No telescope makes distributed objects such as NEBULAE, GALAXIES and (most) PLANETS appear brighter than they can be seen with the naked eye.
You can see these stellar newborns yourself. Just aim your telescope at that fuzzy patch in Orion's Sword. The nebula should appear in your finderscope as a faint mist enveloping a pair of stars. (These stars don't have common names, so astronomers use their official-sounding designations, Theta-1 and Theta-2 Orionis.)
Most nebulae – clouds of interstellar gas and dust – are difficult if not impossible to see with the unaided eye or even binoculars. But the Orion Nebula is in a class nearly all by itself. It's visible to the unaided eye on a dark, moonless night. To me, it looks like a star encased in a globe of luminescent fog.
With enough magnification, you'll easily see both the bar and the extent of the spiral arms. Visually observing detailed spiral structure, like you see in images, requires a large telescope. My preference is to use 20-inch telescopes and larger for such work.
Answer: Yes, you can see a few other galaxies without using a telescope! The nearby Andromeda Galaxy, also called M31, is bright enough to be seen by the naked eye on dark, moonless nights. The Andromeda Galaxy is the only other (besides the Milky Way) spiral galaxy we can see with the naked eye.
The Moon,
Jupiter, Saturn and the Orion Nebula and are terrific to see with smaller telescopes.
Here are mytop 6 objectsI love to look at
- Omega Centauri (NGC 5139)
- The Jewel Box (NGC 4755)
- The Moon.
- Saturn.
- Sombrero Galaxy (Messier 104)
- Eta Carinae Nebula (NGC 3372)
80-90 mm refractors, 100-120 mm reflectors, 90-125 mm catadioptric telescopes:
- binary stars with angular separation of over 1.5", faint stars (up to 12 stellar magnitude);
- structure of sunspots, granulation and solar flares (with an aperture filter);
- phases of Mercury;
- lunar craters (5 km in diameter);
It is safe to observe anything during the day, as long as you don't point the telescope close to the Sun. E.g. Mercury is pretty hard to observe at other times than during the day (or dusk), and yet astronomers have been observing it for a very long time.
If you are unable to find objects while using your telescope, you will need to make sure the finderscope is aligned with the telescope. The finderscope is the small scope attached near the rear of the telescope just above the eyepiece holder. This is best done when the scope is first set up.
A good telescope can cost anywhere from $200 to $8000 US dollars. Depending on if you are just starting out or if you are looking for a professional telescope, prices will differ.
Manually point your telescope as best you can at the target, and then look through the eyepiece. Hopefully, the object will be in the field of view, but if it isn't, use the slow motion control knobs or dials on your telescope's mount to make adjustments until the target is in the center of the eyepiece.
Yes. Most consumer telescopes can be used for terrestrial viewing (or at least the ones I have used) and are often utilized for wildlife viewing or other uses for extreme telephoto requirements.
If so much can be done in the city with binoculars, a telescope offers much wider possibilities. The Moon and planets show every bit as clearly to the urban astronomer as the rural one. True, a city is full of heat sources that can cause atmospheric turbulence and degrade the seeing.
Can a telescope be used through a window? No, you can't. Window glasses are not made for optical viewing purposes. They can seriously distort images and lower down the quality.
However, it is possible to see stars during the day. First, there's the sun, our nearest star, but observing it directly is dangerous without using the proper shields and equipment. Other individual, bright stars can be seen during daylight hours through a telescope or a really powerful pair of binoculars.
The rings of Saturn should be visible in even the smallest telescope at 25x [magnified by 25 times]. A good 3-inch scope at 50x [magnified by 50 times] can show them as a separate structure detached on all sides from the ball of the planet.
Experienced planetary observers use 20x to 30x per inch of aperture to see the most planetary detail. Double-star observers go higher, up to 50x per inch (which corresponds to a ½-mm exit pupil). Beyond this, telescope magnification power and eye limitations degrade the view.
Even giant Jupiter is a small disk in the eyepiece, so for planets the lowest useful magnification is 100x or so, and the maximum is whatever the atmosphere and your telescope will allow. Jupiter, Saturn, Mars, and Venus are all bright enough that you can push the power fairly high without the image becoming too dim.
YES, you will get "color" of nebulae. Reason of this is that because of very low luminosity for small diameter telescope, your eye is using "grey vision". When luminosity will reach certain level, your eye will start adopt color receptors. Good luminosity levels begin from diameters above 200mm.
Typically about a dozen asteroids will be bright enough on any given year to be seen with a 60mm telescope. Also, usually two or three comets appear that can be seen, sometimes more. Stars are the forte of the 60mm telescope aside from the Moon, Jupiter, and Saturn.
The 10 Best Telescopes Comparison Chart
| Product Name | Ranking |
|---|
| Gskyer Telescope AZ Refractor Telescope | 7 4.30 |
| Celestron - NexStar 5SE Telescope | 8 4.30 |
| MOUTEC Telescope for Kids and Astronomy Beginners | 9 4.40 |
| Aomekie Telescope for Adults Astronomy Beginners Kids Telescopes | 10 4.50 |
As a rule of thumb, your telescope should have at least 2.8 inches (70 mm) aperture — and preferably more. Dobsonian telescopes, which are reflectors with a simple mount, provide lots of aperture at relatively low cost. A larger aperture lets you see fainter objects and finer detail than a smaller one can.
The 10 Best Telescopes Comparison Chart
| Product Name | Ranking |
|---|
| Meade Instruments- Polaris 90mm Aperture Astronomy Telescope | 1 4.40 |
| Sky-Watcher Classic Dobsonian Telescope | 2 4.20 |
| Celestron- NexStar 127SLT Telescope | 3 4.20 |
| Orion SpaceProb 130 EQ Reflector Telescope | 4 4.20 |
Most telescopes that cost less than $300 aren't really worth it. We suggest getting good binoculars instead. A popular first telescope is a Dobsonian. These easy-to-use telescopes offer large apertures for relatively low prices.
A four inch refractor telescope will show you all the planets of the solar system, including Pluto, which is technically no longer a planet. It will also show you deep-sky objects such as the Andromeda galaxy and the Crab Nebula, which is the remnant of a supernova explosion.
The five brightest planets - Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn - have been known since ancient times and can easily be seen with the naked eye if one knows when and where to look. They are visible for much of the year, except for short periods of time when they are too close to the Sun to observe.
Sky & Telescope listed seven important qualities for choosing a telescope: "(1) eyepiece shows a sharp image from edge to edge; (2) smooth focuser with 'precise' feel; (3) mount moves smoothly on both axes; (4) mount is sturdy and stable; (5) tube stops shaking quickly after being touched; (6) eyepiece is at a
Fabulous sights through a cheap telescope
- Saturn. So you've spent anything up to $300 on a backyard science project and your friends and family are giving you sideways looks?
- Jupiter.
- The Orion Nebula.
- The Carinae Nebula.
- Alpha Centauri.
- The Moon.
- The Jewel Box.
