From: ronnie@cisco.com (Ronnie B. Kon)
Newsgroups: sci.astro
Subject: Purchasing Amateur Telescopes FAQ (part 2/2)
Date: 2 Sep 92 04:01:10 GMT
Organization: cisco Systems, Menlo Park, California, USA
X-Disclaimer: The views expressed in this message are those of an
	      individual at SRI International, and do not necessarily
	      reflect those of the company.








                  Purchasing Amateur Telescopes FAQ

                               Part II


                           Ronnie B. Kon
                           ronnie@cisco.com



                    Last Updated: August 27, 1992


6.  Buying A Telescope

6.1.  What Company Makes the Best Telescopes?

Hard to say, actually.  The two  biggest  sellers  are  Celestron  and
Meade, both of which turn out good quality optics at fairly affordable
prices.  Disregard people  who  say  things  like  "Well,  Celestron's
optics  are  better than Meade's" (they do have that reputation).  The
fact is that they are both quite  good,  and  you  probably  will  not
notice  a  difference.  Both do, however, occasionally turn out clunk-
ers, which they will repair for free (as long as you are the  original
buyer).

Televue has a very good reputation, at a somewhat higher price.  Ques-
tar has an excellent reputation, at an astronomical price.

Coulter makes inexpensive Dobsonians, with  acceptable  optics.   They
offer the most aperture for the money, with several drawbacks.  First,
they are big.  Think long and hard about how you are  going  to  tran-
sport  it  before deciding on the 10 inch or bigger.  Second, they are
basically deep-sky telescopes.  All the Odyssey Dobsonians  are  short
focal-ratio,  which  means they're picky about alignment errors.  They
all also have more than a trace of coma near the  edge  of  the  field
(minor  to unimportant nuisance for clusters, nebulae, and galaxies; a
more serious one for planets and other small targets).  Hence  they're
not  as  suited  for  high power planetary work as your basic, medium-
sized refractor.  The telescope is very basic; in particular no finder
scope and the focuser is a bit on the rudimentary side--a simple fric-
tion tube you pull in and out of the telescope's side.   Third,  they,
like  all  Dobsonians, are altazimuth mounts: very stable but unsuited
for astrophotography. Also, you usually have to  order  directly  from
Coulter  and  they're  back  ordered for six months or more on most of
their telescopes.  You  can  look  for  a  dealer  who  could  deliver
quicker, for a bit more money (like $100).

Tasco is sold at Toys R Us.  You can build your own tripod out of Lego
Blocks and have a mount of like quality to your optics.



6.2.  How do Meade and Celestron Name Their Telescopes?

Both in rather stupid  ways,  Celestron  being  stupider  than  Meade.
Essentially, every Celestron Telescope is C-#, where the # is the size
of the aperture in either inches or millimeters.   Thus  the  C-90  is
Celestron's  90mm  spotting  scope (a Maksutov-Cassegrain), the C-8 is
their 8" Schmidt-Cassegrain, the C-6 is their 6" Newtonian.  They will
prefix  these with "Super Polaris" to indicate the the telescope comes
with their Super Polaris  tripod  and  mount  (a  German  Equatorial).
Powerstar  or  PEC  (for Periodic Error Correction) means it has their
good drive (comparable to Meade's Smart Drive).  Ultima means it comes
with a heavier wedge and fork.

Meade simply numbers everything.  2080 means an 8" Schmidt-Cassegrain.
2120  means  a  10".   Premier  means sturdier wedge and tripod, and a
better drive (but the same optics).  All Premiers manufactured in  the
past  year  (but  not  necessarilly  before)  are equipped with "Smart
Drive," which is essentially the same as Celestron's PEC.  The Premier
telescopes come with model numbers: 30 or 36 (no longer sold) means no
hand controller, 40 or 46 means you get the hand controller, 50 or  56
means you get a declination drive (so the N/S buttons on the hand con-
troller work) along with a slightly bigger finderscope and a 2" diago-
nal,  70  or  76  means you get a whole bunch of stuff.  If the number
ends in a 0 (eg. 40) it is f/10.  If the number ends in a 6  (eg.  46)
it is f/6.3.  If the number has an H postfixed to it (10" models only)
it comes with the "superwedge," a heavier wedge that  is  more  stable
than  the regular wedge, and is useful for astrophotography.  The rest
of their stuff is pretty obvious, if you stop and think: the DS-16  is
a 16" reflector, for example.

Meade has recently introduced the LX100  and  LX200  series  of  tele-
scopes.  The LX refers to the drive (Meade has a very strange habit of
changing  what  LX  means--it  used  to  refer  to  the  drive,   then
(apparently) the focal ratio, now it's back to being the drive), which
are certainly the most wiz-bang on the market.  The LX200 has  a  com-
puter  driven declination drive, as well as the right ascension drive,
which permits it to be used without an equatorial wedge.  It can  slew
(move  quickly  across  the  sky) at the touch of a button on the hand
control, you can hit the GOTO button to go directly to one of the  747
objects  in  it's  library.   You  cannot  do  astrophotography on the
Schmidt-Cassegrains without the equatorial wedge  ($110  for  the  8",
$395 for the 10").  The LX100 does not have the declination drive, and
so comes with a wedge, and doesn't seem  to  have  most  of  the  neat
features of the LX200.

6.3.  Comparison of Schmidt-Cassegrains

To make selecting a Schmidt-Cassegrain somewhat easier, the  following
table   summarizes  the  features  on  different  models.   Under  the
Make/Model column, a C indicates Celestron, a M is Meade.   The  tele-
scopes  that  come  without tripods (eg. 2045D, Classic 8, PEC-14) are
priced with their recommended tripods.  Fork is a fork mount, GEM is a
German Equatorial.
                                        smart   hand    DEC     motor   computer
Make/Model      Speed   Price   Mount   drive   ctrlr   drive   focus   control
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
C SP-8          f/10    $1050   GEM     no      no      no      no      no
M 2045D (4")    f/10    $1050   fork    no      no      no      no      no
M 2080A         f/10    $1140   fork    no      no      no      no      no
C SP-8  w/SB    f/10    $1300   GEM     no      no      no      no      no
C Classic 8     f/10    $1450   fork    no      no      no      no      no
M 2120B 10"     f/10    $1600   fork    no      no      no      no      no
M LX100 8"      either  $1700   fork    yes     yes     no      no      no
C PEC-8         f/10    $1800   fork    yes     yes     no      no      no
M 2080  #40     f/10    $1850   fork    yes     yes     no      no      no
M 2080  #50     f/10    $1850   fork    yes     yes     yes     no      no
M LX200 8"      either  $2000   fork    yes     yes     yes     no      yes
M 2080  #46     f/6.3   $2000   fork    yes     yes     no      no      no
M LX200 10"     either  $2300   fork    yes     yes     yes     no      yes
C Ultima 8      f/10    $2300   fork    yes     yes     no      ?       no
M 2080  #56     f/6.3   $2300   fork    yes     yes     yes     no      no
M 2120  #40     f/10    $2300   fork    yes     yes     no      no      no
M LX100 10"     either  $2400   fork    yes     yes     no      no      no
M 2120  #46     f/6.3   $2400   fork    yes     yes     no      no      no
C Compustar 8   f/10    $2800   fork    ?       yes     yes     ?       yes
M 2120  #50     f/10    ?       fork    yes     yes     yes     no      no
M 2120  #56     f/6.3   ?       fork    yes     yes     yes     no      no
M 2120  #50H    f/10    $2900   fork    yes     yes     yes     no      no
M 2120  #56H    f/6.3   $3000   fork    yes     yes     yes     no      no
C Ultima 11     f/10    $3500   fork    yes     yes     no      ?       no
M 2080  #70     f/10    ?       fork    yes     yes     yes     yes     no
M 2080  #76     f/6.3   ?       fork    yes     yes     yes     yes     no
M 2120  #70     f/10    ?       fork    yes     yes     yes     yes     no
M 2120  #76     f/6.3   ?       fork    yes     yes     yes     yes     no
C PEC-14        f/11    $6500   fork    yes     yes     yes     ?       no
C Compustar 14  f/11    $9700   fork    ?       yes     yes     ?       yes
M ? (16")       f/11    $10000  fork    yes     yes     yes     yes     yes

6.4.  What Is The Best Telescope To Buy?

Well, Meade has a 16" Schmidt-Cassegrain which is  beautiful.   It  is
portable  (ie.,  you  and  a couple of friends can lug it), reasonably
compact, and readily  available.   You  can  pick  one  up  for  about
$10,000.   If  you  are in a position to spend this kind of money on a
first telescope (hey Wozniak: this is the one for  you.   Buy  me  one
while  you're  at  it) it would be a strong candidate.  If money is an
object, you will have to compromise.   My  recommendations,  by  price
level,  follow.  Prices are given as a range, using the price from the
cheap New York mail order companies as a low, and Orion or Lumicon  as
a  high,  where  applicable.   Bear in mind that you will need to have
some money left over for extra eyepieces if nothing else.

You will also find useful articles  in  the  November  1991  issue  of
Astronomy  (specs  on a wide range of telescopes, and answers to a lot
of the questions about technical jargon  surrounding  advertisers  and
equipment.   There  is  also  an article in the November 1991 issue of
"Popular Astronomy." Both Astronomy and Sky and Telescope  (especially
the  former)  do review articles on telescopes, accessories, etc. on a
fairly regular basis.   Also,  no  FAQ  list  is  going  to  be  truly
definitive--we  all  have  our  own  opinions  and  interests, and one
person's  "piece-of-junk  optics"  might  be  another  person's  dream
telecope.   This does not apply to department store telescope, though.
Really.


Under $100
     Get a pair of binoculars.  The  only  telescopes  in  the  double
     digit range are pure junk.  On the other hand, you can get a good
     pair of binoculars.  Orion  sells  a  pair  (the  7x50  or  10x50
     Observer) for $85 specifically designed for astronomy.  The Bush-
     nell "SportView" are a possibility as well.  If you can  spend  a
     bit  more,  the  Orion  8x56 Mini-Giant binoculars look like real
     winners ($150).  On the other hand, for a further $50 you can buy
     the TeleVista (see below).

Around $250
     The Orion TeleVista 60mm altazimuth refractor ($200).  Comes with
     a  tripod,  a  finderscope,  and a couple of Kellner eyepieces (a
     25mm for 28x and a 9mm for 78x).  These are .965"  eyepieces,  so
     you  probably want to get the 1.25" adapter ($30 from Orion) when
     the time comes to buy new eyepieces.

     Odyssey 8" ($275).  An 8" Dobsonian from Coulter  Optical.   Use-
     less for astrophotography, but far and away the most aperture for
     the money.

     The Orion 10x70 binoculars ($300).  Personally, I would recommend
     going  with  a  telescope before an expensive pair of binoculars,
     but enough people with a lot more  observing  experience  than  I
     have  have  suggested  listing  a  high end pair.  These are good
     ones.

Under $500
     The Orion SpaceProbe 4.5" Reflector ($399).   A  straight-forward
     Newtonian  on  a  German Equatorial Mount, with cable controls so
     tracking right ascension should be easy.  Most aperture  for  the
     money.   Comes  with  a  tripod  and  the  same  eyepieces as the
     Televista mentioned above.

     The Orion Sky Explorer 80 ($533).  An 80mm equatorial  refractor.
     Fairly  sturdy tripod, and cable controls for right ascension and
     declination that should  make  it  fairly  easy  to  track  stars
     without  a  drive.   It  comes  with  the  same  eyepieces as the
     TeleVista mentioned above.

     I don't know if I'd recommend the  60mm  version  of  the  above,
     which sells for $344, as it strikes me as simply the Televista on
     an equatorial mount.  If you can afford the  extra  $200  on  the
     mount,  spring another $200 to get the 80mm objective (which gets
     78% more light--a big difference).

     Edmunds Astroscan 2001 ($290 - $340).  It is a very  portable  4"
     Newtonian  with the distinctive shape of a cylinder thrust into a
     sphere.  The sphere rests in an aluminum base and  the  telescope
     can  be pointed in any direction.  Uses 1.25" diameter eyepieces.
     Supplied with a 28mm eyepiece giving 16x and a 3-degree field  of
     view,  wide  enough  to do without a finder scope.  The drawbacks
     are that it is not very good for planets; and that it's difficult
     to  track  at  high  power.  Also the "permanent collimation" the
     Astroscan comes with probably isn't.  One respondent's  seems  to
     have  come slightly out of alignment; this is unnoticeable at low
     power (e.g., the 16x it gives with the eyepiece it  comes  with),
     but  is noticeable and rather objectionable at about 100x.  Since
     it's permanently sealed up you can't go in and tweak the  mirrors
     the way you can with most reflectors;  you have to send it off to
     Edmund so they can look at it.  Even if you could tweak it  your-
     self,  getting it all aligned would be tricky; short focal-length
     reflectors (which the Astroscan is an example of) are  much  more
     sensitive  to  minor  alignment errors than longer ones.  Accord-
     ingly, your high power images may be on the fuzzy side.

     Odyssey 10.1" ($345).  A 10.1" Dobsonian  from  Coulter  Optical.
     Useless  for astrophotography, but far and away the most aperture
     for the money.  Also the 13.1 inch ($575).  Note  that  the  13.1
     inch  appears  to be f/4.5, which means that the tube is almost 5
     feet long.  Think about how you will transport  this  before  you
     buy it.

     The Celestron C-90 Spotting Scope  with  Multi-Coatings  ($370  -
     $500).   This  is a catadioptric telescope with a 90mm objective.
     Note that due to  the  central  obstruction,  the  C-90  has  the
     equivalent  light  grasp  of  an  83mm  refractor.  The principle
     advantage is that it is compact and is very easy to carry around.
     The  disadvantage  is that it appears to be a telescope almost as
     an afterthought--the finderscope is pretty feeble, and  you  have
     to  supply your own tripod.  Probably the wrong choice unless you
     want to use it as a spotting scope in the daytime, or as a camera
     lens.    Note   that   this   last   sentence  is  probably  very
     controversial--many people that have the C-90 rave about it.

Around $1000
     The Celestron C-6 ($720 - $900), a  6"  Newtonian.   Comes  on  a
     solid  German Equatorial Mount (the "Super Polaris"), and with an
     18mm 1.25" Orthoscopic eyepiece (42x).

     The Celestron Super Polaris C-8 with Starbright Coatings ($1150 -
     $1300).   This  is  an 8" Schmidt-Cassegrain system on the "Super
     Polaris" mount.  It comes with an equatorial mount, and  a  drive
     which  can  track  in right ascension.  Note that you do not want
     the "Classic 8," which is the same optics in a fork mount but  no
     tripod for $970 - $1250.

     The Meade 2080A ($915 - $1150).  An 8"  Schmidt-Cassegrain  in  a
     fork  mount, with a decent tripod.  Essentially comparable to the
     Super Polaris C-8.  I'd suggest buying whichever is  less  expen-
     sive.   Note  that  Meade  is currently offering what they call a
     $600 package which includes three eyepieces and a Barlow (realis-
     tic  value  about  $300)  along with some useless stuff.  This is
     scheduled to expire December 31,  1991,  but  they  have  already
     extended the deadline twice.

     The Celestron SP-C102 ($1050 -  $1250).   A  4"  f/9.8  refractor
     (102mm)  on the same "Super Polaris" mount as above.  Takes 1.25"
     eyepieces (comes with a 26mm orthoscopic).

     Odyssey 17.5" ($1150).  A 17.5" Dobsonian from  Coulter  Optical.
     Useless  for astrophotography, but far and away the most aperture
     for the money.  This appears to be f/4.5, which  means  that  the
     tube  is  over  6.5 feet long.  This will not fit into many cars.
     Make sure you will be able to transport this if you don't have  a
     great observing sight at your house.

Around $1500
     The Meade 2120B (? - $1600).  The cheapest 10" Schmidt-Cassegrain
     I  could find, except for the 2120A, which appears to be the same
     'scope, but without the coatings.  The 2120A sells for $1500 from
     the  discounters, so the B is almost certainly a better buy.  The
     2120B appears to be an f/10 scope with a fork  mount.   It  comes
     with  a tripod and a motor drive in right ascension.  Presumably,
     no hand controller.  (As you may have guessed,  I've  never  seen
     one).   All in all, a stripped down 'scope, but you get the aper-
     ture, which is the most important part of a telescope.

Around $2000
     The Meade 2120 model 40 ($2000 - $2150).   A  10"  f/10  Schmidt-
     Cassegrain  system with "Smart Drive" and a hand controller (note
     that some early Premier models  without  Smart  Drive  are  still
     available, usually for $100 - $200 less.  Getting the Smart Drive
     is  probably  a  good  idea,  as  I  suspect  it  will  help  the
     telescope's  resale  value  if you ever need to sell.  And it's a
     very expensive upgrade).  The motor works in the Right  Ascension
     direction  but  not  declination  (the  declination  motor  costs
     extra).  Do NOT opt for the super wedge.   It  costs  about  $300
     extra,  and  can be bought separately (ie., later when you decide
     you actually could use  it)  for  about  $300.   The  same  logic
     applies  to  all  the  nice  things you get with the model 50--it
     costs as much to buy them packaged as to buy  them  individually.
     The  model  30 would have been the winner, but Meade discontinued
     it (it was the same as the model 40 but  without  the  $300  hand
     controller).  The issue is that beginning astronomers do not need
     all the fancy equipment.  You want the  cheapest  telescope  that
     lets you look at stuff, and is upgradeable if you decide you want
     more later.  The big disadvantage, which  I  did  not  appreciate
     until  I  bought  this  telescope, is that while the optical tube
     weighs only 45 pounds, it is unwieldy as hell in  the  case  they
     give  you.  I find that I cannot maneuver it around corners in my
     house, so I either have to get my wife to help me, or I  have  to
     carry  it  by holding the forks, which do not give as good a pur-
     chase as one would like, given that one is holding a $2000  piece
     of  very sensitive, and reasonably heavy, junk.  It also takes up
     enough room in the back of the car that it won't fit  if  we  are
     filling  the car for a camping trip.  I'm not yet sure how I will
     handle this, as camping is where I plan to  use  my  telescope  a
     lot.

Around $2500
     The TeleVue Genesis (? - $1600) and Systems Mount (? - $900).   A
     4"  Fluorite  Refractor,  which many people rave about.  The only
     disadvantage I can think of is  that  fluorite  crystal  is  very
     moisture  sensitive,  so  the  whole thing could degrade.  I have
     never used one, but it seems to me that it should have much  less
     light  grasp than the 10" Meade mentioned above (only about 1/6th
     as much).  However, enough people swear by it that I suspect that
     it  must make up for the smaller aperture in some other way; most
     likely in sharpness and contrast.  On the other hand, given  com-
     parable  optics,  a 10" telescope has 2.5 times better resolution
     than a 4".  In any case, it is much smaller, and much more  port-
     able than the 10" Meade.  The Genesis II has been designed to fit
     into an airline overhead rack.

     The Meade 10" LX200 (Introductory price  until  5/31/92:  $2295).
     Tons  of  wiz-bang  features (see above), for not a lot more than
     the Premier 2120s.  The finder scope looks like  the  feeble  one
     that  came  with my 2120/40, but you can certainly live with that
     for a while.

Over $3000
     This is well beyond my knowledge.  I would recommend avoiding all
     the  fully  loaded  and  computer  controlled versions of cheaper
     telescopes available at this price level.  The fact is  that  you
     are a beginning astronomer and don't need all the fancy junk.  If
     you have the money, look into a Star Fire refractor and a JMI NGT
     reflector.   I  have heard very good things about both, but never
     seen either.

     David Smith contributes the following about the NGT: I have spent
     a  couple of evenings with an acquaintance who has an NGT-18.  It
     is a very good scope.  It's comparable in size  to  a  Dobsonian,
     and  I don't need a ladder to see into the eyepiece.  I could see
     dim stars among the Trapezium  which  I  couldn't  see  in  other
     scopes nearby (4" refractors and 8-10" Newtonians and SC's).  The
     rotating nosepiece  works  well,  although  it  places  increased
     demands  on  accuracy of physical and optical axes:  the view was
     sharper from one rotation of the  nosepiece  than  from  another.
     Disadvantages  of  the  NGT-18 are price, time to set up and take
     down, and lack of fine adjustments for polar alignment.


7.  OK, Where Do I Buy My Telescope?

Well, there are three basic places:

A Store
     Yes, the obvious--you find a store (NOT a department store) which
     sells  telescopes and write a check (or, if they won't give you a
     cash discount, use a credit card that offers buyer protection, or
     gives you bonus miles, or some such).

     The advantages of this method  is  that  you  have  someplace  to
     return  the  telescope  to  if  you  have problems with it.  Some
     places even offer your money back if you change your mind  within
     some  grace  period.  The 'droids that work in the store may even
     attempt to offer some advice.  My experience is that this is usu-
     ally 100% wrong, but that's actually as useful as advice which is
     always correct, but you have to know to invert the sense.

     The disadvantage is that you generally pay more for the telescope
     itself, and you pay sales tax.



Mail Order
     There are two sorts of mail order: the discount stores that  sell
     all  sorts  of  stuff through the mail, and telescope stores that
     sell through the mail in addition to selling from their store.

     The advantages and disadvantages of mail order are  obvious:  you
     cannot  take the merchandise back easily if something goes wrong,
     but it's cheaper (and you probably pay no sales tax).



Other People
     You can find some great deals in used  telescopes.   Many  people
     buy  expensive telescopes, use them two or three times, get bored
     and sell them.  The advantage is strictly monetary: you pay  sig-
     nificantly less (and, of course, no tax).

     The disadvantage is that you are buying something "as  is"--which
     you  may  want  to  think  twice about doing if you are buying an
     expensive telescope.  Also, both Meade and Celestron offer  (lim-
     ited)   lifetime  warranties  on  their  optics,  which  are  not
     transferable.

All that having been said, here is a list of places you can buy  tele-
scopes,  with  comments as applicable.  Note that all will sell direct
or will ship.



Orion Telescopes
2450 17th Avenue
Santa Cruz, CA  95061
(and two other locations)
800-447-1001
800-443-1001 in California


Orion Telescopes carries a wide selection of  binoculars,  telescopes,
and  accessories.  They also have a 30 day "no questions, satisfaction
guaranteed" refund policy.  The people who work  there  strike  me  as
knowing  very little about telescopes.  In particular, they are almost
entirely ignorant about Meade products, and seem  largely  indifferent
about  selling  them.   However,  a  number  of people swear I am dead
wrong: that the salespeople are very knowledgeable.  I can  only  con-
clude  that I've been getting all the wrong salespeople.  In any case,
their products work, and they  seem  serious  about  their  guarantee,
which is the best I have ever seen.  A fair number of people have said
that they have bought at Orion and all are very satisfied with the way
they  were treated.  This place is fairly expensive, and they have the
sleazy policy of charging a "stocking fee" if you buy from the  store,
which  always seems to be the same as the postage and handling fee for
mail ordering from their catalogue.




Lumicon
Livermore, California
(see S&T or Astronomy for Address)


This is where I ended up buying  my  telescope.   No  complaints,  but
there  really  was no opportunity for anything to go wrong: I drove up
knowing exactly what I wanted and what their price was, paid by credit
card, and drove my new telescope home.  And it is not all that impres-
sive that they had it in stock--I bought one of the most popular tele-
scopes around.




Wholesale Optics of Pennsylvania
(see S&T or Astronomy for Address)


One respondent reports having no complaints in buying accessories from
here.




Kenneth Novak & Co.
(see S&T or Astronomy for Address)


One respondent reports having no complaints in buying accessories from
here.





University Optics
(see S&T or Astronomy for Address)


One respondent reports having no complaints in buying accessories from
here.




Adorama
42 West 18th Street
New York, NY  10011
orders: (800) 223-2500
info:   (212) 741-0052


Along with Focus Camera (see below), the lowest prices you will  find.
Expect  no  dealer  support,  and make sure you find out how much they
will charge for shipping before placing your order.  And pray that the
optics arrive intact.  I really would recommend that you not buy tele-
scopes from these guys.  Eyepieces and other accessories, however, are
probably worth the risk if the price difference is significant.




Focus Camera
4419-21 13th Avenue
Brooklyn, NY  11219
orders: (800) 221-0828
info:   (718) 436-1518


Refer to Adorama.  Same comments apply.

7.1.  What About Buying Used?

Think long and hard before spending a lot of money  on  a  used  tele-
scope.   You  will not have a warranty, and you have no assurance that
the optics are in good shape.  If you decide to buy used, get  a  sub-
scription  to The Starry Messenger, and look at their ads.  Also check
your local paper for classified ads selling telescopes--this is  where
you  will  find  your  best deals, as they are selling to the smallest
audience.

It appears that most people  want  to  get  about  75%  of  list  when
advertising  in the astronomy rags (Starry Messenger, S&T, etc).  This
is probably not enough of a discount to make it  worthwhile.   If  you
can  find  something at 50% of list, you might want to think about it.
You certainly want to see the telescope before you buy.  A used  tele-
scope is just as good as a new one if it's been properly stored, tran-
sported and used.  A little dust on the optics is generally a sign  of
a  telescope  which  hasn't  been cleaned frequently, which is usually
better than one which has.  Get the issue of Astronomy  magazine  from
around  December  1990 (I don't remember the exact month) which had an
article on star testing a telescope.  If you don't live close  to  the
seller,  try  to  get someone from the net to go inspect the telescope
for you.  (You probably want to send them the money in this  case  and
get them to ship it for you.  This is a major imposition, please note,
so you will probably have to do some serious begging  to  talk  anyone
into it, but it lessens the chance of fraud).

7.2.  What About Building A Telescope?

This section was written by Andy Michael.

We just took a rather unusual approach to getting  a  beginning  tele-
scope:  we took John Dobson's telescope building class and built an 8"
and a 12.5" reflector on Dobsonian mounts (of course).  We  went  this
way  for  a  few  reasons:  to  get large aperture for seeing deep sky
objects and higher magnification with good resolution when compared to
small  refractors  in this price range, to keep the price down, and to
soak up John's wit and wisdom.  The down side is that these telescopes
are  not suited for astro-photography (at least not without building a
different mount) but that didn't bother us.  Also they are large.  The
8"  tube  we broke into two pieces for easy portability, but the 12.5"
one will probably go on the roof rack.  These are about f/7 telescopes
so  the tube lengths are 56" and 7' respectively.  Of course, when you
build yours you can make whatever size you want.  On  the  other  hand
you can pack your clothes in them; try that with an SCT.  The cost was
about $250 for the 8" telescope, $450 for the 12.5"er plus about 24 to
30  hours of work and 16 - 24 hours of class.  It's a challenging pro-
ject but the first time you focus  on  something  with  a  mirror  you
ground is an incredible thrill.  Another benefit is that we now know a
lot about telescope design and if we ever have problems with  them  we
know how to fix them.

If you don't have access to John's (or other  peoples')  classes  then
you  can  try  building  one  by  reading his book and by watching the
video.  Our class was the first to see parts  of  the  video  and  had
great  success at finishing the telescopes fast and without needing to
correct the mirrors very much.  Coincidence?  Class consensus was no.

The book (excerpted from the order form):  "How  and  Why  to  Make  a
User-Friendly  Sidewalk  Telescope" by John Dobson with Norm Sperling.
To appreciate why Dobson makes each  factor  just  so,  learn  how  he
thinks  about  it.   His  philosophy of star-gazing perfuses his tele-
scopes and his book. The book includes the  only  detailed  biography;
wonderful  vignettes  from the Sidewalk Astronomers' many expeditions;
their own special way of describing celestial objects; and, of course,
complete  details  for  making  a  Dobsonian.   169  pages; 154 clear,
friendly line drawings; 9  photos.   Hardbound  in  plywood,  Dobson's
favorite  material.   Exclusive  source.  Send $39.95 + $5 shipping to
Everything in the Universe, 5248 Lawton Avenue, Oakland, CA 94618.

The video (also excerpted from the order form): For the first time  on
video, John Dobson shows how you can build your won low-cost Dobsonian
Telescope.  The 90-minute video is a complete step-by-step guide, cov-
ering  telescopes  from 8 inches to 16 inches in diameter.  Make check
to "Dobson Astro-Initiatives" and mail to:  Dobson  Astro-Initiatives,
P.O.  Box  460915,  San Francisco, CA 94146-0915.  Form with your name
and address has these choices:  Rush my tape(s) as soon as  available,
I  enclose  $37.50  per  tape for __ tapes. OR Please just let me know
when the tapes are available (should be by the end of 1991).


8.  What Accessories Will I Need?

In addition to a telescope, you absolutely must have a mounting and  a
tripod.  You will also need a few eyepieces--a telescope with only one
eyepiece is like a piano with one key.

These accessories don't come cheap--expect to  pay  as  much  for  the
mounting  and  tripod  as  you paid for the optical tube.  For a first
telescope, you probably will want to buy an entire system--it tends to
be less expensive that way.  It's also easier.

Which eyepieces should you start with?  I'd  suggest  three  or  four,
maybe  a  30mm,  25mm,  20mm, 8mm and a 2x Barlow (which will give you
coverage of 30, 25, 20, 15, 12.5, 10, 8, and 4 mm).  Buy eyepieces  of
like  quality  to your telescope.  Putting a $300 Nagler eyepiece on a
$150 telescope is pointless (it  would  also  probably  tip  over  the
entire telescope).  Buy accessories of like quality to your optics.


9.  Why Should I Start With Binoculars?

The quick answer is because you already have them, so you do not  have
to  spend any money.  Certainly going right out and buying the Fujinon
25x150 Astronomical Binocular ($11,000 list price) would be  a  pretty
stupid thing to do, no matter how good the binoculars are.

You should also avoid the quick-focus binoculars, as they are easy  to
de-focus as well.

The remainder of this section was written by Paul Zander.

Based on my experience, I suggest that you start with a pair  of  7x50
binoculars.   This  is  the  most popular size and hence good ones are
available from many stores, even some of the discounters.  Be sure  to
get ones that have anti-reflection coatings on the mirrors and lenses.
If you wear eyeglasses, you may be able to find binoculars  which  can
focus  without  them  (unless you have significant astigmatism).  Make
sure the image is sharp at the center and edges at the same time.

"7x" is the magnification.  Most people can hand  hold  these  without
needing  to  bother  with tripods, etc.  The "50" means 50mm (~2 inch)
objectives (aperture).  This gives light gathering ability similar  to
many  small telescopes.  Many advanced star gazers regularly use bino-
culars to either locate items to focus telescopes on, or just for  the
wider field of view.

When trying to view near the zenith, use a reclining lawn lounger: you
can  lie  back  and  support your arms on the chair, giving a steadier
view. You also will not get a crick in your neck.

You might also use a plastic pad to lie on.

9.1.  How Do I Hold Binoculars?

This section was written by Jay Freeman.

If you don't have a tripod (and tripods are sometimes a little clumsy,
and are often difficult to use when the binocular is pointing near the
zenith), it is important to know how to hold a binocular correctly  to
achieve maximum steadiness.

The way most people tend to hold a binocular is with one hand on  each
side of the middle of the body--roughly where the prisms are in a con-
ventional 7x50, say, so that the left hand is directly to the left  of
the center of gravity of the instrument and the right hand is directly
opposite it, to the right of the center of gravity.

For most people, there is a better position.   Imagine  that  you  are
holding the binocular to your eyes, with your hands positioned as just
described.  Now, slide your hands along the body  of  the  instrument,
toward  your  face,  until only your pinky and ring fingers are curled
around the back end of the binocular  body.   In  this  position,  the
binocular  feels  a  little  nose-heavy, because you are supporting it
behind its center of gravity.

Now curl each thumb up as if you were making a  fist,  and  flex  your
hands  so  that  the  second  bone  in from the tip of your thumbs are
pressed up against your cheekbones (counting the bone in the  part  of
your  thumb  where the thumbnail is, as the first bone).  This makes a
quite solid structural connection between the body of  the  binocular,
through your hands and thumbs, to your face, and markedly improves how
steadily you can hold the instrument.  Similarly, curl the  first  and
middle  fingers  of  each hand around the corresponding binocular eye-
piece, to provide a little more  structural  connection  (and  perhaps
also  some protection from stray light).  In this position, your hands
are not far from where they would be if you brought them to your  face
to block out stray reflections while peering through a store window at
night.

For most people, this position leads to markedly steadier viewing, but
if  the  binocular  is  especially  long and heavy (say, a 10x70 or an
11x80), the out-of-balance position can  be  quite  tiring.   In  that
case,  move  *one*  hand  out  to the objective end of its side of the
binocular, so that you are supporting the instrument on opposite sides
of  its center of gravity, but with some structural connection between
it and your face; namely, the other hand.  When the hand way out there
gets tired--just switch hands.

For each person, there is a limit to how heavy and / or how powerful a
binocular  can  be,  before there is no way for that person to hold it
steady enough.  I am an averaged-sized adult male in reasonable physi-
cal condition, and I find I can hold a 10x70 (Orion's) steadily enough
to use indefinitely on astronomical objects.  But I have an old Celes-
tron  11x80,  that doesn't look much bigger or heavier than the 10x70,
that I can only use for a few minutes before my arms get tired.  As  a
12-year  old  I  am sure I could have used a 7x50 indefinitely with no
problem, but at a younger age I might have had  difficulty  using  one
continuously.   Your  experience may vary with your strength, size and
condition.  Try before you buy, if at all possible.


10.  What Books and Star Charts Are Recommended?

If you don't know the constellations, you might want a book that  will
help  you  learn them.  A "fun" book for those just learning the stars
is The Stars, A New Way of Seeing Them by H.  Rey,  which  presents  a
non-orthodox  way  of drawing the constellations so they are easier to
visualize.

You will probably want a beginner's guide, such as the book by Sherrod
mentioned above.  Sky Publishing has some introductory materials which
would probably be as useful, which you get  for  free  when  you  sub-
scribe.

Petersen's Field Guide to the Stars and Planets  comes  highly  recom-
mended.   It  is very inexpensive ($13), small and handy to use at the
telescope. It has a good discussion about stars, planets, nebulae, and
galaxies; and has a very complete albeit small-scale star chart, along
with a the usual tables. It has long lists  of  deep-sky  objects  for
each area of the sky.

You will need a bigger star chart than is included in Petersen's.  Try
Sky  Atlas  2000.0, by Wil Tirion.  The field edition, which has white
stars on a black field, is probably more useful than the  desk  guide.
It  is  also printed on heavier paper, so is more resistant to dew and
the rigors of the night.  For beginners, buying Uranometria 2000.0  is
probably  a  mistake.  Yes, it is the "best" star chart, but the scale
is impossibly  small--when  the  Orion  constellation  takes  up  four
separate pages it is really hard to use for beginners.

Burnham's Celestial Handbook ($36).  This three volume set  is  billed
as  "An  Observer's  Guide to the Universe Beyond the Solar System"--a
rather all-encompassing claim, which it manages to live up to.  Infor-
mation  on  every  item of interest you can think of: galaxies, double
stars (optical and binary), variable stars, nebulae, etc.  More infor-
mation than you could use in a lifetime.  I consider this a necessity.

Sky and Telescope's 100 Best Deep Sky Objects.   About  $5,  which  is
kind  of  expensive  for a list, but it sure makes it easier to figure
out what to look at when you are just beginning.  The items are sorted
by  Right Ascension, which makes it real easy to figure out which ones
are currently up.
All the materials listed are available from:

                Sky Publishing Corporation
                P.O. Box 9111
                Belmont, MA 02178-9918 USA

Their catalog is free.  Sky Publishing is the parent company of Sky  &
Telescope magazine.


10.1.  What About Computer Programs?

There are basically two types of astronomy programs:  calculations  of
astronomical  things  and  computerized star charts.  I don't consider
either of them worth buying as a tool to help  an  observer.   On  the
other  hand,  some of them (particularly the star charts) can be a lot
of fun to play with during the day or on cloudy  nights.   Before  you
buy  any,  you should probably check out the ones available on the net
(see next section).

For a good example of the variety of  programs  which  will  calculate
things,  look  for  Zephyr  Software's  ad  in  Sky and Telescope (or,
presumably, Astronomy).  They list two pages of  programs,  for  about
$60  each,  which  can  calculate things like solar eclipses, or lunar
phases, or ephemerides, etc.  To my mind, your money would  be  better
spent on eyepieces, or a bigger telescope to begin with.

As for computerized star charts (usually $100 - $250),  these  can  be
very  nice.   Most  will  draw in the constellation lines if you like,
will let you click a mouse on an object to have  it  identified,  find
objects  by  name,  and so forth.  Also, the fact that they can scroll
the sky is much nicer than having to turn pages in  a  printed  chart.
The  fact that they can show the sky as it is tonight, as opposed to a
fixed time (such as 2000.0) is so pointless as to be  laughable.   The
only  problem is that you will probably never be able to use your com-
puter at your telescope, which means that this is something  you  will
use  indoors.   This  strikes  me as a nice recreation, but again, you
would be better served by spending the money on a better telescope.

As for recommendations for programs, both Dance of the Planets ($200),
and  The Sky 4.1 ($75 - $175, depending on the size of the database of
objects) tend to get rave reviews in the magazines.  Both are only for
IBM PCs and compatibles.  The former is available from

A.R.C Science Simulation Software
P.O. Box 19558
Loveland, CO  80539
(303) 667-1168

The latter is available from





Software Bisque
912 12th St.
Suite A
Golden, CO  80401
(303) 278-4478


Brian Cuthbertson has a program HyperSKY, which he was kind enough  to
send  me  to  review.  Unfortunately, the first disk was corrupt, so I
could not load it onto my computer.  However, from the brief  instruc-
tion  list  he sent it appears to do what you would expect a computer-
ized star chart to--zoom, pan, identify objects, is  mouse-based,  and
so  on.  (Yes, I know that I don't have much here to base a review on,
but:  1) he is on the net, and I admit to a net.bias; and 2)  he  said
nice things about my FAQ and sent me a free copy of his program.)

HyperSKY is available from Willman-Bell publishers  (see  add  in  any
copy of S&T or Astronomy).

A correspondent recommends the program Distant Suns as  being  a  good
computerized star chart, that was written by Mike Smithwick, who some-
times reads this group.  If  Mike  would  care  to  contact  me,  I'll
include price and address here.  If he wants to send me a review copy,
I'll even give my opinion.

10.1.1.  What Programs Can I Get For Free?

Well, I use a program called ephem, for calculating  a  whole  lot  of
stuff (like ephemerides, phase (of moon and planets), dawn, dusk, etc.
I have heard good reports  about  a  program  called  'starchart'  and
another  called  'observe', the former prints out star charts, and the
latter calculates where objects are, in a format  accepted  by  'star-
chart.'  All  three  are  available from mandarin.mit.edu by anonymous
ftp.  You definitely want to get  these  before  paying  for  anything
else.

For IBM PCs, there are a bunch  of  files  at  wuarchive.wustl.edu  in
/mirrors/msdos/education (descriptions are from the index):

ASTRO20.ARC     Calculate planetary ATA, rise and set time
COSMOS14.ZIP    Astronomy pgm displays skies viewed from earth
EPHEM421.ZIP    Astronomical ephemeris: stars/planets positions
GRAVITY2.ZIP    Simulates motions of planetary bodies in space
MOON.ZIP        Graphic display of moon's face w/pan/move/find
SATVIEW2.ZIP    Mathematical model of sunlit planet Saturn/CGA
SFS0002.ARC     Space flight simulator, CGA/HGC/EGA/VGA
SKYGLO25.ZIP    Skyglobe v2.5: Educational map of the sky
SKYPLOT.ARC     Star map graphic display
SOLAR.ARC       Solar system simulator
STARVIEW.ARC    Astronomy at its best - (requires mouse)
-- 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ronnie B. Kon           | "Boy, they were big on crematoriums, weren't they?"
ronnie@cisco.com        |
(415) 688-4592          |           -- George Bush at Auschwitz, Sept 1989