Re: What does it cost for a newcomer to astronomy?
- From: "reconair" <reconair@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 25 Jul 2005 06:33:30 -0400
I just did what your getting ready to do. I wanted to get back into
Astornomy since high school. I'm 52 now, so much of what I remember has
dissappeared. I had a chepo 2.4" refractor then and the dream scopes were
all made by companies like Unitron and Cave Optical.
Since I wanted at least some kinda of quality I hung around this NG and
several others to see what others were using and researched manufacturer's
websites to review the latest scopes. I didn't want to jump in and buy and
expensive scope, perhaps finding I wasn't really all that excited about the
hobby, and leave a grand or so sitting in the corner collecting dust. So I
started with what I consider and inexpensive scope. I figured I could
re-learn what I have forgotten of the night sky with it and if I grew tired
of it quickly, then I wouldn't be out alot of cash. Unfortunately, the
opposite occurred and I upgraded in less than a year.
First purchase was a Celestron 102GT. I've always liked refractors and
didn't really need a light bucket for the light polluted, mid-Atlantic
skies. The Go-To feature was great, but the tracking was terrible. I mean
tracking was exceptable for visual observing, but I wanted to do imaging
since I have a strong background in photography.
So with that in mind, I got a good deal on my second purchase and bought a
brand new Meade 102ED on a LX650 EQ mount. This scope obviously put me into
the above "a grand" category, but it is worth every dime. Superb optics,
though not a true APO, it blows the 102GT away. I haven't imaged anything
yet with it becuase I still need a laptop with USB 2.0, which by the way
raises the bar on overall costs.
In terms of price, the Celestron 102GT cost a mere $429. The Meade on the
other hand cost $1699 and I quickly added another $350 in accessories. Once
I start into imaging (already have a Meade DSI), I see me applying another
three grand for a nice imaging outfit including the laptop. Of course my
intent is to overbuild the imaging system for yet another scope upgrade.
In the future, I plan on upgrading once again to a Takahashi APO greater
than 102mm on a Losmandy G-11. For now, I'm happy. So we'll see just how
near or far this future upgrade lies. Notice I didn't put any limits on
myself.
Scott
"Cherokee" <cherokeejones99@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:1122232781.519903.26090@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> One lesson I've learned from other hobbies is it's a bad idea to spend
> too little when entering a new hobby. The very low end of any hobby
> tends to be something I outgrow very quickly. At that point I buy
> something "mid-level' and regret spending the money on the entry level
> product
>
> I've also learned that the low end products of any hobby do not give a
> very good representation of the hobby itself. The low end is usually
> flooded with poor quality products. Such poor quality products lead to
> frustration as the newcomer struggles to get it to work right.
>
> Given these two lessons, I'd appreciate a fair estimate of how much a
> newcomer in this hobby should set aside to get their first telescope
> rig. What is the ballpark cost to buy a telescope setup that will give
> a fair representation of the hobby of astronomy?
>
> peace,
> Cherokee
>
.
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