3 ms·

You need very good location with unobstructed view over western horizont. Some preparation and a bit of luck with weather. It is not a rocket science. But get

You need very good location with unobstructed view over western horizont. Some preparation and a bit of luck with weather. It is not a rocket science. But get telescope in any case. Even cheap stuff from Lidl will show some details on saturn rings and cloud belts on jupiter. And there is also Moon and stars..

lifeisstillgood 6y ago
Do you have any good (ie busy father orientated) instructions on buying and setting up a basic telescope ?
- bartman 6y ago
  Take a look at https://skyandtelescope.org/wp-content/uploads/3-scopes.pdf https://skyandtelescope.org/wp-content/uploads/3-scopes.pdf for a good overview of 3 typical entry level suggestions. I have the Onesky (or rather it’s European sibling the Heritage 130P) and enjoy it. It doesn’t have any fancy features, but is easy to move around, doesn’t take up much storage space and still has plenty of power! If you’re willing to spend some more, the Celestron NexStar 5 and 6 are solid telescopes that can automatically move to specific objects in the sky (this is called GoTo) which is really nice if you want to focus more on viewing objects rather than finding them. They’re low on maintenance too and work well for showing others objects in the sky as they can keep whatever you look at centered in the eyepiece.
- jankotek 6y ago
  binoculars on tripod, if youwant planets then 7cm basic refractor
- ljf 6y ago
  I am no expert, but when I got into star gazing I was desperate to get a 'good' telescope and ended up spending about £250 on a 'cheap' scope. These have two main issues, one they are a pain to set up so that you can easily track with the rotation of the earth. 2 that when zoomed in close enough to see planets, they will cross your field of view so fast. My brother lent me some nice 8x50 binoculars and I've got so much more use out of them, and so much easy to use. So unless you are prepared to put some serious effort in, I'd grab some £50 binoculars (8 or 10x50 are best, don't get any higher magnification (the first number) or they are too hard to hold still, and do go muhh smaller in the lens size (second number) as you want to gather all that extra light for your eyes. I wish I'd spent 200 quid in 2 pairs of good binoculars - but hey you live and learn!

lifeisstillgood 6y ago

Do you have any good (ie busy father orientated) instructions on buying and setting up a basic telescope ?

bartman 6y ago
Take a look at https://skyandtelescope.org/wp-content/uploads/3-scopes.pdf https://skyandtelescope.org/wp-content/uploads/3-scopes.pdf for a good overview of 3 typical entry level suggestions. I have the Onesky (or rather it’s European sibling the Heritage 130P) and enjoy it. It doesn’t have any fancy features, but is easy to move around, doesn’t take up much storage space and still has plenty of power! If you’re willing to spend some more, the Celestron NexStar 5 and 6 are solid telescopes that can automatically move to specific objects in the sky (this is called GoTo) which is really nice if you want to focus more on viewing objects rather than finding them. They’re low on maintenance too and work well for showing others objects in the sky as they can keep whatever you look at centered in the eyepiece.
jankotek 6y ago
binoculars on tripod, if youwant planets then 7cm basic refractor
ljf 6y ago
I am no expert, but when I got into star gazing I was desperate to get a 'good' telescope and ended up spending about £250 on a 'cheap' scope. These have two main issues, one they are a pain to set up so that you can easily track with the rotation of the earth. 2 that when zoomed in close enough to see planets, they will cross your field of view so fast. My brother lent me some nice 8x50 binoculars and I've got so much more use out of them, and so much easy to use. So unless you are prepared to put some serious effort in, I'd grab some £50 binoculars (8 or 10x50 are best, don't get any higher magnification (the first number) or they are too hard to hold still, and do go muhh smaller in the lens size (second number) as you want to gather all that extra light for your eyes. I wish I'd spent 200 quid in 2 pairs of good binoculars - but hey you live and learn!