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A Beginners Guide to Buying a Telescope
My first telescope was, to be perfectly honest, an absolute piece of garbage. It was a Tasco that I bought from a clearance rack at Kay-Bee Toy Store. It was a strange purplish color, made entirely of plastic, and stood about 4 feet (1.22 meters) high with the tripod fully extended. It was only a telescope in the sense that it made small blurry things into large blurry things when you looked through it. It was an utter disappointment with one notable exception: in the hour of use I had before it broke, I pointed it in the general direction of Saturn, and for a few brief seconds my fortunes aligned in such a way that I could see a small blurry dot with rings around it. Admittedly I wanted to see it so badly that my brain might have tricked me into thinking that’s what I saw, but either way I was hooked. Shortly thereafter, my poor, clearance telescope fell over and died, returning to the dust from which it came. I would have been sad were it not for sheer joy of discovery in that moment.
Since then, I’ve owned a handful of larger, higher quality telescopes made by reputable companies. And over the past 20 years I’ve made mistakes, some very costly, but gained a great deal of knowledge that I’ve shared with new astronomers. That’s why I’m writing this: to continue that tradition of helping people discover their love of the night sky. It’s the same thing some exceptional people did for me 20 years ago, when I knew that a discount Tasco and one blurry view of Saturn wasn’t going to be enough.
I’m not going to tell you what you should buy simply because there’s not a single telescope that suits everyone. Several factors go into choosing the scope that’s right for you. What I hope to provide is the ability to make an educated decision. One that will lead you to a lifelong passion for the night sky.
To get started, take a few minutes to think about why you’re interested in astronomy. What excites you? What kinds of objects do you want to observe? Is this something you want to introduce to your family or, more specifically, do you have a young, budding astronomer whom you want to encourage? From this thought exercise write down a list of about three to five goals you want to achieve. The list doesn’t have to be complete. It’s meant only to help you make the right decisions about what kind of telescope to buy. It…
