Telescopes

The Zohan · 08 January 2011, 15:27

Daughters 8th birthday coming up in a couple of weeks. She is very interested in science and the arts and thoroughly enjoys any programmes about space and planets recently watched the sky at night live last week with me and she really enjoyed it (we both did).

Asking her what she would like and she asked for a telescope. I have always wanted one but never got around to buying one so it looks like this is a great opportunity and something we an do together.

I do not know the first thing about telescopes but have set myself a budget of around 120-150 and so far come up with this - a Celestron Astromaster 130EQ
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/offer-lis...&condition=new

It is not a huge amount of money and it gets good reviews and seems like a good starting point.

Anyone got one or used on is it OK and does the job and a good starting point. Not expecting Jodrell Bank for that money

joz8968 · 08 January 2011, 15:44

Time to spy on a neighbour's fit daughter?

mart360 · 08 January 2011, 15:50

From what ive heardt from some astronomical sites, is that you should have a celestial mount? this allows you to track stars through the sky, as opposed to to manually moving the scope

dont quote me, as only look occasionally

tony de wonderful · 08 January 2011, 15:50

Quote:

Originally Posted by joz8968

Time to spy on a neighbour's fit daughter?

dnc · 08 January 2011, 19:12

Looks a decent starter 'scope. You will get v good views of the moon with that.

Had one (not that one) briefly. Couldn't cope with the stigma

so gave it to my nephews. They're a right pair of pervs

joz8968 · 08 January 2011, 19:24

LOL! ^^^

dunx · 08 January 2011, 20:15

Make sure you do the never even think about using it to view the sun routine...

dunx

P.S. Good starter, if she gets more serious then sell and upgrade later. I'm too near a railway line to bother, but the inner geek would love one.

P.P.S. Jodrell Bank is a radio telescope...

oldsplice · 08 January 2011, 20:40

Did you see the programme the other night with Dara o'Brian? They recommended one to Johnathon Ross, and I'm sure they said it was about £100, and really easy to use (unlike some).

P1Fanatic · 06 February 2012, 17:05

Thread resurrection I know but Zohan did you ever get one? I've always fancied one as interested in star gazing but always assumed you'd have to spend £££'s to get even a semi decent one. After watching the last series of Star Gazing Live I jumped on Amazon and found the same Celestron model. Seems to get some great reviews and you can purchase better eyepieces for extra zoom.

For a little bit more you can get one that tracks but really how well do these work? These seem way too cheap over a regular scope to be any good?

The Zohan · 07 February 2012, 09:30

Hi there,

Ended up getting one of these http://www.amazon.co.uk/Celestron-21...7&sr=1-3-spell

Seems to work fine but you need one of these also http://www.amazon.co.uk/Philips-Plan...ref=pd_sim_b_1

Sadly, we seem have more cloudy and overcast nights than clear but it does get used from time to time.

IWatkins · 07 February 2012, 09:52

P1.

I've been into astronomy for years but only recently got serious about it. A nice little write up on a starter scope can be found here: http://www.firstlightoptics.com/news...elescopes.html

I've read it and it is fair advice.

As for tracking and GOTO, you get what you pay for. A tracking mount needs to be set up carefully to allow it to track the sky accurately. I honestly believe it is pointless on a cheap telescope. Yes, it'll GOTO and track a planet, but you can see it with your naked eye, so why bother when you can track by hand. A cheap scope won't show you great views on the really faint nebula/galaxies etc. so why bother having a GOTO and track for those. Hope that makes sense.

Basically, I would advise getting a quality scope with a manual mount. If you get hooked, then you can look at complex EQ GOTO and tracking mounts, which you will need when you upgrade to a much larger scope anyway or if you get into serious imaging through scopes.

I.e. don't buy a crap scope just because the GOTO and tracking mount takes most of your budget. It'll spoil it. And messing about setting it'll all up will annoy you even more if at the end of it the scope itself doesn't give a good view.

However, if your budget will stretch to around the £360 mark, then you are laughing. there is the excellent Maksutov on a quality AZ GOTO which is a great scope for planets and moon: http://www.firstlightoptics.com/maks...n-az-goto.html

That is a quality tracking/GOTO mount and a great scope.

After that, the world is your lobster budget wise.

Cheers

Ian