'Choosing Your First Telescope' with J. Kelly Beatty

J. Kelly Beatty from Sky and Telescope Magazine offers a guide to choosing your first telescope.

Observatory Night from December 19, 2013 at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics

[VesmicTCG]

I don't know why I got excited when he said he will give away a telescope when I'm not even there.

[liliere]

After 3 hours looking for information about the topic, this is the most useful I found. Thanks for uploading it.

[Mrcloc]

"Telescopes do not have to be expensive in order to be good"
That is some of the best advice I've ever heard.

[danallured]

anyone else worrying about that foot being off the end of the table? lol

[younginventors]

He gave that lecture almost 7 years back, but it's still one of the best astronomy videos I ever saw. Every detail in it was priceless and that man... I can truly feel his passion for astronomy.

[WaltherMekkie]

Enjoyed this, this guy can talk in a way that keeps you interested and listening🙂

[tonyem]

When you talked about the number of telescopes you have, I was reminded of the number of guitars a guitarist has and it made perfect sense to me.

[TerrapinWrangler]

I was so worried that he was going to drop that telescope off the edge of the table. 

[obiwanshinobi]

Glad I watched this video...

I was about to make a very expensive mistake

[vapenation]

warning: do not buy one if you're a flat earther, you might realize that space exists and we're living on a planet!

[timstoffel]

As an active amateur astronomer involved in a lot of outreach, I have had to do this very presentation a number of times. Its always educational to see how others approach the subject. I also want to mention that the Starblast telescope (And other similar telescopes by other manufacturers) you were primarily using for your talk is one of the best little telescopes out there. Great beginner's 'scope. But good enough that it will put even a high-end Nagler eyepiece to the test. I have one as my 'grab and go' telescope as well.

[anggita]

I like it a lot! He is a good speaker. I am planning to buy my first telescope and from this video I get a clearer idea on what thing that I should look at when I'm doing my window shopping. Thank you!!

[warrenbracewell]

Very informative. I belong to an astronomy club and we do public outreaches all the time. This is one of the questions I get asked most. We usually have an assortment of scopes so that I can explain the pros and cons of each. I also tell them that for starters, use binoculars, which most people already have and learn the sky.

[geezman]

I like looking for knowledge and actually finding it.

[Bruisader]

This video will be always needed by the upcoming generations. I am watching it in Dec 2020....

[DrPepperZZZ]

I have the AWB onesky (the one under the table with the extendable truss rods). Awesome telescope for the price! Highly recommended!

[garyoldham]

How much for the Hubble?

A good choice but you might want to save up for the James Webb.

[saaamember]

He hit all the basic points that I used to give, when my astro-club did public outreach. Great job!

My first REAL telescope was an 8" Celestron Starhopper (Dang, I wish I still had that scope)! That scope was the easiest to setup, by far. As the presenter stated, after awhile, you will start to feel the need to upgrade to a better scope. I had to sell that Starhopper to get my 10" Meade LX-50 Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope. This scope was a whole 2" bigger in diameter than the Starhopper, and had the ability to track objects, when put on an equatorial mount, such as a wedge. That scope stayed with me for awhile, until my back started giving me problems, and I could no longer lift it onto it's mount. So, I had to go back to an 8" scope, but stayed with the Schmidt-Cassegrain design. I was not too pleased to have to loose 2" of aperture, but I made sure that the new smaller scope had all the "Bells & Whistles" on it. That new scope was an 8" Meade LX-200 GPS. That scope lasted me forever (I still have it), along with a small 3" short-tube refractor. With the LX-200 alone, I did more stargazing than the previous two scopes combined!

[tyrone]

Great video, still holds up 8 years later!

[readmycomment]

Fantastic presentation, exactly what I was looking for, simple to the point information.