Telescope suggestions
Telescope suggestions
(OP)
My 13-yo step-daughter has taken an interest in astronomy... and when she actually gets up the courage to ask for a piece of equipment, it means she REALLY has an interest. Recently she asked for suggestions on a proper telescope for something in the $200 range. That's a lot of hard-earned money, so I know she's serious. I'll be kicking in some to help her out (I'll probably just buy it outright for her), so I'm looking for suggestions for around $500, give or take.
She says she's interested in "local" stuff (planets in our solar system, etc.), but I have a sneaking suspicion she'll bore of that at some point and want to look farther out. My guess is eventually we would both start getting into photography using a motorized mount for long-exposure tracking. I'm thinking maybe a compound to start, and I can help her upgrade as she takes a greater interest?
She says she's interested in "local" stuff (planets in our solar system, etc.), but I have a sneaking suspicion she'll bore of that at some point and want to look farther out. My guess is eventually we would both start getting into photography using a motorized mount for long-exposure tracking. I'm thinking maybe a compound to start, and I can help her upgrade as she takes a greater interest?
Dan - Owner
http://www.Hi-TecDesigns.com





RE: Telescope suggestions
Along with getting a scope, I recommend finding a local astronomy group. They're usually pretty open and friendly and eager to teach young ones.
RE: Telescope suggestions
Astronomy groups would be smart too, as TheTick said, for similar reasons. National Parks often have an "astronomy night" I've noticed. My son and I have been hitting national parks on our latest vacations, and I notice that many of them have a star-gazing guide come out with some equipment for people to look at interesting events or just at the moon or anything.
At least until a more educated astronomy enthusiast shows up here :)
RE: Telescope suggestions
There are hobbyists out there who make telescope components, including the mirrors. How enthusiastic is your stepdaughter?
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JHG
RE: Telescope suggestions
Before buying anything, I highly recommend going to a star party put on by a local astronomy club so you can actually use/look at the various scopes and accessories. I have a Celestron 130 SLT Newtonian. It's decent and I got it primarily for the motorized mount, which will track the object you're looking at ... great for looking at planets under high magnification. Plus, you don't need detailed star charts to find things. Just type in the planet/nebula/galaxy and it will go to where it is. But the mount is a little too wobbly for my taste and I'm not sure how good the scope would be for photography. And I've found that I really hate to collimate the mirrors, so next time I'll probably go with a refractor. In the long run, you'll probably spend more money on the eyepieces, which can be expensive. Good wide angle eyepieces are typically $100++.
I also recommend looking at the Cloudy Nights astronomy forum as your question is asked frequently there. See http://www.cloudynights.com/page/index.html. Also, download Stellarium software at http://www.stellarium.org/. It's free and easy to use.
RE: Telescope suggestions
A starter telescope. In my opinion, the cheap reflectors are typically better than the cheap refractors. Putting it another way, there are plenty of horrific DSTs ("dime store telescopes") that are refractors; useless rubbish (beware mail order of these). As a starting point, the lowest price sweet spot is probably one of the inexpensive under $300 brand name computerized telescopes in the roughly 4-inch class. They're available all over the place, including the big box stores. The brand names are Celestron and Meade, but these would be made in China to a price point.
A cheap Dobsonian 'light bucket' is another option. They're moved (nudged) manually. Plenty of choice under $500, even an 8-inch.
Of course, you can go up from there. If one is serious, one would learn enough from the above starting points to avoid making expensive errors when moving up market. In other words, it's probably better to go up the ladder slowly than dive in too high and waste $2500+.
RE: Telescope suggestions
RE: Telescope suggestions
Take a look at the Orion Telescopes website: www.telescope.com. Orion is my favorite vendor for low- to mid-level astronomy equipment. In the $200-$400 range (I extended your range a bit), your best bets are small Dobsonian telescopes. A Dob is a Newtonian reflector on a very simple mount that was popularized by the late John Dobson. This page shows the basic Dobs: http://www.telescope.com/Telescopes/Dobsonian-Tele.... A 6-inch Dob would be a good starting point, but it's pushing $400.
Orion also has a page of telescopes for kids (http://www.telescope.com/Telescopes/Best-Telescope...), but those are probably too short for your daughter. I would also stay away from the scopes on a German Equatorial Mount (e.g. http://www.telescope.com/Telescopes/Best-Telescope...) because this type of mount can be difficult for a novice to learn how to operate.
I would also second 10x50 to 15x70 binoculars. I have Celestron 15x70 Skymasters and love them (they're about $80 on Amazon).
BTW, I have 5" and 8" scopes, both on computerized mounts, and my wife has a 10" Orion Dob.
Addendum…I had a nice, but unused 6" Newtonian optical tube that came with a mount I bought for only $100 extra. I showed my son-in-law how to build a Dob mount and we gave it to my granddaughter for her 7th birthday in September. Second light was the lunar eclipse on September 27th. First light was the night before.
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"Is it the only lesson of history that mankind is unteachable?"
--Winston S. Churchill
RE: Telescope suggestions
I had a 17.5" Dobsonian but it was sOOOOOO heavy it got way less use than I'd expected. Still have the mirror. :)
http://www.telescopes.com/pages/2015-telescope-of-the-year-awards
Any of these would be excellent but the prices are not there and some I'm sure some are pretty pricey. Celestron and Meade are the Ford and Chevy of the telescopes. Dobsonians are the Yugos.
Most places have astronomy clubs and I too highly recommend you and her attend yours and get a feel for the group. One thing that is very important about them is the sharing, camaraderie, knowledge, and help available that can put legs on the interest. A lone kid with a nice instrument very soon peeters out on the subject because there is no one to share the cold vigil with and no one to show you the harder and harder to see objects that are more and more rewarding to hunt down.
Also at a club there are always people looking to move up in their equipment and willing to sell or gift stuff to a determined kid. You could well get something and someone you can always ask about it for a very reasonable price.
One last point. There is NO better magazine on the subject than Sky and Telescope. It is a truly impressive magazine. Because of the required print quality it's not usually a cheap magazine but a one year subscription would be extremely educational.
http://www.skyandtelescope.com/
They actually have a special get-the-first-one-free thing.
I can't stress this magazine enough. It is really FIRST rate. It's advertising stuff is also very educational on what's out there.
Click the Subscribe "print and digital" as it won't link in here for some reason.
Keith Cress
kcress - http://www.flaminsystems.com
RE: Telescope suggestions
I loathe cold weather, so this entire thing will be a challenge for me... I'm curious to know how far she'll take this, though. We shall see.
Dan - Owner
http://www.Hi-TecDesigns.com
RE: Telescope suggestions
It's a sky guide. It uses your phone's sensors to intuitively show you sky objects.
Say you're walking along and see a bright object in the night sky. You whip out your phone hit the SkEye app and hold the phone up to the sky like you want a picture of the object. It puts a bull's-eye on the screen and shows you the sky the phone's pointing at. It describes the item in the bulls-eye which gives you the name. Sirus, or Venus, or Neptune, or Sun, or Moon, or Pleiades, or Sagittarius-alpha. All the Messier objects, what the object's magnitude is. The constellations! Worth about 400 bucks in my opinion. Free...
It shows you the horizon even if it's out of your view. I shows the frikken ecliptic!!!(plane of our system) You can wander down the ecliptic and find every planet and where it is - this instant! It's a blast to see the where the Sun is right now, at say, 3AM, it's thru the floor by your left foot.
Easily the most astronomically educational thing I've ever messed with. Nearly worth buying a phone for. If you don't want to pay for a phone subscription you just get a phone and use it on WiFi to download this app then use it.
As for the cold... That's part of the fun and dedication. Use thick clothes and deerskin gloves. LOL. Oh, and lately there's a lot more robotic telescope options out there. A lot of people build completely robotic observatories in their back yards and even remotely with web links. The colder the air the dryer. The dryer the clearer. The clearer the farther back in time you can see. Telescopes are time machines.
Keith Cress
kcress - http://www.flaminsystems.com
RE: Telescope suggestions
John R. Baker, P.E.
EX-Product 'Evangelist'
Irvine, CA
Siemens PLM:
UG/NX Museum:
To an Engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.
RE: Telescope suggestions
RE: Telescope suggestions
Of course, the real purpose for any hand-held laser is to torment cats
John R. Baker, P.E.
EX-Product 'Evangelist'
Irvine, CA
Siemens PLM:
UG/NX Museum:
To an Engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.
RE: Telescope suggestions
Dan - Owner
http://www.Hi-TecDesigns.com
RE: Telescope suggestions
I started astronomy with binoculars. Then I got a cheap telescope, and soon went back to the binoculars. Seriously, a bad scope costs more than a great pair of binocs.
The second telescope I bought got used regularly for a year, then collected dust for about 10. That's because the scope was good but the mount was too light.
STF
RE: Telescope suggestions
Get a planisphere. I have several, although I don’t use them very often for myself anymore. Instead, I use them mostly at our club’s public star parties. A planisphere is excellent for showing a novice how the night sky changes day-to-day and season-to-season. I think you and your daughter would find one to be very useful. Amazon has many offerings: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=searc...
Get a paper star atlas. My favorite beginner’s atlas is Wil Tirion’s 6th magnitude “Cambridge Star Atlas.” It is ideal for binocular viewing and decent for small telescopes. I have the 3rd edition in my home office and I unbound and laminated my older 2nd edition for my field binder (the paper in this atlas absorbs moisture and that can be a problem in the field). This atlas includes a moon map, tables of information regarding deep sky objects, etc. I have two copies of Wil Tirion’s large-format “Sky Atlas 2000.0,” again, one for home and one for the field. For home I have the beautiful, full-color “desk version” and for the field I have the bound and laminated “field version” with white stars on a black background. When I bought it 15 years ago, I could read white on black better with a red flashlight than black on white, but now the situation is reversed and I wish I had the black on white version instead. I have two copies of Wil Tirion’s “Cambridge Double Star Atlas,* one for home and one for the field. The paper in this atlas doesn’t absorb moisture. You can probably guess by now that Wil Tirion is “the man” when it comes to uranography (sky cartography). I also have two copies of Sky & Telescope’s “Pocket Sky Atlas” (PSA). The PSA is small enough to hold in one hand, so it’s perfect for consulting while at the eyepiece. The bigger atlases are happier on a table nearby. All of these atlases are available through Amazon; my local Barnes & Nobles often stocks them.
Get a red light flashlight. White light destroys night vision for tens of minutes, so astronomers use red light in the field to read charts and tables, find knobs on their mount, etc. Most people can read a star chart with a dim red light. To help my old eyes, I also use a 2.5-inch-diameter, 5x Carson LL-55 LumiLoupe ( http://www.carson.com/magnifiers/loupes/1381- ). I illuminate the star chart through the side of the clear base. BTW, red flashlights can be had for as little as $5 at places like WalMart. I also have a headlamp with a red light, which frees my hands. However, it doesn’t work very well with the loupe compared to sidelighting with a separate flashlight.
Get planetarium (sky charting/mapping) software. Stellarium ( http://www.stellarium.org/ ) and Cartes du Ciel ( https://www.ap-i.net/skychart/en/start ) are both free, as are some others that I can’t think of at the moment. Stellarium is prettier, but the interface is non-standard. Cartes is more powerful and more “normal.” The author of Cartes also has an awesome free lunar program titled “Virtual Moon Atlas” (VMA), which you can get here: https://www.ap-i.net/avl/en/start . Besides being a very detailed Moon map, VMA includes photographs from various lunar missions, can animate the libration of the Moon (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libration ), etc. I mostly use VMA to see what is visible along the lunar terminator before I go out for some lunar observing. I use Cartes more than I use Stellarium and I use the commercial program SkyTools3 even more. SkyTools has an excellent dynamic star chart, but it’s real strength is observation planning and logging. As your daughter progresses in astronomy, she may well come to the point where she needs SkyTools. You can find it here: http://www.skyhound.com/ .
Get a copy of “Deep-Sky Companion: The Messier Objects” by Stephen James O’Meara. O’Meara is a renowned visual observer ( http://www.skyandtelescope.com/about-us/stephen-ja... ) and an engaging writer. The Messier Catalog (109 or 110 objects depending on your opinion of M102) is what many amateur astronomers cut their observing teeth on. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Messier_object and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Messier_obje... for more info. O’Meara is the perfect tour guide for finding and observing the Messier objects. He teaches how to star hop, which is the method for finding objects without a computerized mount. The book includes his sketches for each object (they match the eyepiece view far better than a photograph) as well as some basic science about them.
I won’t even get into apps, except to say that I have exactly 50 astronomy apps on my iPhone, including weather forecasts for astronomers, static and dynamic star charts, a lunar map, planets and their moons, etc.
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* For those of you who like to track down double stars and have a computerized Celestron telescope or a computerized Orion IntelliScope, I annotated the Showpiece Doubles list in this atlas with SAO numbers (for Celestron and possibly Meade) and Orion’s star numbers for the IntelliScope. You can download these here: http://cvafresno.org/downloads.cfm?type=1
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"Is it the only lesson of history that mankind is unteachable?"
--Winston S. Churchill
RE: Telescope suggestions
I found this a while back, which I thought was particularly interesting. My 3 year old has shown interest in building things and playing with electronics / robotics, so I bookmarked it for later when she's old enough to really get into it.
I think it's a great way to create a bridge between the user and the end technology. I'm looking forward to working on this stuff with my own kids. The great thing is it's not the only one out there. I saw a forum from a guy who makes his own mirrors. Instructables has a ton of stuff on this, also. Construction, control, image capture... anything you can think of.
http://www.openspaceagency.com/ultrascope
https://stellafane.org/tm/atm/
Good luck, I hope you find something awesome!
Experience: accumulated knowledge over time.
Talent: the ability to use experience.
Which is more valuable?
RE: Telescope suggestions
Dan - Owner
http://www.Hi-TecDesigns.com
RE: Telescope suggestions
Ah! The fantasy of 90% of all engineers.
RE: Telescope suggestions
Dan - Owner
http://www.Hi-TecDesigns.com