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Old 30-11-2008, 12:47 AM
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okiscopey (Mike)
Rocky Peak Observatory

okiscopey is offline
 
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: Kandos NSW
Posts: 536
G'day Sally, welcome to IIS,

That telescope 'looks good' and seems to have all the technical bells and whistles and accessories at an amazingly low price. It is of course too good to be true as the previous posters have pointed out. The 'equatorial mount' will be too unsteady and needlessly complicated for (I imagine) your daughter's level of knowledge, and the performance of the optics will have been compromised by the costs of providing needless mechanical complexity. The mirror is only 4-1/4 inches in diameter ... 6 inches is the usual minimum size for effective viewing.

If you absolutely NEED to get a telescope, then the Skywatcher Dobsonians are the way to go ... I note from the UK websites that the 6-inch mirror ones are about £160. 'Dobsonian' refers to a simple push-pull mount that is easy to set up and use. This type of mounting is used by beginners, intermediate and advanced amateurs.

HOWEVER, the standard advice for anyone starting out in astronomy is to begin with a planisphere (e.g. the Philips one, available at some big book stores), a decent pair of binoculars (typically around 8 x 50 ... 8 times magnification, 50mm diameter objective lenses) and a red-light torch to get to know the sky better. (The reason for the red light is to preserve 'night vision' while looking at the Planisphere. This could be a hands-on project: a few coats of red nail varnish over the plastic lens of an ordinary torch works fine.) To this lot one might add a computer 'planetarium ' program ... there are a few 'free' ones available which are very impressive, such as 'Stellarium'. These items together are far more meaningful than just 'a telescope' by itself.

Here's another idea: there's an astronomy society in the Isle of Wight ( www.vectis-astro.org.uk/home.html ). Since the other bit of 'standard advice' is to join an astro society, perhaps this can be another way to keep the interest going. It may even be that one of the members has a suitable beginner's telescope for sale ... worth a call or an e-mail to the secretary!

Perhaps if your daughter is a good reader, a subscription to an astronomy magazine would be worth it. (I'm not sure what's available in the UK though ... you may have to do a bit of Googling.)

Patrick Moore's 'The Sky at Night' program on the BBC is perhaps a bit late for kid's' TV viewing, but each episode can be viewed anytime online at: www.bbc.co.uk/science/space/skyatnight/proginfo.shtml

Just one other point. Whatever optical device you end up with, make sure anyone using it doesn't point it at or anywhere near the sun ... a recipe for instant blindness. Some cheap 'scopes come with a small 'sun filter' which fits in the eyepiece (the lens you look through). These are VERY dangerous and should not be used ... they can shatter due to the sun's concentrated heat with disastrous results. There are safe ways to view the sun, but this is getting a bit off topic ... I think you have enough to be going on with for the moment!
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