How Do You Buy The Right Telescope?
If you want a telescope for looking at the planets and deep-sky objects, you will want to get the largest aperture telescope for your money. If you want to take night-sky photographs or view terrestrial scenes, you will have to look for other features in telescope and mount design. Here’s a guide to the basic design choices in telescopes. Figure out if you want a telescope just for looking at celestial objects, or whether you also might want to look at terrestrial scenes or use your telescope to take photographs. For simply looking at the night sky objects, buy a telescope with the largest aperture for the money, which would be an 8-inch to 16-inch Newtonian reflector with a Dobsonian (altazimuthal) mount. Rule out Newtonian or standard reflectors for terrestrial viewing, because the objective lens is near the top of the tube, making them awkward to maneuver into a nearly level viewing position. Refractors and Cassegrain-type reflectors have eyepieces at the rear of the tube, making th
