Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => The O' Club => Topic started by: Ripsnort on March 10, 2008, 04:22:53 PM
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Whats your opinion of this Meade telescope for a STARTER. (budget limited starter)
?
http://www.meade.com/etx/etx80.html
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Disregard my post. I found the thread I was looking for. :rock
http://bbs.hitechcreations.com/smf/index.php/topic,219824.0.html
Meh, I think I'll save up more $$ for something like this (http://www.adorama.com/CNN8SE.html) after reading Wab's excellent posts. :pray
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Disregard my post. I meant to say I'm a meat gazer
:devil
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I was meat gazing in the grocery store...Rib Eye, Prime Rib... :O :cool:
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I was meat gazing in the grocery store...Rib Eye, Prime Rib... :O :cool:
Hmm Delmonico's. :O
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Why are you watching me :noid
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Hey Ripsnort,
If it were me, I wouldn't buy it.. 80mm isn't going to show you hardly ANYTHING but the moon and maybe a few planets especially if you live anywhere near a city.. I have a meade 4.5in reflector telescope with the 'Autostar' and to be honest, it sucks.. I was never able to get the scope to be accurate enough.. Keep in mind objects are extreemly small and you're dealing with fractions of a degree.. Without a very very sensitive and well built mount (entry level meade equipment is not), it's not going to be useful.. Besides, half of the fun skywatching is learning the sky and hunting for your favorite / new objects.. If I were to buy a new scope, I'd get one with an equitorial mount with a rotational drive.. That way, wherever you point the telescope, the object will stay in the field of view and you're not having to constantly adjust due to the earth's rotation..
You might want to check out something like this one to start with:
http://www.telescope.com/control/product/~category_id=reflectors/~pcategory=telescopes/~product_id=09798
It's on an equitorial mount with 'manual adjustments' to keep it fairly cheap.. This scope is 4.5in also has a short 'f' ratio, so it would be really good for wide-angle views (the most stunning through a telescope IMO).. You couldn't put an 'uber' zoom on this one, but I'm sure you could see some really cool stuff with it..
:D
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Hey Ripsnort,
If it were me, I wouldn't buy it.. 80mm isn't going to show you hardly ANYTHING but the moon and maybe a few planets especially if you live anywhere near a city.. I have a meade 4.5in reflector telescope with the 'Autostar' and to be honest, it sucks.. I was never able to get the scope to be accurate enough.. Keep in mind objects are extreemly small and you're dealing with fractions of a degree.. Without a very very sensitive and well built mount (entry level meade equipment is not), it's not going to be useful.. Besides, half of the fun skywatching is learning the sky and hunting for your favorite / new objects.. If I were to buy a new scope, I'd get one with an equitorial mount with a rotational drive.. That way, wherever you point the telescope, the object will stay in the field of view and you're not having to constantly adjust due to the earth's rotation..
You might want to check out something like this one to start with:
http://www.telescope.com/control/product/~category_id=reflectors/~pcategory=telescopes/~product_id=09798
It's on an equitorial mount with 'manual adjustments' to keep it fairly cheap.. This scope is 4.5in also has a short 'f' ratio, so it would be really good for wide-angle views (the most stunning through a telescope IMO).. You couldn't put an 'uber' zoom on this one, but I'm sure you could see some really cool stuff with it..
:D
Thanks for the link. What did you think of my second choice in the 2nd post? (under the word "this": http://www.adorama.com/CNN8SE.html )
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Well for $1,400 you'd better be serious.. :D
How much gazing have you done?
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Well for $1,400 you'd better be serious.. :D
How much gazing have you done?
About 48 years worth, without glass. :D I don't want to have to buy another one...
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Telescopes are like Scotch. Don't screw around with cheap. With Telescopes, you get what you pay for. 8"-10" Mirror should be plenty for a telescope Rip. Anything larger is overkill and not worth the money. Just giving you tips in case someone tries that on ya.
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Telescopes are like Scotch. Don't screw around with cheap. With Telescopes, you get what you pay for. 8"-10" Mirror should be plenty for a telescope Rip. Anything larger is overkill and not worth the money. Just giving you tips in case someone tries that on ya.
Agreed, unless you've had the chance to look through 20in cassegrain.. But be prepared to tack on $45k plus for something like that.. :D
I personally would get something that has an equitorial mount, but that's just personal preference.. I'm sure the Celestron would be a good one..
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I was once ready to build my own telescope... a reflector 8", about 10 years ago.
.... was going to hand make the main mirror too. I bought a 3 volume book set called "Amateur Telescope Making". Very nice book set.
Basically the books were written in the 1930's and they tell you how, in EXTREME detail, to make your own telescopes. It is said that a hand formed main mirror can be more precise than any machine made one.
Anyway, I just sold that book volume on ebey yesterday. I am out of a job and a bum, so I am selling junk.
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Rip,
Does the special edition orange paint on that tube give you more horsepower? Er, I mean does it collect more light 'cause it's orange? :) Slap a type-R badge on it and I bet it'll beat a 911 turbo! :devil
The orange paint means "stay away I'm dangerous", so maybe it wards off evil spirits too.
Or is the orange paint for when you set up the telescope while drunk, wander off and pass out, and have to go back out looking for the dang thing?
The writeup says it combines the classic heritage of the orange tube telescopes, so maybe it's just old tech badged up with some bling and a computerized pointing gadget. I'm not sure what "heritage" does for you WRT telescopes, but apparently it's worth some money since it's part of the special edition package that costs extra?
:D
Seriously, that looks like a nice telescope. I almost bought something very similar about 5 years ago, but I thought it was too expensive and then I got married. Oops. That's why I'm not a stockbroker or financial manager.
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I'm reading "Galileo's Daughter." That's as far as I've come to stars lately. Been thinking of getting one of those... but will have to be one of the $100.00 ones, since it will most likely end up being used as a weapon (boys).
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Hey Rip.. I just thought of something we might be able to help your decision along..
What are your expectations when looking through a telescope like the $1400 one you pointed out? What do you want to 'see'?
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Maybe you might wanna think about getting this telescope, it's only priced around $170,000
https://www.optcorp.com/product.aspx?pid=1-637-1002-8037 (https://www.optcorp.com/product.aspx?pid=1-637-1002-8037)
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i have an Orion 8 inch telescope, the website said it was called --> SkyQuest XT8 IntelliScope with Object Locator it was 620$ and it has a dobsonian mount. its prity nifty, i saw the ice cap on mars with it :aok
and man oh man when you look at the edge of the full moon you can see the mountains and craters from the side like your looking at a mountain on earth,
oh and you can read the number on the side of airliners with it too, its prity awesome :aok :aok
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or you could buy this when its built (http://news.bbc.co.uk/media/images/38123000/gif/_38123335_large_telescope_inf300.gif)
for only 1,530,712,087.93 dollars :devil
its in europe
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Interesting timing...I am finishing up my yearly watching of Carl Sagan's "Cosmos" and everytime I watch it I regret selling my 10" reflector telescope. Houston has too much light trash for it to be usefull but it was fun trying to look at something through all of that light and smog.
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I just started star gazing recently, I've had a telescope for about 2 years now but hadn't used it much until now, it's a 90mm reflector telescope. During the lunar eclipse last month I was able to see the rings of Saturn, as it was visible just to the side of the moon. It was the first time I was able to see another planet with it, and it's just amazing when you can actually see something like that.
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Hey Rip.. I just thought of something we might be able to help your decision along..
What are your expectations when looking through a telescope like the $1400 one you pointed out? What do you want to 'see'?
Sorry so late getting back to you. I've been in a workshop for the last 3 days trying to get that 787 out the frickin door. Work has become life for the time being.
My expectations are to see Mars more clearly than just a 'reddish star' in the distance. I have two curious children (9 and 12) and I want to bring objects in our galaxy alittle closer to them. I also have the expectation that I won't have to buy another telescope the remaining years I have on earth. It won't become an obsession like photography has over the past 30 years.....I hope! ;)
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Sorry so late getting back to you. I've been in a workshop for the last 3 days trying to get that 787 out the frickin door. Work has become life for the time being.
My expectations are to see Mars more clearly than just a 'reddish star' in the distance. I have two curious children (9 and 12) and I want to bring objects in our galaxy alittle closer to them. I also have the expectation that I won't have to buy another telescope the remaining years I have on earth. It won't become an obsession like photography has over the past 30 years.....I hope! ;)
Well as you probably know since you're into photography, the images you will see through the telescope will be MUCH less dazzling than most of the pictures you might have seen.. All the brilliant colors etc come from long exposure time, so even the largest galaxies using the largest telescopes will look only like a blue fuzzy patch to your eye..
It really comes down to this.. Do you want your telescope to be able to zoom way in to see a lot of detail, or do you want to be able to see very distant and faint objects? If you want to zoom (planetary observation etc) I would suggest a 'refractor'.. The less times the light has to bounce around in the scope the clearer the picture will be, but you would have to sacrifice aperture so you might not get to see some of those distant fait objects you might see with a large mirrored 'reflector'.. The one you pointed out would do both, but it wouldnt do either quite as well as a refractor or reflector.. There's really no end all / do all scope, it just depends on what you want..
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Well as you probably know since you're into photography, the images you will see through the telescope will be MUCH less dazzling than most of the pictures you might have seen.. All the brilliant colors etc come from long exposure time, so even the largest galaxies using the largest telescopes will look only like a blue fuzzy patch to your eye..
It really comes down to this.. Do you want your telescope to be able to zoom way in to see a lot of detail, or do you want to be able to see very distant and faint objects? If you want to zoom (planetary observation etc) I would suggest a 'refractor'.. The less times the light has to bounce around in the scope the clearer the picture will be, but you would have to sacrifice aperture so you might not get to see some of those distant fait objects you might see with a large mirrored 'reflector'.. The one you pointed out would do both, but it wouldnt do either quite as well as a refractor or reflector.. There's really no end all / do all scope, it just depends on what you want..
Thanks for the info dude. The more I read, the harder the decisions. LOL! :)
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You might want to check around your area to see if there are any astromony clubs.. I've been to a few 'star parties' where people bring their scopes and it's a good way to check them out and see what you like.. I'm sure the people would love to show you some stuff and it could also be something fun to do with the kiddos.. :aok
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Well,
Whatever you get, if you can make it out to NM I will take you up to our local astronomers look out. It is a campground at 9,500ft in the Jemez mtns. almost no light pollution and thin air. on any given weekend you will set a telescope or two set up.
Regards,
Kevin
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I think the real guru is akWabbit (?) for scopes