SingAstro

$500? Buy a good 7x50 porro prism bino and a set of good star charts first.

Yeap! I hear alot of people saying that to me! Patience! Take it slowly! And yes i am trying my very best. But sometimes the excitements really kills me. I remember cursing and screaming the whole of last week as the skies were cloudy. i so wanted to see the comet holmes.and wala! I finally saw it on sat at around 2.30am! and mars too! orion, tarus, mars, everything! it was almost as if the skies cleared up for me! haha!

Did i miss out anything here? The prices are in SGD right? Even the seller in in singapore. It IS cheap right? http://sg.auctions.yahoo.com/sg/user/woodyjanice

Nice to hear that.

I was stuck with bino from 10 years old to 19 years old before I bought my first telescope. So I took quite long. Now with the ability to do astrophotography, I spent many k on it, and finally I am getting pictures that looks rather OK.

I know the kind of excitement and impatience you are having.

It looks cheap. Or too good to be true. I think only if you can inspect the scope in person, then only you can trust it.

the seller is based in china. i checked out th website. darn. its super tempting. i think i saw that scope at astro scientific, i didnt even bother asking for the price. knew i wun be able to afford it. btw, which kind of scope will be easier to maintain? i have read that for portability, a refractor will be preffered as a reflector is way more fragile.

and btw, i am turning 19 next wed! TIME FOR A SCOPE! Just like you did! hahahahaha.

you can see more reputable sites like:

www.telescope.com
http://www.astrobargains.com/

refractors are easy to maintain indeed but usually aperture is too small. In Singapore, the light pollution is like !!!???@@@, so learn to maintain a reflector, you will have bigger aperture and much better views of deep sky objects than small refractors.

I personally like this scope:
http://www.telescope.com/control/produc ... t_id=09896

Its big enough for deep sky, and power enough for planets.

hmm..i think i got mine at 19 too :x

~MooEy~

When I was in JC 1, I tell myself, " no matter what it takes, I must one day be able to take pictures that I see in magazines". Now I am finally 30% there.

Seems like 19 is the age where you either plunge into astro completely or you lose interest of it, joking lah.