[Chaos-l] Question about telescope

[Jon Stewart-Taylor]

On May 23, 2011, at 10:51 AM, michelle s wrote:

> Hi, my son and I want to buy our first telescope.  [...]


Have you visited our web pages about starting astronomy and buying  
scopes?  If not, give a quick read to:

    http://www.rtpnet.org/chaos/RA/startingRight.html
    http://www.rtpnet.org/chaos/RA/binocularAstronomy.html
    http://www.rtpnet.org/chaos/RA/buyingTelescopes.html

Have you already thought about what you want to observe?  Have you  
been to the local observing sessions to see what the scopes are like,  
and what you can see through them?  If not, i strongly recommend you  
do.  I took about a year going to observing sessions and borrowing  
other people's equipment before deciding on a 10" dob.  Not compatible  
with your son's "order one NOW", but it may also scratch his itch  
without having to actually buy one yet.

I agree that for all-around observing and value, you can't beat a good  
6-10" dob, but it's not the right scope for every body for every  
purpose.  Still, if you've got the storage and car space, it's hard to  
go wrong with a dob.  You might also consider getting a smaller (but  
still high-quality!) scope first, then trading up for a bigger scope  
after you're sure it's needed/wanted.

Hope all this helps.

J.

PS: if you want, you can come by my house some night and see what my  
(admittedly older and more primitive) 10" dob is like.  The skies here  
aren't that great, but Saturn's up.

-- 
Jon Stewart-Taylor:  joncst at earthlink.net
Chapel Hill Astronomy: http://www.rtpnet.org/chaos






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