Scope for a 7 yo in london

[NickK]

A friend contacted me about help in a scope for a 7 year old who has asked for one for their birthday. 

Given the chat - I think the main point is learning how to use to and the targets out there.

I suggested a 150 dob and to chat to FLO, but how easy would that be for a family (with no astro experience)?

Being a refractor-AP-write my own software type of bod.. I thought I'd ask

I did explain the need for aperture for visual, and the difference for manual/tracking/goto.. the main issue here is how to find things.

Kind regards,

Nick

[NickK]

Any new-to-astronomy astronomers feedback on their Dobs and expectations?

[happy-kat]

Dobs do not look like what a child expects a telescope to be like.

There is an excellent post of some ones experience of buying a telescope for their child I will dig it out.

There is budget to consider and do they have a garden or would they need to drive some where and are there stairs involved, all considerations.

[RT65CB-SWL]

One of my work colleages purchased the SW200P 'dob' for his six year old two years ago, (now eight year old).

[happy-kat]

These were the posts I was thinking of and a few others

http://stargazerslounge.com/topic/223257-new-scope-for-young-eyes/?fromsearch=1

http://stargazerslounge.com/topic/223127-looking-for-the-most-simple-refractor-telescope/?fromsearch=1

http://stargazerslounge.com/topic/79380-scope-for-a-7-year-old/?fromsearch=1

Member Dick_Dangerous star gazers in London and first used an ST80 and has written plenty reports on what found.

[Twiggles]

Happy kats first link was to my post

I think that post probably covers most of the information (small refractor az mount..) and I am happy to report that it is still very popular with daughter. She is really looking forward to trying it at our next astro society meeting in a couple of weeks. The size is very good for kids and simple enough for her to carry and setup herself.

I know dobs usually get advised as a first scope but after my experience I think a little refractor is the way to go. Looks like they expect one to and the alt az mount makes it a breeze to use. She loves to just pick a patch of sky and see whats there, or ask what such and such a constellation is then decides to go see whats in it. She has also now acquired a number of books so in terms of learning and encouraging reading its been an extra bonus as well. Originally she wanted a celestron 130 on eq mount, but she won't even look at my own skywatcher 130 reflector now.

[Qualia]

Think you're on the right tracks with the 150. It depends on the budget, but I feel the small but really decent 130 Heritage might also be a nice option. It isn't a toy, so it won't let the little one down. You just set it up on a garden table and of you go. Either way, I feel a dobsonian would be the best bet for a child. They are intuitively simple to master and the telescope with about 5" or 6" of aperture will show a nice amount of detail on the Moon, Jupiter and Saturn, be able to work through the entire Messier list, not so say quite a fair bit on NGC deeper space objects. Only snag would be collimation, but just clue up the father on that and everything should be a breeze

[jetstream]

I had a little Tasco refractor as a child and for years, well a lot of years thought this was the only type of telescope out there. Now with the information on the internet we can sort out what we need so much easier. Actually I just heard of Dobsonian telescopes recently.

I wish that as a kid someone would have told me about the Dobsonian mounted Newtonian reflector.

My vote is for a 130mm or 150mm dob,for sure.

PS- the 7 year old may shock us at their collimation ability after a few lessons.....

[NickK]

Ok, I suggested a 150 or 200 dob + collimating EP.

Given that the 7yo sounds quite resourceful (chip off the parents!) then I think that will work best. They have a garden etc.. so it should be easy to view given the size. I've sent the parents youtube videos of people with the dobs to give an idea of size of tube.

I know the refractor is easier as it's point and go.. but from experience of an 80mm (Vixen A80MF) and 105mm (Pentax) refractors and the dobs (thanks 150mm RickM & 24" Luke at SGL) I think for visual the additional light grab gives a better visual experience (yes my Pentax 105SDP image quality is very hard to beat visually but from a flexibility point of view.. the dob is better bang for buck at the starting end when starting out).

[Earl]

A frend of mine in London asked me the same, I recomended a 127 Mak Goto, as they have no intention of going to dark sites, its luna / planetary observing at home so i pitched the Mak as the better choice, they wanted goto as leaning to star hop in the light poluted skies they have would not be that easy. The Mak was also good due to the compactness of the scope and easy to view angle the diagonal provides.

[LukeSkywatcher]

A 7 yr old living in London (i'm thinking lots of light pollution), who doesnt know the night sky?. I'm thinking forget a scope. Get them a set of 10x50 bins and a planisphere. If the scope is for the whole family, then certainly a 200mm Dob, and a copy of Turn Left At Orion would be great. Learn together as you all go along.

There's a lot to be said also about a small refractor of about 90mm or over. They normally come with an equatorial mount, which if we are being honest can be difficult to use and take longer to set up then most kids would like. Kids want instant gratification, so a simple Alt-Az mount would be best.

People think Go-To scopes simply need switching on and they work. Its a bit more complicated and you have to know about 3 really big bright star to align them etc. 

[NickK]

It's usually easy, once set up to find planets in london.. also M42 etc can still be seen from the bridges near waterloo (main stars visually).

The return on a 150 or 200 would be that planets and lunar would give better views but have the ability to see DSO depending on light pollution levels.

The danger with EQ mounts initially are the setup.. with a dob you can switch from Alt-Az to EQ mount later.

[Helen]

The one thing I would add is that whatever scope you choose then add a telrad and get charts with a telrad bullseye on (possibly on a piece of acetate) for reference).  That way its easy to see where you're pointing for both finding things and finding out what you're looking at when you stumble upon things when scanning!

Helen

[LukeSkywatcher]

The one thing I would add is that whatever scope you choose then add a telrad and get charts with a telrad bullseye on (possibly on a piece of acetate) for reference).  That way its easy to see where you're pointing for both finding things and finding out what you're looking at when you stumble upon things when scanning!

Helen

Good idea. Kids are very visual creatures. If they see something on a chart/picture with rings around it, and the Telrad has the same size rings, they will find it very quickly.

[knobby]

Just asked my 10 year olds opinion ... DOB ! ... Its bigger and harder to break , his words ' you can just push it where you want , the other one (avx) is too fiddly '

[Ruud]

I'd give a child that young a decent pair of 8x42 binoculars, to see if it develops a real interest in the night sky. Binoculars are more versatile than a telescope, so if the child looses interest in the night sky, it can still use it for many other kinds of observations.