The love for the night’s sky is probably what brought you here. You noticed the mesmerizing beauty of the infinite number of stars which glow above your head. That made you want to see more, to see them closer and you considered buying your first telescope. Right now you will find out what you should look for in your first telescope to buy and what features are the most important.
There are 3 main types of telescopes to consider when choosing your first telescope to buy.
Refractor – this type of telescope uses lens to collect the light. Its format is the one people are most familiar with.
Reflector – this telescope uses mirrors.
Compound – they are like a combination of the two above because they use both lens and mirrors. It’s also called catadrioptic telescopes.
The cheapest telescopes are the reflector ones. The only thing, which some people might consider a problem, is that you’ll have to adjust its optical alignment sometimes. You’ll have to do this often if you move it a lot. Some people want the first telescope to buy to be refractor telescopes but it really depends on what you are looking for for you.
The most expensive telescopes are often the refractor type, but this depends on the aperture, the wider it is, the more expensive the telescope will be. The good thing is that they don’t require too much maintenance.
The compound telescopes are easier to carry around. Those who know and like the features of portability often choose them. According to Sky and Telescopes the most popular designs of compound telescopes are Schmidt-Cassegrains and Maksutov-Cassegrains.
There are some telescope features you’ll have to look closely at before buying your first night’s sky explorer. These are: aperture, focal length, finder and magnification.
What's the right aperture of a telescope?
The first thing you’ll want to look at when you purchase a telescope is the aperture of the lens or mirrors. This matters a lot because how clear and sharp the image of the sky will be depends on it.
With a 3 inch telescope you will be able to see the moon and the big craters on it. With a 6 inch telescope you can see much more craters on the moon, even smaller one which have the diameter of one mile. The bigger the aperture is, the more you will see. It’s true that telescopes with bigger apertures are a little more expensive. Although when it comes to exploring the night’s sky you’ll want to discover more.
The big apertures, like the 10 inch ones, are chose by people who want to see galaxies and nebulae or star clusters. Even if you have the money to buy a large telescope you might have to consider that it won’t stay in one place forever. You’ll either have to prepare a special place for it or to have someone you can call any time to help you move it.
What's the most desired magnification?
According to Sky & Telescopes, the best magnification is 50 times the aperture of the telescope in inches or twice its aperture in millimeters. The magnification is important because with the good one you can see Saturn’s rings. Also, the magnification, can blur a clear image of the sky, that’s why you have to get the right one depending on the aperture of your telescope.
What you need to know about the focal length?
Every type of telescope has a focal length. This represents the distance from the lens (or mirrors) to the image formed. You can find the exact number which represents the focal length on the back or the front of the telescope. It is usually engraved there. Furthermore, as Sky & Telescopes says, it can vary from 400 to 3000 millimeters. Of course, this mostly depends on the type of the telescope and its aperture.
The eyepiece of the telescopes has focal length too. By dividing the focal length of the telescope with the one of the eyepiece you will get the magnification.
Sometimes you can see the moon or the stars blurry within a matter of seconds. Don’t worry, it’s not the telescope’s fault. The atmosphere of our planet, its turbulence can give an effect of blurriness when you watch the sky.
How to choose the perfect finder?
Sky & Telescopes say that you should look for a finder which has the aperture larger than 1 inch (25 millimeters).
For example, the Orion 9823 Apex 102mm Maksutov Cassegrain Telescope has a 102mm (4 inch) aperture and a 1300mm focal length. This would be a great first telescope to buy because of the clarity of images you can when viewing the Moon, planets and bright deep sky objects we all want to see.
It extremely portable in size which makes it store able enough to put on a shelf when not in use. Don’t underestimate it’s small size because it has enough power of traditional scopes five times it’s size.
This may not be your first choice when deciding on your first telescope to buy but you certainly can’t go wrong with this.
An alternative to finders is the reflex sight. It works by projecting a point or a ring of light on the sky when you look from behind.
The more experienced sky watchers will probably opt for computerizing the telescope. This way it will be easier to find certain planets or other celestial objects.
What to do if I want to capture what I see?
Many people who explore the night’s sky with a telescope or are about to do that, want to take pictures of it. For this you’ll probably need basic camera equipment.
Aside from that, the mount on which your telescope is mounted should be equatorial. Another option would be the altazimuth mount. Although, this type of mount has to be constantly moved and needs corrections when you watch something which moves across the sky.
Conclusion
When deciding on your first telescope to buy don’t rush into buying the first scope that you see and don’t take the largest one thinking that it’s more powerful than a small one. Think about how you’ll get it from inside your place to outside. Consider all the things you’ll need to do in order to get some nice views of stars and planets.
In time your eyes will get used to focusing on certain details while watching the sky thorough a telescope.
You can check out some of our telescopes for beginners here or if you want something more advanced then check these out.
If you still don’t know what’s the best telescope to buy for yourself after searching through dozens of different articles then I would certainly contact the closest astronomy club near you. You won’t only find out what telescope suits you the best but you also will find people to share your passion and curiosity with.