First backyard telescope. How's this look?

[Happy Grumpy]

Aperture: 80mm

Focal Length: 500mm

Lens 25mm, K9mm(?)

For a first backyard telescope for checking out the Moon, Mars, seeing Jupiter and the Galilean moons, seeing the rings around Saturn (not in detail obviously)....

How does she look?

Can't be much else out there for less than 5k baht.

Telescope Astronomical Telescope Jiehe F500 x 80 Multi-use, designed for stars and land/bird views.

- Model: Jiehe F500 x 80
- Accessories: 2 eyepieces, and 1 eyepiece extension as below
- L25mm, K9mm, 3 x Barlow
- 5x20 finder scope
- Adjustable aluminum alloy camera tripod (50cm ~ 130cm)
- Carry punch.
- Owner Manual
- Magnification power: 20x ~ 375x,
- Magnification power Details as the following
- Eyepiece & Optical Magnification Power Chart.
- Eyepiece - Magni. power - Power with 3x Barlow lens
- K25mm - 20x - 60x.
- K9mm - 55.55x - 166.5x.
- SR4mm - 125x - 375x ( not included; extra $18 if available in stock)
- Focal length: 500mm
- Objective diameter (aperture): 80mm
- Coated lens.
- Main telescope body length500mm
- Weight: approx 5kg (including carry punch)

http://www.walkthai.com/product/38/%E0%B8%81%E0%B8%A5%E0%B9%89%E0%B8%AD%E0%B8%87%E0%B8%94%E0%B8%B9%E0%B8%94%E0%B8%B2%E0%B8%A7-jiehe-50080

[Happy Grumpy]

Or would this be better?

http://www.lazada.co.th/galaxy-900-x-76-telescope-f90076-4025519.html

GALAXY กล้องดูดาว 900 x 76 Telescope รุ่น F90076


ความยาวโฟกัส/หักเห : 900 mm
รู้รับแสง/แสงที่มีขนาดเส้นผ่าศูนย์กลาง : 76 mm
เลนส์สำหรับช่องมองภาพ : H20 mm
เลนส์ตา : SR4 mm, H12.5 mm
Barlow lens : 2X

Edited March 25, 2016 by Happy Grumpy

[HOAX]

True, it's not much else there for only 5k, but... think about it, if it was worth the 5k price tag, wouldn't you see more people using it?

It's considered a junk scope. Not because of the 4" objective, but because of the quality overall. Also, 4" is too little to really enjoy anything else than the moon. Yes you will be able to see the craters well and even Saturns rings, barely. Why is the aperture so important? The greater diameter of the objective, the more light it gathers and the clearer and brighter the view will be. For instance, going from a 10" to a 12" objective would mean an increase of 44% more light gathered. That's a lot.

So thats why I think 5k is too much, because it's waste of money.

6" is the minimum I would recommend. 6" and 8" are good for beginners and are not too pricey either. Another thing that is just as important, is the tripod and the mounting. If you use a camera tripod then you will end up fighting off insects more than viewing the cosmos. Because even a tiny fly would make the view blury with weak tripods. Buy a solid and heavy tripod meant for telescopes to keep the view sharp.

-------

Types of Telescopes

Modern amateur telescopes can be divided into three classes:

1) The refractor is what most people think of when they hear the word "telescope". Refractors gather light with an objective lens at one end and focus the light at the eyepiece at the other end. Refractors were almost extinct at one point, but modern glass elements (including an exciting new artificially grown crystal known as fluorite) have brought the refractor back to prominence.

Refractor advantages: Potential for the best images, no obstruction in light path.

Refractor disadvantages: Some secondary color ("chromatic aberration") still visible in all but the best units, large aperture instruments can be massive, most expensive of the three designs (often by a large margin), "Guilt By Association" with horrible department store refractors.

2) The Newtonian Reflector, invented by Sir Isaac Newton, uses a parabolic mirror at the end of a tube and focuses the light back at the front of the tube, where the eyepiece sits, after being deflected by a smaller secondary mirror in the light path.

Reflector advantages: Cheapest of the three designs (especially those on Dobsonian mounts), more portable than refractors of similar aperture, inherently color free (no chromatic aberration).

Reflector disadvantages: Secondary obstruction results in some loss of contrast, still quite large compared with Schmidt-Cassegrains, can require frequent collimation (alignment) of optics.

3) The Schmidt-Cassegrain and its derivatives (Maksutov-Cassegrain, Schmidt-Newtonian, etc.) use BOTH mirrors and lenses to fold the optical path back onto itself, resulting in a compact tube. The technical term for these scopes is catadioptrics, but since nobody seems to use this term, I won't. A Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope is sometimes simply referred to as an "SCT."

SCT Advantages: Most compact of the three designs, less expensive than refractors, huge assortment of after-market accessories, can be totally computer driven, very popular.

SCT disadvantages: More expensive than reflectors, images are potentially the worst of the three designs (notice I said "potentially!"), most subject to dew of the three designs.

------

Meade, Celestron, Orion and Discovery are the manufacture-ways to go. These too-cheap-too-be-true things you were talking about are just that, too cheap to be good. A great telescope does not have to be very pricey.

Saturn, taken by a professional

What you can expect from a 6" telescope at about x100

A very long exposure image of the Andromeda galaxy

What you can expect from a 10" telescope at low power

A professional image of the Hercules cluster

What you can expect from a 6" telescope at low power

Bare in mind, there are many other factors in hardware of telescopes that gives a good quality view. If this hardware was cheap to make, then good telescopes wouldn't be so expensive either. The manufacturer of the telescope you posted sells the telescope with a profit like all the other manufacturers, meaning the hardware in it is of cheaper quality. The prices of the better quality telescopes are already pushed down due to competition. If this telescope made good quality hardware then the others would've used it as well, but they're not, because it's junk.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Happy Grumpy]

^ Thanks.

It's for a 12 year old.

6" is the minimum I would recommend.

Cool. any of them for sale in Thailand for less than say, 10k?

[Tywais]

Might browse through this site, they have several good brands there - http://www.thaiexcite.com/Telescopes/

I assume he is referring to a 6" reflector not refractor? I had a 60mm refractor when I was young and it was a lot of fun.

[Tywais]

A good video to help with the decision.

[Northwindhermit]

First telescope for a 12-year old? I recommend going with just such an inexpensive refractor. It could get them hooked on star-gazing and a better scope may be justified someday in the future. A small scope makes one learn the sky, expanding your limited choice of targets. But one’s first astronomy tool should be a Star Map of some kind.

As my first scope, I bought a 60mm refractor and used it for decades. I threw Star Parties and enjoyed showing things to people for their first time. The Moon and Jupiter with its moons were always favorites, along with Saturn (small but unique) and the phases of Venus. I’ll never forget showing the night sky to my young niece, sighting in several objects first and then not telling her what I had just zeroed in on, just telling her to take a look, and she gasped: “Is that… is that Saturn?” Priceless.

I really recommend not spoiling the kid’s experience with their first scope by letting them view too much through someone else’s huge expensive scope. Let them discover the skies with a Star Map and their own scope. (Sky and Telescope magazine has a weekly email I get which lets me know what’s up.)

The advertised highest powers a scope can achieve are usually to be ignored. You can magnify that high, but the image will often be blurry. The lower and middle magnifications are the best images.

Happy gazing.

[Happy Grumpy]

Thanks for all the replies.

I've decided to go for this one:

http://www.thaiexcite.com/Orion-FunScope-76mm-Tabletop-Reflector-Telescope.html

Western brand designed as a beginner's telescope with kids in mind.

"But what can you see with it? The FunScope is no toy, it's a real reflecting telescope with a 76mm (3") diameter polished spherical mirror which allows you to capture 60% more light than a typical 60mm beginner's telescope. More light gathered means the FunScope will provide views of the cosmos that are brighter and clearer than views in smaller diameter telescopes. With the FunScope reflector telescope, the whole family can observe the Moon, Saturn's rings, as well as Jupiter and its four brightest moons, all under light-polluted skies. Under dark skies, even star clusters, emission nebulas and some of the brighter galaxies are not beyond reach."

Will look around in some bookshops today for basic astronomy books/guides/maps.

Thanks.

[Happy Grumpy]

Though may go for the 100mm version, as it would likely allow for much better detail of the cloud structures of Jupiter, and Saturn's rings etc.

http://www.thaiexcite.com/Orion-SkyScanner-100mm-Tabletop-Reflector-Telescope.html

Edited March 27, 2016 by Happy Grumpy

[Tywais]

Next you'll need to start looking up camera mounts, atrophotography and frame stacking.

A sample of the 100mm with 3x barlow lens and image processing.

[Forkinhades]

Sorry to hijack to this, but thought I might try here before starting a new thread. So is this any good?

 

http://www.lazada.co.th/jiehe-500-x-80-773486.html?spm=a2o4m.041200000000.0.0.qv4v6L&ff=1&setLang=en

 

My Boy is really into the moon and stars, planets, so would be good to start seeing them.