Telescope question

[naivedad]

Hi all, my 11 y/o daughter is saving for a telescope which is awesome but my problem is that no-one in my family has a clue about them. She's looking at about $400 to spend. She wants it to look at the stars and planets (not up to the photography stage just yet) and needs to be easily transportable. We'd appreciate any help you can give us.
Cheers

[astro744]

Welcome! You’ll likely get as many different recommendations as responses.

May I suggest looking at some reviews on YouTube. Search Ed Ting.

See also https://www.scopereviews.com/begin.html

There are many choices from short 80mm refractor to long 80mm refractor to short Newtonian (130mm) to longer Newtonian, 6” f8 to compact SCT or Mak. Then there is the mount; basic Alt-Az, equatorial, motorised, computerised.

Problem at the present time is that supply is low and prices are high both new and unfortunately used but used may be your best option for getting the most for the money.

I’d recommend visiting a telescope store if possible. If not an astronomy club. (Covid makes this difficult). A star party is great but again not in covid times.

I personally prefer non-computerised and a good star chart to get familiar with the sky but everyone is different and some people prefer just looking into the eyepiece and letting the telescope do all the work. if going computerised make sure you have manual override for when the batteries fail or you just want to point the ‘scope yourself.

Whatever you choose, I hope you and your daughter enjoy it greatly.

[Startrek]

Welcome to IIS
My suggestion for a beginner visual telescope for your daughter that has both manual operation to find objects and automatic Goto operation ( very easy to learn with Dads help ) and is also light and portable is the Skywatcher 130mm Virtuoso mini table top dobsonian reflector telescope
It’s over your budget of $400 ( at $599 ) but it’s the complete kit with plenty of magnification using various eye pieces for Lunar , Planetary and DSO observing
For an 11 year old it will be an ideal telescope to get started into the hobby and for years to come
Hope others can provide advice as well , but that’s my recommendation
Enjoy this amazing hobby
Cheers
Martin

[Stonius]

The typical follow up question is 'well, what do you want to see?'


The typical response for someone starting out will often be 'I want to see everything', which is fair enough. Why should a newbie be looking at specialised telescopes for certain types of objects when they're only just getting their feet wet?



And so the typical answer tends to be 'get a 6 to 8" Dob' (like this (https://www.bintel.com.au/product/bintel-bt152-6-inch-dobsonian/?v=322b26af01d5)).


The reason being that it is a good all-rounder. The wider the lens or mirror of a telescope, the the fainter the objects you will be able to see, AND, the finer the details that you will be able to resolve.


In a scope like the one above, it has the advantage that you are spending most of the money on the optics. The mount is very simple and there are no electronics - you're mostly paying for the mirrors and focuser.



On the other hand, you do need to know where the object you want to look at is, then push the telescope to the object you want to look at using the finderscope and star-hopping until it is in the main eyepiece. There are lots of free software that can help you with this and as you become more familiar with the night sky, it gets easier. Once found, the object will slowly drift out of view as the earth moves.


There are other telescopes others have mentioned that can go and find stuff for you, with the considerable caveat that a computer controlled mount is more expensive, which takes a bite out of the total budget leaving less money for the actual telescope than you would otherwise be able to get. So, the advantage of finding things in the night sky more easily is negated somewhat by the fact that you won't be able to *see as much through a smaller telescope once the computer finds it for you. In any case I find computers add a level of complication that don't actually make anything much easier in the end. There can be a lot of fiddling about if the computer isn't working the way they should (all my scopes are computerised because, evidently, I'm an idiot who likes fiddling about and swearing in the dark a lot!).



For a beginner I think the physical simplicity of being able to simply push the telescope to look at something is invaluable and less likely to kill the interest of a young enthusiast than something that can have wifi issues, or have a motor die, or get confused and think it's in the wrong hemisphere, or what have you.



My first real telescope was an 8" Dob and I had it for many years and I loved it to bits. The one I had before that was a 60mm refractor which I found quite frustrating because it didn't give a particularly good view of anything - it was too small for anything other than terrestrial use or perhaps for the Moon.



I hope that helps.


Markus

[mura_gadi]

Hello,

If aperture is king, usability are the aces...

Get something that is easy to setup, transport and pack away. Martin suggestion of the 5" tabletop fills a lot of requirements for both beginner and intermediate use. The 5" offers a lot of capability and the easy of setup rates very highly.

Next to seeing conditions, your time at the eyepiece is just about the next biggest factor. A seasoned visual astronomer will get more details from the same scope setup as a beginner. So, get something that you will use and use for extended periods.

A lot of it will come down to your daughter and yourself of course. The larger 2nd hand Dob will mean that your daughter will need help setting up and packing away each time. But everything will look a little bigger and have a little more detail(aperture).

A GOTO scope will offer easy access to celestial objects, also very handy for tracking solar objects that move very fast once under magnification. Star maps and such are another learning curve, but teach you the sky. Both will have their fans and distractors.

I'm not sure if Christmas is too far away, but, I'd be suggesting that your daughter waits for Christmas. The extra money from Santa might be enough to buy the 5" tabletop GOTO.



Steve
Ps. Does she have access to a mobile phone now for astronomy apps?

Better to have a scope you use regularly and wishing for something bigger, than a bigger telescope you don't use and feel guilty about.

PPS. Sorry all of the above assumes you do not have a permanent setup for the scope or a rollout trolley etc. If you have the ability to rollout the scope all setup then aperture is king again

[astro744]

Give BINTEL a call. They are a reputable dealer and will give you good advice. They also offer excellent after sales service.

See https://www.bintel.com.au/product-category/telescopes/beginner/?v=322b26af01d5

Also consider a refractor telescope. It won’t have the light gathering of the reflectors suggested but will offer quick setup, quick cool down giving steady images in minutes (provided atmosphere is steady). The also have minimal maintenance (collimation will not need regular attention in a refractor).

I spent the last two afternoons right on sunset observing Venus with 60mm and 80mm refractors. Setup was 2-3min!

Note there is a supply shortage of telescope equipment worldwide and this has unfortunately pushed prices up too.

Note too NEVER observe the Sun directly without a suitable solar filter.
DO NOT use solar filters that screw into the eyepiece. These have been banned years ago but may slip through through online overseas purchases. Any finder also requires a filter or better still remove it to prevent accidental usage. Once again talk to Bintel for recommendation. Solar observing is best left until some experience with the telescope has been developed.

[evltoy]

The skywatcher heritage 130p is a very good scope to begin with. I started with this an still use it from time-to-time and now my 8y.o is starting off with it. You can see planets and the moon with it. Also you will have some money to put aside for some accessories like a barlow and filters etc. and you cant beat the 5y warranty

for another $200 you can get a go-to version, but I say start with the basics first.

Cheers
Wayne

[Lionheart]

I've not used a Dob, but I agree it would be the easiest with virtually no setup time.
My first scope was a 4-inch Maksutov-Cassegrain on an equatorial mount. The advantage this mount offers is once set up and on target, you only need to move your scope on one axis. Makes things easier to continue to stay on target. The slightly difficult part is setting it up (point South and angle the scope to your latitude).

I buy my telescopes from http://www.astroanarchy.com.au/
Their prices are competitive.