FreeLists / az-observing / [AZ-Observing] Re: amateur telescope

[Stan Gorodenski <stan_gorodenski@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Barbara Liebler wrote:

>I'm new to the world of "star gazing," and I'm considering buying a telescope. 
> I see an Ebay item, number 756031424, that is a Meade telescope with an 
>"autostar" attachment.  Will that be easy enough for a rank novice to use to 
>find a particular star?
>  
>

To answer you specific question, yes, I think it will be easy enough to 
use to find a particular star, although there I am sure there will be a 
learning curve, as with most things. A lot of valuable advice has been 
given, such as considering other larger aperture telescopes and 
attending star parties to sample other telescopes. While the latter is 
good advice, you might find that there is not that good a selection of 
telescopes in the price range or type you would be interested in. It 
depends on the mix of who attends a particular star party.

My only concern is that you might feel overwhelmed of what to do now 
with all the valuable advice that has been given, and, consequently, get 
discouraged. My advice is that _IF_ this might be the case, go ahead and 
get the scope you are interested in. If it later turns out, after using 
it, that you would like a larger or different type of telescope, you 
might be able to resell it on Astromart. If you are interested in this 
particular telescope, others may also be in the future, although you 
might might have to take a bit of a loss on it. I  know of one person 
who claimed to have used this strategy to get the refractor he wanted.

My two cents worth.
Stan


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