Keep this in mind when starting with Astronomy - Tips and Advice

[@cattaraugustonawanda4426]

I would suggest that before you purchase any equipment that you purchase "The Backyard Astronomers Guide" which has been a most helpful resource for me as a beginner. If you have binoculars they are a good starting point. Thinking of equipment as "beginner" and buy better later may mean that you spend money twice which is false economy. Buying quality will most likely be easier to use, more enjoyable and not detrimental to your efforts. Buying quality doesn't mean you have to get extravagant. If you wear glasses or are older and have trouble seeing through the eyepieces that come with some scopes it is well worth getting eyepieces with long eye relief. Stellarium is incredible and has provided me with a lot of enjoyment.

[@allancopland1768]

Great advice Bogdan.

[@bulbulica]

One of the best guides so far! This is exactly how I started months ago and I don't want to go back. I'm already buying my 3-rd telescope and on every occasion I have, I just go outside the city and watch the sky for at least 30 min. The experience is fantastic, also learning at home what you can see in that period is important because you just make your own map, check the sky, point the telescope, nothing, still nothing... And then, boom! I tried to find Andromeda into the city with bortle 8, for at least 45 min with a 130mm newtonian and nothing. When I found it, was probably the best moment I ever had in astronomy so far. Looking at another galaxy that is "quite close" to ours was incredible!

[@richardy8399]

Really enjoying all of your videos - please keep them coming! Your advice on starting small is really sound - I'm just stepping up from a small Maksutov telescope that I've had for many years, that has given me many hours of pleasure and wonder. You asked for some recommendation - the one book that I would recommend is "Turn Left at Orion" - a fantastic and accessible guide to getting started, focussed on smaller telescopes. Thanks again!

[@BogdanDamian]

@Richard Y Thank you! Also thanks for your book recommendation. It seems to be a great book for beginners and more advanced astronomers as well.

[@SimRacingVeteran]

Honestly the JWST launch really got me interested in astronomy. I know very little about the night sky. I bought an 8” Dobsonian, an extra eye piece with a planisphere. A 2022 night sky almanac and The Back Yard Astronomers Guide. I have no idea what I’m doing but I’m sure gonna have fun looking at stuff and learning as I go along. Even if I can’t identify what I’m seeing at least it will be cool looking through the scope.

[@BogdanDamian]

@Sim Racing Veteran Welcome to this awesome hobby! I started with astronomy in a very similar way. I got an 8" Dob with an extra eyepiece for planetary observations, as these were easy to find in the night sky and I got immediately hooked. Haven't been able to put the telescope down ever since. Have fun and if you ever have questions, just let me know here in the comments. Clear skies!

[@palmereldrich]

Be warned: IF you've an absolutely incredible scope i.e. figured near perfectly then expect to spend three or four times its price on eyepieces that match it. A 1k$ scope has cost me nearly 4k$ plus its cost. I did not expect such a great 'value' apo to be highest Strehl. SW F/9 100ED. Views are nind blowing on extended targets. A zoom and widest field plus Barlow did not cut it upon discovery of its absolute performance metrics. Great info in this video.

[@k.h.1587]

Yeah synta has really nailed it with the 100f9 Ed doublet, and the 120f7.5 Ed doublet is just as good but twice the price. The 80ed, at least the celestron version I and a few other people I know had, in the 2004-2006 time period, did appear to be apochromatic visually, but had purple stars when used for imaging. I know the 100ed didn't have that problem, and I personally got to test the 120 when it first came out for a while, and I figured at f7.5 in such a large Ed doublet that there would be some.fringing, try as I might I could not get it to fringe at extremely high powers visually, and it didn't have purple stars, and was pretty much flat enough field for the aps-c dslr I tested it with. I really wanted it, but couldn't shell out the about $1600 it cost at the time. This would have been around 2008 IIRC maybe 2009. Celestron had blown out their 100ed scopes a little before that, and I sold one to a friend and was amazed by the performance (if I didn't make it clear earlier, these are all made by the same manufacturer, and have the same optics, orion, vixen, celestron, skywatcher and maybe others, have sold the 100ed and 80ed scopes since at least back to the early 2000s, as the 80ED and 100ED were in the first orion catalog I ever got, which would have been either the end.of 2003 or right after new years 2004. I worked at a photo and telescope dealer from 2006-2011.

[@gabrielrobles5288]

Great content, thank you.

[@paulbreed1688]

Decent clothing during long night observations. Terrible thing to stop because you're freezing your feet and hands off 😊

[@moonmonkey9595]

My advice is simple don’t run before you can walk start with a good scope such as an st80 or a 114 skyhawk also decide whether it’s an eq mount or az best suits you

[@BogdanDamian]

@Moon Monkey Thanks for sharing. Good tips!

[@TKZee007]

Would an 8 inch Dob be a good beginner scope?

[@BogdanDamian]

@Lindile Manzingana I started out with an 8 inch Dob and it served me well for almost 10 years. It thought me everything I know today about the night sky. So I highly recommend it 🙂

[@k.h.1587]

You mentioned 5-6" reflectors as starter scopes, and pictured a 6"dob, and a price range of 200-250. That only applied to the 5", as 6" dobs are now, and at the time of filming, in the $400 range.

[@marcducati]

Yeah… but what kind of orbital space telescope would you recommend so as not to over do it.

[@Amarok347]

What do you think is currently the best first telescope in terms of price to quality ratio?

[@BogdanDamian]

@Amarok347 A 4" ED refractor like the svbony sv503 102ED if you value portability and planetary observations or a 8" Dob like the 200P from Skywatcher if you care for deep sky as well

[@rajamanohar8004]

👏👏👍👍

[@epic_playz4283]

Those freakin animals

[@wayneteachey2714]

No music, please!