I've done research but it's all conflicting advice. Please help me out guys
>budget is less than $500 >live in suburbs so light pollution is moderate >literally just want to be able to see shape image of Saturn and its rings like pic related without blurriness
I think you can get a 10 inch dob for around that. You might consider just buying a membership to a local observatory/astronomy club instead, they likely have better telescopes than you can afford.
Caleb Mitchell
>iflscience Apply kill to self
Camden Morales
>budget is less than $500 >Best telescope to view planets in detail
You can make a down payment with that amount. You could always DIY one I suppose.
Asher Garcia
"The rings of Saturn should be visible in even the smallest telescope at 25x. A good 3-inch scope at 50x can show them as a separate structure detached on all sides from the ball of the planet"
Maks are cheap, have great imaging (usually diffraction limited), and are super compact.
Camden Nguyen
YouTube
Nathaniel Myers
I've seen Saturn way clearer than that through a ~$800 telescope >get more money
Anthony Roberts
I literally just linked the first page that google gave me.
Chase Gomez
This
Ryan Sullivan
Saturn is pretty bright. When I took this photo I had the ISO and shutter speed set so low that all stars were invisible. If the ISO was high enough to see stars then Saturn would look all bright and washed out. Here's one I took that has stars and moons.
Isaac Cox
I will bump this because I am also interested.
Sebastian Garcia
Most people who buy telescopes tend to bust out hundreds of dollars on overpriced crap that ends up gathering dust in the garage after 5-6 sessions. You probably should start with something really cheap and kiddie, no more than 100$, and if you find yourself using it very frequently and feeling limited by its resolution start working up from there. Don't skim on the mount, though. A good mount is a good investment either way.
Landon Jackson
>Don't skim on the mount, though.
Second.
Nothing ends an interest in sky watching like a shaky mount that makes viewing impossible.
Levi Phillips
I think you can even see Saturn with a stock slr camera lens.
Aaron Stewart
Can you link me to a good mount?
Ethan Sullivan
Go to your local astronomy club. The best thing to do when looking a telescope is to use one. Can you point it? Is the optical quality ok? How difficult is it to use and set-up? That will be far more illuminating and you're less likely to regret buying one.
No it's not. If you have no experience of making telescopes or even owning one building a big one is a mistake.
You don't need a huge dob to look at planets and they are a nightmare in terms of practicality. Site and seeing make a far bigger difference than a 12 inch over an 18 inch.
Maks are not great. They are very slow, which is terrible if you want to look at DSOs.
>usually diffraction limited Lolno. Maks were designed to be cheap, not good. They have terrible field curvature. I've tried to image with one and it was a waste of time.