Video: Types of Telescopes to Avoid

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Stay away from these telescopes! Learn more buying tips for telescopes in this free home astronomy equipment video from a telescope designer and manufacturer.

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Video Transcript

There are some telescope types that probably the beginner should not consider in their buying purchase. One of them would be a large Newtonian telescope. It would be kind of big and bulky and heavy to wrestle around with. Another would be a long, skinny, refractor, the kind that is often found in big box stores in boxes that have pictures of--from the Hubble space telescope, because you will not see those types of objects whatsoever--those types of images. A third, perhaps, not to buy is a large, what we call a Compound Telescope, or a Schmidt-Cassegrain, simply because they entail quite a bit of expense and a little bit of knowledge or expertise in setting them up. And if it's too difficult to use, especially if it's a first telescope, odds are you won't be using it very long before you might get frustrated, and, unfortunately, leave the very nice hobby of amateur astronomy. So, a smallish refractor on a sturdy mount, or maybe a small Newtonian, up to six inches in diameter, is good. Bigger may not be so good in this particular case. Later on, if you've got the bug, and you want it, you can always get something bigger.

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Types of Telescopes to Avoid

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