Buying a Telescope: How to Avoid Being Rippped Off
If your kid is crazy for Astronomy, get your hands on a $25 copy of Guy Ottewell’s Astronomical Calendar. You won’t find a better, more complete yearly almanac of astronomy anywhere. (In fact, most sources use Ottewell’s information in their publications.)
If a telescope is in your near future, here are a few of my personal recommendations. (Please note that I do not sell any of these telescopes, nor do I get paid for posting these links. Think of this as a sneak peek into my personal collection.)
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I am so excited for you! Yes, it’s actually less expensive to get the whole thing pre-selected so you don’t have to figure out which parts to get and also so they come fully assembled for you. I had to drill holes in my scope tube, and I really didn’t like doing that… Here’s the one I use all the time: SkyView Pro8. It’s a great scope to start with. If this is for kids instead of adults, you can skip the tripod and get it mounted closer to the floor by selecting the Dobsonian version. Look at my recommendations above for the essential items you need and keep in touch so I can help you select the best scope for you.
Hi Aurora! When I go to the Orion telescopes web site, there is an Orion Build-a-Scope 8″ Classic Dobsonian Telescope available that starts at $199 and allows you to configure your telescope however you want. It asks you to chose a focuser, finder scope and initial eyepiece but the problem is I have no idea what to choose!! HELP!! Do you have any recommendations? Is it better to just purchase a telescope that has all these things already picked out?
Wow.
That really clears it up! Thank you!
Did it look like this image above? If so, it’s called a ‘moon dog’ (although scientists call it paraselene) is a bright circular spot on a lunar halo. This happens when ice crystals way high up in the atmosphere refract the moonlight (change the speed/direction of the moon light) . When there’s a lot of high clouds, like cirrostratus, you’ll find this ring around the moon. They opposite of a moon dog is a sun dog (no kidding), which is the ring around the sun also caused by light being bent by ice crystals. If you take a picture of a moon dog on film, you’ll pick up different colors you can’t see with the naked eye.
Well, I wasn’t sure where to put this, since this is un-related to this material. I just thought of this question last night as I went outside and looked at the moon. There was a clear definite huge circle, almost like a bubble, around the moon. It is still there tonight, just very faintly. I found out that this was a halo, but what does that mean? What IS a halo? How come we see it? How long does it last?
THANK YOU, Aurora! You are so awesome to do this for all of us!
-Stephanie T