Go Out:  Look Up!

A Guide to the Sky, Telescopes, and Telescope Programs

Equipment Overview

How Telescopes Work

Binoculars:  almost everyone has a pair somewhere.  Even cheap ones can be fun to look through.  The moon looks awesome, you can see Jupiter's moons and Saturn's rings.

Types of Telescopes

•   Refractors use lenses to bend light
•   Reflectors use mirrors to "bend" light
•   Catadioptrics use combinations of lenses and mirrors.

Dobsonian Reflectors

Dobsonian Reflectors are mirrored scopes (typically Newtonian Reflectors) mounted on simple, stable, and sturdy bases.  The bases tend to be heavy, but they're sturdy and inexpensive.

The photo below shows and inexpensive refractor on the left and a 12" dobsonian reflector on the right.

The Orion Starblast 6i, is what is known as a table-top dobsonian.  It is small, short, and relatively light.  The Starblast comes in two flavors: computerized and non-computerized.  Its light-gathering power, ease of use, portability, and easy-to-use computer make it a nice Library Scope. 

Here's a page on "Fun Equipment" and here's one on "Window Scopes".

Here are some links for scope-buying advice.

Questions or comments? Email:Jeff Martin