Please Help with Telescope?

Question

Hello All, my daughter is 12 years old and she wants a telescope. My question is, what type of telescope do I buy her? I don't want anything too expensive because it will be her first one and knowing her she may not use it again after the 2nd time. Plus, my funds are a little low. Now, I do wanna get her something decent where she will not have any problems seeing the stars and it wont break after a week. Any advice you can give me will be most helpful. Thank you in advance.

Answer 1

This is the cheapest telescope I can recommend-

http://www.telescope.com/control/telescopes/mini-dobsonian-telescopes/funscope-76mm-reflector-telescope

You would be much better off with this-

http://www.telescope.com/control/telescopes/dobsonian-telescopes/orion-starblast-4*5-astro-reflector-telescope

If this is too much for your budget you may want to get her a membership in an astronomy club.Members are very willing to give views through their telescopes.She will find out if this is a good Hobie for her.Also most clubs have loaner telescopes members can take home once trained.

Andy has good advice on choosing a telescope here-

http://www.andysshotglass.com/ChoosingScope.html

Wally

Answer 2

When I was 7 or 8 years old I asked for my first telescope. My parents, being very good about it, trying to establish if this was a "true" liking of mine, or just a "temporary hobby" made a deal with me. If I could save up my allowance to long enough to pay for half the cost of the telescope, they would pay for the other half.





This option worked great. It gave my parents time to research telescopes, and gave me an opportunity to get familiar with the night sky with something we already owned, and was great for multiple purposes... binoculars! If this was going to be one of my "spur of the moment hobbies," that wouldn't last a week, having a $500 telescope in the house would be a waste.



At two dollars a week, it took me almost two years to save up enough for a 4.5 inch reflector. But I did. (Stargazing every clear, non-school night with the binoculars we had, in combination with repeated annual renewal subscriptions to Astronomy Magazine were crucial to my not losing interest).



During the course of those two years, my father and myself learned a lot about the night sky, and even more about telescopes. We'd discuss optics, look at the new adds in Sky and Telescope and Astronomy magazines, learn about focal lengths. We'd look at our budget, and had our sights set on a specific Celestron 4.5' reflector.



It didn't disappoint.



Things you will want to do before you get serious about this.



Consider binoculars. Dollar for dollar, they are better than telescopes if you want to spend less than 300 dollars. $100 telescopes are usually junk. $100 binoculars can be pretty outstanding. If your daughter loses interest in astronomy, the binoculars will still be great for birdwatching, going to sporting events, and spying on your neighbours (not always a good idea). A telescope is an expensive piece of equipment, and it's only practical use is for observing the night sky.



Be flexible on your budget. If you don't decide that you need to get a telescope right away, you can set up a method to save up for it. A telescope is different than a computer. Usually, the whole family uses the computer, but the telescope is a purchase that usually has a primary user in mind.





Anyway, if you fully decide to get a telescope, and you have more specific questions, come back here and ask them. There are many regulars in this category that have great feedback, but nobody can tell you which telescope would be the best to get, if it never gets used.

Answer 3

It depends on her viewing priorities, but when shopping remember that aperture (the diameter of the scope's main light-collecting lens or mirror) matters more than magnification. Cheap telescopes that tout high magnifications are mostly useless if the lens/mirror is too small to collect a decent amount of light. You'll end up with very large but dark and blurry images of objects which might otherwise be rewarding.



The scope I use regularly has a 90 mm mirror and I'm able to see plenty of moon detail, the moons and (occasionally) cloud bands of Jupiter, and various star clusters. A 76 mm beginner's scope may resolve those same objects, but they will be darker and perhaps not as sharp. For a novice (and I hope lifelong) astronomer, Orion sells a 100 mm reflector for $100, which is good for a reputable dealer who uses quality optics.



http://www.telescope.com/control/product/~category_id=countdown/~pcategory=telescopes/~product_id=09541

Answer 4

I used to have a 4.5" Newt myself, but I must say the views were a lot

better than described.



What brand telescope is it? Is it a Bushnell or any other "department

store" scopes? I don't have much experience with their reflectors, but

I would imagine the optics would be sub-par. Mine was a Celestron. If

yours is from any of the big companies, you shouldn't have too much of

a problem.



You say you can only see the moons of Jupiter on a really good night!?

They're technically in the naked-eye range, only they're washed out by

Jupiter's glow. Something is definately wrong here. Unless you're

viewing from the middle of LA or Manhattan, the light pollution

shouldn't drown out Jupiter's moons! Not to kid or sound sarcastic,

but have you had your eyes checked recently?



Have you checked collimation (allignment of the optics as probably

explained in the manual)?



On my old scope, I could definately see the moons any clear night,

cloud belts on Jupiter's disk, even glimpsed the Great Red Spot. The

rings of saturn were as clear as day too, even at low power. This is

all from heavy light pollution.



Hope this helps.





> I have been very excited by the stars since a young age. a few years ago i

> bought my first telescope. i didnt have much money, so the $200 I spent on

[quoted text clipped - 10 lines]

> Can someone tell me what is wrong? or am I getting what I paid for?

> please help me. I yearn to see more than what the naked eye has to offer

Reply to this Message Ryan Jackson - 29 Jul 2003 10:36 GMT

> I used to have a 4.5" Newt myself, but I must say the views were a lot

> better than described.

[quoted text clipped - 21 lines]

>

> Hope this helps.



the telescope is an Orbitor 3500. as for jupiters moons. it could be

the pollution from the local paper mill causing the problem there. I have

only been out of town with it on clear nights, so I naturally assumed that

was the reason. through my scope. jupiter has no colour, let alone clouds or

the Great Spot. and Saturn looks just like your ordinary star. I know its

saturn however, because I check with my copy of Starry Night Backyard. so I

know what I am looking at.



another concern I have. is. the manual said something about aligning the

scope with the north star so that I could use co-ordinates to locate steller

objects. however, I cant seem to get this alignment to work. in order for

the proper parts of the assembly to be pointing north, my scope ends up

pointing to the neighbours yard (which they dont like either :) ). not sure

what i am doing wrong there either. but lets be able to see things properly

first



Reply to this Message Jon Isaacs - 29 Jul 2003 13:07 GMT

> the telescope is an Orbitor 3500. as for jupiters moons. it could be

>the pollution from the local paper mill causing the problem there.



The only link to the Orbitor 3500 I found was this one:



http://members.kingston.net/rasc/loan.htm#orbitor



It looks like a decent 4.5 inch F7.9 Newtonian. This should easily show you

the moons of Jupiter as well as the two cloud belts. It should also show the

rings of Saturn. Of course, currently both these planets are quite close to

the sun.

Answer 5

Get her a reflector they're usually pretty cheap but are excellent scopes over all, of course you can go to wal-mart as well and pick up one for under $75.00. Try telescope.com they have a pretty good selection and plenty of info to go with it.

Answer 6

0la! yo tengo 14 y hace poco mas de un mes compre un telescopio que me parecio muy interesante es un telescopio refractor de 700 mm 60 mm modelo CT 700 no es muy caro me costo 89000 pesos colombianos y me ha servido y gustado