Best books about telescopes according to redditors

Oh god, this question is such a can of worms that I will try to answer as best as I can. I'm not a master optician, a master optician will give you a different answer, you ask two master opticians and they'll fight about the answer, ask three and you'll never get a conclusion. I will try to answer this and break it into chunks. For simplicity I will talk about reflector telescopes, or scopes that reflect light back into the eyepiece, and not refractors which would be more like a camera lens.

Telescopes can be broken down into their individual aperture and F ratio, which is nothing like an f ratio in a camera.

Aperture controls the amount of light gathering a telescope can do and in some cases the contrast of a scope. Aperture it is literally the size of the primary mirror or element in the scope. A 10" scope would have a primary mirror 10" across and give light accordingly. The size of the mirror SHOULD have a play on the desired F ratio of the mirror which we'll talk about next.

Your F ratio for a telescope calculates field of view, which is directly related to your magnification. A small F ratio means wider fields of view, a large F ratio has a smaller field of view. F ratio also, to an extent controls brightness of your object, so, the more magnification the dimmer an object becomes, which means you want to make up for the dimness with larger primary mirrors.

Now we're going to get complicated, and I'm going to keep it simple. When you start with ridiculous amounts of magnification (provided by mostly by an eyepiece, but in some parts by a mirror) you end up with very visible defects, the most common is what we call chromatic aberration. It is a prism like shifting of colors in the objects you are looking at. Chromatic aberration comes from small defects in the mirror surface, perhaps an atom or two of silica in height, maybe three or four. (Yes, a good mirror is THAT precise) These color shifts can significantly impact your viewing of things like Alberio, Saturn, and well, just about any other interesting thing you could possibly look at. Other defects we worry about are things like astigmatism, which creates a conical star as opposed to a circular one.

So, simply put what you're getting for 3k+ is a finely figured mirror (that's what we use to describe the process of polishing a mirror to perfection) that has no optical flaws which will produce a smooth and apparition free viewing surface across the entirety of your field of view.

If you have more interest check out the following:
Alberio: http://www.albireovineyards.com/uploads/1/3/0/2/13028271/2582976_orig.jpg
Saturn Through a (pay attention especially to contrast and DETAIL):
Cheap Scope:
http://i1.ytimg.com/vi/9VIhag8tTcs/maxresdefault.jpg
Pricey Scope:
http://astrobob.areavoices.com/astrobob/images/thumbnail/SaturnJimSchaff.jpg
Scope that could have been a car.
http://www.learn.usa.canon.com/app/media/images/articles/60da_astrophoto/08_saturn__hero.jpg

For the hobbyists and clubbers among you:
www.stellafane.org
www.atmob.org

And for the technical readers a nice intro book on building your own:
http://www.amazon.com/about-telescopes-Popular-optics-library/dp/B0006CL970/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1404270285&sr=8-1&keywords=sam+brown+telescope

David Chandler's Sky Atlas for Small Telescopes is a good start:

http://www.amazon.com/Sky-Atlas-Small-Telescopes-Binoculars/dp/1891938193

Under a decently dark sky you can run the entire Messier catalog in a 70MM no problem. BUT for someone new to the hobby, its better to stick to the showpiece stuff. Off the top of my head:

M44 - this is visible naked eye from a darkish site, it'll look like a cloud off of Cancer. Use the widest FOV eyepiece (the 30MM) you can.

M67 - if you can find M44, its just south of it, a fainter star cluster. Somewhat more compact.

M3 - A globular cluster that's relatively easy to find, the way I find it is drawing a line between Arcturus and Cor Caroli, it's about a 1/3 of the way there.

M94 - a relatively small but bright galaxy, relatively easy to find, make an equilateral triangle between Cor Caroli (Alpha Canes Venatici) and Beta Venatici - M94 will be the star like object. Increase the magnification to star seeing some detail

Leo Triplet - you may not be able to see all 3 in a 70MM, but its about 2 degrees due south of Chertan (Theta Leo) - three galaxies, right there.

Virgo Galaxy Cluster - too many to name, but draw an imaginary line between Vindemiatrix (Epsilon Virgo) and Denobla (Beta Leo). The Virgo Galaxy cluster lies about half way through. Just sweep your widefield eyepiece along and enjoy! You can see them with 10x50 binos in a reasonably dark site, so that should be great for a 70MM or your Dob.

Alcor/Mizar - Mid handle of the big dipper, a good test of your vision/how dark the site is. Also a double star!

Algeiba - In Leo, a pretty double star.

Cor Caroli - my favorite double star, AKA Alpha Canes Venatici

Castor - Another double star in Gemini.

Found it on Amazon.

Just be prepared to be unamazed at the views with this scope or really any scope. What you see in pictures are not what you will see with this scope or really any small aperture scope. With that said though you still can enjoy so much with that scope. This is a fast scope which has some plus and minuses. One is that you can definitely get some high powered lenses without the use of a barlow which will help you all around as the barlow does diminish some of the light gathering capabilities when used. barlows are personal choice I rather use a high power high piece to get where I want rather than a barlow but thats just me. Right now you have a 26 and 75x with your eyepieces so if on a budget a 2x barlow maybe in order with a 450mm focal length. I believe they say 50x per inch of aperture for a useful magnification but that would be pristine conditions. Depending on light pollution it is probably more realistically around 25-30x per inch for your highest useful magnification. A 3mm would give you 150x which is probably going to be on that threshold of usefulness in your scope.

Definitely check eyesonthesky.com. Great site with a ton of great info. It definitely helped me when i jumped back into observing after a 20 or so year hiatus.

The biggest thing though is enjoy it. Remember that you are not going to see the things you see in the magazines or the internet but you can truly enjoy that scope with a little knowledge and perseverance. As good as stellarium I also would suggest getting this book.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1891938193/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o08_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

It is really good because it just has stuff that your scope should be able to see. It is great for learning the sky and finding objects that are within the capabilities of your scope for the most part.

Also remember that jupiter and orions nebula are not that far off and those will definitely be in the realm of that scope.

I have not tried the expanse eyepieces but they look nice. Also check out the x-cel eyepieces by celestron they are also nice eyepieces that are moderately priced.

All About Telescopes by Sam Brown

It is out of print, but teaches all about lenses and optics including photography, so it is much more than just telescopes.

https://openlibrary.org/books/OL13549980M/All_about_telescopes

Number 9094 on the cover is the 3rd edition, but any will do. Be sure it is the nearly 200 page edition (my 9094 is 192 pages). There were short booklets by the same author.

https://www.amazon.com/Telescopes-Popular-Library-Scientific-Paperback/dp/0933346204
(you might find cheaper prices --the above was one quick search).

See this discussion about Brown and his books: https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/478975-all-about-telescopes-by-sam-brown/

edit: spelling