subject: Telescopes For Sale: What Do I Need To Get Started ? [print this page] Telescopes For Sale: What Do I Need To Get Started ?
Telescopes For Sale: What Do I Need To Get Started ?
Don't start looking at telescopes for sale until you have got the basics with your naked eye.
It's great if you're reading this and want to start up in the truly fascinating hobby of stargazing or Astronomy.
You look up at the night sky and are in awe at the spectacle above. It makes you want to know more, as it has for people throughout time. The observers from early civilizations wanted to know more and, as you know, they didn't have telescopes, binoculars or any other aids to seeing and yet they made some great discoveries just by observing and recording.
Of course you don't have to start from nothing you can make use of all the discoveries made up to the present, as is true in all science, but it may help you just to figure a few things out for yourself with the naked eye.
You can easily find star maps or a star atlas which is available either in book form or online.
I suggest you start by identifying the objects that you see. When we talk about the stars, as a beginning observer, we probably include all observable objects be they stars, planets, comets, meteor showers or whatever, but it's important to learn and know the distinctions.
When you know your way around the sky roughly then it may be time to purchase or borrow your first telescope or even binoculars will give you a better view than the naked eye if you can borrow them. This will bring things closer and in more detail, apart from stars which are so far away that they will never appear as more than pinpricks in the sky.
What you can see are the moon and the planets in much more detail. You can also see the star patterns,clusters or galaxies and they will have some shape as does our own galaxy - our Milky Way.
What else might you need? Well a good practical astronomy book will talk you through what you are observing and it is good to have a notebook to record what you have seen.
If you know of a local astronomical society then it might be worth going along and seeing what you can learn from fellow observers. They will tell you more about how to get started and give more advice as to what equipment you will need and may even let you peer through their equipment................
