At any one time there are so many telescopes for sale including all of those at department stores, ebay auctions and online stores. All of those are sales channels where you are unlikely to get qualified advice from a knowledgeable salesperson so you are taking a big risk with your purchase.
Unfortunately a lot of those telescopes are fit only for the dump and most unlikely to encourage anyone into the world of astronomy. In fact there is much evidence that the worse the experience the more likely the budding astronomer is to turn their back on astronomy altogether.
Here we look at a few points to help you with your purchase particularly if you cannot make it to a specialist store to speak with an expert or to help you if you are trying to find a bargain online. The good news is there are some bargain telescopes to be had and websites to help you pick them out from the rubbish too.
An advantage of refractors is they tend to produce better images than reflectors though can get heavy and expensive at larger apertures. They use lenses rather than mirrors, require little or no maintenance and perform well in the city or suburbs where you have light pollution to deal with.
Reflectors are less expensive and with their relatively large apertures can allow you more magnification to bring those deep sky objects closer. They do require a small amount of maintenance but not much to worry about so are extremely popular with amateurs who view from good dark locations.
Catadioptric telescopes are a bit like a mix of refractor and reflector in so much as they contain both mirrors and lenses. These are popular with astronomers who have upgraded from a beginner scope though are also often purchased by newcomers particularly those who can afford the computerised versions.
Don’t get sucked in to the trap of advertising that shows you beautiful images of faraway nebulae and detailed planet landscapes. These telescopes often claim huge “magnification power” or make other ridiculous claims. These telescopes are often the ones to avoid!
Also remember no matter how great the scope it is going to be worthless if you don’t use it on a decent mount. Those cheap lightweight tripods are useless, they vibrate so much you are unlikely to see much with all the image shake. Do yourself a favour and make sure you get a good mount that can handle the weight of your scope comfortably.
If you would like more specific recommendations for beginners then check out telescopechoice.com, they point out some real but affordable telescopes that are going to delight the budding astronomer.
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