Telescope

[Greenman]

I think I want one, and I know they have lenses. That pretty much plumbs the depth of my telescope knowledge.
I want to have a look at the moon and what I think is a satellite in the eastern sky. If I can see any other planets as something other than a dot that would be cool as well. Any idea what I need and what I need to spend? I'm starting from ground zero. I don't know any name brands or what's reasonable price.

Any tips?

 

[sdifox]

Start here

The Beginner’s Guide to Reflector Telescopes | High Point Scientific

The reflector is one of the classic designs for a telescope. The reflector telescope was first conceived by Sir Isaac Newton (hence “newt” in Newtonian), who...

www.highpointscientific.com

 

[Stopsignhank]

I am like you and I am thinking about getting a telescope. I know there is a lot to know and I do not know any of it. There is one thing that I do know. Decades ago we thought of getting into star gazing and bought a cheap telescope to try it out. The problem is that everything is moving. We would set up our telescope, try and find the moon and it would take a while just to point at that. Finally would find it, and then would let the other person look at it and it would be halfway out of the finder. Then we found out that the more expensive telescopes have little motors that rotate the telescope to match the rotation of the earth. Like I said that was decades ago and technology has advanced. I know when I get a telescope it will have a controller that will help me find things and also move the telescope so that when I find something it will stay in the view finder.

 

[balloonshark]

I don't know anything about them but I keep seeing smart telescope reviews on youtube.

The best smart telescopes in 2025: view the night sky via the screen of your phone or tablet

The best smart telescopes make it easy to observe and photograph faint deep sky objects even from cities

www.digitalcameraworld.com

Best Smart Telescope 2025 (Unistellar, Vaonis, Seestar, Dwarf)

There are 11 good smart telescopes on the market in 2025 – each with their pros and cons. This article compares all models to help you find the best for you.

skiesandscopes.com

 

[sdifox]

part of the fun is learning to do it the hard way. attaching a smartphone to the scope is ok, but going full auto is pointless, you can google the star you want to see and get a much better view.

 

[Greenman]

Thanks fellows. I now have a place to start. Well begun is half done and all that.

 

[[DHT]Osiris]

There's a few ways to start, but consider a triangle, price, quality, practicality. Dobsonians are in the middle of price and quality, less practical (tend to be large, need more fiddly work to get them sighted in and focused). Newtonians are in between quality and practicality, tend to be more expensive for the same capability of the dobsonians. If you swing high on price you can get the best of everything (either in dobsonians or newtonians).
Orion is a great brand, I've got one of these (the 10"):

It's tall, about 5' when vertically oriented. Can easily see jupiter's moons, and saturn's rings, with virtually zero work involved.

Note that if you want one with tracking, or auto-find functionality, you're getting into the thousands of dollars, easily.

 

[Brainonska511]

There's a few ways to start, but consider a triangle, price, quality, practicality. Dobsonians are in the middle of price and quality, less practical (tend to be large, need more fiddly work to get them sighted in and focused). Newtonians are in between quality and practicality, tend to be more expensive for the same capability of the dobsonians. If you swing high on price you can get the best of everything (either in dobsonians or newtonians).
Orion is a great brand, I've got one of these (the 10"):
View attachment 132252
It's tall, about 5' when vertically oriented. Can easily see jupiter's moons, and saturn's rings, with virtually zero work involved.

Note that if you want one with tracking, or auto-find functionality, you're getting into the thousands of dollars, easily.

Orion is no longer a going concern, but there are lots of dobsonian clones.

If you're just going to observe on your property, a dob is a good place to start. A 6" is also a good size to start with. Not too heavy, easy to bring into a yard, easy to use and get the mirrors aligned, and cools down pretty quickly.

Personally, I'd avoid most things sold with tripods on the cheaper side because they tend to be under-mounted (ie, the tripod is not good).

Some people like the go-to style scopes too, but I found the can be kind of fiddly and annoying to get right. Maybe I just had a bad one at one point. But it makes it kind of annoying to use.

For forums, Cloudynights is a good place to check out. Lots of information and friendly people to advise.

 

[skyking]

It does depend on your eyesight. I have a very old Japanese made 10~30 optical that I could count 12 moons with around Jupiter when I was a kid. We had better night skies back then too.

 

[Red Squirrel]

I have a telephoto lens for my camera, but camera tripods are not really well designed for large lenses like that and tend to be wobbly and very hard to fine tune as there's no knobs like there is on a telescope. I managed to get Saturn once with it. Not very clear mind you but enough to see the rings. I sometimes go down the rabbit hole and start looking at professional telescopes and they are actually decently affordable. Can get something decent for like a grand, but you can get right past the 10k mark if you want REALLY professional. The bigger the lens/mirror the more expensive, but the more light you capture.

Eventually I might splurge and get myself a nice one. I would love something I can connect a DSLR and tether the camera to a PC and also control the telescope itself from same PC, I assume there are some that have a way to do that.

 

[sdifox]

I have a telephoto lens for my camera, but camera tripods are not really well designed for large lenses like that and tend to be wobbly and very hard to fine tune as there's no knobs like there is on a telescope. I managed to get Saturn once with it. Not very clear mind you but enough to see the rings. I sometimes go down the rabbit hole and start looking at professional telescopes and they are actually decently affordable. Can get something decent for like a grand, but you can get right past the 10k mark if you want REALLY professional. The bigger the lens/mirror the more expensive, but the more light you capture.

Eventually I might splurge and get myself a nice one. I would love something I can connect a DSLR and tether the camera to a PC and also control the telescope itself from same PC, I assume there are some that have a way to do that.

You can get sturdy tripods, just a matter of cost.

 

[Red Squirrel]

You can get sturdy tripods, just a matter of cost.

It's still just 1 tiny screw holding the lens either way because of how camera tripods are made, and not really meant for big lenses. That's the part that gives it lot of wobble. Also can't easily fine tune the aim like you can with a telescope. At one point I tried 2 tripods, one on the camera itself and one on the lens, it was more solid as there was 2 points of contact but aiming was not exactly easy.

 

[sdifox]

It's still just 1 tiny screw holding the lens either way because of how camera tripods are made, and not really meant for big lenses. That's the part that gives it lot of wobble. Also can't easily fine tune the aim like you can with a telescope. At one point I tried 2 tripods, one on the camera itself and one on the lens, it was more solid as there was 2 points of contact but aiming was not exactly easy.

err, no. not like heavy camera plus lens is a new thing

https://www.amazon.com/Foldable-DSLR-Camera-Bracket-Horizontal/dp/B0D14SFBTQ

https://www.amazon.ca/iShoot-Extension-Compatible-Arca-Swiss-Panoramic/dp/B08RDD7MWR/ref=sr_1_9?crid=22AR6TYVRRN0W&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.3W0iWd5gMw-99mh-WU3989MFVfJrUnURWtd3ysbCeFq-EyQJNxhY3aYPyXoBYz0pfh1IRyoTKZo4RrTnsf2NVbjn_B1b2rITJgRZp3i_vM3ixJdzJEoOM3X2BpdmKgfESiX0LSoNvfl1k0ExBe4PtXPjAY3yfe5DTl4PSyW7-vNojlJ6SmMjr3q_H1kY_TyQBohRa4O1Fjc6aJAC4cDPcU8zre_6zNuiZ45dnxaCstCh1AKZWvT890soVjf2_-KLiQP2Ed4GMrYmt1eFUhjxKe8-YooQcdQzZohD9dVGrDA.MQs8lEFz119tZ4G7NMiRjnENQjDPQ3IURkoxLFwY1vE&dib_tag=se&keywords=Long%2Barca%2Bplate&qid=1760928608&sprefix=long%2Barca%2Bplate%2Caps%2C503&sr=8-9&th=1

Also big lenses come with tripod mount the body just balances the lens.

I mean even one of these have a mount on the lens

Amazon.com

 

[olds]

We had a Dobsonian back when we lived in the woods. The only thing I can really say is look into those that track for you. My experience was that almost as soon as I was focused in on something, it would be moving out of the eye piece.

 

[Charmonium]

Just fyi, refraction scopes will eat some of the light (lost thru the glass). I think they also screw with the spectrum since, IIRC, different wavelengths propagate differently thru glass.

That's probably why everyone is recommending a Dobsonian.

I live in NJ so, even on a crystal clear night, I still don't see the vast majority of stars. Kinda sucks.

 

[Brainonska511]

Just fyi, refraction scopes will eat some of the light (lost thru the glass). I think they also screw with the spectrum since, IIRC, different wavelengths propagate differently thru glass.

That's probably why everyone is recommending a Dobsonian.

I live in NJ so, even on a crystal clear night, I still don't see the vast majority of stars. Kinda sucks.

Dobs are recommended because what you see is entirely driven by how much light you can capture. Bigger aperture, more light.

 

[sdifox]

Dobsonian refers to the mount, still a reflective.

 

[Brainonska511]

Dobsonian refers to the mount, still a reflective.

Yes; the point is that reflectors on dobsonian mounts are the most efficient for price and size. And the mount lets you avoid a lot of shitty tripods on the low end.

 

[spacejamz]

I have a telephoto lens for my camera, but camera tripods are not really well designed for large lenses like that and tend to be wobbly and very hard to fine tune as there's no knobs like there is on a telescope. I managed to get Saturn once with it. Not very clear mind you but enough to see the rings. I sometimes go down the rabbit hole and start looking at professional telescopes and they are actually decently affordable. Can get something decent for like a grand, but you can get right past the 10k mark if you want REALLY professional. The bigger the lens/mirror the more expensive, but the more light you capture.

Eventually I might splurge and get myself a nice one. I would love something I can connect a DSLR and tether the camera to a PC and also control the telescope itself from same PC, I assume there are some that have a way to do that.

This is a pretty reasonably priced tripod for around $270 that will easily handle your big lenses (similar ones for over $800). Definitely want to stay away from tripods that have the riser pole. This is definitely a beefy tripod.

Amazon.com : Carbon Fiber Tripod INNOREL RT90C Bowl Tripods Professional Heavy Duty Camera Stand with 75mm Bowl Adapter for DSLR Cameras Compatible with Ball Head & Fluid Head, 63 inch, 40mm Tube 40kg Load Black : Electronics

Amazon.com : Carbon Fiber Tripod INNOREL RT90C Bowl Tripods Professional Heavy Duty Camera Stand with 75mm Bowl Adapter for DSLR Cameras Compatible with Ball Head & Fluid Head, 63 inch, 40mm Tube 40kg Load Black : Electronics

www.amazon.com

Here's a moon shot I got using it. You probably wouldn't get this with a cheaper, flimsy tripod if there is even a slight breeze.

 

[sdifox]

This is a pretty reasonably priced tripod for around $270 that will easily handle your big lenses (similar ones for over $800). Definitely want to stay away from tripods that have the riser pole. This is definitely a beefy tripod.

Amazon.com : Carbon Fiber Tripod INNOREL RT90C Bowl Tripods Professional Heavy Duty Camera Stand with 75mm Bowl Adapter for DSLR Cameras Compatible with Ball Head & Fluid Head, 63 inch, 40mm Tube 40kg Load Black : Electronics

Amazon.com : Carbon Fiber Tripod INNOREL RT90C Bowl Tripods Professional Heavy Duty Camera Stand with 75mm Bowl Adapter for DSLR Cameras Compatible with Ball Head & Fluid Head, 63 inch, 40mm Tube 40kg Load Black : Electronics

www.amazon.com

Here's a moon shot I got using it. You probably wouldn't get this with a cheaper, flimsy tripod if there is even a slight breeze.
View attachment 132300

He's talking about his cheap ass plastic extending tube telephoto. That thing flexes if you sneeze. Example.

Opteka 650-1300mm (with 2X- 1300-2600mm) Telephoto Zoom Lens for Canon EOS 7D, 6D, 5D, 5Ds, 1Ds, 80D, 77D, 70D, 60D, 60Da, 40D, T7s, T7i, T6s, T6i, T6, T5i, T5, T4i, T3i, SL2, SL1 Digital SLR Cameras : Amazon.ca: Electronics

Opteka 650-1300mm (with 2X- 1300-2600mm) Telephoto Zoom Lens for Canon EOS 7D, 6D, 5D, 5Ds, 1Ds, 80D, 77D, 70D, 60D, 60Da, 40D, T7s, T7i, T6s, T6i, T6, T5i, T5, T4i, T3i, SL2, SL1 Digital SLR Cameras : Amazon.ca: Electronics

www.amazon.ca

 

[spacejamz]

He's talking about his cheap ass plastic extending tube telephoto. That thing flexes if you sneeze.

my bad..I thought he was talking about camera tripods for big lenses...

 

[Greenman]

It seems as though anything reasonably useable and robust is going to set me back a thousand bucks or so.
Odd as it sounds, I need to weigh that against the cost of a new bandsaw, another gadget I'd like to have but don't really need. A grand is getting close to what the saw would cost me.

 

[[DHT]Osiris]

It seems as though anything reasonably useable and robust is going to set me back a thousand bucks or so.
Odd as it sounds, I need to weigh that against the cost of a new bandsaw, another gadget I'd like to have but don't really need. A grand is getting close to what the saw would cost me.

Ouch, yeah, those have gone up quite a bit in price. I got my 12" a good long while back at this point but it was like $400. Closer to a grand now, and that's got zero electronics.

 

[Brainonska511]

It seems as though anything reasonably useable and robust is going to set me back a thousand bucks or so.
Odd as it sounds, I need to weigh that against the cost of a new bandsaw, another gadget I'd like to have but don't really need. A grand is getting close to what the saw would cost me.

You don't need to spend $1k.

6" dob for $559 new: https://www.highpointscientific.com/apertura-ad6-6-inch-dobsonian-telescope-ad6
Another 6" for $450: https://www.highpointscientific.com/orion-xt6-classic-dobsonian

You might even find some nice stuff used at quite a discount, though there can also be a lot of garbage.

 

[IronWing]

A used Vortex Razor spotting scope is also worth looking into. The price is good and they are good for limited astronomy as well as wildlife watching. Still need a solid tripod as described above. I prefer the older style with the focusing knobs on top as a opposed to the newer body ring style, less shaking when focusing.