TAAS

Every time I set my astronomical equipment up in a public group setting someone will inevitably approach me, “My so-and-so is interested in the night sky. What’s a good telescope to get for them?” A fair question. But a few factors certainly need to be considered before answering a question like this.

Ironically, despite the fact that most enthusiastic amateur astronomers end up with a scope at some point, I often don’t recommend a telescope for beginners…at least not initially. It is easy to fall victim to the “department store telescope”, a route that many beginners have taken, or have been offered by way of gift. If I had a dollar for each time a friend or acquaintance has told me of a frustrating experience with a small, wobbly, hard to focus, store bought telescope (which inevitably leads to total abandonment of the hobby), I could afford those 150mm Fujinon binoculars that I lust after. Well, that may be a slight exaggeration. The point is clear nonetheless. Not only does effective use of a telescope require some knowledge of the sky, the additional problem is that a flood of cheap plastic scopes have been sold to the public for decades. If you are in your local hobby store or wholesale club, and you come across a small telescope that promises “views of the planets at 600x or more”, hide your wallet and run. Usable magnification is directly related to size (yup, the bigger the better) And even experienced astronomers will tell you that, thanks to an intermittently turbulent atmosphere, 600x almost never happens…even with the best equipment. Also know that the least expensive good quality scopes will cost you upward of $250, once the minimum accessories (a mount/tripod and eyepieces) are factored in.

So where do you begin? For starters, you can pick up a small constellation guide and a red flashlight, and relax under the stars in a comfortable lounge chair. No kidding. You could spend a year doing this in your spare time and remain fascinated by what you see. Learning the constellations and their major stars will benefit your future endeavors ten fold by reducing your frustration with stellar navigation. Not to mention that using your naked eyes will enable you to catch satellites and meteors by the boatload.

OK, you’ve done that. Now what? Get yourself a pair of binoculars with at least 40mm lenses. A small pair with less than 10x magnification can be hand held. A pair larger than that is probably best on a tripod. Either way you can greatly magnify dense clusters of stars, larger galaxies, and the surface of the Moon. You can also appreciate the four largest moons of Jupiter, or the phases of Venus. A great advantage of binoculars, as opposed to telescopes, is that you view objects in the orientation that your eyes already perceive them – up is up, down is down, left is left, and right is right. With unmodified telescopes, images are always reversed left to right and flipped upside down. But best of all is that you use both eyes with binoculars, so details are easier for your brain to resolve, and objects appear brighter than with one eye alone. Just try stepping outside on a dark night, and after staring at the stars for a few minutes try closing one eye. You’ll see how large of a difference it makes.

Maybe you already have a pair of binoculars, but don’t use them much. Great! Pull them out of the drawer, carefully dust off the lenses, and take a tour of the Orion constellation or the summer Milky Way. You’ll be impressed, I promise.

Jason Scherff