Grandson 8 showing great interest in Astronomy. HELP!

[Nadia]

Totally new to forums so apologies if I am doing anything wrong! Looking for some advice in purchasing my grandson of 8 yrs old a telescope. Budget £150 max but I dont think this will be neccesary. I don't want to over spend and I want him to not feel any pressure if this isn't for him but want to do enough to open doorways if it is his thing. Need easy set up as I have been scared off by a lot of the reviews when they explain how difficult the set up is. We live 3hrs journey away from each other and I think a travel one might be wise so we could continue learning together as he has suggested. Have considered so far Celestrom 21035 70mm, Barska 400 x 70, Intel ultra clear portable, Meade 209002 60. Basically I am out of my depth and have been trying to sort this for 3 months!

[Louis D]

First, welcome.  Second, hopefully we can get a moderator to move this to "Getting Started Equipment Help and Advice" to get more responses.

Third, have a read of the many other folks' threads asking for help with a first telescope for a youngster such as Telescope for 8 year old - help please I'm confused or Best starter telescopes for children?

Good luck and come back with more questions to narrow the search.

[Nadia]

? ooops didn’t mean to post in the wrong place.

should I repost it if I find a way?

i has seen the other posts but the ones relating to children were from 2013.

Apologies  taking up your time with this but am most grateful for response in trying to help.

[Demonperformer]

Have a look at the 'starter scopes' section on FLO's website (our sponsors). They won'the lead you astray.

[Nyctimene]

2 hours ago, Nadia said:

i has seen the other posts but the ones relating to children were from 2013. 

Things haven't changed that much during the past five years; and the informations in the elder posts are, IME, still valid. The suggestions are more or less similar - for a child, a so-called Alt-Az mount (movements are simply "up-down" and "right-left") is suited best. The mount of a Dobsonian telescope is just a variety of the Alt-Az mount type (contrasting to the "equatorial" mounts, that often come with refractor scopes for beginners, but should be avoided for an 8yr). The Celestron FirstScope 76 is the cheapest  little Dobsonian at 43 GBP, but your grandson might soon be longing for more detailed views and a bigger scope (the so-called "aperture fever", a malignant disease; many on here are suffering from? ). The better choice, therefore, might be the Sky-Watcher Heritage- 100 P, with 95 GBP well within your budget; with a paraboloid primary mirror, giving crisper views. Very compact and easy to handle - set it on a small table or chair, let it cool for 15 minutes, and start. The top range would be the Skywatcher 130 P for 137 GBP (compact as the "Flextube" version; there are other versions with solid tubes, as well as other brands, Meade Lightbridge Mini 130 e.g. - all with a paraboloidal 130mm mirror of 650 mm focal length). This could be a keeper for many years of observing for your grandson, even a "lifetime scope", that may serve well later as a travel scope or "grab-and-go" scope. Many positive reviews.

Hope this helps; take time with your decision, and keep asking!

Stephan

 

[happy-kat]

Welcome

The telescope that I thought of as it is comfortably in budget and is very easy to set up and very portable is the Skywatcher heritage 100p. 

Though I have added a refractor choice on your other thread you posted in with a link to a review.

[Demonperformer]

I also almost recommended the 100p - my only concern being collimation of the short focal ratio newt. Others may know better than me on that issue.

[LukeSkywatcher]

Heritage 130P. It within budget, no need to collimate (much........if ever) and its a push to scope. It also has nice Optics. Same optics as it big brother the 130P EQ.