(03-23-2019, 04:47 PM)homebiscuit Wrote:

(03-22-2019, 02:44 PM)Jags Wrote: Can you recommend a good entry level telescope.  Something that won’t break the bank but yet still give the “wow, look at that” feeling.  Also, do you take yours places to watch or do you just use the backyard? I ask because there lots of light pollution near me.

I don't take my telescope out of my backyard much anymore, but there is still plenty to see just outside your door. Even with light pollution, you can still see the planets, nebulae, and star clusters very easily. Before you consider a telescope, use a pair of binoculars to view the night sky. You would be amazed at what you can see with just a little magnification. An inexpensive pair like these, which I use, are ample to bring out more than you imagined. I recommend laying in a lawn chair, or on the ground, with your arms propped against something to eliminate shake. Also, download a star chart app on your phone so you can find objects to view. 

If you want more, stay away from cheap kiddie scopes that come in a box. Buy a decent used one, if you can. A quick perusal of craigslist brought up this one, which isn't a bad deal for a beginner scope. It even has a red dot finder, all for $40. The eyepieces with it are cheap, which are as important as the telescope itself, but will do for a beginner. Most folks don't realize that telescopes magnify very little, if at all. They merely bring a field of view to a focal point. The eyepieces then magnify the image at that focal point. The quality of that image depends largely on the eyepiece. I have a 2" 36mm eyepiece (which weighs almost a pound and half) that I paid $350, used.  For a refractor scope (a tube with lenses that you look through) expensive optic element materials, coatings, manufacture, and so on in the optical tube assembly improve the image, and that's where the $$ start adding up. 
Just be advised that what you see through a telescope does not resemble the richly detailed and colorful images you see from NASA. Most of what you see will be monochrome and smaller that you imagined. On a good seeing night, I can make out slight colors in the bands of Jupiter. Also, get a moon filter for when you look at the moon. It's like staring into a flashlight if you don't use one.

Thanks for the advice.  I do have a few decent binos running around.   I’ll give that a shot first.   Although at 40.00 it’s tempting to just buy the telescope you posted.  But, I’d be another entry in this thread if I bought it for no other reason than you said it was decent and good for a beginner.  (What’s his number again..?)
Don’t get me wrong, I trust you,  but I must be better about wasting money on stuff I won’t use.  [BLEEP], i my have been able to retire last year, haha.   You’re a space nerd, I’m a space nerd as well, but not to that degree.  I’ve always been fascinated with space.  Science channel is usually on in my household.   Whether the moochers, I mean wife and kid, like it or not.  I dvr so many shows. Currently catching up on the “Einstein/Hawkin” show they’ve aired.   Just never have taken matters into my own hands.  I’ll start where you recommend.  Then, I’ll blow my DD’s inheritance on nice telescopes.  Thanks again fellow nerd!

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