which 1st telescope?

[kiffles]

I would like to buy my 44 yr old husband a telescope for his 45 bday in July. Any suggestions for about £250 or preferably less or am i dreamin?

[artdemole]

Look round skiesandscopes web site for info and prices.There are others.Plenty around £169.00 will give years of enjoyment.I use Sky watcher telescope.

You will find more info in The Astronomy Forum.

[gregA]

Hi
as artdemole says look on the scope n skies web site and you should get quite a good choice for £250
gregA

[nightshade]

Ask some loaded questions about preferences, Telescopes Sales and Support from Green Witch

[g8ina]

I can strongly recommend the Scopes n Skies Antares Sentinel 80mm f6 semi-apo refractor kit. Great scope, also good for birding, if a little chunky. Optics are as good as any ED lens I've ever used.

Only trouble is, you're going to need a good tripod too, and if you really want to do it right, a tracking mount - this follows the stars in the sky as the earth rotates. A goto mount has a computerised memory of locations and you can simpley say "goto Orion Nebula" and off it goes.

Also, there are different types of scopes for different astro uses. eg, for planetary work, you need a long focal length to get max magnification, so a f13 Mak would be good. If you want to do long time exposures of galaxies etc, then a wide field f6 is needed, like the Antares.

So, if you already have a scope and don't intend to do any tracking work such as imaging, then get the grab n go Antares.

If you want to do planetary, go for a Mak, like the Skies n Scopes 127mm Skywatcher Mak with auto "goto" mount
Sky Watcher Skymax 127 SupaTrak Auto (5" Maksutov)

If deep space is your thing, then one of the Skywatcher reflectors, this one also has goto :
Sky Watcher Skyhawk-1145P SynScanTM AZ GOTO 114mm (4.5") reflecting telescope

Lots of considerations

Give me a shout if I can help further.

David Harris
ex astronomer