Does anybody here know anything about purchasing a telescope? Thanks, Syyd

All I know is that the good ones are mighty expensive... I'd love to have a high-powered one myself, as I love staring at the sky. (I'd stare right into the sun for hours if it didn't damage my eyesight.)

Hmmm...... I think you choose the one you want, find somewhere that sells it and go in there with the readies. Usually they accept them in exchange for the telescope ad you walk out with it and take it home. lol, Sorry, Syyd - Wish I did, and / or had the readies available - I love the sky myself, especially that moon thing - those craters..... (",)

The only thing I know about purchasing telescopes, is that some gets handed a lot of money, and someone gives a lot of money away for what seems to be something truly kick @$$. Other than the exchanging of monetary items though, I have no clue about telescopes.

Not a lot, but I know you should go for a good Newton/Newtonian telescope (the wide ones with the eyepiece on the side) and not, under any circumstance waste money on a straight telescope...they are usually sold as telescopes to use at night to watch the stars, but they're crap....weak tripod, crap lenses and the angle of view is much too narrow to see where you're aiming at. These are just made to look at the people across the street. :) The newton/newtonian comes in many lengths, but they give you a much broader view on the sky, and because so much 'fits' into the area that you will see, you don't have to constantly move your telescope up an inch, and then down again, left, right, left.... Also, make sure it has a good solid tripod...these guys usually come with a wooden tripod. If you have a weak tripod (something like a good photo tripod isn't stable enough) and you touch they eyepiece with your eye, the telescope would move a little bit, and your subject would be gone....so you'd have to adjust, etc. That's all I know....and that's not much :P Btw, ask if there's a way to connect your camera to the telescope...I know it can be done, but I'm not sure how it's done. You should be able to make awesome planet shots.. Have fun

Attached Link: http://www.celestron.com/basics.htm

Have a look, Celestron makes nice stuff. Btw, I meant to say that you got 'spotting' telescopes, 'astro....' telescopes, etc. And really kool stuff has got a remote control, so you can adjust it without touching it :) Here: http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1670882775

Start with Meade ( WWW.Meade.com ) Also check out mail order. I got one as a gift. But it actually had a peice of lint glued in it. I returned it for one that works much better. Rork is right a typical one will probably have a wooden tripod. However that does NOT mean you can see much with it. BUT the field of view is not as large. Mine does have a wooden tripod but I've never had too much of a problem with it. It's sturdy enough. If you bump the scope hard it's going to move anyway! My suggestion is take a look at an astronomy magazine. Those are littered with telescope manufacturers. Btw many of the less mid expensive models have automatic tracking. Which means you can enter in the cordinates of what you are looking at and it will go there. is there light polution in your area? What are you going to look at. Do you want to photograph it? Are things you may want to consider. If you are unsure. Plus get warm clothes. It can get chilly star gazing! Good luck!!! Bsteph

Sorry, I meant to say that the best ones come with a very heavy tripod (with double leggs) from either wood or metal....sorry for being so confusing :)

Syyd: I've been an amateur astronomre for many years. Maybe I can help. The important thing to consider is where you plan on using the telescope. This will help determine how much light gathering you need. A 10" (reflector area) scope will be great in a very dark location but will pull in too much ambient light in the city. A newtonian/reflecting telescope is a good buy because it's a simple design and not terribly expensive. You will want one with a 1.25" focuser and not .965". This will give you a much greater variety of eye pieces to choose from and is the amateur standard. A great web site for information and products is www.telescope.com. This is the Orion site and they have just about everything for the amateur astronomer. Good luck! Feel free to contact me if you'd like some additional info. Nick

Syyd, nnelson1 has made some good points. The sky has been my passion since I was 12...At the moment, I have a 8" Reflector(Newtonion) which gives great viewing but is VERY bulky with a big mount and not really transportable. I also have a Celestron Nexstar5 (my favourite toy)...this is a Schmidt-Cassegrain, so it is smaller and very transportable (handy if you have to travel to dark-sky sites)...It is also controlled by an onboard computer which (once it is set-up) will point to almost any interesting object you can name in the sky! To attach a Camera you need a thing called a T-Adapter, specific to the lens mount on your camera. Also keep in mind that if you want to do serious astrophotography an accurate motor-driven telescope is a must, because at the focal-lengths we're talking about here, your subject moves out of view VERY quickly with the earths rotation! I suggest popping in to a local Astronomy Club meet (look up one nearest you on the web) and talk to peole who really KNOW their stuff back-to-front. They are invariably really friendly and you may even pick up a good scope 2nd hand! Good Luck! As above, you can contact me too if you need to know more...

Of course I meant people..not peole! Oh and the other guys made good points too! Especially about a sturdy mount - even the best telescope is USELESS without a dependable stable tripod. All the best! ;-)>