Quote:
Originally Posted by Chantal
Hi Everyone,
I'm looking at buying a telescope as a family Christmas present. I have 3 children aged 10, 7 & 5 and myself and my husband who would all be using the telescope (hopefully)! We've never owned a telescope before but the kids have always shown an interest. After a recent trip away where my husband and I were lucky enough to view the moon through a telescope we thought it would be great to get one for the family to enjoy. We live in Erina, Central Coast NSW Australia.
I've been doing ALOT of research and quite frankly think I've complicated the whole process now lol. After speaking to a couple of telescope shops, I think I've narrowed the choice down to either the Sky-Watcher Heritage 130 Dobsonian $239 (lowest sale price I have found) or the 102mm Meade Infinity Refractor - $409
Dobsonian Telescope - SkyWatcher Heritage P130 Telescope | OZScopes
Meade Infinity 102mm Altazimuth Refractor Telescope 209006 | OZScopes
I was just wondering what you thought of these two telescopes and any advice you could give me?
Some other things to note:
1. We need the telescope to be stable (3 children all wanting to have a look, say no more....)
2. We will be using the telescope mainly from our backyard (at least to start off with)
3. We do go camping so would like it to be portable so we could take with us
4. Quick and easy to set up and use - there won't be a lot of patience waiting to get a look at the night sky lol
5. I'm not sure what we would like to look at yet besides the obvious planets and the moon, its a new exciting adventure. I know people talk about "deep space" but have to admit that it's hard to know whether we need to have a telescope that is going to show us that when I don't really know what there is to look at. I have seen some pictures and it does look amazing!!
I must admit, I am also a little bit nervous and scared about collimation and that did steer me away from the dob a bit and the fact that I had read it needs 15 to 20 mins to cool down before using?
I think that's it - just reading through it seems like I'm asking for everything lol. Oh well, any advice GREATLY appreciated!
Thank you,
Chantal
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What a great Christmas present.
You have received a lot of advice but I need to know more about you as you will be the main factor in the success or failure of the scope. And, since I am in the USA, I don't know your local conditions or your local suppliers.
ABOUT YOU
How much do you and your husband know about astronomy? Do you plan to learn or is this just something for a casual look at the moon, Saturn, Jupiter and a couple of stars? Nothing wrong with that but I need to know how much time and effort you plan to put into this.
ABOUT YOUR LOCATION
How dark are your skies. Are you in a city or is the night sky overflowing with stars? This will matter if you are going to be able to find more than just the few brightest targets like the moon and planets.
ABOUT YOUR GOALS
Do you plan to let the kids use the scope on their own or only under your supervision? This goes to size, weight and complexity.
I like Dobs but a typical 6" dob takes up a lot of room in the car on family vacations. If you have the room, great, but many would not. So something physically smaller is a better choice.
Based on the little I know of you I would recommend the 102 mm refractor package you mentioned. I like Meade Infinity. Sky and telescope gave it a very good review. And I have read good repots from others. No collimation and it should travel well. A great first scope, easy to use and light enough that a 10 year old could use it on their own.
MANUAL VS. COMPUTERIZED TELESCOPES
If you plan to get deeper into this, how will you find your targets? Either you get a computerized scope, sometimes called a Goto, or you learn to star hop.
If you have dark skies then star hopping is not hard to do. If you live in a bright city with very few stars in the sky then I would recommend a computerized scope.
I live in a bright suburb of NY City, on Long Island. I don't have a lot of stars in my skies so I have two computerized scopes and I love them. But I have friends who star hop so even in my light polluted skies it can be done.
My first scope was the Meade ETX 80, a fully computerized Goto scope that is small, light and easy to use. Gives wonderful wide views. I use it for planets, star clusters, and other targets.
I do a 5 minute alignment before I use it each time. Then it can find virtually anything in my sky. I just put in the proper designation or pick from a menu and the telescope will go to the target on its own. I may have to look around a little as it might miss by a tiny bit but it is a LOT better than not knowing where to look or how to find anything. But it raises the cost per mm of aperture. So it is a budgetary consideration. Today's kids are very computer savy so teaching a 10 year old to do this should be a piece of cake.
STAR HOPPING - If you don't have a Goto scope this is how you will find your targets.
Star hopping guide
http://www.nightskyinfo.com/star-hopping/
Star hopping 101 – Video play list
https://www.youtube.com/view_play_li...B0AD5D29A76981
BINOCULARS
Lastly, do you have binoculars. Binoculars are a wonderful way to get started in astronomy and many people own them already.
I am attaching my Quick Start Guide for getting started with binoculars. Note that it is rich with links to all kinds of information. It was written for the Northern Hemisphere so I don't know how applicable it will be for you but it will give you an idea of how you can use binoculars to get started. You can also do this with a telescope. 7X35, 8X40, 10X50 are all great for getting started. That is how I started. My first pair of 10X50s cost $25 and that is what got me into astronomy. I now have 4 sets and two telescopes and the binoculars get LOTS of sky time.
Introduction to Binoculars for Star Gazing ( I use this one all the time to show the value of starting with binoculars)
Seeing targets in Taurus
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6fHKG9tkPQU
I hope this has been helpful.