Lux Et Veritas Academy Posted January 24, 2008 Share Posted January 24, 2008 Can you recommend an awesome telescope? I want to purchase this for my son's 11 birthday!;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Lorna Posted January 24, 2008 Share Posted January 24, 2008 Sorry, must be tired... I read Telescope as microscope! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KAR120C Posted January 24, 2008 Share Posted January 24, 2008 Can you recommend an awesome telescope? I want to purchase this for my son's 11 birthday!;) We've been very happy with the Orion Dobsonian-mount reflectors. Ours is a six-inch, which is medium in price and size (4.5 inch is probably fine too, and cheaper... bigger is much more expensive but shows a lot more things, too). We got ours "plain" which means no computer, no motor, etc. Kind of old fashioned, but it's not hard to aim yourself with a little practice. The best things about the Dobsonian mount are that it is really REALLY stable. No jiggling at all. It's also very kid-friendly because it's so low to the ground you don't have to worry too much about it being knocked over. (I mean you don't want to test that too thoroughly, but it's much less nervewracking to have kids around it than around a tall teetering tripod!) It's very easy to move smoothly, and easy to focus. And because it's in two big pieces it's easy to put in the car (we have a padded bag) and easy to put back together, even in the dark. :) The six inch is sufficient to see some of the double stars clearly and to see the moons of Jupiter (very VERY impressive by the way, especially if you just read about Galileo!). I've seen much more with the ten-inch telescopes that they use at the local university's astronomy viewing nights, but there's no way I could afford one myself and I've been quite happy with what we can see with the six inch. Hope this helps!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Milseain Posted January 24, 2008 Share Posted January 24, 2008 We've been very happy with the Orion Dobsonian-mount reflectors. Ours is a six-inch, which is medium in price and size (4.5 inch is probably fine too, and cheaper... bigger is much more expensive but shows a lot more things, too). We got ours "plain" which means no computer, no motor, etc. Kind of old fashioned, but it's not hard to aim yourself with a little practice. This is what I just ordered. But it's the eight-inch and with the computer thing. I have always wanted one. So dh is letting me get it, even though it is a little bit more. (he's so sweet) :p Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pegasus Posted January 25, 2008 Share Posted January 25, 2008 Everyone we talked to about a telescope advised that we spend the money instead on a good pair of binoculars. These are a lot easier to use and work fine. Pegasus Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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