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[rouse]

Hello everyone!
I'm looking to buy a telescope for my boyfriend who is an astronomy enthusiast and who has been doing some online astrophysics courses from Yale.
I don't have much money to spend, I was looking at some Celestron telescopes that are around 70 dollars. I'm a photographer and there for understand about lenses but I'm a bit lost when it comes to telescopes.

I'm basically looking for something cheap-ish that has decent quality and that isn't to hard to take around, since we travel back and forth between Chicago (his home town) and Buenos Aires, Argentina (mine).

Any advice will be most appreciated!

[patrickm]

Hi. For ease of travel, I would recommend binoculars. I know it sound crazy, but you can see so much with them. I have a pair of these 15 x 70 binos & they make almost every trip with me.

www.celestron.com/sports_outdoors/binoculars-category.html?activities=182#filter_menu

To best enjoy them, you will also need a tripod to stabilize them. Telescope under $100 exist, but they will be of lower quality with more moving parts & less easily transported than these binoculars. Others here may have different ideas and opinions for you, but that's my 2 cents.

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Rouse,

A sub-$100.00 Telescope will not offer satisfactory views...and both of you will be disappointed.

The mount will most likely be wobbly, the aperture small and the optics just so-so. Imaged will be tiny and dim...not worthy of a budding astrophysicist.

A Dobsonion type of telescope is your best bet on affordability, ease of use, aperture size and performance. Something similar to this...



Post some links here on the telescopes that interested you and we will give our opinion of them.

[Paulie pchris00]

Patrick and Joe are both right. Binoculars if you want something easy to travel with, Dobsonian if you want a telescope that is moderately priced and easy to use.

Also, check out this recent blog post by one of our members. It may help you determine what is right for you and your boyfriend.

eyesonthesky.com/Blog/tabid/80/EntryId/64/First-time-telescope-buyers-guide.aspx

[tomlee]

It's a daunting task to try to buy a telescope even after you have some experience from observing through other people's telescopes an know pretty much what you want. I agree with all everyone says above however want to take a different perspective to say the following: Go ahead and buy a telescope for less a hundred dollars. The benifits are:

• First and foremost he will be forced to use it and learn from that. Then he will know what he actually wants or not.
  
  
• This scope may (if you are lucky enough) become a quick go to scope for you guys. It's would be light and can be taken along when travelling. That is why people would use these quite a bit so no money is wasted.
  
  
• Its low price and small size allow me to leave it in the trunk of my car and not worry about being stolen or damaged. Many times, I was driving and saw some object up the sky which is good for viewing right and then I pull over to a place where observing is feasible and get out of my car, setup the tripod, pull out my $79 70mm popular brand refracter, mount it and choose an eyepiece then point and observe. All in about one minute of time. Low to decent quality view is better than none. Besides, when you bet better eyepieces this very scope/ota becomes better optically.
  

I use to leave a setup which weight over 50lbs w/o the OTA in my trunk. I do take the OTA home because of lens and mirrors are fragile to sit in the trunk and the scope weights a ton so I end up not taking it out much.

Yes, go find some ideas and post some links here and the guys above will tell you what to do or not do. Just don't go to a department stores if you are in Chicagoland area for it as they tend to price them for different market groups such as gifting (those who can't research b4 buying). Typically 200%-300% more and chances are they don't carry the better choices in its class.

[patrickm]

Tom,
Why is that better than binoculars + tripod?
p

[tomlee]

Nov 22, 2012 22:56:04 GMT -6 patrickm said:

Tom,
Why is that better than binoculars + tripod?
p

Did I make you sense that, Patrick? I know I didn't say that ... but I do think we need everything so it's okay to get a telescope under $100 to learn from first. Now that you mention it there are a couple of things that are really easy to do with telescopes, namely attaching a T-ring adapter and barlow lens.

Then, I think if she would have gotten a pair of bino she will still eventually come back to this question.

Okay! Okay! I'll say this: get the telescope under $100 and don't forget the binoculars when you are ready to spend more money.

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

"there are a couple of things that are really easy to do with telescopes, namely attaching a T-ring adapter and barlow lens"

Now, any scope is better than none...even a sub$100.00 one.

But, such a telescope will probably not support the weight and bulk of a camera set-up. Barlowing a small aperture scope is a guaranteed disappointment - displaying a dim and fuzzy image.

The funds spent on such a scope, could be applied to a better performing instrument.

[patrickm]

My advice to anybody is:
< $100 binoculars + tripod and await your surprise at what you can see,
> $100 6" Dobsonian telescope.

I bought a < $100 Celestron travel scope that I left in Jamaica and I cannot say that it was better than binoculars. Had parts to lose, not significantly stronger than binoculars, & much bigger to travel with, which was in the OP's post.

Binocular have a stigma. Even I had it at first, but I was an instant convert once I set them up and started observing.

[tomlee]

Nov 23, 2012 11:00:41 GMT -6 Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe said:

such a telescope will probably not support the weight and bulk of a camera set-up. Barlowing a small aperture scope is a guaranteed disappointment - displaying a dim and fuzzy image.

The funds spent on such a scope, could be applied to a better performing instrument.

All I am saying is it's ok to buy under $100 telescope and the idea is use it to learn what one need for what one want to do. It's better, of course, if you have more money to spend.

NO matter what one picks most likely he or she is going to like and dislike something about it. That's a great way to learn may be he or she will keep it may be pass it to youngster afterward.

Again, since you bring it up ...

I use my 70mm refractor w/ my DSLR on a photographic tripod. I did minimal modification which is just drilling a 1/4" hole on the tube at a point where it will balance the camera and OTA. There are very sharp pictures of the moon I have taken with it. I think it is worth a $79 bucks given it comes w/ a very decent Altazimuth mount on tubular legs. The eyepieces is probably borderline or acceptable for this package so I have gotten some slightly better ones.

As for the barlow, yes it's dimmer and fuzzier but as I say one will learn what and what not to do with it.

Some points to go along with my 2cents:

• It's okay to do it once and only as first purchase.
  
• It's probably not advisable if you can comfortably afford more.
  
• Get it and learn from it and you will know what you want as you next telescope. All along having fun.
  
• You will have a lot more fun time and knowledges sooner than if you waited. More research can be done while using the cheap telescope.

And ... Ok guys, as in my first post first sentence, I agree with all of what you have said. I am not saying my suggestion is the only way to go. Just a saying I feel it's worth $100 or less. I depend on the binoculars as a pre-finder scope on a not so dark night. I am not anti-bino.

[tomlee]

One more thing or may be two:

If the objective is to get to see higher quality views. Majority of binoculars just under $100 are decent and the majority of telescopes aren't. If however you go with the telescope and chose a decent quality one then you are off to learn about telescopes and its accessories hands on.

Cheers!

[magic612]

My fairly lengthy explanation and telescope recommendations at various price points from under $100 up to $400 can be found here:

eyesonthesky.com/Blog/tabid/80/EntryId/64/First-time-telescope-buyers-guide.aspx

If you've not tried an Orion Funscope at $60, I suggest you give it a whirl. They have their drawbacks, for sure, but compared to most sub-$100 scopes, they are worth considering, and make a great "throw it in the back of your car" scope for impromptu observing after one has acquired another scope. And the wide field of view makes the easier for beginners to get started finding things.

Coma? Yes. Limited on magnification for planets? Yes. But decent for $60? Yup; can't beat it.

[patrickm]

If you simply *must* have a telescope, or are buying it for a youngster to learn with, then the Orion Funscope or the Celestron Travelscope 70 (with backpack) are not a bad way to go. Since the OP asked specifically about airline travelling with the scope, I do not know about the ease of airline portability of the Funscope, but the Travelscope is made for that.

If I had $100 of astronomy money to spend for my boyfriend who is studying astrophysics, or looking for a budget buy for an adult/young adult who was seriously into astronomy, then I would go with a pair of 15x70 binocs. For the money, they will likely get more use for a longer period of time. In that situation, it's likely that a cheap dob or refractor would be the next purchase, which would bust the $100 range set by the OP, but would also provide much better value for the money spent in the medium term in the $200-400 range.

The Funscope is on sale at Orion for $40, so even with all of its flaws, that's about as cheap as you will get for a telescope that will show anything.

[magic612]

A Funscope would not be terribly difficult to get packed for airline travel. Having done a lot of air travel myself, and knowing the size of the Funscope, it can be made to work, I'd think.