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A Buyer's Guide to Stargazing

by Tim Stevens on April 16, 2007 at 08:46 AM

TelescopeIf you're into the type of stargazing that requires looking at the heavens and not the latest copy of the Daily News, you probably know that astronomy ranks right up there with boating as one of the most potentially expensive hobbies around. Given that cost, if you're just getting started you might have a hard time moving past the sticker shock to find the right equipment. Are you looking for something that will let you take pictures of the stars? Something that's idiot-proof and portable, or perhaps something that a little more powerful but also a little more complicated? If you're not sure, check out Gizmo Watch's article on the best telescopes for amateur stargazers, which has eight different units ranging from a $400 handheld device that automatically knows what you're looking at thanks to GPS all the way up to a $60,000 unit with a remote-programmable mount.

Most will probably want to go with something like a Celestron CPC Series Telescope, a $2,000 option that is compact and light enough at 40lbs to be much more easily transportable than some of the larger scopes (like the 120lb JMI option) and also offers the same computerized assistance of the handheld ones, but with a lot more power. Now, none of these scopes will give you much street cred in the scientific community if you were, say, hoping to weigh in on the Pluto as a planet debate, but they'll certainly be enough to make the neighborhood kids go "Wow!"

From Gizmo Watch

Tags: Telescope

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