Telescope advice...

[Davejj]

Hi all,
My 10 year old son has shown a real interest in astronomy, he really impressed me today telling me all about the planets.
I mentioned about having a telescope and his eyes lit up, and as it is his birthday on the 22nd of this month I am thinking about buying him one.

As with most of us cost will be an issue, I would think I could maybe spend between £100 to £150, I would like to know if I would be able to buy anything in that price range that would be any good, or should I wait and save to be able to buy something worth while. (honest opinions please)

Any advice would be of great help.... thanks in advance for any help.

David

[snowqueen]

I think firstly he should learn how to use it first, i.e the first thing you should get is a star chart, and he needs to learn how to navigate the skies to use a telescope and recognise the constellations and whatnot.

100-150 is decent for a starter telescope for a young child to go on.

[Davejj]

So I could get him that information also... IE books etc?? or would he have to be taught/shown by someone.

I would not have a clue about how to use a telescope myself.

[wildlifesnapper]

Hi

"The Works " shops have some good , well priced books.

Skywatcher make some reasonable priced quality scopes, have a look on their website. Might be wise to look at one of their refractors - startravel 80 (£149) , Evostar 90 (£159), Mercury 707, mercury 705 and Capricorn 70 (all 3 under £100).
There are some nice reflector (mirror) teles but you have to keep ligning the mirrors up which he might not want to do at 10 years.

Good luck and I hope he enjoys whichever you get him

neil

[Davejj]

Thanks Neil

I will source that book and have a look at the model's you mentioned....

of course anymore advice will be welcome

Thanks again for your time and advice

Dave

[snowqueen]

Yeh I agree, I'd go with a refactor telescope as they are easy maintenance.

I have known a lot of people buy telescopes and then let it go to waste because they don't know how to use it.

Finding things like the moon can be easy if you use the viewfinder, but things like finding all the constellations can turn into a nice little game, many people have a checklist and try to spot them all.

Any beginners book will help on how to use a telecope, not astronomy perse.

Learn: Identify constellations, stars, planets and how to navigate at night

is useful, but the internet is also useful, google something like navigating sky

http://www.astro-tom.com/getting_sta...lanisphere.htm

[schlocky]

A good pair of binoculars with a basic constellation map are a great way to start to explore the night sky. However today's youth are unlikely to be satisfied with these as they will not show detail in the planets but do enable to connect what the naked eye sees with what a telescope will show.

Even the smallest telescope will usually be able to reveal the phases of mercury and venus, mars' polar cap, Jupiter's cloud belts and moons and saturns rings, although at least a 6-inch reflector, however this may be a little too heavy and cumbersome for the average 10-year old to enjoy using.

There is a strong tendency to obtain as large and powerful a telescope as one can afford but such an instrument will tend to dishearten the beginner as most objects are faint and fuzzy and without any colour. Real satisfaction and depth of appreciation comes with knowledge of what one is observing and so building a foundation of knowledge of the cosmos' structure should be the first goal. Low-powered binoculars are great as they provide bright low-powered images that can be turned towards a patch of sky that has attracted the naked eye. Doing the same with even a small telescope is dishearteningly difficuly to do as it will only show a tiny portion of the sky at even it's lowest powered magnification. It is most satisfying to see a slightly bigger, brighter and more detailed view of what the naked eye is seeing, something a pair of 8 X 40's say, would do admirably. (8=magnification, 40 = diameter of each front lens (objective) of the bino's).

My first telecope was small (It was a tasco 30x-60x 40mm) and cheap but excitingly provide tantalizing first glimpses of the moon and planets, however this excitement soon subsided and 'aperture fever' (the obsessive desire for larger instruments) soon set in.

Probably only when I had an 8-inch reflector did I truly start to enjoy hours of observing but this would be too large an affair for a ten-year old (unless he/she is a genius with extreme patience and a bodybuilder on stilts!) so probably a good 2.5 to 3-inch refractor or 4-inch reflector would be the largest instrument for such a beginner. A 'finderscope' (a very low powered telescope attached and aligned with the main telescope) and good star map are essential accessories too. Small, low-powered binoculars (eg 8 x 40's) are also useful as an accessory to an observing session with a telescope.

Another very desirable accessory is a very low powered eyepiece that gives rich, bright, wide views of the sky. These really give you the impression that you are actually up there.

Good luck.

[Davejj]

Thanks again for the information and the links for me to follow up.

Schlocky.... many thanks for such a detailed post, I am thinking that the binoculular idea is the way to go, as I would be able to use them too in a few interests that I have... so I could buy quite a good pair, along with a smaller telescope with some books.
And then follow his progress and if he keeps it up and needs to upgrade, by then I would know if it is worth really spending some money on a much better telescope.

As always forums are a god send of information.... Thank you all

David

[snowqueen]

yeh, you could even buy a 10 x 50 which would be even better, you can get them cheap, but binocs are very heavy, bear that in mind, as your child has to keep them still when holding etc.

[Davejj]

Is it possible to get a tripod for binoculars???

Or would you need special binoculars for that.

[wildlifesnapper]

Hi

yes you can buy a binocular clamp that will fit to the bino's and then screw to any tripod, most camera shops should be able to help.

neil

[Davejj]

Thanks again Neil....

And many thanks to all who gave me advice.

I am now going to spend a little time to try to get some books and equipment, and make it a christmas present instead of a birthday present.

I am quite looking forward to learning about it with him


Dave

[Rich_]

I am certainly not an expert and have not done much telescope observation for some years, but I remember having a book as child written by Patrick Moore, in which he stated that a pair of 10 x 50 binoculars were useful for general observation & for seeing things like nebulae, the Andromeda galaxy etc. This has been backed up by enthusiasts I know now for general star gazing.

I had a refractor which could magnify up to 275 times but only had a 65mm object lens so the planets used to zoom through the narrow field of view in a matter of seconds as you are also magnifying the Earth's rotation and a clock drive is required on the tripod so the telescope can track the planet or whatever.Also the 65mm lens was no where near up letting enough light in for the potential magnification.

I also realised early on that the colour pictures you see in books of the planets in all their colourful glory were not what I would see through my telescope. Many of these have been taken with long exposures to allow the optimum amount of light to the film with a clock drive on the telescope tripod ( which rotates your telescope in it's mount once in 24 hours )

I found the maximum practical magnification I could use with the refractor I had was about 65 times, this showed the rings round Saturn as a very small disc with a ring round it, you could see Jupiter & it's 4 moons and the phases of Venus. A reflector telescope is supposed to be be better, but I had no experience of them. Also remember that with an astronomical telescope things appear upside down. I think this is because they have to insert another lens to put things the right way up, and as this looses light reaching the eye.

It is a very interesting subject and it gave me a lot of pleasure as a youngster.

[snowqueen]

refractors have a crisper view, better for planetary gazing then its reflector counterpart. 60ish mm aperture is the bare standard, go up to 100mm and you're laughing!

telescopes advertise their magnification because people seem to think this is most important, but of course optical use of high magnification is not possible

[Davejj]

Thanks again all for your ideas and advice....

Snowqueen you have been really helpfull with your posts

Rich.. again, many helpfull points... It really has started to set my own appetite to learn with him (or be taught by him).

Of course the only problem as with any hobbie is we can only buy what we can afford, and not always what we want... but with all the help here I can at least start to make an informed purchase..

Dave

[Rich_]

Originally Posted by snowqueen

telescopes advertise their magnification because people seem to think this is most important, but of course optical use of high magnification is not possible

This is very true & first time buyers can be taken in by this as I once was, especially when they show colour photos on the ad's and packaging as if viewed through the telescope you are buying.

You often see cheap binoculars & telescopes advertised in news papers etc with misleading captions like "see 50 miles" and such like: avoid these. when you think about it, if you watch the sun set you are technically seeing about 93,000000 miles with the naked eye?