Should I Buy This Telescope "525 X Power Telescope Astronomic

[Amogh Aryan]

Proffesional Tripod" ?? from here http://cgi.? http://cgi.ebay.in/525-X-Power-Telescope-Astronomic-Proffesional-Tripod-/280683290395?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_203&hash=item415a 071f1b

[Tom A]

No. That telescope is rubbish, or at least it should be. Any telescope advertised in terms of it's "power" or "magnification" should be ignored.

[GeoffG]

No. This is a classic "department store trash telescope"! Never buy a telescope advertised by its magnification. I own telescopes costing 10 to 50 times more than this telescope and I can NEVER use 525x because the Earth's atmosphere won't support magnifications that high, even with the best telescopes. Using the word "professional" in this context is a lie and false advertising. No professional astronomer would bother with a junk telescope like this. The ad says it has an equatorial mount, but the picture shows a telescope on an altazimuth mount: another lie!

In this price range you will do better with a good 10x50 binocular rather than wasting your money on an unusable piece of junk.

Here are a few web pages with good information on beginner's telescopes:
http://www.gaherty.ca/tme/TME0702_Buying_a_Telescope.pdf
http://www.scopereviews.com/begin.html
http://observers.org/beginner/j.r.f.beginner.html

For more advanced information, read Phil Harrington's Star Ware, 4th edition (Wiley).

You'll get the greatest value for your money with a Newtonian reflector on a Dobsonian mount, such as these:
http://www.telescope.com/Telescopes/Dobsonian-Telescopes/pc/1/12.uts
http://www.skywatchertelescope.net/swtinc/product.php?class1=1&class2=106

Buy from a store which specializes in telescopes and astronomy, either locally or online; don't buy from department stores, discount stores or eBay as mostly what they sell is junk. Find your local astronomy club and try out different telescopes at one of their star parties:
http://www.skyandtelescope.com/community/organizations

I strongly recommend that beginners steer clear of astrophotography until they have learned their way around the sky. Astrophotography is by far the most expensive and difficult area of amateur astronomy.

Many people who buy telescopes have no idea how to find interesting things to observe. A good introduction to finding things is NightWatch by Terence Dickinson (Firefly). A more advanced book is Star Watch by Phil Harrington (Wiley).

[preetham m]

If you take away only one thing from reading this page, let it be this : Magnification is NOT a measure of a telescope's capabilities! Many beginning astronomers think that high magnification is they key to great viewing. This is a common misconception. A telescope's "power" is a function of the diameter of its mirror (or lens). In general, bigger is better for telescopes!

Ask any experienced amateur astronomer and they will tell you that most observing is performed using low magnification. For small telescopes, low magnification (or "power") means anywhere from about 30x to about 50x. High power is useful (and often necessary) for viewing the Moon, planets and double stars. However, initially finding a planet (or any object) is much easier to do using low power. Even users of large telescopes use lower magnification most of the time. The highest magnification that is useful in a typical beginner telescope is in the range of 100x to 200x . Small telescopes do not gather enough light for satisfactory high power views of galaxies and nebulae. Stay away from scopes that claim magnifications like 500x!

The image below shows the results of using appropriate magnification and excessive magnification. The leftmost two images of Saturn are representative of what you might expect to see at low and high power respectively (in a typical entry level scope). The image at right shows what happens when magnification is pushed to excess. The image is bigger to be sure, however the clarity is terrible, the image will be very shaky and much dimmer. No additional detail can be seen as a result of this extreme (but useless) magnification! The image at right is typical of what you might see in an entry level telescope that claims "675x magnification". The most magnification you will normally use is about 50x per inch of lens (or mirror) diameter. For a 3" scope this would be about 150x. To emphasize one more time: most of your observing will be done at LOW magnification!

[wallyrush]

No,Here is a short video for you to see-
http://www.andysshotglass.com/ChoosingScope.html
Wally

[digquickly]

Well, ..., no. the 60mm objective is too small to effectively study the night sky. You'd be better ff buying a pair of 20x50 binoculars.

When considering a first scope I suggest that you watch the following video on how to select a first time telescope: http://www.mycarolinatoday.com/2010/08/telescope-101/

You should, also, read the following article. It will give you some information on how telescopes work, as well as, additional buying tips: http://www.raleighastro.org/observing/general-articles/102-purchasing-a-telescope

Now the best pricing for a decent first scope that I can suggest is a Dobsonian scope with a 6" or 8" mirror (26,000rs or 33,000rs)

The dobsonians I'm suggesting is are great visual beginner scopes and are perfect for just taking out to the backyard for casual observing but will definitely hold their own at any amateur astronomy gathering. They are also easy for young people to use and operate. You can do short exposure astrophotography with them but not long exposure astrophotography (for that you need a lot more money - See "Astrophotograpphy for Web Cams - Robert Reeves").

The Dobsonian scope will be much more durable, of higher quality, and you'll be able to see (with a 6" mirror greater) all of the Messier deep sky objects (DSO's) plus many of the brighter NCG DSO's, many many stars plus: Mercury, Venus, Earth's Moon, Mars, Jupiter and it's moons, Saturn, its rings and moons, Uranus, Neptune and the dwarf planet Pluto, as well as, many of the minor planets, comets, and asteroids. Additionally, it's easy to transport, setup, and use (under 60 seconds from car to ground ... no kidding).

Bottom Line: any scope with less than a 6" mirror, IMHO, would be a waste of money. See the links below for low priced dobsonian scopes with 6" and 8" mirrors. However, the larger the aperture (size of primary objective ... like an 6", 8", 10", 12" mirror or larger) the better. Also, there are many brands of dobsonian scopes made by many different companies that you can choose from but at least this write up will give you a place to start.

Also, look at the http://www.tejraj.com/orionclassic.html site and you'll find that they do have quite a selection of standard, push-to, goto dobsonian scopes that could fit your needs.

For more advice I would suggest that you contact your local astronomy club. You don't have to own a telescope to join! Joining your local astronomy club is the best way to nurture your passion for astronomy. Plus, you'll find that they'll be able to provide you lots of great advice and support for acquiring and operating a telescope.

[Kindy]

Well have you should got to a telescope with a salesman that you think is trust worthy and is willing to show you how to set it up and all of it's bells and whistles that's what I'd look for that's what I did look for when I put mine on layby also have a look at the link in my previous question it might be a good onenif you live In australia, make sure they dont advertise by its magnification cause when they are doing that they a crap..

Oh by the way do you know the ones you look through when you are little well they only work good until the age of 10 so this is a piece of junk.. rubbish

[Alan]

Only 60cm aperture, you can get binoculaes better than this.

It is only a toy, if it cost more than 25 US Dollars it's a rip off.

Get some 10X50 binoculars