#23 in Telescopes
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Reddit mentions of Orion 09798 StarBlast 4.5 Equatorial Reflector Telescope, Metallic Green
Sentiment score: 4
Reddit mentions: 5
We found 5 Reddit mentions of Orion 09798 StarBlast 4.5 Equatorial Reflector Telescope, Metallic Green. Here are the top ones.
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A wide-field reflector telescope with enough aperture to get great views of the Moon, planets, and many bright deep-sky objectsA fantastic general-purpose astronomical telescope - great for the beginner to test the waters with mirror optics large enough to keep you and your family busy viewing for years to comeWorks amazingly well with the included Expanse telescope eyepieces which yield a very wide 66 degree apparent field of view - your first look at the Andromeda galaxy will knock your socks off!Fast f/4 optics and a short focal length provide a very wide field of view, making it easy to locate celestial objects without having to hunt aroundThe EQ-1 equatorial telescope mount makes tracking night-sky objects extremely easy using the included slow-motion controls.
Specs:
| Color | Metallic Green |
| Height | 44 Inches |
| Length | 20 Inches |
| Weight | 20.7 Pounds |
| Width | 12 Inches |
Giant wall of text incoming. Feel free to pm me for skype, irc, or hangout info and we can talk more in depth if you have questions.
The thing that always wows people the first time they look through a decent telescope is Saturn. All of the sudden its not a point of light. Its a disk with ears. Kids and adults alike are always astounded. Many people think its fake it looks so cool.
Astronomy is the study of space. Astrology is the belief that the position of the stars and planets determines or explains personality traits.
The first thing you have to decide when buying a telescope is what you want to do with it. Do you want to use it for visual astronomy or astrophotography? If you want to take hubble style deep sky images then you will need to spend in the 1000s of dollars to start. If you want to do visual observing then you can spend as little as $150 and on up to 1000s+.
Next thing to decide is if you want something computer guided or manually guided. Computer guided will cost more but you wont be relying on your brain as much. Manual guided scopes will be cheaper but you will need to invest in charts and books more.
Things to know about all telescopes:
Resolving power is dependant on the size of the apature or main mirror. This is kind of like megapixles on a camera. The bigger your opening the more light you can collect and the better resolution you'll have.
Magnification is the x rating (100x etc). It will let you know how big you can make something. These numbers are usually exaggerated. It's a mathematical function based on the focal length of the telescope divided by the focal length of the eyepiece. Useful magnification will be based on the resolving power of the scope (based on mirror/aperture size) and the sky conditions. Think of having a low res picture then blowing it up. It gets all distorted and pixelated. That is kind of what will happen if you over-magnify a small telescope with a small aperture.
Now we can discuss the pros and cons of different designs.
Refractors: This is what most people think of when they think of a telescope. They are made of lenses. Glass or plastic, depending on the cost/quality. They are generally heavier and more expensive than other types of telescopes. They are fairly low maintenance and can be some of the best or worst telescopes out there.
Reflectors: These use mirrors instead of lenses. They are generally bulkier than other types of telescopes, but dollar for dollar there is no better way to get a large aperture. They can be a little finicky, requiring collimation (A Process that makes sure a circle looks like a circle and not an oval).
Catadioptric: Combines lens and mirrors. Generally maintenance free, lighter than refractors and less bulky than reflectors. These are good all around telescopes, but aren't generally great at any one thing.
Scope choice is important based on how you plan on using it. If you dread lugging around a big scope and setting it up, you'll never use it. If you're like me, and live in a light polluted area, you will travel with your telescope a lot. You need to make sure it fits in your trunk.
All of that being said this is an excellent beginer telescope that is fairly cheap. With it, you will be able to count craters on the moon, see the rings of Saturn, see cloud bands on Jupiter, and get into some deep sky objects like some of the brighter star clusters and galaxies and nebulas.
If you're interested this is an album of some of my astrophotography.
Clear skies.
Awesome! I got this one for myself for Christmas. :)
Orion 09798 StarBlast 4.5 Equatorial Reflector Telescope, Metallic Green
You can't have mine, but I've enjoyed my Orion Starblast. I've seen Jupiter from Bryan Park and could make out color and everything really good for the moon too. Only thing I might have done different is getting a computerized mount.
Close to your price range and pretty good:
http://www.amazon.com/Orion-StarBlast-Equatorial-Reflector-Telescope/dp/B0069VYPV4/ref=sr_1_15?ie=UTF8&qid=1427654078&sr=8-15&keywords=telescope
That's good, as it will save you a fair whack of money.
I bought this one from the US a year ago and I've been mostly happy. It's great for looking at the moon, Jupiter, Mars and Venus. I haven't tried to get a good look at Saturn yet because I need to spend some time re-collimating it, but it should just do the job.
The bad thing about telescopes is that no matter what you buy, you'll wish you bought one with a bigger mirror 6 or 12 months down the road. Better lenses can help squeeze a bit more viewing out, but you
canwill quickly spend way more on lenses and other odds and ends as you spent on the scope itself.This isn't meant as a discouragement at all, just consider your purchase really well before jumping in.