Which telescope is best to see planets such as saturn, good enough that you can see the rings?
It is possible to watch these planets with a family telescope or you mean a Nasa telescope? I don’t know that much about telescopes but I’m curious if there’s one for watching that far. I recently bought one of the “best telescopes for the beginners“. It is a Celestron PowerSeeker 50 AZ Refractor Telescope. I bought it for enjoying the universe. After the aquarium, this was the next piece that I needed.
One of the best value telescopes which will easily show you the rings of Saturn and possibly even a hint of the Cassini Division on a steady night is the Russian made 4.5″ reflector known as the TAL-1 This telescope is comparable in size to the many similar beginner level reflectors, but in a class of its own when it comes to optical and build quality. The automatic telescopes you mention – known commonly as ‘GOTO’ telescopes will be that bit more expensive than your quoted budget. For brighter targets such as the planets you won’t really need it. Although searching for fainter targets using traditional methods such as ‘star-hopping’ may not sound like fun, they are in reality an excellent way of getting to know the sky and enable you to find objects when the technology lets you down. If your budget allows, a Skywatcher refractor is also an excellent buy. Refractors are best for planets and observing double stars where resolving power is important. This is because they have a clear ape