| MadSci Network: Astronomy |
Hello, Yurissa,
Congratulations on saving successfully toward your goal!
You are asking some great questions about which telescope
to buy: obviously, you have read up on the subject, and
thought about it a lot.
My first piece of advice would probably be: Think about whether you are really ready to buy a telescope with your hard-saved money yet... When people first get interested in amateur astronomy, there are two things I recommend:
Join your nearest amateur astronomy club. I know that the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada has a "Center" (club) in Hamilton which is very active!
Consider just learning the sky with your eyes first, or if you've already done that, consider buying a good, but cheap pair of binoculars to start yourself off...
Of course, if you're really set your heart on that 6" dob- sonian telescope, then good for you: It is indeed a very good choice for someone who is just beginning!
The mirrors are not hard to wash, but you don't need to worry about that for a good while, anyway! (I only wash my telescopes' mirrors maybe once a year...)
Dobsonian mounts are very stable, and also easy and quick to set up; some of the more expensive "go-to" electronic telescopes have complex start-up steps, and many things which can go wrong!
Of course, once you have your dobsonian, what you can see in the sky will be entirely up to you! There is no button to press, to magically "whisk" you across the sky to the neat and beautiful things there are to see... So, that is where my suggestions (1) and (2) above come in! :)
Finally, with a Newtonian telescope design (which most "dobsonian" telescopes actually use), you will sometimes have to make sure that your big mirror (the "primary"), and the small flat mirror at the top, are both properly aligned with each other, and the sky. This process is called collimation. For a fixed-tube, 6" dobsonian from a reputable dealer, you will probably not have to worry about this for a while. Once you decide that it is time to learn to collimate your own telescope, you will probably want to find some help from fellow amateurs---which brings us back to suggestion (1) above. :-)
I hope the above has been helpful to you, Yurissa! If you have more questions about telescopes, or the other aspects of amateur astronomy (like how to learn to find your way around the sky, for example), I hope you'll come back to "MadSci" and post some more questions. I know it was a pleasure answering this one...
Clear skies!
Lew Gramer
Try the links in the MadSci Library for more information on Astronomy.