[The Mrs]

WOW! Thanks for all the great replies

Originally Posted by dannat

Does he know his way around the sky with the 10x50's? Does he have a planisphere?

Daniel, I'm pretty sure he does. He's always showing me things with their technical terms . He doesn't have a planisphere. I was going to get some kind of atlas/star map/book sorta thing to go with the telescope.

Originally Posted by xelasnave

The main ingredient to good viewing is how dark the sky is...I see you reside in Sydney so if viewing from there one will never see what I see up here in a very dark location...

Good point! We're on the outskirts and it's pretty dark here too!

Originally Posted by rmcpb

I'll go on another tack, you could consider a Skywatcher 70 x 500 AZ3 from Andrews.

http://www.andrewscom.com.au/site-section-10.htm

I use one as a grab and go for a quick look if I don't have time to set up and cool the reflectors and I find it fun. It will not challenge the bigger scopes at all but it is very effective on the moon, planets (although they are quite small), the brighter nebule, double stars and clusters.

Thanks for the suggestion. From the specs that I can find, and comparing it to the three I posted above, why would the skywatcher be better than the 127mm or 76mm Celestrons? On the skywatcher website I can only find the model 70x700mm and this seems quite similar to the Celestron 76mm. I'm guessing the one you have suggested is 500mm focal length and not the 700 that I've posted.

The 76AZ Celestron is 76mm apperture, 700mm focal length and 9.21 focal ratio. The 127mm Celestron is 5in apperture, 1000mm focal length, 7.87 focal ratio. What's wrong with this if it's a longer focal length and apperture?

Originally Posted by jjjnettie

Hi,
If your husband is enjoying the night sky already, using his 10x50 binoculars, the views he will get through a 60mm, 70mm or a 76mm telescope will be very disappointing. A binocular view of our universe can be spectacular, peering through a small scope with only one eye can be very ordinary.
So , what I suggest is to buy him a pair of zoom binoculars.
Andrews Communications has a pair of of 12-36x70mm zoom binos for just $100. http://www.andrewscom.com.au/site-section-11.htm
You would need to buy a tripod adaptor to go with them, because they would be too heavy to hold steady in your hands.
Oh and you would possibly have to buy a tripod too, if you don't have one already.
Good luck with your decision.

That's another idea I guess! Thanks for pointing out that we'll get a much better look with two eyes. Never thought of that!

Coen, thanks for your informative post. I'm sure most people have started somewhere with some kind of "department store telescope". I doubt that people decide to stargaze and go and jump in and buy a 1500+ dollar scope!

Jungle11, thanks for the info on the stellarium. I will definitely check that out.

Thanks again for all your comments!