Telescopes.....any thoughts ?

[Izabarack]

Was about to buy Nikon 82 mm Fieldscope, 20 - 60 zoom, for general use and birdwatching. Extended discussion with Nikon rep about attaching camera resulted in a Nikon Coolpix P900 coming home with me. 83 power zoom, GPS, and a whole lot of other data embedded in the image back room. Both scope and camera were well under $800.

General use as a telescope is not that exciting, but, capturing an image and enlarging on a high res screen is very good. Full moon image at max zoom fills the viewfinder. Detail on captured image is fantastic. Glass in both telescope and camera are Low Distortion and I detect no rainbows in the image at max zoom.

Telescope seems best for realtime viewing, this camera is better for keeping image. Stargazing using a telescope in any serious kind of way needs a trip to the Cosmos Centre at Charleville first to get a proper idea of what a sky view looks like using a seriously good telescope. My suggestion is based on the reality check I got from my Cosmos Centre visit and their seriously good telescopes.

Don't forget to get a really, really heavy tripod for either.

Iza

[jon_d]

You'll need to mount the scope on springs and saddles.

South Gippy is the home of Victorian earthquakes.

[native pepper]

Iza, have never been to the cosmos center, but after viewing the night sky from my friends observatory, haven't tried my pathetic excuse for a telescope. They just punch in the co-ordinates of what they want to view into their computer (linux) and it does the rest, follows the transit excellently and you can adjust everything without touching the telescope.

My telescope sits on my back room, which has big glass windows and wonderful clear view from sth to NW. Watching Auroras is a nice thing to do when they are out and about from that room, we sit just over 100m above the sea and have unrestricted views. The only light is from some places on Bruny island, but they are just pin pricks in the far distance.

[nedskelly]

Coogle this "dobsonian telescope"
I saw a TV program some years back and a bloke had a Dobson telescope set up on a street footpath in the middle of one of Americas major cities an he was offering people walking past a chance to have a look at the full moon, most that accepted seemed impressed at what they were able to see.
Apparently they are a very simple scope.
I have a small one I bought from Aldi but have not set it up at all, got it out of the box once.
Regards
Gary

[Greynomad]

Got a Dobson-mount Aldi telescope (branded 'National Geographic") for a birthday pressie coupla years ago.
Was good in suburban Melbourne back yard... but truly amazing in Country Vic -- out of the light pollution! We got way more stars up here!
Only shortcoming is absence of a small sighting scope on the side... takes a while to find some stars at max magnification...

[Dot]

Has anyone got a telescope for sale?? want one just to look at the night time stars etc, nothing flash but not crap..

[dapope]

Has anyone got a telescope for sale?? want one just to look at the night time stars etc, nothing flash but not crap..

Just which night time stars are you talking about Dot??l

[Riverlander]

Dot is into the full moon.
Perhaps all you guys that have too much city light could put all your money together to buy a good telescope and set it up on my camp spot on my block. Then you could visit and use the telescope. Just a thought.
Cheers John

[T1 Terry]

We had one at the house but the cheeky ex owner took it with him even though we told him we bought the house as is with everything in it, he even took his HSV Holden when he left, can't trust em eh

[native pepper]

Has anyone got a telescope for sale?? want one just to look at the night time stars etc, nothing flash but not crap..

Dot, it's not that easy to look at stars and planets. You really need a tracking telescope, which will follow the object you are watching. As the earth turns, so star positions change and by the time you have it lined up and focused, the star or planet has moved. It's almost as hard with the moon but it is so big you have time to get a good viewing before it gets out of focus or moves out of shot.

Have a couple of scopes which are never used, because they are not trackers and to be honest never really go to see much with them. Can sell you a 6 inch for $50 plus postage, but you'd have to be very patient with it to get reasonable viewing.

A friend has a small observatory at his house and an 28 inch tracking scope, you see some wonderful things through it and some of his photo's are amazing. It's all controlled by his computer, adapted the program himself in linux. Seeing the planets so close and in pretty good detail is really something, but expensive even though he made his scope. Have watched the suns in action close up and it's indescribable in beauty ans power. He also tracks and watches satellites and the space station, is also a radio freak and has some cool off planet recordings. Bit of a nerd really, but is into cool things and plays a mean violin.

Find some one close who is into astronomy and see what they have and a bit of a look see, it's well worth the effort, if you have the money. The scope I want is close to $10000, but my friend has been saying for a few years he will help me build 36 inch one as soon as I build an observatory. Can't keep up with the house renovations, band or repainting the bus, let alone building an observatory, so will probably never happen.