Which telescope is best for beginners?

With such a variety of telescopes on offer, it can be tricky to choose which one is most suitable, especially for beginners. This article offers advice on which one may be most suitable for you, your budget and your circumstances.

In a nutshell, the best beginner’s telescope is used regularly and not one that lives in its box! It, therefore, needs to be easy to set up, practical and enjoyable to use.

Try before you buy

The best advice we can give before buying a telescope is first to visit your local Astronomical Society or Astronomy Club who will be happy to help you choose a suitable instrument — many will be able to offer hands-on practical experience with a variety of telescopes explaining the pros and cons of each design. For your nearest Society or Club check our map of astronomy groups in the UK or the Federation of Astronomical Societies website.

How telescopes work

If you are going to buy a telescope, it’s good to understand how they work! Telescopes work by gathering light — some do this using mirrors (reflecting telescopes), and others use lenses (refracting telescopes). The light that is gathered by the telescope forms an image which is then magnified using an eyepiece that you look through.

The more light a telescope can gather, the brighter the image formed and the more detail you will see. The power of a telescope is determined by how much light it can collect — not by how much it can magnify!

The size (aperture) of the light gathering area of a telescope combined with the quality of the optics used to gather that light ultimately determine how good the telescope is.

Equally important is the mount that the telescope is fixed to — there’s no advantage in having a good quality telescope with excellent optics mounted on poor quality, wobbly, and difficult to use tripods.

Indeed, this is why many beginners struggle and are then put off — cheaper telescopes often have a poorly designed mount built to reduce overall cost, which comes at the expense of it becoming impossibly difficult to operate (even by seasoned amateur astronomers).

Dobsonian telescopes

The team here at Go Stargazing highly recommends a particular type of telescope known as a Dobsonian. Named after their inventor John Dobson, an amateur astronomer from San Francisco, these telescopes are sturdy, have good quality optics, and come with large reflective surfaces (mirrors) that gather more light.

Dobsonians are extremely easy to use. They move up and down and twist on a rotating base, meaning they can point at any part of the sky. They are good value for money, ideal for beginners (including children from about 10), and great for observing the Moon, planets, and the brighter deep sky objects such as galaxies and nebulae. They are terrific fun to use too, and little can go wrong if you look after them!

How much does a Dobsonian cost?

Being of simple design, Dobsonian telescopes are amongst the best value telescopes that money can buy without too much compromise. Your budget goes primarily towards how powerful the telescope is (the size of the light-gathering mirror) rather than fancy electronics.

A Dobsonian telescope with a 6″ mirror costs in the region of £280, an 8″ about £360 and a 10″ approximately £520.

Other types of telescopes can be found cheaper however you may well find yourself venturing into the realms of poor build quality and difficult to use (in which case you really must try before you buy!).

Where to purchase?

We highly recommend you go to an independent astronomy equipment supplier (rather than any online retailer). We recommend First Light Optics whom we know to be a very reliable, helpful and customer focussed supplier of telescopes and associated equipment. See the telescopes they currently have in stock.

Younger Astronomers

With guidance, these portable Dobsonian telescopes are ideal for children aged 6 to 10. They make ideal travel scopes for a family stargazing adventure to a dark sky region! They all give great views of the Moon, planets and brighter deep sky objects such as the Andromeda Galaxy and the Orion Nebula. We highly recommend the Ursa Major range of table-top Dobsonians, which come with great quality eye-pieces resulting in much better views than the “toy” telescopes sold in department stores!

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Questions?

If you have any questions or would like further advice please do email us at [email protected] or send us a message via our Facebook page. We are always happy to help! Clear skies!