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What telescope should I buy?

Published on Nov 30, 2005 at 7:56 pm. 1 Comment.
Filed under amateur astronomy, telescopes.

People think that I should know what is the best telescope that they should buy. The idea is that because I am an astronomer, I know all about telescopes. Well, they got lucky in that I do know a bit about telescopes. That is not always the case with an astronomer. Huh? “Don’t y’all use ’scopes?,” you might ask. Well, sure, sort of. A great deal of work is done with remote instruments, whether they be radio telescopes operated by staff, images or data taken at a distant observatory without the astronomer present, or space based instruments. A lot of work is done using data sets collected by others, or collections of data from many observers. Some work does not directly involve observations at all, but rather is mathematical modeling. Those who do this work might check their findings with observations taken by others. All of the above, though, does not require the use of a telescope by the astronomer himself. This reminds me of a staff member of a major university’s observatory that I was talking to once. He said that this person had showed up one day at the observatory around sunset, and she wanted to know if any of the telescopes there could see the star Algol. Apparently, she had just finished defending her dissertation on some aspect of the star’s behavior. After her committee approved her work, she had the idea that perhaps it would be nice to actually look at the star that she was getting her Ph.D. studying. She was shocked when the staff member pointed out her star. Apparently, it didn’t register that you could actually see it naked eye!

Of course, there are still a lot of astronomers who take their own data. I belong to this camp. However, even with observational astronomers, you don’t always get people who can answer the question that the public asks. After all, most research is done with instruments that are hopelessly more expensive than an amateur can afford (and not portable, either!). That is not actually universally true, of course, but largely so. Knowing about research instruments does not help when someone sticks a catalog in your face and asks what to order. Many observational astronomers would be pretty sorely pressed to even use an amateur telescope. Now, again this is not universal. I know a LOT of professional astronomers who are also amateur astronomers. That is, they study the heavens for a living, but they also enjoy getting out a telescope and just looking at cool stuff, too. This is squarely where I fall. It is my love of the sky and skywatching that leads me to do star parties, public events, etc. I just like showing off my field to the public. Also, I teach introductory astronomy laboratories, and so I keep current on what equipment is out there. I try to make sure that we have a very good representative set of equipment on campus for the students to learn with. I want them to know what the different telescopes do, how they handle, what eyepieces and filters are good for what, etc.

So, people ask me what telescope to buy. Well, I don’t really tell them. I ask them what they want to look at, how often they want to observe, how and where, and several other things. Some telescopes are better for some things than others, so I try to help them out to know what the pluses and minuses are for each. Some are better for planets and the Moon, others are better for galaxies and nebulae, and some do a decent job of both. Some are good for just looking, and others are set up to do photography with. Some give better images, some are easier to use, and some are more portable. Nothing really does it all. Then, I suggest that they really start with just a pair of good quality binoculars and a decent star chart. There are actually hundreds of objects that you can see with just 10×50 binoculars! And, of course, if you decide that you don’t like doing astronomy after all, you can use the binoculars at a ball game. Then, I suggest that they hook up with an astronomy club, take a class, or something. There are several amateur astronomers in the area that do continuing education classes through various city parks departments. Amateur astronomers also set up telescopes downtown outside the museum a half dozen or so times per year. These sort of things give a person a chance to see different types of telescopes, to use the telescope to see what fits their needs best, and to talk to the owners to see what they think. In the meantime, they are learning the sky using their binoculars and starchart.

-Astroprof