A telescope for Stargazing

[Herath]

Hi all,

I have always been keen on observing the night sky as a hobby. I would like to know if there is someone who has experience on the subject of telescopes and where to find a little cheap one at least for observing the solar system objects.

I can learn about the specifications about telescopes by my self. But I do not know where to find them in Sri Lanka. And my guess is "no-where".

[Nipuna]

I was Searching for those a long time ago too. MY problem is same as yours

[Saman]

I bought Celestron telescope one a few years ago. That costs me about $100. However I'm exactly like you. I don't how to focus it correctly with several adjustments on it, so I was only able to see the moon and Venus clearly .

There are basically two types of telescopes. Reflection and Refraction. Mine is a PowerSeeker 127EQ Telescope which is a refraction (also called Newtonian Telescopes). So all I see is the up side down image of the real. There are some new ones with digital zoom, etc... and those are very expensive.

eBay has a quite a large list of Celestron and other types of telescopes.

[Herath]

I checked eBay. And thinking about a Maede NG70-SW (To buy off ebay). I don't think that I will be able to afford a reflector.
Did you buy it off ebay?. Or local market?

(I am worried about those customs people. One of my friends have had a bitter experience while clearing a custom cooled graphics card. Those people were having problems while clearing a heat pipe based cooler came along (but seperated) with the card. )

Thanks.

Edit: Buying off ebay seems to be expensive. Shipping charges exceeds the cost of the telescope.

[Saman]

I bought it from http://scientificsonline.com/. However they do not ship to Sri Lanka (According to my memory). So you better try it on eBay for sure. Maede is a very good brand as well.

Don't blame on customs. They can't decide whether you are going to resell this or use by your own. When you buy over eBay always request the seller to mention the goods are for educational purposes and not for commercial use. (You can also ask to put a reduced price on the invoice). Also, don't forget to show your student identity card. There are very nice people who don't charge when you show that as it convince that you are not going to resell.

Regarding shipping... Yes, that's true. It was heavier than expected.

[Herath]

Thank you for the helpful information. May be I should get out of the country. I am getting sick of being here. I can't buy what I want even if I had money to buy. This is true about everything. Computer parts here are damn low quality. Sellers sell what they like, not what we want. As a result I am running a Pentium D though I wanted to buy an AMD Athlon 64 X2.

I will try to buy a pair of binoculars at least.

I was trying to find an Asian seller. But could not find one yet. May be Asians are not that interested in Space.

May be i will just have to forget about buying a telescope..

[Saman]

There is one point you should know. I bought my Celestron telescope from USA through a friend of mine. However when I was assembling it, I noticed the label "MADE IN CHINA" . So if you have a friend there, you can do the same.

It is that Asians have no interest in selling things to Asians. They always aim America and Europe.

Regarding what you said about PC accessory sellers in Sri Lanka... I agree 100%...very true. But Sri Lanka is the best place to live in this world.

One thing I really must tell you.... having a telescope by my own was one of my dreams from childhood. However, I was only able to touch it for couple of times since I wasn't able to do much with it. Now I have almost no interest to waste time looking at stars as there are plenty of things to learn over the internet .
So my advice is to find one and experiment with it before buying it.

[Herath]

Sri Lanka is the best place to live. I have to agree with that. I love this life other than the lack of technical stuffs. I do not like to live a stressful life being loaded with lot of work. And live like nobody without knowing my own neighbor.

I will see if I can find a telescope here.