Telescope Buying Guide

Philip asked:


I’m not expecting to have NASA quality images, but, like how powerful a telescope do I need to see, say, Saturn’s rings or Jupiter’s spot etc…?

kamaljot85 asked:


I live in NYC and thankfully near the airport, which allows me to have a pretty clear view of the night sky. I was wondering what is a good telescope to buy in which I can see other planets. My budget is $1500.00. Anyone has any recommendations ? I am new to the field of Astronomy and was wondering if their were any enviromental factors that would constrict my views ?
I want to see Saturn with a telescope is that possible at all ?

mlosolla asked:


I don’t know much about telescopes. I have a Saturn model 60az-d D =60mm s=70mm telescope that I want to sell but I don’t know how much does it really cost or if I should keep it. Could someone please help?

Bored_and_no_justbored asked:


I’ve had my telescope for a month now and when I point it (200x mag) at Mars and I see a red blurry object, then I point my telescope at saturn and it looks really sharp and you can tell it’s 3D, and see the rings perfectly and stuff. Why is this? Why such a big difference between the two?

jason h asked:


My price range is $400-500 i want to be able to see the rings on saturn and the red spot on juipiter and the ice caps on mars but i don’t think a 500 telescope can see all that. But if im wrong tell me.
I’m an ameture i spelled it wrong but who cares!!!!!!

dustin00420 asked:


The telescope is pretty powerful. I can see Saturn real good and I know the space station is a LOT closer than that, I just do not know when and where to look. I live in Central Florida.

planck12 asked:


The manual suggests aligining the telescope with polaris and then using just the RA knob to track objects and keep then in the field of view.

Isn’t this possible only if the object close to the North Celestial pole. Say for instance saturn is somewhere in the east rising and the telescope is pointing towards polaris, how can a person point towards saturn without changing the direction using the azimuth knob.

The manual says after the telescope is polar aligned there is no need to touch the azimuth direction nor the dec direction and only the RA can be changed to track objects.

I do not understand !!!!

Thanks