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Telescopes for Home Use?
PDubNYC asks: "Just thought this was a good place to ask about telescopes. My father is turning 70 shortly, and I thought a telescope would be a good gift as he was an air force navigator back in the day, and loves viewing nature's beauty (bird watching, safaris etc...). So, any ideas what to look for in a home telescope, from $500-$1000 (split by 6 kids) that would enable him to punch in coordinates and have the motor turn, give a great view of nearby celestial bodies (maybe Saturn's rings), and it'd be great to hook up to a laptop (a Mac would be even better, but far from necessary). Any advice would be great." PDubNYC is also on a budget, so please refrain from suggesting the ultra expensive $1500 scopes.
On a budget is fine, but $1500 is not exactly an "ultra-expensive" telescope for an amateur.. In fact, it's barely entry-level for a very serious hobbiest.
Anyway, I don't know that much about specific models, but at least this guy can get what he's after for the price he wants - a scope powerful enough to check out Saturn that can do (limited) tracking, probably with a PC doing the hard work, and an eyepiece adaptor to hook to a webcam or something, and he's got a pretty good setup.
~GoRK
Aperature is not always best. Often large aperature telescopes are heavier and if the mount isn't upto the task using the scope could be a pain.
I would look at the Meade ETX-105EC. Check out The Mighty ETX Website for more advise.
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Remember that large scopes, while providing the best views, also get to be large and heavy. The effort to move and setup a large scope can make it less and less appealing. I have 2 scoopes and several pairs of binoculars. The binoculars get the most use, followed by a small wide field refractor (not in the price range suggested). The least used is the 9.25 inch schmidt-cassegrain. Don't be fooled by magnification, some of the best views of nebula are at low power.