telescope

[findmewdw]

My 11 year old son wants a telescope for Christmas. Where should I be shopping for a telescope? I saw Sam's Club had one that I think was around 200 a few weeks ago. I can't remember what brand. I want to get my money's worth. I checked Walmart last night and they do not have any in stock. I want a good one. Any ideas?

 

[FLAngie]

I am looking for one for DD8's Xmas gift as well. I still haven't been able to decide on one. I found one that I like but they are out of stock everywhere until after the new year. Here is some info I found on another site:

Written by Geoff G.
Here are a few web pages with good information on beginner's telescopes:
http://www.gaherty.ca/tme/TME0702_Buying_a_Telescope.pdf
http://www.scopereviews.com/begin.html
http://observers.org/beginner/j.r.f.beginner.html

For more advanced information, read Phil Harrington's Star Ware, 4th edition (Wiley).

You'll get the greatest value for your money with a Newtonian reflector on a Dobsonian mount, such as these:
http://www.telescope.com/control/ca...y=telescopes/~VIEW_INDEX=0/~VIEW_SIZE=1000000
http://www.skywatchertelescope.net/swtinc/product.php?class1=1&class2=106

Buy from a store which specializes in telescopes and astronomy, either locally or online; don't buy from department stores, discount stores or eBay as mostly what they sell is junk. Find your local astronomy club and try out different telescopes at one of their star parties:
http://www.skyandtelescope.com/community/organizations

I strongly recommend that beginners steer clear of astrophotography until they have learned their way around the sky. Astrophotography is by far the most expensive and difficult area of amateur astronomy.

Many people who buy telescopes have no idea how to find interesting things to observe. A good introduction to finding things is NightWatch by Terence Dickinson (Firefly). A more advanced book is Star Watch by Phil Harrington (Wiley).

 

[ilovejack02]

This is what I am buying my son for Christmas.

http://scientificsonline.com/product.asp_Q_pn_E_3130100

I dont know anything about telescopes, but this one has good reviews.
I have also found our local astronomy club and we will be attending meetings since Mom doesnt have a clue on anything lol.

 

[findmewdw]

Thank you so much for all this info. I love the book recommendation, too! My son loves science and books too! We live in a rural community. I wish we had an astronomy club. The closest place he could go is an hour away. I'll check out all this info!

 

[disneyhand]

Our Costco had a nice one, Sorry don't remember the details.

 

[FLAngie]

Well, DD and I went to our first astronomy club meeting last night. Wow, was it was a lot more interesting than I thought it would be. DD thought it was the best thing ever- Jupiter and three of it's moons were the focus of everyone. And since she was by far the youngest she received a lot of attention. One person even gave her a book on all the planets and many of the stars. Another told me of a link that had real time star charts and recommended several computer programs that would be good.

Anyway, there were a lot of really impressive telescopes out (and some junk ones too). I spoke with the man that runs the astronomy club for kids there. He (and many of the other chimed in with the same recs) said to start with stay away from any telescope that you can purchase from wal-mart, target, etc (the junk ones that the owners there even admitted were junk).

The ones mounted on the tri-pods are not a good choice for kids. Unless you spend a lot of money the tri-pod is not stable enough. Between the possible wind and the kids bumping into it while they are trying to look, they will not be able to see much for long.

They did recommend the Dobson type telescopes as a possibility.

Their biggest recommendation was the Edmund's Scientific Astroscan.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astroscan
http://scientificsonline.com/product.asp_Q_pn_E_3005001
I almost laughed when they showed me several. There were actually 5 of them! and they look nothing like a telescope to me. I tried one out and it did turn out to be pretty neat. It looks a little like a beaker to me and sits on a swivel stand. There is a strap for the kids (or adults) to carry it with and it was pretty light. They said that it was a great beginner telescope because the mirrors are fix mounted and apparently won't move with the telescope is jarred. Everything is internally mounted and a whole bunch of other pluses that went right over my head. They also said that it was a really good scope to use until she was old enough to purchase her next telescope herself

Another good place to purchase a scope is through an astronomy club. None of the members there last night were selling any, but they said that someone is usually upgrading most of the time.

HTH

 

[marlynnp]

Thank you so much for all this info. I love the book recommendation, too! My son loves science and books too! We live in a rural community. I wish we had an astronomy club. The closest place he could go is an hour away. I'll check out all this info!

Did you actually check the club? Though they may the "name of city" astronomy club, their actual meetings may take place closer to you.