Tools of the Trade

Probably the biggest quandary for any beginning Amateur Astronomer is what telescope to buy?  There are dozens of choices out there, all with their pluses and minuses, all seemingly similar, but in actuality, quite different from one another.  Throw in things like manufacturer, budget, and mount, you have a dizzying array of items, information and God knows what all to sort through!

Here are a small handful of articles that I found especially helpful in explaining the various types and advantages each type has to offer:

Telescope Buyer's Guide
How to Choose a Telescope

Binoculars are a similar challenge.  Most people agree you need at least a good pair of 10x50's to see what you want to, but beyond that, another dizzying array.  Check out these guides:

Binoculars Buying Guide
A good introductory article on what you'll see with them

In the end, what it comes down to is how are you going to use your scope?  What's good for me isn't good for you, and I think going into an internet Astronomy forum and asking what you should buy isn't good for anybody.  Nothing against internet Astronomy forums, but usually what you'll find are people telling you to buy whatever new scope is currently popular or what scope they themselves want to buy next.  Not that those are the wrong answer, necessarily, they're just not actually the correct one for you.

The best piece of advice I found went something like, "The best telescope for you is the one that's going to be used often".   True words.  I can afford a 10" Dobsonian, and would love to have one.  I live in an apartment, have no place to store a 6' tall scope and have no way to transport one safely.  Even if I knew where I'd put it, I'd never be able to use it.  As wonderful as that scope is, as much as I want one --it's entirely the wrong scope for me.  If all I had to do was carry it 20 feet from the garage to the dark backyard, I'd be all over it. 

A really bad piece of advice that I see repeated often is, "Buy the biggest aperture you can afford".  Do that and you're likely to end up with a telescope that's bigger than you want and never gets used. It's advice handed out by gearheads (every hobby has them) without thought to use, just size.   Ignore it.

What I'm saying is, don't just look at specs.  Look at practicalities, ease of use, and what you're willing to do with it.  If you don't want to spend 40 minutes assembling and disassembling something, that rules out a whole slew of them right there.  If you have no room for a Dobsonian, so much for those.  And so on.  I think you'll find that the more you think about it, the fewer scopes there are that actually fit your needs and wants, and you may surprise yourself with what you decide on. 

I'm also a firm believe in that you probably can't go wrong with buying your first scope, as long as you stick to one of the major manufacturers and as long as it's one that you'll use.  One thing I found in my research is that most Amateur Astronomers own more than one scope, so I figure that whatever you buy first is going to be a learning scope anyways.  If you choose 'the wrong one' at first, no big deal.  It's what you'll learn on, and learn from, and when you buy your second scope down the road you'll know more of what you're looking for. 

When I was looking for my first scope, I realized I needed something compact and portable.  As I mentioned, I lived in an apartment.  Storage was important, as was portability since I wouldn't be using it at home much.  I ruled out reflective scopes immediately because they're larger and if I'm moving it around I'm probably going to have to collimate it often.  That narrowed the field tremendously.  So, I looked at refractors.  I found some really nice ones that were out of my budget, but I also found one that was probably designed for me or at least people like me.  I got the Orion 70mm Refractor GoScope. 

Not huge, not expensive, but highly portable and since it's a refractor, it can get bumped around a bit with no problems.  Also, it's what they call a backpack scope.  The tripod and the scope fit snugly into a backpack for storage.  With everything there's a trade off.  The scope itself gets high marks and excellent reviews; the tripod doesn't.  No big deal, a bag of rocks tied to the middle steadies even the most ricketiest mount with out additional expense. It's in a backpack, I can toss it in my truck and set it up on 5 minutes.  I can put it in the back of the closet when I'm not using it.  For me, it was the perfect scope to get.  An added bonus is, it's got a short focal length, so there aren't a lot of additional eyepieces that are going to do it any good.  I'm an accessories junkie, and this is a good limit to that.

It's also a good telescope for me because this is the scope I'm going to learn with. If I stumble over it, lose it, wreck it, etc.  I'm not going to be all that busted up about it.  I can replace it easily.  I'm also a self admitted cheap bastard, and while I do take care of my things, accidents happen and I'd be a lot less upset over losing this for whatever reason, than I would be if I spent $600 or more.   So far, I've been pleased with it.

I own a pair of 7x35 binoculars, and used them quite a bit for stargazing on camping trips.  After reading more about binocular astronomy, I decided to upgrade to the recommended 10x50 size.  Again, being a cheap bastard who wants things I don't mind breaking or losing, I bought a pair of Celestron 10x50 UpClose binoculars.

 

Yes, you can buy a lot larger and a lot more expensive binoculars than these, but at around $30 these are pretty much perfect for me.  If I lose them, I order more on pay day and forget about them.  Nope, they're probably not optically the best, but for my situation they are the best for me. 

Why I'm writing all this, is because a lot of times I think we're led to believe what's best isn't actually the best for us.  We tend to overlook what's best for practicality and ease of use, and get distracted by bells and whistles that end up being meaningless at the end of the day.  Or, as mentioned above, a really fantastic telescope that is almost impossible for us to use. 

I also am not a big fan of traipsing around outdoors in the dark with hundreds if not thousands of dollars worth of equipment.  Anything I can do to limit that is a good thing!