hazelwong wrote:ggodetucsamoht wrote:Hi hazel
Many years back I used my 50mm and it gave me saturn and its ring, jupiter and cloud bands, crescent venus etc etc.....
Perhap if you are very serious into this hobby and would like to get deeper into it then I would suggest you to get a bigger aperture you can afford. But of you have limited budget you might want to hold abit for people selling here, there might be good deals at times.
On other hand you can get sky watcher heritage reflector which comes cheaper and good....
Hi, thanks v much
the 50mm u used was a telescope?
About the reflector-- i'm a bit worried about the stuff on collimation etc. Would prefer something really easy to use. Maybe a refractor?
The 50mm Mainer mentioned should be a refractor telescope since your previous question is about a telescope 70mm or greater. For a few seconds while reading his reply, I also thought he was referring to a 50mm binocular which is so amazing that can see Saturn rings.
For a 50mm refractor, it is possible to change the magnification by changing the eyepieces. But you can't do that for most binoculars.
There is no perfect telescope. You should spend a bit more time learning about the pros and cons of each design, their cost, what kind of celestial objects you prefer to observe first and your budget. Else. you will go round and round and suffer analysis paralysis.
For example, in this case. If you don't mind spending some time to learn newtonian collimation, you will get the maximum value for your dollar in terms of aperture (diameter of primary lens/mirror) compared to a refractor costing the same. A bigger aperture will collect more light and let you see objects brighter, in higher resolution and allows higher useable magnifications. Of course, there are cons of the newtonian design like coma, viewing comfort and "hassle" of collimation compared to a refractor.
There are many free resources online explaining the collimation process (e.g. youtube tutorials). So it may not be that scary as you might have imagined it. Buying/upgrade newtonians with good collimation knob design can also lessen this "fear" and "hassle", e.g. the Heritage 130p has large knobs at the bottom for collimation. Collimation devices can be as simple and cheap as DIY collimation cap made of out film canister. Some newtonians are also designed to hold collimation well so you may not need to collimate it every single time you want to use it. Meeting up with members of this forum to learn collimation from them is also another good way.
Do take note to compare the telescopes at about the same price or within your budget. Especially when comparing the pros and cons. Else, there is always a better telescope for a "bit" more money and you may end up buying a Hubble Telescope.
For example, the 5-inch aperture Heritage 130p cost about $360. See if you can find another complete telescope system and cost the same and has more pros and less cons than Heritage 130p. Some of these pros and cons are very subjective and only you can be the ultimate judge for yourself, e.g. how portable is portable to me, what is my definition of a good enough view of Saturn?
If you have not done so, do visit as many free public stargazing session in Singapore and learn more about different telescope designs from the telescope volunteers:
http://www.astro.sg/2013/01/public-star ... apore.html
In addition to the resources in this forum, you may find this article and its links useful:
http://www.astro.sg/p/buying-telescope.html
There is also no harm in starting astronomy with a binocular first and enjoy its advantages. When you confident enough to invest in a telescope, you can then get one and enjoy the views of Saturn and many other celestial objects for many years to come.
Good luck and fun exploring the Universe!
