First, telescopes are not mere tubes with lenses at either end. Even the simplest ones are complex and relatively fragile, so they are not something to purchase until your children are mature enough to handle them with care.

Refracting telescopes are the simplest version. These scopes use precision-ground lenses at both the viewing end and the objective end (that’s the big end), and also may use Barlow lenses and a mirror to increase the light-gathering quality of your telescope. The best refracting telescopes may have up to eight lenses throughout their construction. Overall, refracting telescopes have low maintenance and are excellent for clear viewing of planets and detail viewing. Look for the ones that have achromatic or apochromatic lenses. Apochromatics are better, but they are also significantly more expensive, sometimes by a factor of 10x the cost.

Reflecting telescopes are the ones that have much fatter barrels. That’s because they depend on a well-cut mirror to collect light, rather than perfected achromatic or apochromatic lenses. While reflecting telescopes do a good job of gathering light so you can more easily view distant objects, they aren’t as good as a quality refracting telescope for seeing small details on closer objects. For instance, the craters of the moon may not look as clear in reflecting telescopes, though you can see all the stars that make up the Pleiades without any problem. Newtonian reflectors have some of the detail problem corrected, but they still aren’t perfect. And while refracting scopes need little maintenance, a reflecting telescope needs mirrors recoated every few years or it loses much of its light-gathering advantage. You may see high-end telescopes of this type marketed as Schmidt-Cassegrain.

There are a few other types of telescopes: the Ritchey-Chretien, which is a modified reflecting telescope; catadioptric telescopes, or compound scopes with elements of both refracting and reflecting types; and Schmidt camera telescope, a catadioptric scope designed specifically for photography. Because of price, most people opt for simpler refracting or reflecting telescopes for at least the first time out.

Selecting your telescope is not all you need to do; you must also select the proper mount, or tripod. The simplest is an alt-azimuth mount, which lets you move your scope up and down and left and right. More expensive are the equatorial mounts, which use alt-azimuth motion but also align themselves according to the earth’s spin to make it easier to track heavenly bodies. The best mounts are the motorized equatorial mounts, which can be programmed to not just align themselves properly but even to find specific star bodies for you.

Next, look at magnifying power. This is not as important as you might think. Most telescopes come with eyepieces that provide higher magnification power. Don’t pay attention to what the box says; instead, multiply the size in inches of the lens (on refracting) or mirror (on reflecting) of the scope by 50 to find out what the maximum useful magnification is, and depend on swapping out eyepieces to get your real magnification power. Lower magnifications are typically used much more than higher ones.

Larger telescopes in general, are better for viewing, but they are also more delicate. If you have a place where you’re going to set up a permanent viewing station, it’s worth it to get a large scope, but if you want high mobility, you should get a smaller good-quality scope.

If you live in a high-humidity area or a place where there are extremes of heat or cold in which you will be using your telescope, do not try to get away with a cheap telescope. Telescopes are very sensitive to both moisture and temperature, and your scope must be properly sealed to manage these extremes.

Finally, before buying a telescope, try to join a local astronomy club and check a few of the good ones out. Trying before you buy is always the best way to go, and you’ll pick up lots of great tips from other club members in the process.

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1. What is the difference between a reflective and a refractive scope? A reflective scope uses mirrors to focus the image and the light while a refractive scope uses curved glass lenses to focus the light and the image. Generally the reflector telescope is better for deep sky viewing and the refractor is better for lunar and planetary viewing. You can also find a compound telescope which uses both glass and mirrors which is better for general viewing.

2. If you think that the greater the power and magnification on a scope, the better it is, you would be mistaken. Generally, the best and clearest images are seen on lower magnification. If you want greater magnification you can always purchase different lenses to supplement your original lens. The main consideration should be the aperture. The aperture is how much light the telescope will let in and be able to focus and this should be one of your main considerations.

3. For those who want to take their telescope with them when they go out into the woods hiking or camping, portability should be an important consideration-especially if you will also be taking a mount and a tripod. If you will simply be setting it up at home, these will not be such important factors.

4. You can choose from one of a few different types of mounts for your telescope-here are two of the most popular: An altazimuth mount allows the scope to move horizontally and vertically and is perfect for beginners. The equatorial mount is favored by professional astronomers and allows the scope to move perpendicularly along the line of the equator to follow the movement of stars and other objects across the sky.

5. Your budget should be one of the most important considerations when choosing a telescope. They range in price anywhere from under fifty dollars to thousands. As a beginner, you will probably want to stay at the lower end of the price spectrum, but consider getting a scope that will allow you to add pieces as you get more experienced and your interest grows.

You can find a lot of information to help you to choose your first telescope online. Information about how scopes work, what all of the scientific jargon means, and also the best places to purchase a scope. Before you make this purchase, educate yourself so that you can feel confident and comfortable that you have made a good choice and you will be able to “focus” your energy on the night sky.

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Getting telescope reviews from magazines is dominantly the best place to acquire them. A good magazine like sky and telescope has been known for their excellent reviews. They review not only telescopes but accessories too. Comparing telescopes with a pros and cons list can be very helpful in magazines. When looking for a particular model of telescope your local library will have back issues of several astronomy magazines that may have reviews.

Internet, the internet is a very good and fast way of finding telescope reviews. The internet has an abundance of telescope review pages; you just need to know where to look. Many community sites are dedicated to reviews and answering any questions you have, if you post in their forums. And not only does sky and telescope have a great magazine they also host an informative web site, where you can easily search for reviews they have published in the past.

Your local astronomy club, attending a local star gazing meeting is also a good way to learn about a telescope you are thinking about purchasing. Someone at one of the meets may just have that model and let you look through it. Easiest way to find a local astronomy club is do a search in msn or yahoo, make sure to add your location into the search.

When reading telescope reviews, it boils down to personal preference. What may be great to someone may very well be horrible for you. Lastly, keep in mind when reading a review, the person who wrote the article may be a novice that hasn’t quite learned what they are talking about.

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But even if you want a telescope for other purposes, it is important to gather a few facts about telescopes first so you know what to look for when you buy.

Types of telescope

Essentially there are two types of telescope:

1. A refractor telescope – that’s the ‘traditional’ type of telescope which has a lens at the front, a tube for the body, and an eyepiece at the other end.
2. A reflector telescope – which has an open end and a mirror at the other which directs the image to another mirror and then directs that to the eyepiece

Which should you go for?Well, if price is important, then generally speaking you will get better ‘value for money’ with a reflector telescope. But purists will claim that you will get a better quality image with a refractor. So, if you can, try each out and make your decision.

Buying tips

DON’T be sold on magnification! Ads and salesmen will talk about so many hundred times magnification. That’s not the most important factor at all – too much magnification often only succeeds in giving you a more blurred image!

What counts is the amount of light collected by the telescope – and that depends on the size of the lens or the mirror (as a rule of thumb, multiply the diameter of the objective by 2.5, and you’ll get an idea of the magnification possible).

And don’t skimp on the tripod and mountings; make sure they are solid and steady. When you are looking at a distant object at high magnification, a wobbly tripod is not something that you want!

If you can afford it:

Go for a GoTo telescope. What’s that? Well you align it with several known objects in the sky, and then you can find just about anything else with a supplied remote control – saves hours of time and frustration.

Or go one step further and invest in a GPS telescope – using the same principle of satellite navigation used in cars, this will find any known object in the night sky for you!

Final word of warning

DON’T under any circumstances, point your telescope at the sun – ever. The damage you can inflict on your sight is unbelievable. Do not be tempted – just don’t do it!

Happy viewing.

For an essential FREE guide getting the right telescope at the right price, visit www.info4u-services.com/telescope

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A Dutch person was responsible for making the first telescope in the earlier years of the 17th century. The telescope made by that person was really simple. The early telescopes were all very simple. Actually those days were experimental days as far as the telescopes are concerned. The early telescopes were good and they did serve the purpose for which those were built, but still those were not as sophisticated as the ones you find today. The early telescopes were very different. Those were nice to look at and good to use but were not as sophisticated as you find today.

Although there was a Dutch person who did a lot of work for making as telescope, but Galileo is considered as one of the scientist who was amongst the first to use a telescope properly. Most of the early telescopes were just the way Galileo has used them or made them. The construction of a new telescope was very much dependent on the way Galileo has brought out so many results. As he was a very successful scientist in terms of the results of the queries he happened to find, his work on the early telescopes is considered respectful till this day.

The telescopes of the earlier days were not as refined and sophisticated as you find today. Some of the telescopes you find today however, resemble the early telescopes. The early telescopes were really nice and that is why a whole branch of science has been successfully built by the scientist of the present day era on these early telescopes. The early telescopes were useful. There is no denying this fact. This is the reason that the models of those telescopes are still used these days. The sophistication has increased with the increase in the knowledge of people about telescopes.

Early telescopes were different. Those were more of an experimental nature as compared to any other kind. Those were important as the modern day telescopes are all dependent on those early telescopes.

Robert Grazian is an accomplished niche website developer and author. To learn more about early telescopes visit Buy A Telescope for current articles and discussions.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Robert_Grazian

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Nothing has mesmerized humans over the years more than the stars above.  From ancient peoples who looked up and created mythology based on the stars, to the more scientific minded peoples who invented telescopes to see stars more clearly, we have all had a fascination with the night sky.  You can capture this sense of history and science by starting an antique telescope collection.

Telescopes were created as early as the 1600s, and so there are a wide variety of antique telescopes on the market.  As a collection, these pieces can be of great value, or of a lesser dollar amount.  Even a collection that isn’t worth as much can still hold a great deal of aesthetic value and can make an impressive display in a den, office, or library of your home.

To begin antique telescope collecting, start small.  Research telescopes in general so that you understand the history of the device, the different models that have been produced over the years, and what telescopes were popular during what years.

With some basic knowledge you can start hunting for antique telescopes at inexpensive venues to start your collection.  Check out yard sales, flea markets, and local antique stores.  You may be shocked at the antique telescopes you can find for just a few dollars at these locations.  As you expand your collection and learn more and more about the varieties of antique telescopes available, you can move on to more serious collecting.

If your collection grows, you may then want to start going to auctions and higher end antique dealers to buy antique telescopes that fit certain eras or locations.  You may want a collection of all Italian telescopes, for example, or a collection of all antique telescopes that were used in sailing.  Antique dealers can help you find these specific choices and fill out your growing collection.

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