Telescope uses?

I have this impulse to buy a telescope, yet sadly I don't know what uses they have other then astronomy in our every day lives. Also, how much do you have to spend to get a decent one? Lastly, do they have portable ones you can pack in a bag?

If I want to get into astrophotography, do I need big pockets? Can any of the telescopes be used with cameras using a simple adapter?

Just send Chemicalbro a PM. He's got one that he attaches his camera to. A pretty neat set-up. I forget what spec he's got though.

JaGWiRE,
For astrophotography you really need a clock drive (An electrical system of motors and gears utilized with an equatorial mount. It compensates for the Earth's rotation during astronomical usage keeping celestial objects centered in the field of view.). For daylight photos a Refractor can be the best for shots of birds etc.. but they are the biggest. The Schmidt-Cassegrain telescopes can also be good for daytime photos and are smaller in size (not in price).
How deep is your pocket?

Amateur astronomy and astrophotography are much like photography in general. You can get into it inexpensively and learn the basics. Heck, I have seen 4” reflectors for around $100us. But much like photography, you generally get what you pay for. You can get yourself a cheap reflector, an adapter, and start taking pics and maybe get a pretty decent moon shot. As soon as you turn your sights to something more interesting, the hardware will just not be up to the task, so you go out, invest in a good mount with clock drive for a couple hundred and get a bit more. Soon, the 4” is just too small and has way too much aberration so you look for better glass and a couple thousand later, your finally getting some nice pics.

Course, you can always turn that little 4 incher toward that cute neighbor lady with a propensity to prance in front of the picture window and peep at her up-side-down.

I'd probably budget about $400-600 on a decent telescope. I was in the Astrophysics program for a year (before I switched back into pure physics) and it's definitely interesting stuff. If you think about how far (literally) the light has to travel to get to your sensor (whether it be your eye or your CCD/CMOS) it's unreal.

As with binoculars, the king is aperture. Therefore, you should look into getting at *least* a 10in telescope. Dobsonian Reflectors are pretty good in terms of aperture/price ratio.

Anyway, if you're a beginner with astronomy, I might suggest you pick up a good pair of binoculars instead. With as little as $250-300 you can get a nice pair of 10x50s and start stargazing. Much less complicated and frustrating than setting up a telescope. More comfortable too!

KevC wrote in post #2319248
I'd probably budget about $400-600 on a decent telescope. I was in the Astrophysics program for a year (before I switched back into pure physics) and it's definitely interesting stuff. If you think about how far (literally) the light has to travel to get to your sensor (whether it be your eye or your CCD/CMOS) it's unreal.

As with binoculars, the king is aperture. Therefore, you should look into getting at *least* a 10in telescope. Dobsonian Reflectors are pretty good in terms of aperture/price ratio.

Anyway, if you're a beginner with astronomy, I might suggest you pick up a good pair of binoculars instead. With as little as $250-300 you can get a nice pair of 10x50s and start stargazing. Much less complicated and frustrating than setting up a telescope. More comfortable too!

I have a pair of 7-21x40 binoculars, I haven't tried them at night, but they don't have the sort of reach I'm looking for.

Thanks for the info guys. What type of brands should I look at, etc etc. I know nothing about telescopes. 10" is quite large in diameter though, so that definitley wouldn't be portable. Is it possible to shoot through a window, or do you have to go outside? A lot of nights I can't sleep, and am just staring at the moon through my window in my room .
BTW, I didn't know you could go birding with a telescope. Are the results decent? It seems like telescopes only use is astrophotography. I am guessing the field of view is quite limited anyway. Is there anything else you can shoot with it?

JaGWiRE wrote in post #2320072
....
Thanks for the info guys. What type of brands should I look at, etc etc. I know nothing about telescopes. 10" is quite large in diameter though, so that definitley wouldn't be portable.....

Here is a nice little sitejust to get you started. Not a whole lot of info but covers the basics.

gjl711 wrote in post #2320126
Here is a nice little sitejust to get you started. Not a whole lot of info but covers the basics.

Yeah, great site, know of anything else that goes more into depth? Is there like some principle well-known astronomy books I should look into like Bryan Petersons Understanding Exposure for photography? I know pretty much nothing about stars, nebulas, and all that sort of stuff.

I messaged chemicalbro. He's got a pretty sweet looking setup, I might look into getting something similiar. We're going to chat later anyway.

JaGWiRE,
I have a refractor telescope which is very similar to a standard lens design but heavier and bigger. Telescopes can have different apertures, mine is a f/8 some can be as low as f/5.6 or as high (or higher) as f/16. Unfortunately f/stop isn't changeable
Here is the telescope I use with hood, with camera its like a 1200mm f/8 lens
Celestron CR-150 HD

John_B wrote in post #2320928
JaGWiRE,
I have a refractor telescope which is very similar to a standard lens design but heavier and bigger. Telescopes can have different apertures, mine is a f/8 some can be as low as f/5.6 or as high (or higher) as f/16. Unfortunately f/stop isn't changeable
Here is the telescope I use with hood, with camera its like a 1200mm f/8 lens
Celestron CR-150 HD

Here are links to some regular daytime photos I have taken with this lens
Scanning the Area
Hanging out by the Apple Flowers
Dove in the Early Morning
Relax in the Sun
Captured with a Large Telescope
Morning Color
Here is a shot with a 2xTC hooked up to the telescope (prime lens )
A Lunar Rise

So as you can see some daytime shots are possible

That's neat. Some pretty damn decent photos if I may say so myself. Does it take a long time to focus with these scopes?

I think those are the coolest looking scopes, but at the 47 pounds yours is, it is WAY out of the question for me, unless I'm mounting it to my roof or something, haha. I am not sure what the weight on the one chemical uses is, but it doesn't look too big.

My only concern is at f/8, how do you shoot at night? I thought you needed atleast f5.6. Isn't it too dim to see through the scope? Maybe it's different compared to camera lenses, no idea. I am speaking from the fact if I was to stop any of my lenses down to f/8 and look at something in the sky with the DOF preview btuton down I don't think I'd be able to see anything.

I keep thinking of building an astronomical webcam for the sheer fun of it.
Aside from the mount which I could rig quite easily and power with a small electric motor I'd probably end up with something like a shaving mirror as the primary and a cosmetic mirror as the secondary - unless I could mount a small enough webcam directly in the light path. Then it'd be a matter of feeding a long enough USB cable to my PC and putting a little controller box with associated wires to the telescope motors before sitting in the warmth of my house while observing the sky

JaGWiRE,
I never bought this scope for photos at night as I don't have a clock drive for it (was out of my price range at the time). Your really need the clock drive for long exposures, which makes the scope move at the same speed as the target. Most scopes are f/8 or smaller aperture and there are only a few around f/5.6 in the under $2000 range (heck my 100-400L is 5.6 at 400mm now imagine 1200mm). You have to remember with a telescope and an eyepiece you are magnifying 30 to 100 or more times so a planet or star is much brighter then with just the camera mounted. You also can take a photo while using the eyepiece for the magnification level but quality is lower.

Here are some links to astro photography that you might find some answers to your questions
Astro-Photography
The Telescope Review Web Site
Cartes du Ciel Sky Charts freeware for finding stars, planets, comets etc....
Astro photography with Digital Rebel

It can get real expensive, just like photography

John_B wrote in post #2321256
JaGWiRE,
I never bought this scope for photos at night as I don't have a clock drive for it (was out of my price range at the time). Your really need the clock drive for long exposures, which makes the scope move at the same speed as the target. Most scopes are f/8 or smaller aperture and there are only a few around f/5.6 in the under $2000 range (heck my 100-400L is 5.6 at 400mm now imagine 1200mm). You have to remember with a telescope and an eyepiece you are magnifying 30 to 100 or more times so a planet or star is much brighter then with just the camera mounted. You also can take a photo while using the eyepiece for the magnification level but quality is lower.

Here are some links to astro photography that you might find some answers to your questions
Astro-Photography
The Telescope Review Web Site
Cartes du Ciel Sky Charts freeware for finding stars, planets, comets etc....
Astro photography with Digital Rebel

It can get real expensive, just like photography

I see. Yeah, it does look like it can get pricey.

The meade ETX series looks like it's for me. The 80 is really cheap, and I think it lacks in focal length, but I need to check the specs again. The 90 like chemicalbros scope looks pretty nice though.

What type of accesories exist that I might find useful and have an impulse to buy (i.e. for photography filters, shutter release remote, strap, tripod heads, etc)?

Lastly, is there an extraordinary amount of information I'll need to learn / memorize before I can truly begin to go outside at night and know what I'm doing? I've only been doing SLR photography since the beginning of September in reality, and I already understand exposure, how to read histograms, do most of the comon stuff in photoshop, post process my photos, I know about composure, etc.

Would it be a good idea to first pick up some books and read them / learn them first before buying a scope and diving in? It is the winter here, so maybe this is not the best time to go stargazing and all? With photography I really just researched some cameras and dived in, and then picked up a few Bryan Peterson books and I was good.

I have an ETX I'm considering selling....nice telescope...have seen jupiter, saturn, and many other less notable planets....PM me if you want all the details....Jim

JaGWiRE,
If you are talking about the ETX-90AT that has a maximum aperture of f/13.8 and will be like a 1250mm lens when hooked up to your camera.
I suggest you look around and pick up a book or two before spending any $$$$ to make sure you get what you need. Figure out what you want to photograph like planets, galaxies or stars. Then when it gets warmer out (although it is pretty warm here ), you can go out and get what equipment you need and take the photos you want.
Good Luck