Telescope Question

G'day,
I want to buy my first telescope which of these (if any) is good and how much to offer as I found these via a trusted forum.

Saxon 130EQ2 (FR900) Newtonian Telescope with mount:

Optical Design: Newtonian
Diameter: 130mm
Focal Lenght: 900mm
f/ratio: f/7
Focuser Diametre: 1.25"
Mount Type: Equatorial
Slow Motion Control: RA & Dec
Tripod: Aluminium
Tube Dimensions: 17-84cms
Tripod Height: 71-123cm
Total Net Weight: 16.7kgs


Telescope Bushmaster Mars 900:
no specs known

Tasco 40-114675 telescope 114mm mirror diameter with 900mm focal length:

Diameter in mm: 114mm
Focal Length in mm: 900mm
Focal Ratio: F/8
Optical Design: Newtonian reflector
Eyepiece (s): SR4mm, H12.5mm, H25mm
Mount Type: Equatorial 1
Highest Practical Power: 270X
Resolving Power (arc sec): 1.02
Tripod: Adjustable aluminium
Accessories: SkyWatch CD-ROM with 10,000 object data base, Moon filter.
Faintest Stellar Magnitude: 13
Finder-scope: Optical 6x24mm
Focuser Diameter: 31.7mm
Slow-Motion Control: Both axes by flexible cable
Counterweight (s): supplied
Piggyback Bracket: Yes
Accessory Tray: With tripod
Shipping Weight/pc: 1451g (14.51Kg)

Comes with Moon filter Finderscope, a 3x Barlow extension, and a 20mm, 12.5mm and 4mm viewpieces

Cheers.

www.abovetopsecret.com...

This is recent. Maybe it will help.

reply to post by pixiekaram


How much are you looking to spend? Just looking at the specs, but not having first hand experience with any of these particular models I would say the Saxon is your best bet just based on the specs. I don't know how sturdy its mount is though, nor do I know how good the optical quality is of that particular scope.

It's interesting to me that these models seem to be australian models, I've never seen them over here, and google searches bring me to australian pages. I wish I could say I've had first hand experience, but the best I can do is give a recommendation based on the basic specs. If you're willing to hold off a little longer and save a bit more, or simply spend a bit more, I would recommend a 6" or 8" dobsonian as a first scope:
www.iceinspace.com.au...
It'll show you a lot more and be easier for a beginner to operate and learn how to star hop.

Tasco IMHO is junk. Just remember you get what you pay for. Make sure to have a strong sturdy base (tripod or mount). Some lower price scopes have really crappy mounts leading to vibration which leads to frustration lol.

I have a Celestron Nexstar5i and I love her! LOL Worth every penny I spent!

Can i add something that i feel is very significant in relation to what we see and i havent seen mentioned before.

It started a while ago and it stemmed from a few things, first off why mountains have ice and snow when in theory they are closer to the sun therefore ice and snow should be formed on low ground? But anyway

Has anyone ever considered the fact that we may be looking at most, all, or some of the images upside down?

Could our atmosphere flip images and does our brains following the signals sent from our eyes? Concave and convex? I bit like the image you see in a spoon. Sorry for the off topic post but i genuinely feel it is significant,.
Concave

reply to post by Lee78


Your understanding of physics and optics falls short.

One BIG goal of telescopes is the fewest number of pieces of glass between your eye and the object you are looking at. Each one adds distortion to the image. So the pros accept upside down images for astronomy.

The mountains have less atmosphere which means less heat is retained.
If you are in total shade 1 million miles from the Sun you will experience almost absolute zero temps.
If you have a thick atmosphere and are 93 million miles from the Sun you will experience comfy temps in the shade.

reply to post by ngchunter


is that good for $400, sorry I just dont know much about astronomy but have always been fascinated by it and would love to start staring into the heavens

reply to post by pixiekaram

I'd go for the telescope with the largest refractor (the Tasco), especially if the others don't come with three viewpeices. However, I'm not a professional so there might be other members who can give you better advice. I have no idea about the comparative build qualities of the three scopes.

reply to post by Pimander

I'd go for the telescope with the largest refractor (the Tasco),

That's what they hope for too. But that is not the way to get a decent scope. Back when I was into it years ago ALL Tasco optics were junk. And I do mean junk.

If you want something good check Celestron or Meade.

Originally posted by pixiekaram
reply to post by ngchunter

 

is that good for $400, sorry I just dont know much about astronomy but have always been fascinated by it and would love to start staring into the heavens

Price seems a little steep to me for a used 8" dob to be honest, but I don't know if telescopes are generally more expensive in australia than the US or what. I checked one site that seemed to indicate they are more expensive over there:
www.myastroshop.com.au...
That 8" would be about $350 new in the US. 400 used in good condition for a scope that costs about 500 new is fair, but you might try to bargain a bit.

reply to post by pixiekaram


both those scopes you show, are newtonians. I would go for the first one you mentioned (the Saxon), that has a larger aperture. The big question is however, how stable the mount is. The mount is just as critical as the optics. You don't mention any oculars for the Saxon, so I would consider getting a set of Plossls (32mm, 20mm and 10mm) for it, plus a Barlow. Don't go for anything shorter than a 10mm eyepiece in a Plossl, because if your eyesight is like mine, they are unusable. (for decent short eyepieces, you have to fork out a LOT of money, if your eyes are like mine), but a 10mm Plossl with a 2x Barlow gives you a 5mm Plossl with the same eye-relief as the standard 10mm Plossl, but most probably with a small scope like that, and a questionable mount, you won't work at that..

reply to post by pixiekaram


I must say i don't know what the implications of these specs mean. All i would say is that your priority should be to get a telescope with an 'autostar' mount or similar. Instead of lining up your 'scope by hand, the telescope will find night sky objects for you. The remote control is a numerical keypad and each visible object has its own code. You can even download tours of the night sky specifically designed for your location/date/time.

You wouldn't believe how hard it is to find anything in the sky with a hand operated 'scope. Seriously, even something like Venus can be a challenge. Your movements are generally opposite to what you see through the eyepiece and the slightest little touch means you've lost your target and you have to start all over again. Autostar (this is a trade name but i'm sure there are other equivalents) takes care of all of this for you and means you don't even have to touch the scope itself - it's a much more pleasant experience and means you can spend your time actually looking at things instead of losing your mind fighting with your tripod.

Hey mate check out this site here www.andrewscom.com.au... them and bintel are the two best guys to deal with in australia. Take a look at the Dobsonian telescopes namely the 8"-10" ones as they are perfect beginner scopes that will allow you to see an awful lot up there. I personally bought a 12" guan sheng dobsonian from andrews and have been loving it and have bought my eyepieces from bintel. If you have any questions or live near those shops give them a call or drop in as they are full of helpful answers.

Originally posted by samkent

I'd go for the telescope with the largest refractor (the Tasco),

That's what they hope for too. But that is not the way to get a decent scope. Back when I was into it years ago ALL Tasco optics were junk. And I do mean junk.

If you want something good check Celestron or Meade.

I did suspect Tasco didn't build the best quality scopes, which is why I said I have no idea about relative build quality. It's definitely worth checking out reviews and asking around...

I may invest in a good new scope if I can't get much time in the observatory at my University so I'm following this with interest.

The advice about having a good mount is good advice by the way.

Last bit of advice from me is don't rush into buying. If you make the right choice now you won't regret any delays.