Looking to get a new telescope

So I am in my backyard with a super drunk buddy looking at the moon with my early 90’s telescope. And I realized that I want a new one. Like one that can hook up to my iPad or laptop. I am willing to spend around 1g but have no idea what would be a good buy. Can anyone help me that has knowledge on these?

This will be present to myself for the coming holiday season and I have been thinking about for a very long time. Any help would be awesome. And thank you in advance.

a reply to: Allaroundyou

I am by no means the expert some here are, but I looked into this recently also and here's what I found...

First, it's a deep rabbit-hole with lots of considerations.

There are kind of two different paths you can go down; one is photography and the other is what I would characterize more as actual astronomy. If you're wanting to look at and photograph things like the Moon or planets a good camera, tripod and software might be a better option. If you're wanting to find distant stars and constellations then a telescope is the way to go.

Either way you go, the base you mount your optics to is actually more important (and more expensive) than the optics themselves. Sometimes several times more. Then there's the software. It's not really astronomy software as much as it is photographic software used to enhance the images you're seeing. The software is not particularly expensive (some of it is free), but it is fairly complicated and takes time and practice to learn. The other software you'll need is what I would call navigation software which can convert star charts into actual azimuth and elevation off the horizon settings based on your exact location and the date and time. This too takes time and practice to master.

In the end what I found is, you're not really buying a telescope. You're buying a whole bunch of other stuff which just happens to come with a telescope as an added bonus.

I'm sure someone will be along shortly to say I'm just crazy, but that's what I found.

Another way to look at this is to decide what your end-game is...

If your end-game is to share what you see with others by capturing it, saving it and/or printing it then this determines one path.

If, on the other hand, your end-game is to just explore the heavens then this determines another path.

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

You're not crazy.

I would also agree that the mount is at LEAST as important as the scope itself. You can have super-duper balls-to-the-wall scope, but it's worthless if it bounces around all over the place if you even BREATH on it because you skimped on the mount.

Modern tech has helped amateur astronomy a lot.

That being said, a really high quality minimalist setup can be a better investment for a beginner because it forces you to actually learn and understand the mechanical aspects from the beginning. I think some of the computerized aids make it a bit TOO easy.

But you can get a nice beginner setup for $1000.

I'll try to find some examples later today, and come back with some links, but I imagine there are members here that know more about it than I do.

If you wish to see galaxies and star clusters, get the best you can and as has been said above, the mount is really important.

If you want to see the moon and planets then try this as an option ... and it has other uses. The mount is still very important.



P

One other thing...

Do you like to sleep? Like, at night? (Well, I do)

One thing about stargazing is, pretty much most of it is at night, like LATE night (read-early morning). There's so many thermal things going on after sunset it's hard to see anything until the air temp stabilizes through the various layers of the atmosphere. (a.k.a...late at night).

My ultimate 'go/no-go' decision was based on the fact that there pretty much isn't anything to see at 2130L here in Colrado (which is just about as late as I can stay awake). Sure, I get up at 0330L (a.m.) here, but that's the time to start taking care of livestock and animals. No time for goofing around then.

a reply to: Allaroundyou

Join cloudynights.com, read, learn, then decide what you wanna get, also buy used not retail.
and don't go overboard..(I have 4 now)