Dobsonian Telescope Accessories

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Like a lot of things in life when you start out with a basic widget ...there will always be accessories! Sort of like a baked potato....They aint much without the butter, salt and pepper, sour cream, chives, maybe a little cheese sauce?

Same thing with the Dobsonian Telescope. Any telescope for that mater<G>

I'm going to talk about some good basic accessories that can really enhance the astronomy adventure. Then we can explore some of the more exotic items.

The absolute most important item to have with you when you start in astronomy is a planisphere! Get one now even if you don't have a scope or binoculars. A planisphere is a great quick tool to let you know what's up there right at that moment. Pick up several of them and put one in the cars and with the scope..they are cheap.

Eyepieces are another must. There is sooooo much information on the EP (eye piece) that all that information will be on the EP page. Let's just say that EP's are a huge part of how well a telescope works and how enjoyable your astronomy experience is.

All scopes come with a basic 25mm Eyepiece and a finder scope. The finder scope on most dobsonian telescopes are .......how should I put this?...I guess useless or junk may fit the bill! Some of the larger spotting scopes are 50 or 60mm aren't to bad...the rest you can give to the kids and buy yourself a Telrad.

Telrad Sight

The Telrad is the single best thing you can do for yourself when you get a Dobsonian Telescope. They were originally made for site scopes on weapons. That actually makes them perfect for telescopes!

There is some great information on the Telrad at this link here...The uses, history and how they work. They have them for a good price here

The other great finder for a Dobsonian telescope is what I call the red dot finder it is a lot smaller than the Telrad, but gives a little less information when locating DSO's

Orion EZ Finder Deluxe Reflex Sight

DSO being Deep Sky Objects. These finders are easy to use and move from scope to scope.

The next thing you can get for the dobsonian telescope is a set of digital setting circles. Setting circles is what tells you by degrees what coordinates your scope is pointing pointing to. Some people can use mechanical setting circles, I don't see the use of learning unless you just want to. Digital setting circles is a small computer with little do-hickeys (rotary encoders)that tell the computer where your telescope is pointing. <G> once you tell the computer where you are by pointing the scope to 2 stars and logging that in..that's it! The rest of the night it's like having your own personal Astro Guru with you all night..Tell the computer what you want to look at and it will tell you where to point your scope!..up, down, over just a little, up a little more...the little arrows on the screen point your way! It is really cool!

A lot of the dobsonian telescopes sold today come with DSC (digital setting circles) If you can afford it I would advise getting one eventually. If you are the impatient type and get bored by learning the sky on your own, then definitely get the DSC! You will still learn the night sky...but it may be more fun for you.

Again here there are quite a few of these type systems out ther....JMI, Celestron, Magellan, or you can buy the parts and build your own DSC. Typically the are a lot cheaper if you get your DSC with the scope.

Okay, I want a dobsonian telescope, but (there is always a but) one of those goto SCT's would be great! Well don't fret...You can make your dobsonian telescope a 'go to' telescope! Here is a super site about a guy that built his own system to make his dobsonian telescope slew with the best of them. Take time to 'goto' this site here

There are systems where you just set your dob on a table that is set up to track and slew a real simple fix to turn your dobsonian telescope into a goto telescope! Check out this Equatorial Platform for Dobsonian Telescopes!

Or if your in the big bucks world take a look at what obsession is doing with their scopes...BTW Obsessions are a super dobsonian telescope. Really famous for their large diameter Dobbs.

Or the Rolls Royce of full service dobsonian telescopes. The Star master "tracker" is a cool full service system for dobsonian telescopes

I have a friend with a 24 inch Star master with a Zambuto mirror. It don't get much better than that folks!

While I'm at it here is a link for a bunch of cool ATM (amateur telescope parts) stuff

Another link for ATM parts and stuff at e-scopes, a great place to get parts to build a dobsonian telescope.

The Telescope Dobsonian Accessories Store has hundreds of accessories and parts for adding to your dobsonian telescope

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