Which telescope does my daughter need?

[SamBailey]

My daughter got hooked on looking at the night sky when we spent some time in South America at high altitude a couple of years ago and was taken aback at what you could see with the naked eye - not so much in England so I want to get her a telescope for Christmas and would appreciate some advice to make sure I get something suitable please.

She would particularly like to check out Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn's rings. After some searching on google I'm thinking an achromatic refractor type? But what lenses will she need? I haven't got much money (sold the house to fund previously mentioned round-the-world trip!) so will be buying second hand (probably e-bay?), will I be able to get what she needs for under £100?

Thanks in advance for your help.

[richbyers]

Hi. I don't think you'll get what you want for under 100. Scopes that are decent are at least 150 mount included and being honest a telescope is something if your gonna get then you might as well get it right and save up as shell son want an upgrade! Try looking at a skywatcher 130mm they are very good scopes. Rich

[rawhead]

Tal 1 reflector from ebay?

They are quite heavy...

(or a Tal 2, even heavier)

[Aussie]

The only thing I might advise is be careful with a reflector type scope. Not because there bad or anything. It's just im not sure how tall your daughter is and the eye piece is a little high up. Just somthing to keep in mind. However having said that, I have a reflector myself, an Explorer 130 and it is a great beginner scope. You can see all kinds of beautiful views with it and its £130 from first light optics brand new. I'm sure these guys will be able to suggest somthing better/better value for your budget though.

Dont rush your purchase, and you can't go wrong asking questions.

[brantuk]

Your budget limits you to the "Used" market. There are some "apparently" enticing offers on ebay and the like - but few of them are good, proper, working telescopes.

The best place to buy used astro items is from other astronomers - dedicated enthusiasts who tend to keep their equipment in very good (to mint) working order.

There are some very useful bargains to be had in the "for sale" section here for example, or "astrobuysell" website, and others.

You should be able to get a Skywatcher 130P reflector on a basic eq3-2 (or alt/az) manual driven mount for around the £100 mark s/h, complete with a couple of eye pieces and/or a barlow. Any refractor worth having in the same size will be treble that amount at least.

Avoid brands like Seben, Tasco, etc and stick to well known brands like Skywatcher, Celestron, Meade, etc. Check in here before buying if you find something you fancy. Folks here will be glad to give advice before you commit hard cash.

Welcome to the group

[step_hen]

As others have said, A Skywatcher 130p would be a good place to start. A Dob mount is generally regarded as easier to use than an EQ and will save you a bit of money too. Have a look at the FLO link at top of the page for a good idea of the range and prices available. If you want to purchase second hand,try astro buy and sell

http://www.astrobuysell.com/uk/

or, if you can amass 50 posts, the For Sale forum on SGL will be open to you. My best tip for a newbie is to download 'Stellarium' - its FREE!

Best wishes

Stephen

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Small reflectors are the best value for money, and a 130mm will certainly give good views on Mars, Jupiter and Saturn (and very much more beyond that!). I have a little 4.5" Newtonian on a cheap equatorial mount, which both my kids (6 and 8 y.o.) can look through if I retract the legs of the tripod. Sometimes you do need to rotate the scope to get a comfortable viewing angle. The cheaper Dobsonian mounts do not suffer from this latter problem.

[pete_l]

She would particularly like to check out Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn's rings.

To see those, you won't exactly need Hubble - quite a basic 'scope would do the trick. Amazon have Celestron Firstscopes for around £40, though from the reviews it sounds like it might be a good idea to then spend a bit more on a high-power eyepiece (maybe a 6mm focal length one) to go with it.

If you want something that looks a bit more likea "proper" telescope, there's an Astromaster refractor which might do the job.

Since it's a present, I doubt that a second hand telescope would have the same effect, when opened on xmas morning - no matter how qualified it is as a 'scope, there's just not that "Daddy loves me" feeling about getting something that someone else has owned.

[Jdavies]

Have you considered a refractor telescope. they are generally easy to use and need very little maintaining. If your daughter wants to view objects like the moon and planets like juipiter and saturn then a refractor could make a great choice.

tThe more you spend the better scope you will get, but a good priced brand is the skywatcher. They sell a refractor called the capricorn-70 which is the perfect starter scope and not badly priced as it can be found on some sites at around £99. If your daughter very intrested then a bigger scope might be better suited. A reflector scope will get you the most for your money but still expensive. I have at this moment in time a Skywatcher Explorer 200p on a EQ5 mount which gives stuning views of planets clusters and galaxies but this is quite an expensive scope around £369.Better priced scopes could be the Skywatcher explorer 150P or the 130P which would still give amazing views but not quite as clear as the images are not as bright. My top tip is though is get the biggest apeture you can afford as this will offer brighter images. Also it is worth paying for the Parabolic or P as it will give sharper clearer images as the light is better focused. If you want to Know anything else please ask.

Skywatcher Explorer 200P

Eq5 mount

[astrokat]

why not a good pair of binos on a tri pod flo has a good deal on celestron 70mm for about 50 quid i think your get some good veiws and more your price range

Celestron

[just looking]

Totally agree with AstroKat above

love our set up.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Much as I like my 15x70 (Omegon/Revelation/Celestron are all really the same it is said), I cannot recommend them for planets. Your daughter will need a sturdy tripod with such binoculars, as 15x is too much to be hand-held by most people (I manage, but it is the limit). The tripod attachment that comes with the Celestron is a cheap plastic affair, which is worse than useless, it causes so much vibration. Therefore, you will also need a good, metal, tripod adapter. This will all add up to more than 100 pounds easily.

Maybe it might be better to get a 10x50 first, if you want to get a pair of astronomy binoculars. For planets, a proper telescope is better.

[SamBailey]

Thanks to you all for taking the time to reply, lots of good ideas and still plenty of time until Christmas to have a look around and wait for the right thing to come up at the right price (I hope!)

Are the cheaper brands that will come in my budget and are new worth even thinking about? Odd metaphore but... 'value' range baked beans are really not that bad actually...

[astrokat]

if you only have about 100 quid i would look at second hand you many get some thing better for your money keep looking on the second hand section you will get some bargins

[astrokat]

http://stargazerslounge.com/sale/115509-celestron-astromaster-130eq.html

bargin

[Astro_Baby]

I'd avoid cheap no name scopes - they very often have the postential to put people off for good.

Theres a balance however with smaller children that a little bit of something to keep the wonder alive is a lot better than a lot of nothing.

Low cost scopes - well TAL-1s come up on ebay quite often from between £35-£80. Geta late model one if at all possible as the early ones have some issues. The TAL 1 will be as good as you get - no idea whay these gems have no real value 2nd hand - superbe optics, built like a tank an with one of the best finderscopes on the market at ANY price.

On the downside they are heavy and being an equatorial mount can be a bit confusing to beginners but its really not that hard - any TAL-1, assuming its been looked after, will come with some pretty decent eyepieces and will sell on for what you pay for it if bought 2nd hand.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Very many cheap scopes cut corners on the eyepieces, mount and finder scope. The result is a scope with which you cannot find anything in the sky, and if you DO manage to get anything interesting in the field of view, you cannot keep it there because the mount keeps shaking whenever you try to track. A good indication of a bad scope is that the eyepieces have labels like H5, H20 or HM9. These eyepieces are generally plastic pieces of garbage, with terribly small fields of view, and very poor optical quality (Huygens would turn in his grave to see is name attached to such lousy stuff).

Another tell-tale is a maximum magnification of, e.g., 340x on a 60 or 70mm telescope. Remember no telescope should be pushed beyond 2x the diameter of the objective in mm, in terms of magnification, and under British (or Dutch) skies, going beyond 250x is rarely possible.

[andyr]

I know it sounds mad, but I picked up my SkyWatcher 200P on an EQ5 (£369) on here for £175, and it was only 4 moths old and not a mark on it...... If you can hold out a little you'll be guaranteed to drop an an absolute as new bargain.... Trust me....

I sold my SkyWatcher 150P on here for £150 (was £219 when purchashased), so there are real bargains to have....

Agree with others though that a dob would be easier and probably cheaper to drop on though than a EQ mounted scope

Andy

[AndyH]

Another vote for a 2nd hand Tal 1 or Tal 120(there are 2 on flea bay at the mo).

Superb scopes, that are all alluminium and steel and will last a lifetime. A staggering bargain, 2nd hand.

Andy.

[Tiny]

I read somewhere that young people like a scope that looks like a scope - which means a refractor. I see First LIght do a sky watcher one on a basic mount for under £100. Add the odd book and star chart to that and it could work out. If she likes the hobby then she will figure what she wants next...