Looking for a good beginner's telescope, suggestions?

you could have the kid tested with a full battery of 29 dspi's!
be sure and look for trace amounts of histoplasmosis of the ogoid mons.



"Ken S. Tucker" wrote:

(Mark Roberts) wrote in message . com...
Hi folks! My 12 year old son has been very interested in astronomy
for the past year or so, and has been doing a lot of star gazing with
the naked eye and a decent set of binoculars. I'd like to upgrade him
for Christmas and get him a good beginner's telescope. (My definition
of good would be probably run the middle between price and quality, as
I don't want to go overboard and buy something expensive and then end
up having him not use it!) He's primarily focused on the moon and
constellations before and would like to check out the planets and
maybe other objects further out. Anyone have any suggestions on what
to get him? I would appreciate any information those with more
experience than I could give. Thanks so much! - Mark

If you're boy has a good IQ, and takes geometry serious
then ask him if he understands what an "EQuatorial Mount"
is and how it works.
Usually an interest in astronomy is indicative of
high intelligence and spatial understanding.
Ask him if he would prefer an EQ mount or a less
expensive Alti-azmuth mount, to see if he knows the
diff. If he doesn't a week later, then you'll know
to get a cheapy Al-az department store job.
OTOH if a 12 year old can explain to you why an
EQ mount is better, then the geometry lesson alone
for him polarizing an EQ is a cheap lesson.
The scope oughta be a refractor at 60mm or a bit
more, to keep portability. Much larger will be
tough on a 12 year old, and reflectors are less
tolerant of abuse. That'll keep him busy until
next X-mas.
Anyway, talk to him and get back to us about
what he think's he knows. ok?
Regards
Ken S. Tucker

Alexander Avtanski wrote in message ...
Ken S. Tucker wrote:

[ ... ]

If at 12 years old, if he's intelligent enough to
know the advantages of an EQ mount, then he should
have an EQ mount.

Then he is intelligent enough to know the disadvantages of an EQ mount
too. I have a scope on EQ mount and another, smaller on Alt-Az mount.
The Alt-Az mount beats the EQ mount on portability many times over.

Wait a minute, the EQ mount uses Right Ascension and
Declination independant of latitude to locate and
chart objects. There's alot more to astronomy than
drooling over images. There's the mathematics that
astronomy initiated.

Kepler using Tycho's RA,Dec measurements formulated
"Kepler's Laws", that Newton used to find universal
gravitation, and Einstein based General Relativity
on.

I think it's a very narrow PoV to say amateur astronomy
is about an image. It's much, much more. For a young
intelligent amateur it's about optics, physics and
mathematics, and how they all relate.

Historically, astronomy has catalyized a synthesis
(a blend if you will) between many arts, and has forced
those arts to unify in a common standard, even on a
global standard of cooperation, something rare on Earth.

Depends on the boy, performance is not that
important. There's plenty of real good stuff
a 60mm EQ can do, like astro-photography with
a motor accessory.

Nobody is talking astrophotography here. For me it's not the same as
looking with your eyes. a 4.5" will show much, much more to the eye
than a 60mm scope.

Sure it does, but I'm bet you'd rather
have a motorized EQ mount!

I have both. I NEED BOTH. The motorized mount is one thing - it is
heavy, needs at least 5 minutes time to be set up.

Once the polar axis is set for your latitude, keep
your tripod leg's constant and place the feet at
the same location. That'll give you alignment in
a minute.

The small scope
on alt-az mount is set in about 30 seconds and for casual observing
I use it more. I cannot go without it. If I have to chose between
the two scopes, I'd still get the bigger one, but it costs about $700,
and the deciding thing for me here would be that it is BIGGER, and
not the EQ mount.

Ok, going from a 6mm pupil to 60mm or 120mm
is a thrill, and is not as crucial as the mount
if the son understands mounts.

Exactly. Now, tell me what kind of GOOD EQ mount you propose to
get for under $200?!
- Alex

I don't know off hand, I've seen some EQ 60 mm's
in that price range.
Regards
Ken S. Tucker

Knowing your budget, I can suggest either the Orion AstroBlast - $169, or
the Orion XT 4.5 ~$199. I think someone else mentioned the Edmund Sci
Astroscan, that would be a good choice too.

"Mark Roberts" wrote in message
om...
Thank you to everyone who chimed in with their thoughts, suggestions,
and opinions. I apologize for not stating a budget on this, but since
several people asked I'm probably looking in the $200 range and under.
I realize this isn't a lot of money to spend and won't buy him
anything great, but I'm rather limited on budget due to medical bills
and being on medical disability. Even $200 is stretching things a
bit, but I want to encourage him in this because he does seem very
interested. I would dearly love to be able to make this a father/son
activity, but after after an accident in the government lab I
work/worked in last year, I am legally blind and don't have enough
visual acuity to see distinct shapes. (And before anyone asks, a
friend is typing this in for me...thank you John. You're very welcome
Mark!) I am a microbiologist by trade and am happy my son is
interested in the sciences. I found the FAQ extremely helpful and we
are doing down to the local library to look for some of the books
recommended in the FAQ. Thank you again for all the suggestions, I
think I'll be able to find a nice scope for him from one of the
companies mentioned.

Oh, by the way, the northern lights were again visible last night in
central Iowa around 8:30. Apparently we had a brief break in cloud
cover and he could see some light to moderate greens. For about five
minutes they were very bright and he set up my camera and got some
shots. We sat out in the baseball field at the old school in our town
for about an hour while he watched them. He was very excited to
finally see them, having missed the previous two nights!


(Mark Roberts) wrote in message
. com...
Hi folks! My 12 year old son has been very interested in astronomy
for the past year or so, and has been doing a lot of star gazing with
the naked eye and a decent set of binoculars. I'd like to upgrade him
for Christmas and get him a good beginner's telescope. (My definition
of good would be probably run the middle between price and quality, as
I don't want to go overboard and buy something expensive and then end
up having him not use it!) He's primarily focused on the moon and
constellations before and would like to check out the planets and
maybe other objects further out. Anyone have any suggestions on what
to get him? I would appreciate any information those with more
experience than I could give. Thanks so much! - Mark

(Mark Roberts) wrote in message . com...

Thank you to everyone who chimed in with their thoughts, suggestions,
and opinions. I apologize for not stating a budget on this, but since
several people asked I'm probably looking in the $200 range and under.

In hate to be self-promoting on s.a.a., but the article Good Stuff Cheap
in the annual magazine Skywatch '05 covers exactly what you're interested
in. With any luck, your local library will have it.

- Tony Flanders