Telescope advice...

[wildlifesnapper]

Hi

yes you can buy a binocular clamp that will fit to the bino's and then screw to any tripod, most camera shops should be able to help.

neil

[Davejj]

Thanks again Neil....

And many thanks to all who gave me advice.

I am now going to spend a little time to try to get some books and equipment, and make it a christmas present instead of a birthday present.

I am quite looking forward to learning about it with him


Dave

[Rich_]

I am certainly not an expert and have not done much telescope observation for some years, but I remember having a book as child written by Patrick Moore, in which he stated that a pair of 10 x 50 binoculars were useful for general observation & for seeing things like nebulae, the Andromeda galaxy etc. This has been backed up by enthusiasts I know now for general star gazing.

I had a refractor which could magnify up to 275 times but only had a 65mm object lens so the planets used to zoom through the narrow field of view in a matter of seconds as you are also magnifying the Earth's rotation and a clock drive is required on the tripod so the telescope can track the planet or whatever.Also the 65mm lens was no where near up letting enough light in for the potential magnification.

I also realised early on that the colour pictures you see in books of the planets in all their colourful glory were not what I would see through my telescope. Many of these have been taken with long exposures to allow the optimum amount of light to the film with a clock drive on the telescope tripod ( which rotates your telescope in it's mount once in 24 hours )

I found the maximum practical magnification I could use with the refractor I had was about 65 times, this showed the rings round Saturn as a very small disc with a ring round it, you could see Jupiter & it's 4 moons and the phases of Venus. A reflector telescope is supposed to be be better, but I had no experience of them. Also remember that with an astronomical telescope things appear upside down. I think this is because they have to insert another lens to put things the right way up, and as this looses light reaching the eye.

It is a very interesting subject and it gave me a lot of pleasure as a youngster.

[snowqueen]

refractors have a crisper view, better for planetary gazing then its reflector counterpart. 60ish mm aperture is the bare standard, go up to 100mm and you're laughing!

telescopes advertise their magnification because people seem to think this is most important, but of course optical use of high magnification is not possible

[Davejj]

Thanks again all for your ideas and advice....

Snowqueen you have been really helpfull with your posts

Rich.. again, many helpfull points... It really has started to set my own appetite to learn with him (or be taught by him).

Of course the only problem as with any hobbie is we can only buy what we can afford, and not always what we want... but with all the help here I can at least start to make an informed purchase..

Dave

[Rich_]

Originally Posted by snowqueen

telescopes advertise their magnification because people seem to think this is most important, but of course optical use of high magnification is not possible

This is very true & first time buyers can be taken in by this as I once was, especially when they show colour photos on the ad's and packaging as if viewed through the telescope you are buying.

You often see cheap binoculars & telescopes advertised in news papers etc with misleading captions like "see 50 miles" and such like: avoid these. when you think about it, if you watch the sun set you are technically seeing about 93,000000 miles with the naked eye?