How do I choose from the variety of telescopes?
I want to add stargazing to my evening hobbies. What budget telescopes can I buy so I can view other planets in our solar system.. or far away stars?
Without question, the best budget telescope is not a telescope at all but a pair of decent binoculars. I was in amateur astronomy for 15 years or more before I could afford to buy a decent telescope – so I used binoculars. If you buy a cheap telescope, you will see the following:
1. The moon – it will be fuzzy and will jiggle around a lot.
2. The planets will look like blobs with no detail.
3. Deep sky objects will be impossible to find. If you do get a momentary glimpse, the mount will not allow you to keep it centered or even still in the eyepiece.
In short, this is about the best way for you to get so frustrated that you will chuck the entire hobby, and that would be sad.
I would highly recommend that you go to a dealer you trust, or check out Oriontelescopes.com on the internet. A decent tripod is also a good idea. Once you purchase these, go to an astronomy club meeting, buy a book or two, and spend some time learning the night sky. This will be satisfying in itself. Plus if you go to a club gathering, you will be able to look through 20 or 30 scopes at different objects and use the experience to decide what you really want in a scope, once you can afford to buy one.
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