Buying Your Astronomy Telescope Right

I did not held on to any sound advice as far as buying astronomical telescope is concerned – especially to my cousin. He just recently bought one for his son who’s getting hooked on astronomy and star gazing. And I thought he made a mistake commonly committed by many other first time buyers.

My nephew wanted a refracting telescope, and so when I learned about this, I told his father that it is best to buy a telescope for his son from a good scope and binoculars shop, the owner of which I know is an authorized dealer of branded names like Meade and Celestron telescope.

My advice went unheeded. Instead father and son trooped the first morning to the nearest department store selling some toy-like scopes. The price was not even cheap and needless to say, the quality was. And so even if the 10 year old child’s eyes were beaming wide open and was seemingly enthralled because of his possession of his ‘astronomy telescope,’ I feel bad for the money being wasted as it could have been used to buy a much better one.

Indeed, dirt cheap telescopes are still not available. However many manufacturers now are introducing quite inexpensive telescopes such as the Celestron telescope, which while not fully possessing the desirable specifications, are very competent equipments themselves. In fact nowadays the branded type of telescope is the best telescope to buy.

The Moon Through Your Astronomy Telescope

For astronomers, especially the stargazing novice and hobbyists, the moon is one of the solar system objects on which their refracting telescope, reflectors or any other astronomical telescopes are often trained at.

What is with the moon, why most would love to stare at it, study it, whether with the naked or the aid of the telescope? Well, aside from the fact that this luminescent lunar globe is considered by many as a celestial object of romance – short of being hypnotic – it is simply there for everyone to behold.

Even without your astronomy telescope, the moon can be easily located. Just look up the clear night sky and you can see the moon and admire its beauty. But if you want a more detailed look, you definitely need to have your telescope. The moon’s craters can be seen by the naked eye, but you can see a thousand times better if you have an optical gadget to use.

Scientists have actually given names to the various lunar features such as the seas and mountain, not to mention the craters. And so it can be very helpful of you have a lunar map which you can use to identify those that you see in your telescope. Or perhaps what you can do is to find on the moon the craters that are identified on the map. Don’t you think this is an astronomical task that’s interesting and a lot of fun?

Indeed, if you are new to star gazing, the moon is one of the first objects you are recommended to check with your astronomical telescope. And with its magnificent images, it will definitely inspire you to seriously pursue stargazing and the science of astronomy.

Astronomy Telescope For Kids: Getting One

What great joy it will be for us if our kids will take on great love on science, more so if his choice is astronomy, and pursue such passion relentlessly, choosing this science as his field of work later on in his life. We can help them go into this path by giving them their own astronomical telescope.

You should know how it is the first time you held up your refracting telescope to the skies – it was such an amazing moment. Now you want your child to have the same experience, and hopefully also pursue star gazing and the study of the heavens even if only a hobby.

First, if your own refracting telescope of your childhood years cannot be used anymore, you need to buy one for your child. An important advice in buying him his first astronomy telescope is this: never focus of the magnification of the scope, as this is not important in determining the reliability of a telescope.

The more important feature when you buy one is the scope’s diameter, or what is called the aperture – this provides the quality of images and pictures that a telescope can give you. You will have to choose the largest aperture over the strongest magnification anytime. Surely, the kid of space images that your child will get from a telescope with the desired aperture will awe him to no end.

You must know how kids are, they can be so hyperactive and sometimes lack concentration that they make unnecessary movements around the telescope, affecting its stability, even damaging it if in case it gets toppled down. Therefore, when choosing a telescope for you kid, you must think about its mount. Choose a model that has the most stable mount. Pass up on one which you think is a wobbly type.

Your Astronomical Telescope: Where to Buy

Aside from brick and mortar telescope, bino and optic shops all over the country, where else can you find astronomical telescopes of your choice? There are the online telescope manufacturers that you can purchase your telescope from. More known names are such companies as Celestron Telescope and the Meade Company, both of which have online sites you can log on to and select and purchase an astronomical telescope from their inventory.

Aside from online sites, there are other ways from which you can buy an astronomy telescope on the internet. You can go to forums on astronomy and telescopes and just lurk around on threads. Surely enough you will discover one or more which discusses how to acquire telescopes, used or brand-new.

Most members of these forums are helpful and only too willing to give information on where the best refracting telescopes can be had. There are also members who might need to part with their old telescopes and are ready to sell them at low prices.

If you are the adventurous type and is a lover of old telescopes, then an antique shop is the perfect place to go and hunt for this type of telescope. One might be fortunate enough to discover a shop having a valuable antique telescope; it simply takes a lot of luck to really find an old scope of your choice this way.

Once I got surprise upon seeing an old refracting telescope mounted on some table being sold on a nearby market. I thought of buying it but was quoted unbelievably high price I just simply cannot afford. Sadly, I was not able to take it home, not even a picture of it as I was crazy enough to forget my camera for the day.

Telescopes can be had anywhere, from a lot of sources. And wherever you may choose to buy one, make sure you are buying not only the best quality telescope possible (depending on your budget), but also the one that’s appropriate for your astronomical, stargazing and hobby needs.