Comments on: A telescope dream for any budget

By: Jeremy

Jeremy — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 11:13:13 +0000

Nice article. I bet Texas has some awesome viewing. Sounds like a very good time.

By: M Hiltner

M Hiltner — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 17:14:14 +0000

Great information. However, had anyone noticed the Moon pasted into the image is backwards?

By: Steve

Steve — Sun, 07 Oct 2007 15:30:53 +0000

I like the fact that you give the binocular option. I was dead set on buying a telescope, until research led me to get a pair of binocs first. I bought a reletively cheap pair just to see what it was about. 16×50 porro prism BK7 for around 50 bucks. Now I am looking to upgrade, not to a telescope, but to a higher quality pair of astro binocs. I was happy with what I could see with the pair I have now, and it is so easy to use and portable with a mono-pod, I am not sure if I will ever actually get a telescope.

Could you do a piece on binoculars? What to look for, what to avoid, and what to expect.

Thanks Pamala, love you on Astonomy Cast!

By: kvenlander

kvenlander — Sat, 28 Jul 2007 17:37:16 +0000

Kevin, thanks!

Prasanta, I think the best way to build your own is to find a group of people who are doing it. See if you can find active amateurs in your area. Or somebody who has made one – this is a skill not easily learned online. This is what I’m going to do – luckily there is a group of telescope builders close.

By: Prasanta

Prasanta — Sat, 28 Jul 2007 16:15:36 +0000

Thanks for information. But according to me it is not “Any Budget”. Can you suggest me how to make a telescope? I possess to 8″ pyrex disk and abrasives of different guages. Two mugs of turpine. One net bought from wilman bell Inc. Yes, one book is there of Jean texerao. But as I am a commerce graduate it is very nut to crack. Can you help me?

By: Kevin

Kevin — Sat, 28 Jul 2007 13:48:29 +0000

kvenlander (and all). An excellent place to check out for reviews of equipment is the Cloudy Nights forums.

By: kvenlander

kvenlander — Sat, 28 Jul 2007 03:49:10 +0000

Thanks for the information. I’m looking for binoculars for me and my daughter. Can anybody compare the Nikon 10×50 recommended here with Celestron OptiView 10×50 LPR with “light pollution reduction” filter? About the same price, Celestron claims to work better in urban environments.

By: Jorge Schrauwen

Jorge Schrauwen — Fri, 27 Jul 2007 11:42:56 +0000

Yes very good info indeed

PS: the first link is wrong… coom?

By: Stephen

Stephen — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 18:17:03 +0000

As an astronomy club officer, i’d love to have a relationship with some nearby school offering astronomy courses. My club has an observatory with a 7 instruments and lots of eyepieces and filters. At most star parties, though, most members bring their own scopes and often don’t even open the dome or wheel out the 22″ dob! We could host a class of 30 with 2 students per scope, on average.

I totally agree that the xt6i is a very high price/performance instrument. You could also get one xt6i, a green laser on a mount, and a bunch more xt6′s (no computer).

There’s also a used market.

But the guys at the club do wide field narrow band CCD imaging with 80mm refractors and get incredible performance.

So far, this is totally outside my price range. I’m currently goofing around with what can be done with cheap cameras on a dob (since that what i have). I’ve got good shots of the Moon, anyway.

By: Kevin

Kevin — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 15:59:10 +0000

Very good information Pamela. I would also add that if people wanted to see any scopes in action before they plunked down their hard-earned bucks, they should hook up with their local astronomy club and attend a star party, meeting, etc. Some, like ours, have a big observatory as well.