ApathyAngel86

Oh man, that's the truth. I love the idea of the computer. The one you suggested is a tad out of our price range now (my husband just got laid off), but the kid's birthday is in August, so that's definitely gone to the top of the list of birthday gifts. And for my kid, at least, you're right about her surprising me with how interested she is. We got the telescope a couple of weeks ago, just to give us something to do during the shutdown. And tonight, after we came in from stargazing, she lied in bed watching youtube videos of what the planets sound like. And every night, she has to point out Venus, Sirius, and Arcturus (the first three things we saw through the telescope). I think upgrading to the one you suggested will really help her passion grow even more. The end of the month, we're all planning on heading out to Red Rock, away from the city lights, to see Venus at its brightest, and she's counting the days. I'm interested to see how the telescope works away from the LP. But yeah, she's definitely more interested in looking at things than spending hours hunting. So tonight, I took the telescope out by myself and hunted until I found something worth looking at, then I called her out. That way, I didn't have to worry about her getting bored and her enthusiasm being squashed. A telescope with a computer would cut out all the hunting and let her see a lot more. Thank you for that suggestion! My kid is definitely interested in the planets (haven't seen the Moon yet), but she has an interest in the technical side, too. Tonight, after we came in from stargazing, she went to youtube and learned what a nebula is, and what the names of Jupiter's moons are, and what planets sound like. But she also does a lot of coding with Scratch and Python, so she's already comfortable with technology. I think it really depends on the individual kid. Thanks for the suggestion though! Good point. I certainly didn't expect Hubble style images or anything remotely like the images I see online, but I think it was more just not knowing what to expect. And not knowing what has an effect on the image. For example, I looked into the specs of the telescope before I bought it, and found images that really surprised me (as in, they were better than I expected). I didn't realize that the aperture makes that much of a difference, and I was looking at images taken with a bigger aperture than what I have. It also doesn't help that, unless we're talking muscle cars or psychology, my brain generally shuts down when the technical jargon starts. And there is A LOT of technical jargon in astronomy. I think it all just went over my head. So I'm learning. I'll definitely keep at it. Yeah you're not kidding, lol. Although I'm damn proud of myself, I was able to find the Ghost of Jupiter tonight, after only an hour and fifteen minutes of hunting for the stupid thing. I generally jump into the deep end with everything I do, so I'm not worried about it being difficult. It felt great to finally find it, and after my kid saw it, she spent 45 minutes watching youtube videos of nebulae, and how planets sound (which I didn't know was a thing, but apparently it is). So it was worth the frustration, for sure. I'll definitely keep practicing with the telescope we've got until we can upgrade. And I think you're right, I'll get better at it as time goes on. Thank you everyone, for your help! This newbie definitely appreciates it!

Hi all. I recently bought a beginner telescope for my 8yo daughter. I've gotten a decent feel for how to use it, and we've seen Venus and a few stars, but I've been slightly underwhelmed by the inability to see anything else. I'm wondering if my expectations might be too high for the telescope I bought. So far I've struggled to find info online about what I can actually expect to see through this thing, so I was hoping some of you might be able to help me. Here are the specs, it's a Gskyer, if that matters. 400mm (f/5.7) focal length and 70mm aperture 25mm and 10mm lens, with a 3x Barlow I read that the ATLAS comet is supposed to be visible with "strong binoculars or a backyard telescope" this week, but couldn't see it. I haven't been able to see the Pinwheel galaxy or the m81 and m82 galaxies, even though I read that they can be seen with strong binoculars (so I assume they should be able to be seen with a telescope, as well). I think it also needs to be pointed out that I live in Las Vegas, about 5 miles from the Strip. I'm wondering if the brightness of the Strip is causing issues. But are my expectations too high? Is the telescope just not strong enough to see anything other than stars and the Moon? Thanks in advance for your help!