The wife and I are talking about getting a telescope for the family for Christmas. Our 1st grader was studying the moon phases this fall and it seemed to pique the interest of his younger brothers. I've been looking at a Celestron 70mm with travel backpack: Celestron 21035 70mm Travel Scope https://www.amazon.com/dp/B001TI9Y2M..._YMw-BbRC5ZRQA
Does the lownje know of a better introduction in to the beyond?
I got a electric one similar to the one below. The one below has a equaltorial mount or something that makes it easier to track stuff, cause it is moving. I'm not an expert, so others may have better suggestions. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0007UQNKY...e-e3b457f31c52
The wife and I are talking about getting a telescope for the family for Christmas. Our 1st grader was studying the moon phases this fall and it seemed to pique the interest of his younger brothers. I've been looking at a Celestron 70mm with travel backpack: Celestron 21035 70mm Travel Scope https://www.amazon.com/dp/B001TI9Y2M..._YMw-BbRC5ZRQA
Does the lownje know of a better introduction in to the beyond?
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I can't image you could get much of a scope for $60. However, it might be OK for checking out the moon which the kids will like. We have a cheap refractor that we have used for a couple of years. Its kind of limited and at the lower price points the stand will suck. This Christmas we decided to get a Celestron NExStar4. This does computerized tracking and can automatically find objects in its database. Good luck
grew up in the desert SW in the 50s and 60s...the sky was unbelievably clear and the Milky Way was phenomenally bright. had a cheap telescope that I'd check stuff out with...seeing craters on the Moon was cool, stars were just jiggly dots of light, but still fun to look at.
there's so much light pollution where I live now, on a clear nite you can only see the Moon and a half dozen stars. meh...wouldn't waste any money on a telescope for that.
I have a concrete pier mounted 11" SCT out in the back yard and I'm basically limited to seeing the brightest of the deep sky objects due to city lights. Large planets and the moon are awesome to look at.
When I go out in the desert during the summer I like my 7x50 binoculars to sweep the southern skies.
Don't change your mind.
I had a small scope and if you have somewhere to go, you can see a LOT. Planets and Moons, stars are well just going to be stars. You need a big scope to look into stars.
But like I said, if you don't have that screw scan, they will only be in your scope for about 5 seconds or a minute, and it's tough to follow them, u usually loose them for quite a while.
Refractors are not ideal for celestial viewing but rather terrestrial viewing. To look at the stars and planets you'll want a Newtonian reflector or a Cassegrain hybrid. To give you an idea of what you'll need for decent images, I had a 100mm Maksutov-Cassegrain with a 4mm lens (smaller lens = higher magnification but narrower FOV), and that got me a grainy close-up of Jupiter and its four largest moons. I could see Saturn and just barely make out its rings.
Ghurarmu shirkush’ agh azgushu. Zant ya apakurizak. Gûl-n’ anakhizak.
Thank you, I was hoping to get at least a lukewarm review of the scope I was looking at. I'm not ready to drop much money because it will very likely get tipped over. Hopefully the portable design will allow secure storage so the boys aren't climbing on it while we are not watching.
Originally Posted by Touch0Gray
my daughter is an astronomer, her standard advice is, unless you want to spent several thousand dollars, get a good pair of binoculars!
She happens to be here right now (thanksgiving) She says the cheap celestron aren't terrible.
This is a family Christmas present, so we are fairly set on getting one to dabble with and see if there is much interest. Also, we have a ten year anniversary coming up that we will spend in glacier park, hoping to take the scope along to get close up views.
Originally Posted by duriel
Don't change your mind.
I had a small scope and if you have somewhere to go, you can see a LOT. Planets and Moons, stars are well just going to be stars. You need a big scope to look into stars.
But like I said, if you don't have that screw scan, they will only be in your scope for about 5 seconds or a minute, and it's tough to follow them, u usually loose them for quite a while.
This might come later, we are going to see how the kids do with the small scope first and maybe upgrade when they are less...bouncy.
Originally Posted by SauronHimself
Refractors are not ideal for celestial viewing but rather terrestrial viewing. To look at the stars and planets you'll want a Newtonian reflector or a Cassegrain hybrid. To give you an idea of what you'll need for decent images, I had a 100mm Maksutov-Cassegrain with a 4mm lens (smaller lens = higher magnification but narrower FOV), and that got me a grainy close-up of Jupiter and its four largest moons. I could see Saturn and just barely make out its rings.
This is a family Christmas present, so we are fairly set on getting one to dabble with and see if there is much interest. Also, we have a ten year anniversary coming up that we will spend in glacier park, hoping to take the scope along to get close up views.
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Take along a decent pair of low powered binoculars as well....
This OneSky reflector has gotten very good reviews. A real telescope, not a toy. A bigger mirror to see faint objects. And it's sturdy and compact, hard to damage.
I had my scope tracking Saturn one evening I had friends over for BBQ. Some could not believe what they were seeing, they thought I had somehow slipped a picture of Saturn into the eyepiece or something like that...LOL. The division of the rings were clearly visible.
This OneSky reflector has gotten very good reviews. A real telescope, not a toy. A bigger mirror to see faint objects. And it's sturdy and compact, hard to damage.
Nice features that bring back memories of DIY from 50+ years ago. Worth more research (addind a tracker would be nice).
Nice features that bring back memories of DIY from 50+ years ago. Worth more research (addind a tracker would be nice).
That scope cannot attach a tracker, it's a table top. It looks like a good scope, but without a tripod/tracker, pretty useless for more than one person. As soon as you take your eye out of the scope, the object will be leaving the field of view.
That scope cannot attach a tracker, it's a table top. It looks like a good scope, but without a tripod/tracker, pretty useless for more than one person. As soon as you take your eye out of the scope, the object will be leaving the field of view.
Well, actually, you can place a scope like that, complete with its base, on a tabletop equatorial platform for tracking.
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Originally Posted by jfaas
