantly reduced in duplets and even more in “crown/flint” air spaced doublets (double lens). The academic term “chromatic aberration” should not be taken into consideration when considering purchasing the entry level telescope as it may, unnecessarily, end up costing the Newbie many hundreds, even thousands of dollars.
Note 3. Catadioptric Cassegrains reflectors are very popular among some beginner, intermediate and advanced amateur astronomers and even astrophotographers. Most popular are Maksutov-Cassegrains and Schmidt-Cassegrains. The Cassegrain telescope combines some of the feature of reflector and refractor telescopes -- using an objective lens to bounce an image off of several internal mirrors. This combination allows the telescope to remain powerful but to be physically smaller -- creating a powerful telescope that is very portable. One of the major problems with the Cassegrain telescope has to do with brightness -- a mirror in the front of the telescope partially obstructs its view, reducing the amount of light that enters the scope. While the telescope is versatile, its images will be less sharp and bright. It is more expensive but requires much less maintenance than an equivalent conventional Newtonian reflector (Note 1. Collimation which also applies to Schmitt Cassegrains SCT Catadioptrics).
Note 4. GOTO come in three types of Mounts: AZ/EL (Azimuth/Elevation) includes GOTO Dobsonian Mounts, AZ/EL with EQ (Equatorial) wedge and EQ (Equatorial). They mostly connect to compatible (weight and size/length) optical assembly via a Universal Vixen Dovetail Connection. They are on-board computer controlled. They typically can accurately find and track more than 40,000 Space Objects which reside in their data base. GOTO packages including suitable light weight optical tube assemblies range in price from mid hundred of dollars to the very sophisticated for heavy payloads in excess of $10,000.00. GOTO Mounts and packages are recommended for mid-level and advanced level Amateur Astronomers and Astrophotographers. ** Expensive GOTO technology is not required by Amateur Astronomers with the knowledge and skills to identify and locate most objects in the sky. They mostly use large aperture Dobsonians for their observations.
Note 5. "Aperture wins.." But, you should be able to easily carry, move and transport your telescope to the viewing site. Larger apertures in telescopes mean larger sizes and heavier weights. Unfortunately, there are many, expensive, very heavy, voluminous and very large aperture refractors, cadiatropics, newtonians and dobsonians that are seldom taken out to viewing sites because of their size and weight.
NOTE: NATURE and only Nature is THE determinant factor of whether there will be Clear Skies at a given location at a given night and for how long. Thereto the increasing interest by Amateur Astronomers in "convenient" backyard Electronically Assisted Astronomy (EAA).
June 8, 2014
Revised: July 25, 2014
Edited August 24, 2022
MIAMI-DADE ASTRONOMY INSTITUTE PROJECT