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Hi

I'm not a beginer I dont have enough knowledge to be even considered that far up the food chain however I'm hoping some very nice person on this forum will offer me some advice.

Living in Leeds light pollution probably rules out seeing anything bar the moon however next month around April 20th I'm going to be in deepest darkest yorkshire(keldy) and having the kids with me I thought it would be great to purchase a telescope for around £50 and see if they can get an appreciation of whats up there.

So any advice?

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A scope will show you quite a bit from Leeds... a nice scope like the Skymax 127 will show Mars, Jupiter and Saturn very well, the moon of course, as well as the brighter clusters and double stars. It is obviously a lot more than your stated budget, but it is a scope that you can use at home as well, assuming you have access to an observing site with views to the south. It doesn't have to be perfectly dark for planetary and lunar observing.

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Hi

If you have a reasonably sturdy camera tripod you can purchase a connector for binoculars for about £12. Probably easier than a telescope to set up and use by younger children. Also a lot easier to find interesting stuff to look at, can also be used for bird watching and will be less affected by light pollution in Leeds when you get home.

best regards George

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Hi

If you have a reasonably sturdy camera tripod you can purchase a connector for binoculars for about £12. Probably easier than a telescope to set up and use by younger children. Also a lot easier to find interesting stuff to look at, can also be used for bird watching and will be less affected by light pollution in Leeds when you get home.

best regards George

I would say the bins would be most affected by LP as they use minimum magnification so contrast is low, and stars are faint because of the small aperture. My bins certainly deliver vastly more under dark skies than at home in the city. My Mak performs equally on planets anywhere in the world.

Bins are also a more personal observing item as the pupil distance and diopter are adjusted to the individual - not great when sharing with others, particularly small-faced kids.

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I have a lovely story about the 76mm mini dob.

Went to a stargazing night a while back and while the grown ups were setting up their 16" lightbridges and huge gotos etc. someone pointed out that jupiter would be up soon, once it cleared the trees.

Little boy about 7 yrs old i reckon had his little dob on a stall, swiftly picked it up and manouvered into a gap between the the trees and found Jupiter, he was so proud you could see it on his face even in the dark.

He let me have a look and while there was very little detail you could make out the moons and it was good enough for him.

Good luck with whatever you choose

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These scopes are fine provided that you accept that their capabilities are limited by their small aperture and the low cost mount / eyepieces provided. Planets will look very small and deep sky objects rather faint or invisible. The moon looks good in just about any scope though.

So fun scopes really and fine if viewed as that.

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