I'm thinking of getting either binoculars on a tripot or a telescope for my son and his family...kinda something they can all enjoy together.
They live on a lake in a 2-story house.  There is a loft upstair with a wall of huge windows.  I'm thinking that would be a good spot for it.

Question is:  I know NOTHING about what to get.  I'd like for them to be able to check out stuff on the lake as well as some star gazing.
Is that possible?  I've seen those little short telescopes.  Don't know crap about them but they look cool.   :)

Thanks,
Jackie

Bump. :-?

For birding I use 8x40 binoculars.

             Potter

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I'm not reccommending this brand specifically but it's as good as any in the cheaper range and excellent as a first scope.

How far can you see with those, Potter?

Jackie wrote on Dec 11^th, 2008 at 7:58pm:

How far can you see with those, Potter?

Is this a trick question?  The answer would be clear to the horizon.

                         potter

Jackie wrote on Dec 11^th, 2008 at 7:58pm:

How far can you see with those, Potter?

Binoculars come much stronger than the 7X or 8X used by birdwatchers and naturalists, which generally makes them too strong for what we use them for. (And far too bloody heavy.)

Mind you, 10X50s on a tripod in the loft may well be the way to go.

Thanks, gentlemen....I'm checking the net with the information you've given me so far.

From the link you posted, Brian, it looks like an 'astonomical refractor' would be the right scope???

Would 10x50 binoculars be strong enough to view some stars?

Potter..not a trick question.  Probably just a dumb one on my part ::)

As a birdwatcher and naturalist who spends his time on foot, I carry 8X40 binoculars along with a 15-60 zoom spotting scope on a collapsing tripod.  All very nice for someone moving around but you obviously want night sky as well so here's my honest opinion.

You want the cheapest scope that you can afford with the greatest range of powers (strengths).  Being able to change eye-pieces allows you to zoom down to 15X to watch ducks on the pond, or go up thousands to examine the planets of our solar system or follow stars and comets far beyond.

An astrological refractor is currently looking best, especially if you can get one that comes down to really low powers.

The reason I say straight out to start with the cheapest is that telescopes are like cars (and lovers) and you have try a few before you know for sure what type you really want. Explain as you give the gift that this merely the 'starter kit' and next year you'll help with buying the scope they need most and want.

It may be they've become mad-keen birders and need a spotting scope, or they've come to realise what's really up in that night sky and ultra-astrological is the only way to go.

It's such a shame that the rings of Saturn won't be visible for another couple of years (now there's the wow-factor for the first-time astologer) but I well remember the first time I saw inside the horse-head nebula.

Let me know how you're getting on. Happy to help.

For star gazing you need a telescope with an objective lens or mirror with a large aperture and fairly long focal length, plus some oculars (that include the field lens). A parallactic mounting is mandatory (turning on an axis parallel to the earth axis). Professionals are using a clockwork to follow the star movement, but that is for large magnification and advanced users :).

I Have a 150 mm mirror with 500 mm focal length plus a couple of oculars with different magnification. That is convenient to watch the moons of Jupiter (named after my cat Jupi). The Pleiades are too nice to watch. To see more details with higher magnification with such a telescope, I had to live in a region with less light pollution.

I can use this telescope for bird watching or look into the neighbours sleeping room. The mounting can be changed to azimuthal setup.  But for such purposes the picture is upside down, an inverting lens would come handy. For terrestrial use a zooming ocular would be useful.


                 [smiley=smokin.gif]

Great info, ASG, and thanks for jumping in. Given the family are brand new to this stuff, any links you can find to easy-to-use gear would be welcomed.

Of probably greater importance is back-up. "How do I get the greatest use and enjoyment out of this?"

I can deal with many things earth-bound, if you wouldn't mind doing the space bit.

Cheers always,

Brian.

It's been a long time but for stargazing, a telescope is needed for serious stuff.....however, if kids or young people want to look at the heavens, good strong binoculars works quite well for getting the general picture. You can get both. One to decide what to focus on. We did that.

My info on scopes is badly outdated so pay attention to others here.

Charlie

Brew got a telescope as a "Twenty Years of Service" gift at his company in September.  It's very similar to the one Aussie Brian posted.

It's fabulous for seeing detail on the moon.  Stars are just white blobs of light that are hard to keep in the viewfinder. Either this old lady shakes too much or the ground really does move about a bit. . . . . ;)  Tasco includes a nice map of the moon and a CD about stargazing with the telescope.

I can see my neighbor's house just fine (but generally don't like to admit that).

Good luck Jackie - it's fun to gaze at the heavens and ponder . . .

You all are great!  Thanks for the information, links and PMs.

I may about have it narrowed down to a 'spotter scope'.
If I'm right a strong one will also reach the sky.
My brother has one and loves it.

If they do well with this and enjoy it, I'm thinking of a telescope within a couple years (they are almost 3 & 6).  They should be ready for a beginners by then.

Thanks again for the info.


Love you all,
Jackie

For years I has a Meade 12" Schmidt Cassegrain telescope.  You can get the same scope in a consumer version up to 8" (mine is generally used at universities).

The things I liked about the Meade...
- could automatically position the scope to anything in the sky as long as it was setup properly (not easy)
- could easily attach my CCD camera and color filter wheel for long exposues of deep space objects
- could be operated over bluetooth so I could do my stargazing from the cozy house instead of freezing my ass off outside
- Once I had a proper set of eye pieces, any magnification I wanted was possible


Things I hated:
- seting it up took a long time to get right, at least 1-2 hours.  By then, the kids lose interest, plus Dad is futzing with too much to be 'interactive' during that time
- Operating it out in the wild was not simple... a lot of powered things (scope, dew shield, rotater (compensates for earth's rotation, not need if you have an equatorial mount)...
- size... this thing was way too big, even for a S-C.

One of the coolest things I ever bought for this hobby that *wasn't* a scope was a star spotting device from Celestron called a Sky Scout.  You can point it at any celestial object in the sky and it will tell you what it is.  You can even tell it to find an object, and it will guide you to it through the viewfinder.  Amazing...  They run about $400, but I have had 10x the fun with the kids and that than I did with the scopes.

-Shawn

Given their ages - 3 and 6 - a spotting scope is unquestionably the way to go. Give me an idea of your budget and I'll find you something good that can be taken outside as well.

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Remember you'll be up for a tripod as well ($70-100).

I found a Burris 20-60x80 with a hard case and tripod for $300.00 in Cabela's catalog....

Wow...here it is for a lot less...
What do ya think......
Or...you pick one....lol

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The tripod is actually a mini-tripod and not much use at all. (Waste of money if bought serarately.) The full-size job is required to get the real joy out of these things.

In the link I put up, look at the Bushnell in the first line and note that it's waterproof and rubber armoured - this means it can be taken outside without fear.

There's others a bit cheaper but at that price it looks ideal for a family that age.

ASG has the right idea with a ~6" reflector scope.  The biger diameter mirror gives good light gathering for star gazing and it's slimplicity in design makes it lower cost than refractory scopes.

Smaller scopes will not have the light gathering ability to make stargazing or planet watching much fun.


-P.

ps, through a 6" reflector; looking at Uranus will be a whole new experience. ;D  (sorry, coulden't resist that one. ;))

wrote on Dec 12^th, 2008 at 2:08pm:

For years I had a Meade 12"......... You can get the same ......in a consumer version up to 8" (mine is generally used at universities). The things I liked about it - could automatically position - could easily attach ... for long exposues of deep ..... objects - could be operated ..... from the cozy house instead of freezing my ass off outside Things I hated: - seting it up took a long time to get right, at least 1-2 hours.   - Operating it out in the wild was not simple... a lot of powered things - size... this thing was way too big....... Shawn

You sure you're talking about telescopes?

  On The boat I used a set of 8 x 50s. They are good enough to let me know what the other guy is catching out to the horizon. I'm not familiar with telescopes.
[smiley=smokin.gif]

Marc wrote on Dec 12^th, 2008 at 4:31pm:

wrote on Dec 12th, 2008 at 2:08pm: For years I had a Meade 12"......... You can get the same ......in a consumer version up to 8" (mine is generally used at universities). The things I liked about it - could automatically position - could easily attach ... for long exposues of deep ..... objects - could be operated ..... from the cozy house instead of freezing my ass off outside Things I hated: - seting it up took a long time to get right, at least 1-2 hours.   - Operating it out in the wild was not simple... a lot of powered things - size... this thing was way too big....... Shawn You sure you're talking about telescopes?

talk about 'framing' the shot.

I guess (as usual) I had know idea what I was talking about  :D

Any good quality 50 mm nocks will do fine, UV filter lenses will give best daytime viewing. The UV filter helps a lot to distinguish dark colors in a field of green.

Rolo. :)