Beginner advice - 5 yr old kid

[fam_gaze]

Hi

We have a 5 yr old who is very interested in space, planets and other objects. I want to pique her interest into observing these bodies through telescope. The challenge I have is the patience level of the kids. If I take even so long to set things up to observe one object, she is going to lose interest quickly to start with. I am beginner with telescopes too. Are there like point and observe, computerised telescopes for beginner levels that I could buy for her? I can go up to £400 to invest into this. Could you guys help me out please? Looking forward to hearing your suggestions on this. 

[Peter Drew]

Bear in mind that it is you that will have to manage 95% of the experience on her behalf so it's largely what you can operate.  Welcome to SGL.      🙂

[Stu]

Some useful info here:

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/beginner-telescopes/page/2/
 

How about one of the table top computerised ones like this:

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/heritage/skywatcher-heritage-90-virtuoso.html
 

 

[LondonNeil]

I'm similar,  2 weeks into owning a short refractor,  kids of 8, 6 and 3.  I'm just playing on the drive not fretting about street lights and the 'seeing' , I grab the scope out and set it up which only takes 5 mins but still.. .I call any kids outside when I'm ready.  They have a quick look,  if they've had enough after 5 minutes they go back in. 

I do need to sort a phone holder to make it easier for them to see stuff but with decent EPs even my 3 yo can see.... I know as I tested him   ' can you see anything?' ' yes daddy! A star!' 'That's Jupiter,  a planet.  Can you see it's moons?'  'Yes! I can! I can!'  ' How many can you see?'  '1, 2,3,4!'

Very happy space obsessed 3yo, very very happy daddy!

[PhilB61]

Realistically unless you have an interest and will use the telescope yourself then it could be wasted money. Initially I would download a night sky app to a phone or tablet and go out on a dark night and try to identify some of the brighter targets like Jupiter, Pleiades, Orion Belt etc all very visible in the UK at the moment. A visit to a planetarium is a great experience also. Also bear in mind the views through a telescope in your price range are likely to be underwhelming especially for children brought up in the age of high resolution digital content. However if you really fancy a telescope for yourself, go for it, it's a fun and rewarding hobby but does require time and patience to best enjoy 

[Elp]

Nothing will come close to the ease of use and what you'll be able to "see" via a ZWO Seestar smart telescope, doesn't work so well on planets due to the short focal length but you'll see lots lots more in terms of deep space objects which you won't see via a visual setup.

[PeterStudz]

I started out when my then 8yr old daughter (she’s now 12) expressed an interested in astronomy and wanted to get a telescope. There’s quite a difference between 8 & 5 yrs old but some of what we went through might help.

At the time I thought this would be a great thing to do together, and so it has been, but it’s been a lot of effort, work, fun, rewards and the occasional disappointments. You need to have patience in this hobby and kids (some adults too) aren’t skilled at this! I’m almost tempted to write up our experience as I find I’m often repeating myself but it’s finding the time. So a few things we’ve learnt…

Try and find out what they are into. This can be surprisingly difficult as both being beginners you have little idea what to expect. Eg the ZWO Seestar smart telescope has been mentioned, but my daughter has virtually no interested in seeing stuff on a screen. She wants to see things herself through an eyepiece. So much so that she calls astrophotography “those fake pictures”.  Others are obviously different. 

It’s not something that a young child can easily do themselves - sticking them out in the garden and leaving them is unlikely to work until they are older. It’s something that you do together. For us this is ideal, but maybe not for everyone.

Kids have very short attention spans. Getting them to sit still in the garden, get their eyes use to the dark etc, when it’s freezing cold (best time of year for astronomy tends to be winter, spring & late autumn) isn’t going to work.

We got around this by making “astronomy” an event. Eg my daughter loves camping. So on clear nights during the warmer months we’d camp in the garden (no tent), look for shooting stars, scan the sky with binoculars, learn the constellations, toast marshmallows, drink hot chocolate, listen out for foxes, hedgehogs, the dawn chorus... The telescope being the icing on the cake. I can remember one such camping night when we were both very much beginners and in the end just looking/finding one target (the Ring Nebula). We tried to find the likes of the Dumbbell and failed but it didn’t matter as we had so much else going on. Alice has also had friends who are interested over for “astronomy sleepovers” and these have always gone well. We also do solar and after a night camping/astronomy, breakfast on the outdoor stove, we’ve observed the sun too. These type of things have proved great fun. Of course you could do much of this without a telescope but it just would not be the same.

Oh… with obvious precautions solar has been great. Obviously you can do this in the day when it can actually be warm, have a BBQ etc which makes things a lot easier. After gaining experience here we were even able to view a couple of the planets during daylight too - Venus and Jupiter.

Hope that helps and good luck!

Edited January 30 by PeterStudz

[Jules Tohpipi]

For a complete beginner looking for fast results and interactive features for a child your best bet would be a telescope from the Celestron StarSense range. 

You need know next to nothing about the sky above you. You attach your mobile phone with the supplied holder and it works everything out for you - and tells you precisely where to manually aim your telescope using guide arrows on phone screen. It may sound gimmicky but it really works. Then you look through the telescope using your eye and the phone will tell you about what you’re looking at. 

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/celestron-starsense-explorer-series.html

Edited January 30 by Jules Tohpipi

[happy-kat]

Welcome, just a note for solar observing you need to stay safe and know what you are doing and must use the correct solar protective equipment

Hope you find something to enjoy just right for you

Edited January 30 by happy-kat

[PeterStudz]

6 minutes ago, happy-kat said:

For solar observing you need to stay safe and know what you are doing and must use the correct solar protective equipment

Yes, indeed. I also go through a lengthy safety briefing which kids often seem to enjoy. Usually I’ll get loads of questions before even getting near an eyepiece which surprises me. 

Edited January 30 by PeterStudz

[PeterStudz]

I agree with @Jules Tohpipi that it sounds like something in the Celestron StarSense range would be a safe bet. 

[LondonNeil]

I followed Peter's camping suggestion the weekend before last.... although adding

Since it was below zero we did use the tent!  The camping was the main event but the girls enjoyed 45 minutes of stargazing with the telescope too.

[PeterStudz]

23 minutes ago, LondonNeil said:

I followed Peter's camping suggestion the weekend before last.... although adding

Since it was below zero we did use the tent!  The camping was the main event but the girls enjoyed 45 minutes of stargazing with the telescope too.

Sounds good… brave to give that a go at this time of year. But what’s not to like!

The advantage with camping tent/no tent is that eyes are adapted to the dark from the word go. Well, as long as someone doesn’t switch a torch on!

Another thing my daughter has done when it’s a bit cold to camp outside is to “camp” downstairs. Sometimes with a friend for a sleepover. I’ve set the telescope outside and come down at some point during the night so that we can look at the sky. Again, eyes are use to the dark without trying. 

[bosun21]

The Seestar is great for adults but I don’t think that it will impress young kids. They are used to looking at pictures on screens and they will definitely get a bigger thrill of viewing with their own eyes. I would also recommend either a go to scope or the Celestron Starsense.

[Gfamily]

Top tip - Children using the telescope will instinctively try to grab hold of the eyepiece, so a strong recommendation is to put a dining chair backwards by the eyepiece, and get the child to put both hands on the back of the chair before starting to look. 

That way, they can lower their eye to the eyepiece with their hands kept busy - this allows them to balance themselves comfortably, without moving the telescope. 

 

It works for adults too! They can be even worse than children for 'grabbing'

[PeterStudz]

We do take some skills (even small skills) for granted. Eg I’ve noticed how some children initially struggled to look through an eyepiece, especially something with a narrow FOV. I’ve had frustrated comments like “I can’t see anything? It’s just black”. But after a few goes, or change to a less “challenging” eyepiece, they usually get there. 

I’ve even had a few try and look down the far end of the Dob, trying to look through the primary mirror, thinking that with all telescopes you look through the far end. But it’s not surprising given that when a telescope is shown in the media it’s nearly always a reflector. 

[engstrom]

I bought this for my 6yr old this Christmas.

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/sky-watcher-az-go2-telescopes/sky-watcher-explorer-130p-az-go2-wifi-parabolic-newtonian-telescope.html

It’s easy to set up and align and light enough to be carried around assembled.

The app is very easy to use.

 He’s loving his first steps into Astro after seeing Jupiter, the moon and various messier objects.

I think this set up will keep him going for a few years.

As a bonus it’s also rekindled my interest and I’ve dusted off my 200pds and bought an SW 80ED.

 

Edited January 30 by engstrom

[LondonNeil]

6 hours ago, PeterStudz said:

Sounds good… brave to give that a go at this time of year. But what’s not to like!

The advantage with camping tent/no tent is that eyes are adapted to the dark from the word go. Well, as long as someone doesn’t switch a torch on!

Another thing my daughter has done when it’s a bit cold to camp outside is to “camp” downstairs. Sometimes with a friend for a sleepover. I’ve set the telescope outside and come down at some point during the night so that we can look at the sky. Again, eyes are use to the dark without trying. 

I need it cold to garden camp in the winter as my garden is so wet.   It's a swamp often in the winter!  It makes camping impossible unless it's cold enough for the ground to be frozen.  Then an old duvet and several roll mats and good sleeping bags make it toastie once in the tent!

 

[LondonNeil]

5 hours ago, PeterStudz said:

We do take some skills (even small skills) for granted. Eg I’ve noticed how some children initially struggled to look through an eyepiece, especially something with a narrow FOV. I’ve had frustrated comments like “I can’t see anything? It’s just black”. But after a few goes, or change to a less “challenging” eyepiece, they usually get there. 

I’ve even had a few try and look down the far end of the Dob, trying to look through the primary mirror, thinking that with all telescopes you look through the far end. But it’s not surprising given that when a telescope is shown in the media it’s nearly always a reflector. 

I found this!  My 6yo struggled to see anything,  would put a closed eye to the ep and such.   I had already ordered a 2" diagonal and EP and next time out the better fov was a huge help. 

[DirkSteele]

Agreed on the eyepiece selection.  My nephew years ago when he was mid-single digits age struggled with eye placement, particularly with long eye relief EPs and also narrow exit pupils.  At least unitl he had some practice.  It is something you take for granted quite quickly using a scope that eye placement is not hard.

 

[cajen2]

6 hours ago, engstrom said:

I bought this for my 6yr old this Christmas.

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/sky-watcher-az-go2-telescopes/sky-watcher-explorer-130p-az-go2-wifi-parabolic-newtonian-telescope.html

It’s easy to set up and align and light enough to be carried around assembled.

The app is very easy to use.

 He’s loving his first steps into Astro after seeing Jupiter, the moon and various messier objects.

I think this set up will keep him going for a few years.

As a bonus it’s also rekindled my interest and I’ve dusted off my 200pds and bought an SW 80ED.

 

That looks a nice little scope, E.  Wouldn't mind one of those myself!