Newbie with many questions
Posted: Thu Jul 13, 2017 12:31 am
I am new to this forum thingy so I don't really know if I should post all of these questions as 1 post or many posts, hahaha. I am assuming it would cause spam so I'm just gonna post all of them here. I'm very sorry if I am breaking any rule by doing this.
Warning!! The questions I'm asking would probably be very stupid to you guys, feel free to laugh at them hahaha.
A bit of an intro first, I have been interested in astronomy since young. But only recently discovered that there were star gazing sessions organised in Sg. Attended a few of them like the ones in science centre and Bishan Park, and I feel like taking the next big step in this hobby... to buy my first telescope.
After doing much research (in order not to buy a telescope that I would regret), I noticed that almost everyone agrees that the aperture of a telescope is most important.
So my first Qn is: In a super light polluted country in SG, wouldn't a big aperture also "collect" the light pollution? Should I buy a small aperture one to reduce the amount of light pollution the telescope "collects"? Is aperture still the most important factor here in SG?
My second Qn would be: other than the astro scientific centre at the science centre, where else in SG can I walk into a shop, look at the telescopes available and buy one?
At the stargazing sessions I went to, they looked at the Moon and Jupiter,
My third Qn is: At what magnification should I look at them?
I have made a spreadsheet of most of the beginner telescopes available at astro scientific centre to see what magnification they would give me (taking into account their focal length, eyepiece focal length and also if a Barlow lens will come with it). But after making the spreadsheet... I realise something stupid, the numbers don't make sense to me. It tells me "telescope ABC provides 90x magnification" but... how big would the moon look like with that? How big would Jupiter look with that? Would I be able to see
its moons and the great red spot?? How bout Saturn rings? or maybe deep space(if I get bored with looking at planets, which is highly likely)?
For now, my eyes are on the powerseeker series ( more specifically the powerseeker 114eq ) as it provides the most variety of magnification(because IDK what magnification to view anything at all lol, so buying the one with more variety sounds logical). The powerseeker series offers 2 eyepieces and 1 Barlow lens, which gives me 4 different views of the same thing. unlike the astromaster series which provides 2 eyepieces with no Barlow lens. (if my research is correct)
Fourth Qn: I heard setting up an eq mount is hard as we are near the equator, is that true? If yes, can anyone explain it to me why(i know the basic diff of az and eq but I don't see why it is hard to set up an eq near the equator)?
Should I only buy an eq mount only when I have the interest to do astrophotography? What are the pros of an eq mount other than astrophotography?
My budget is less than $500.
That's all for my first post in this forum! sorry for the long post, hope you guys can help me out before I buy a telescope and regret it!!
THANKS SO MUCH!!
Warning!! The questions I'm asking would probably be very stupid to you guys, feel free to laugh at them hahaha.
A bit of an intro first, I have been interested in astronomy since young. But only recently discovered that there were star gazing sessions organised in Sg. Attended a few of them like the ones in science centre and Bishan Park, and I feel like taking the next big step in this hobby... to buy my first telescope.
After doing much research (in order not to buy a telescope that I would regret), I noticed that almost everyone agrees that the aperture of a telescope is most important.
So my first Qn is: In a super light polluted country in SG, wouldn't a big aperture also "collect" the light pollution? Should I buy a small aperture one to reduce the amount of light pollution the telescope "collects"? Is aperture still the most important factor here in SG?
My second Qn would be: other than the astro scientific centre at the science centre, where else in SG can I walk into a shop, look at the telescopes available and buy one?
At the stargazing sessions I went to, they looked at the Moon and Jupiter,
My third Qn is: At what magnification should I look at them?
I have made a spreadsheet of most of the beginner telescopes available at astro scientific centre to see what magnification they would give me (taking into account their focal length, eyepiece focal length and also if a Barlow lens will come with it). But after making the spreadsheet... I realise something stupid, the numbers don't make sense to me. It tells me "telescope ABC provides 90x magnification" but... how big would the moon look like with that? How big would Jupiter look with that? Would I be able to see
its moons and the great red spot?? How bout Saturn rings? or maybe deep space(if I get bored with looking at planets, which is highly likely)?
For now, my eyes are on the powerseeker series ( more specifically the powerseeker 114eq ) as it provides the most variety of magnification(because IDK what magnification to view anything at all lol, so buying the one with more variety sounds logical). The powerseeker series offers 2 eyepieces and 1 Barlow lens, which gives me 4 different views of the same thing. unlike the astromaster series which provides 2 eyepieces with no Barlow lens. (if my research is correct)
Fourth Qn: I heard setting up an eq mount is hard as we are near the equator, is that true? If yes, can anyone explain it to me why(i know the basic diff of az and eq but I don't see why it is hard to set up an eq near the equator)?
Should I only buy an eq mount only when I have the interest to do astrophotography? What are the pros of an eq mount other than astrophotography?
My budget is less than $500.
That's all for my first post in this forum! sorry for the long post, hope you guys can help me out before I buy a telescope and regret it!!
THANKS SO MUCH!!