#1

Hiii

I’m considering buying a telescope to check out stars and the moon and planets etc. From reading online it seems like most telescopes would suffice but as I’m a complete beginner I could use some advice or recommendations if anyone has any?

Shoot

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#2

I was looking into this a while ago. Seemed like a massive minefield. Then spoke to my dad who gave me my grandads old one. That was 3 months ago. I’ve used it once (partly because it’s always cloudy and partly because I can’t stay up past 10).

I have heard a lot of people say that for beginners you’re actually best off with a decent set of binoculars rather than a telescope. Based on my limited experience farting around with a telescope I’m minded to agree. It’s a bit of a faff to set up.

#3

That is generally how they work.

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#4

Sake

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#5

Can’t resist an open goal, sorry.

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#6

image

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#7

He wants to focus on Uranus

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#8

he can subscribe like everyone else

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#9

Exactly this. A telescopes’s field of view i.e. the amount of sky you can see, is pretty small so you have to know what you’re doing. I eventually decided on binoculars when I was considering buying a telescope and I stand by my choice

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#10

I’d also echo binoculars as a place to start. Beginner telescopes are often really shoddily made with a mount so unstable they’re pretty much unusable. A bad telescope experience at the start is enough to to put many budding amateur astronomers off for life. Best to start with decent binoculars (which make navigating the sky much easier due to their large field of view) and if you get addicted, consider moving up to a telescope. It’s a spendy hobby though, and not one where it’s worth skimping on cost. A decent tripod and mount is by far the most important thing - the best optics in the world are useless if the scope wobbles everywhere if you breathe on it.

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#11

Any binocular recommendations? I have found these that would seem adequate…

#12

i don’t know anything about telescopes but have a friend with a really good one who is well into it. been out with him a couple of times and it was pretty cool.

live in a big city now so not sure there’d be any point in getting one myself

#13

I expect they’re pretty decent. With a 20x magnification and that weight the view will definitely wobble a lot as it’s impossible to hold them perfectly still - mounting them on a good quality camera tripod will help a lot in that respect

the field of view will be quite narrow compared to a standard pair of 10x50 binoculars, too