Most telescopes come with one inexpensive eyepiece. One of the first purchases a new telescope owner will make is a selection of eyepieces. Online astronomy forums have hundreds upon hundreds of pages debating what eyepieces are the best. Some amateur astronomers have invested more money in their eyepieces than they paid for their telescope!
Time to discuss eyepiece basics. Continue reading Telescope Buying Guide For Campers (Part 5)
If you buy a telescope with “Go To” functions, which I advise, you’ll need a way to power it. Motor driven mounts such as the NexStar Alt-Az mounts cannot be manually adjusted to view objects. As discussed in Part 3 of this series, eight AA batteries can power the NexStar telescopes. Unfortunately the batteries don’t last very long. Continue reading Telescope Buying Guide For Campers (Part 4)
In this post I will discuss setting up a computerized, motor driven telescope using my Celestron NexStar 8se.
This won’t be a detailed “how to” but rather a high level overview of what is entailed. The steps will be similar to how many mid “Go To” telescopes are set up. Continue reading Telescope Buying Guide For Campers (Part 3)
In Part 1 of this series, I introduced several high level topics regarding telescopes. In this part we’ll take another look at expectations in greater detail. Continue reading Telescope Buying Guide For Campers (Part 2)
Last month I wrote about using binoculars for backpacking as a means to enhance the back country experience. Telescopes are not practical to take backpacking, but they are for those who car camp or own a recreational vehicle.
I often get questions about telescopes, especially since I wrote this article about my telescope upgrades way back in 2013. If you are interested in the night sky and the cosmos, a telescope is almost a must have. Continue reading Telescope Buying Guide For Campers (Part 1)