Re: What does it cost for a newcomer to astronomy?
- From: tony_flanders@xxxxxxxxx
- Date: 25 Jul 2005 09:12:26 -0700
Cherokee wrote:
> 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...
>
> I've also learned that the ... low end is usually
> flooded with poor quality products...
>
> 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.
The answer to this question really depends more on you than on
the hobby per se. I gather from this posting and from some of
your follow-ons that at some level, what a hobby means to you
is an opportunity to spend money. If so, rest assured that
astronomy can profitably absorb all the money you want to
throw at it, and then some.
I have a somewhat different attitude. To me, the essence of
a hobby is the time and effort that I invest in it, and the
skill and knowledge that I develop. All other things being
equal, I like to spend as little as possible. Looked at from
that point of view, it's possible to become an extremely
serious amateur astronomer without investing any money
whatsoever.
My first push into amateur astronomy involved 7x35 binoculars,
which I already owned, and one book. With that, I got to know
the sky far better than most people ever do. And there's a
lot you can do even without binoculars. A few years ago,
an amateur astronomer looking at the sky with nothing but
his own eyes was the first person to discover -- much to
the amazement of the professional community -- that the
star Delta Scorpii had suddenly flared up after burning
at a constant rate throughout all of human history.
But you asked about telescopes, and indeed, a telescope opens
up all kinds of possibilities that are closed to naked-eye
and binocular observers. An extremely worthwhile investment.
The bottom end of the telescope market is indeed flooded with
trash, but just in the last few years, some amazingly cheap
and good scopes have also entered the market. My most recently
purchased scope cost under $200, and I find myself using it
quite often, despite the fact that I own one scope that cost
ten times that when I purchased it -- and costs more now.
So if you wanted to go cheap, but without cutting corners,
you could certainly get a very useable rig, complete with
extras, for $500. But if you're not too concerned about
economizing, I basically agree with Florian. $1000 gets
you an irreproachable 8-inch reflector, a fine set of
basic eyepieces, red flashlight, charts, and all those
other little accessories that are so easy to forget.
And with that rig, you can see nearly all the planetary
detail that anybody can see, more detail on the Moon than
you can imagine, and several thousand star clusters,
nebulae, and galaxies.
- Tony Flanders
.
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