Telescopes For Beginners Buyers Guide
Before buying telescopes for beginners lets look at these tips in this first telescope buyers guide. As an informed consumer do your research and know what you want from your telescope as well as how much you are willing to spend. Other things to keep in mind before buying your first telescope include:
How much maintenance is involved
Do I have a safe place to store my telescope
Is the model I want portable
Am I comfortable with assembling the telescope
Asking yourself these question before your purchase will help narrow down your choices, making your buying decision easier and ensuring you get the right first telescope that fits your needs.
If you are new to astronomy why not start with a small beginner telescope, like the Celestron Firstscope or the Orion Funscope both have quality optics that produce clear images. Your goal is to get the most viewing ability from the telescope you choose. Other first time users find these telescopes for beginners a popular choice.
Traveling to rural areas to get away from city lights should be a consideration. Is your telescope lightweight and portable. Did you buy a telescope case to protect it when you travel or store it. Does it fit easily into your car. Can you reassemble it. Do yourself a favor and familiarizes yourself with the telescope parts and practice in daylight before your take it on a road trip at night to view the night skies.
How much maintenance is involved with keeping the mirrors or lenses clean and aligned properly. Is it a high maintenance model or basically a grab and go scope. To help keep the telescope in tip top shape store it in a dry spot free of moisture and cover it to keep dust out.
Buy Beginner Telescope
So you see price is not the only thing to consider when buying a telescope for beginners. Prices range from under fifty bucks upwards to ten thousand dollars. For small reflectors start at $40 - $100, an achromatic reflector $250 - $1000, larger reflectors go for $300 - $2000, compound telescopes start at $1000 to $3000 and apochromatic refractors range from $2000 all the way to $10,000. Granted these are not your average telescopes for beginners.
One other thing to think about, telescopes for kids are not just toys, they are the perfect first telescope for any new astronomer. The models featured here come with reviews and ratings from satisfied customers. Kids telescopes have to be durable, easy to use and provide good quality images to keep children interested. So consider a telescope for kids the perfect beginners telescope to buy no matter your age or experience with astronomy.
Beginners Telescope Tips
Start of my viewing the moon since it is easy to find. Jupiter is the largest planet in the system, so you should be able to find it easily. Venus is the brightest planet and also easy to spot. Saturn is always a neat planet because of the rings that change their angle as the planet orbits the sun. Mars is difficult to focus on because of its small size. Unfortunately, Neptune, Uranus and Pluto are very hard to locate and may only appear as tiny discs.
Choosing A Beginner Telescope
Once you have mastered the easy planets and want to view deep space objects check out these books on astronomy to help you get the most out of telescopes for beginners.
