Who knows anything about telescopes?

randoo

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I want one but dont want to under or over buy. I recently moved onto a beach and have a 4th floor roof deck so I'll be looking at summer beach activity and the ocean.Also the moon and stars of course. I'd like to spend under $400. Any input would be great! Thanks!!
 

BigSweezey

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I normally recommend a DOB type telescope, but if your gonna be "people watching" that isn't gonna work very well.

I'd say get a set of binoculars. You won't be able to see as much as a normal scope, but I'd imagine light pollution is gonna be kinda high from your building, and you'd be amazed what you can see if your just getting into things. Plus it's a bit easier to find your way around the sky.
 

capnkirk52

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I have a Meade ETX 90-PE and I think its $499 now. I have really only looked at Jupiter and can almost see detail on the red spot on the best nights. Most nights you can see white clouds and the moons and their shadows. I'm at 7600 ft and my nearest neighbor is a mile away so the only light pollution is the moon pretty much.
 

astrodudepsu

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Actually, I don't know much about personal portable telescopes. Now if you want info on the ground based observatories in Chile, Hawaii, California, South Africa, etc, I'm your man.
 

Mr. Mach-ete

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If all you want to do is look at chicks at the beach get a nice Bushnell spotters scope with a tripod.
 

James Snover

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What Silver2003Cobra said. Astronomical telescopes turn everything upside down and invert left-to-right. They also don't always do well with near objects, "near" in this case being hot chicks on the beach. They will sometimes give you major color-fringing, whereas if you look at the moon, everything is fine.

I would say get yourself a nice pair of Nikon 7x50 binoculars. You will be surprised at what you can see in the sky with those, they are cheaper than a telescope, and if you decide astronomy is not for you, you still have a good set of binoculars, not a telescope taking up space in your house or garage. If you decide you want to go nuts with astronomy, you can still use the binoculars.

That's my dos centavos.

Jim Snover

Jim Snover
 

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