Skyquest XT4.5 - Follow up

Some of you may recall my thread from February about my purchase of a
Skyquest XT4.5 for my daughter's 5th birthday. Well, finally, yesterday was
the day she opened it. Without going into verbose detail, I'd say this was
an excellent buy and I would recommend it to anybody big or small. It was
easy to assemble, easy to use, the quality is there, the mount is rock
solid, the optics are good, and it is extremely portable. She and I are
very pleased with it.

The conditions for our first observing session couldn't have been better.
The new telescope curse was lifted as we had a crystal clear night. Light
pollution is bad here but that's all that could be complained about.
Saturn, Jupiter, and Venus were a big hit with the 5 year old. M45, M35,
M37, and M42 didn't get as much fanfare but that was expected. The optical
performance of the scope was beyond my expectations. I have to get it under
dark skies, though in order to make an accurate assessment on that.

Cheers to Orion on this one!

--
Jamie
-------

On Sat, 17 Apr 2004 13:50:54 GMT, "RankAndFile"
wrote:

Some of you may recall my thread from February about my purchase of a
Skyquest XT4.5 for my daughter's 5th birthday.

Is this like buying a train set for the son when daddy really wants
one to play with ?

Saturn, Jupiter, and Venus were a big hit with the 5 year old. M45, M35,
M37, and M42 didn't get as much fanfare but that was expected.


A 4.5 can be a surprising little performer. I have a scope of this size and
am often "taken" with the views it provides. . .a couple of weeks ago, it
rewarded me with hints of the dark lane in M104.

It is no surprise that Saturn, Jupiter, and Venus were big hits with you
child. These are flamboyant objects of which it takes no real knowledge of
astronomy or telescoping to feast upon. Full appreciation of the open
clusters and the nebula you cite require, more often then not, one to be at
least a few degrees up on the learning curve.

As she learns to read, a basic book on astronomy or stargazing may interest
her. Does she show an overall inclination towards the body of science in
general?

Do you think she may enjoy having her rooms walls and ceiling turned into a
virtual planetarium with the glow in the dark stars which can be arranged in
the shape of the constellations? I know of an adult male who had his
bedroom done like that when he was in his 30's and really enjoyed it. I,
uh. . . I mean "he," married and left the house with the room done that way
to a new tenant. I'd bet they enjoy it even now (almost 15 years later).

--
Martin
http://home.earthlink.net/~martinhowell

LOL. Kind of. I have a scope of my own but it is much more unwieldy. This
is a good grab and go scope.

--
Jamie
-------
"Geoff" wrote in message
news
On Sat, 17 Apr 2004 13:50:54 GMT, "RankAndFile"
wrote:

Some of you may recall my thread from February about my purchase of a
Skyquest XT4.5 for my daughter's 5th birthday.

Is this like buying a train set for the son when daddy really wants
one to play with ?

She has a general book on space and her grandparents got her the Beginning
Stargazer's Toolkit from Orion which includes a basic guide to Astronomy, a
Moon Book, a planisphere, and a Red Beam II. I'm also going to join the
local Astronomy club. We'll see what happens, I guess.

--
Jamie
-------
"Martin R. Howell" wrote in message
hlink.net...

Saturn, Jupiter, and Venus were a big hit with the 5 year old. M45,
M35,
M37, and M42 didn't get as much fanfare but that was expected.


A 4.5 can be a surprising little performer. I have a scope of this size
and
am often "taken" with the views it provides. . .a couple of weeks ago, it
rewarded me with hints of the dark lane in M104.

It is no surprise that Saturn, Jupiter, and Venus were big hits with you
child. These are flamboyant objects of which it takes no real knowledge
of
astronomy or telescoping to feast upon. Full appreciation of the open
clusters and the nebula you cite require, more often then not, one to be
at
least a few degrees up on the learning curve.

As she learns to read, a basic book on astronomy or stargazing may
interest
her. Does she show an overall inclination towards the body of science in
general?

Do you think she may enjoy having her rooms walls and ceiling turned into
a
virtual planetarium with the glow in the dark stars which can be arranged
in
the shape of the constellations? I know of an adult male who had his
bedroom done like that when he was in his 30's and really enjoyed it. I,
uh. . . I mean "he," married and left the house with the room done that
way
to a new tenant. I'd bet they enjoy it even now (almost 15 years later).

--
Martin
http://home.earthlink.net/~martinhowell

Jamie,

The xt4.5 was my first telescope, and when you have those few nights
of really great, steady seeing, the views will knock your socks off.
The f/8 focal length probably helps with magnification, and you are
right, it is a great grab & go scope. It is a definite keeper, I love
it. I'm glad to see your daughter has a chance to catch on to this
fascinating hobby. I've taken some snapshots with it, here is my
Epson album site:
http://albums.photo.epson.com/j/Albu...&a=30847724&f=
I didn't upload my latest Jupiter with the GRS shots yet, but will
soon.


I use a G3 handheld to the ep. Another thing, Orion's Shorty Plus
barlow is nice, and the Highlight plossls are pretty high contrast
eps-more so than the Sirius plossls, they help to see subtle detail on
the planets, etc. I got the 10mm & the 6.3 and barlow both (the 6.3
works well on Saturn but not so much Jupiter with good seeing...pretty
surprising for a 4.5" aperture).

Best regards and congrats on your new "grab & go"...it should get
plenty use.

KOwen
s.e. Louisiana