i have forgotten to mention another reason why it is best to head down to observing sessions and see what the telescopes have to offer, it may help to shape and determine what your most current interests are in observational astronomy. We do not have a single telescope that can excel in seeing everything up there, but we do have certain telescopes that will perform well in certain areas of observational astronomy (like planets VS deep sky objects (DSO)). If u find that u derive great joy in viewing planets primarily, then the entry-level Maksutov would be the way to go. For DSOs, you may prefer the rich-field refractor or a newtonian.
Now, should your viewing interest change with time, then you can always sell the telescope in singastro to another newbie and upgrade to another (or better) type.
anyone using Meade DS-2114ATS or Celestron PowerSeeker 127?
Wah this thread is receiving so much attention!
Yah, cannot teach newbie Pentax or Takahashi or Portaball. Otherwise they may think that astronomy is a expensive hobby. (oops.)
Yah, cannot teach newbie Pentax or Takahashi or Portaball. Otherwise they may think that astronomy is a expensive hobby. (oops.)
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ya... and thanks for the replies... actually i started star glazing quite long time ago, but just that no money to buy a good telescope... that lousy china made telescope of mine with false specification can only allow me to see the moon and blur view of mars... i kind of prefer meade but meng lee said the tripod is shaky... 
Actually hor...to Meng Lee every tripod is shakyvainqueur wrote:ya... and thanks for the replies... actually i started star glazing quite long time ago, but just that no money to buy a good telescope... that lousy china made telescope of mine with false specification can only allow me to see the moon and blur view of mars... i kind of prefer meade but meng lee said the tripod is shaky...
Jus joking with u Meng Lee..
To start off, why not get a Nexstar6SE
Portability--ok
Aperture --ok
Tripod stability -- quite ok
And goto!!
Hehe, I understand your stand. I started in p5 with a 8x25 bino and only until age 18, then I went to buy a scope. I worked like mad, and in the end finally got a good scope.
The bino experience has made me no problems handling any scope. So save up and get a good one and you will really fall into the abyss and you will becomes like the veterans here, sometimes talking in non-Earthly language.
As to which scope to get, that will only be decided when you look through different scopes. Because of the different strong points of different scopes, most of us have more than 1 scope for various purposes.
Jeff: Hahahaha, I did not say every tripod is shaky hor.
The bino experience has made me no problems handling any scope. So save up and get a good one and you will really fall into the abyss and you will becomes like the veterans here, sometimes talking in non-Earthly language.
As to which scope to get, that will only be decided when you look through different scopes. Because of the different strong points of different scopes, most of us have more than 1 scope for various purposes.
Jeff: Hahahaha, I did not say every tripod is shaky hor.
this thread is now getting more and more enjoyable! hahahaha
yes, please no brand names.... one need deep pockets...
started out with a 4cm refractor from Toys R Us....small but u see a colourful universe with it. So much so that Saturn looks like Venus, infact, everything looks like Venus... but it was only 20 bucks.
yes, please no brand names.... one need deep pockets...
started out with a 4cm refractor from Toys R Us....small but u see a colourful universe with it. So much so that Saturn looks like Venus, infact, everything looks like Venus... but it was only 20 bucks.
My old Tasco zoom spotting scope in the end melted when I did projection of the sun. Hehehe.
Photo Album:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/14113965@N03/
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