What to Look for in First Telescope

Series Summary

Since the dawn of time, the night sky has fascinated inhabitants of Earth. The Egyptians and Mayans used stars to navigate, as did sailors. Constellations have provided fascinating legends and fodder for horoscope writers in newspapers all over the world.

In this free amateur astronomer series, you will learn how to purchase a telescope. Three experts from a renowned telescope manufacturer will discusses what qualities for look for in your first telescope purchase. How strong a lens should you purchase for your telescope? What type of accessories do you need? In this series, you will learn about the parts of a refracting telescope and the qualities which make up a good eyepiece. What about portable telescopes? If you are doing a great deal of birdwatching, perhaps the portable model would the right one for you. Find out about a planisphere and how it can help you map out the night sky. Our experts also discuss star watching parties and astronomy clubs for those of you looking to meet fellow star watchers.

Video Transcript

"For you folks out there thinking about buying a telescope for your own use or the use of your children or whatever. I often recommend a small refractor such as this. It has a objective lens in the front to guide as a light. An eye piece back here that magnifies light. It also has what we call a star diagonal so that when you're looking up in the sky you're not straining your neck too much. This one erects the image and makes it very nice to use in daytime as a spotter scope. So this telescope not only would be good for wide field low power views of the sky. Which you could see the moon's craters. You could see the moons around Jupiter and sometimes even the rings of Saturn if Saturn is close. But it can also be doubly used in the daytime as a spotting scope. Very handy, lightweight. Take it to the beach. Take it on vacation. It doesn't need a real heavy tripod. You may already have one of those. And if you graduate to a larger telescope in the near future this could be what we call a grab and take along. Or a grab and go telescope. Or even someday if you get a really big telescope you might even mount this on the side of your big one to use as a finder scope for the big telescope. So you can always find a good use for a small refractor. They're maintenance free. And as long as you don't drop them and break them they should stay collimation. Should stay usable for many years and you'll have a long good life out of them."