Astronomy telescopes

[Northwoods]

SWMBO needs a telescope for homeschool astronomy (high school and late elementary age kids).  Ability to attach an iPhone or other camera is a huge plus but not an absolute requirement.  But we have no idea what is what when it comes to telescopes.  I just know the computer controlled, motorized ones are WAY too expensive.

[K Frame]

"I just know the computer controlled, motorized ones are WAY too expensive."

Well, the first thing you need to tell us is what specific dollar amount is too expensive?

It seems that most manufacturers now offer smartphone camera adapter devices for their scopes. It seems to be an add on expense in most cases.

[Ben]

I'm by no means an expert, but have been researching telescopes the last couple of Falls, meaning to buy one for Winter astronomy since I have very dark skies here. What you want greatly depends on what kind of astronomy you want to do, but if it's beyond looking at the moon (and even sometimes if it is), it seems the most common advice from experts is to buy the largest diameter no-frills Dobsonian you can afford, and either use a smartphone app or a book to help you point it in the right place.

Years ago now, I bought one of the very early computerized Meade telescopes used from a friend of a friend for like $200. This was well before smartphones, and I have to say that once dialed in, I was very impressed with how well the onboard computer lined up objects and tracked them. The con was that the small diameter of the catadioptic telescope underwhelmed when looking at objects, and I couldn't even see a lot of deep sky objects. It was okay for looking at the moon, or "There's Saturn! (but I can't see the rings)".

Where you are using the telescope makes a big difference as well. Light pollution makes even $5000 telescopes seem poor.

[HankB]

I have an old (>35 years) Celestron C90. A Maksutov-Cassegrain optic, it's compact and good enough to see Saturn's rings, but I don't have an equatorial mount for it - I basically got it for use as a spotting scope on the rifle range; It allows me to easily see bullet holes in the paper downrange up to several hundred yards. A C-Mount adapter allowed me to use it as a 1000mm telephoto with my 35mm film camera.

Side by side on the range, another shooter's similarly sized Questar telescope was a bit better, but at the time it cost more - a LOT more - than the Celestron. Never had a chance to compare the two for astronomical viewing.

If you're going to be doing astronomy, you NEED an equatorial mount - otherwise objects will constantly be moving out of your field of view.

[Ron]

Questions you need to answer and prioritize.

Deep sky objects or planetary viewing?

Motorized or manual?

Computer motorized "go to"?

Equatorial mount?

Price range, obviously.

https://astronomyforum.org/
 

[Ron]

I have a slightly larger Maksutov-Cassegrain made by Meade (ETX 125) and it was able to faintly see some deep sky objects even in the Chicago burbs. Star clusters resolved nicely, nebulas and galaxies were very faint, like smudges or haze. That's not its strong suit though. It's better for planetary viewing. The two common styles you see out there usually are dobsonian reflectors, best for deep sky objects and the cheaper reflectors, better suited for planets only. The Maks sort of slip into the middle (refractors) of those two in flexibility IIRC but are best for planets. The styles of scopes are sort of confusing to me still plus I've been out of it for years.

You will probably learn more about the locations of objects in the night sky with a motorized equatorial mount scope or a manually moved dobsonian light bucket.

You might be underwhelmed by what you can see, no color usually for instance. I've seen the rings of Saturn and even some resolution into two or three shades, some of its moons, some of Jupiter's moons and some of the bands on its surface. Mars does look red, other than that most objects are greyscale. The moon with a filter is pretty spectacular. The star clusters were pretty cool as well.

You can probably do better bang for the buck used. See if there are any star parties in your area and you might find a deal and get to look through some really expensive equipment also.

If there is a college or University in the area you can probably find a star party easily.

[Tuco]

Disclaimer- the previous posters seem to know much more than me about astronomical telescopes. This is worth what you paid for it.

If it was me, and I am a former stargazer and more importantly father of 2 college age girls, Id forgo a telescope and spring for a set of 8x40 or 10x50 uberglas binoculars.

In my limited experience with consumer grade telescopes, astronomical details are pretty unremarkable. For good focus and color reflectors are the way to go. Spending a fraction of the cost of an 8" reflector on a good set of Swarovski or even Leica binoculars, you get twin stars, Orion's nebulae,  Jupiters moons, Andromeda's galaxy, so forth and so on. You can use class time to look up the Lowell and Palomar photos, go out at night and find it in the sky, look through the binoculars and see what you can see. 

If I was serious enough about astronomy as a hobby to warrant a good telescope, I'd have been involved enough to develop contacts and leads on good used glass through either online forums or a local or regional club.

You say this is for students. What are you going to do with this thing after the chilluns decide they want to go into accounting or medicine or just want to boogie woogie? Sell it on craigslist to some chump who wants a better look at his neighbor?  Ive got soccer equipment, bmx bikes, and a sailboat leftover, and worth pennies on dollar spent.  I wouldn't trade those memories for any amount of money but sure would like to have some residual utility. A set of great binoculars would be popular at a field night with the astronomy club and in 5 years, well, you've still got a good pair of field glasses.

Just another way to look at it.

[Ron]

Disclaimer- the previous posters seem to know much more than me about astronomical telescopes. This is worth what you paid for it.

If it was me, and I am a former stargazer and more importantly father of 2 college age girls, Id forgo a telescope and spring for a set of 8x40 or 10x50 uberglas binoculars.

In my limited experience with consumer grade telescopes, astronomical details are pretty unremarkable. For good focus and color reflectors are the way to go. Spending a fraction of the cost of an 8" reflector on a good set of Swarovski or even Leica binoculars, you get twin stars, Orion's nebulae,  Jupiters moons, Andromeda's galaxy, so forth and so on. You can use class time to look up the Lowell and Palomar photos, go out at night and find it in the sky, look through the binoculars and see what you can see. 

If I was serious enough about astronomy as a hobby to warrant a good telescope, I'd have been involved enough to develop contacts and leads on good used glass through either online forums or a local or regional club.

You say this is for students. What are you going to do with this thing after the chilluns decide they want to go into accounting or medicine or just want to boogie woogie? Sell it on craigslist to some chump who wants a better look at his neighbor?  Ive got soccer equipment, bmx bikes, and a sailboat leftover, and worth pennies on dollar spent.  I wouldn't trade those memories for any amount of money but sure would like to have some residual utility. A set of great binoculars would be popular at a field night with the astronomy club and in 5 years, well, you've still got a good pair of field glasses.

Just another way to look at it.

That was actually great advice in my opinion. Good astronomy or field binoculars mounted on a tripod let you see a lot of cool stuff.

[Ben]

Seconded on Tuco's great advice. I have a really good set of Steiner binos that likely outperform half the popular "recreational" astronomy telescopes on Amazon for the same amount of money, but are much more versatile.

[HankB]

Binoculars are a good alternative - I have a set of 7x50 Steiner Admiral binocs that let me see moon craters (Well, some of the bigger ones) and I've seen Jupiter's Galilean satellites with them - but 7x is not enough magnification to see Saturn's rings. You'll be into a few more bucks if you end up getting a decent telescope that may only be used for a short time unless the kids get into astronomy in a serious way . . . unless you get a spotting scope for use at the rifle range and press it into use as an astronomical telescope.

You'll still find yourself wanting a camera adapter and equatorial mount.

How dark your skies are also matters - if you're anywhere near a city with streetlights, your viewing will be limited. Growing up in Chicago myself, I was amazed at what the sky looked like on a moonless night when we went to the Florida Keys on a family vacation. (I was about 12)

[bedlamite]

I've got a Celestron 127 (5 inch mirror). Don't bother with anything that small. It's good for looking at it he moon, and I get a little better view of Andromeda than my Viper 4-16 riflescope. It's been collecting dust for a few years, I even listed it for sale on Craigslist for a while.

[Northwoods]

Questions you need to answer and prioritize.

Deep sky objects or planetary viewing?

Motorized or manual?

Computer motorized "go to"?

Equatorial mount?

Price range, obviously.

https://astronomyforum.org/
 

Deep sky would be nice but not critical.

Likely will need to be manual given price range.  But if motorized is good enough at the price point it would be considered.

Computer motorized is likely well outside the budget.

Whatever mount is most versatile.

Max $500.

[HankB]

Max $500.

A place to start looking:  https://www.celestron.com/collections/top-telescopes-under-500

Just temper your expectations at this price point.

[Regolith]

I'd be looking at a Dobsonian for that price range. Best way to maximize aperture.

Only downside to Dobs is you're mostly stuck with an alt-azimuth mount, so they're not great for things like long-exposure photography that need an equilateral mount.

This one looks fairly decent: https://www.adorama.com/skws11600n.html

This one is even motorized, though it's a tabletop so I'm not sure how stable it will be: https://www.adorama.com/skws21205.html

Not sure what all else is out there. Haven't shopped seriously for a telescope for a long time.

I have a 6" Celestron C-150HD, and it works fairly decently, though it struggles with deep sky stuff.