Microscopes and Telescopes :)

[*lifeoftheparty*]

.

[jillian]

Home Science Tools (catalog I just got) has everything you could EVER need for science. Good prices too

 

http://www.hometrainingtools.com/

[TheHomeScientist]

DS7 just got done reading "Greg's Microscope" and said that he would like to have a microscope.... AND a telescope!

 

We are only getting him 3 gifts for Christmas.... I already have a lego set, plus getting him a Hess truck.... so I'm thinking microscope for the 3rd present.

 

Sooooo, what are the best brands and/or sites for microscopes?? I want something that is high quality (not a toy), but not something that costs $300 and is very fragile, KWIM??

 

What about telescopes? I could ask my side of the family to go in together for one....

 

TIA!! We're getting a lot of school done right now and I don't have time to research it at the moment... it would help if I could get someone to tell me where to start :) Any info. you could give would be great!!

 

As to compound (high magnification) microscopes, one excellent choice for elementary students is the National Optical model 109, which is available with your choice of tungsten or LED illumination, and typically sells for about $125 from on-line vendors. The 109 is smaller than standard microscopes, ideal for elementary school kids. It's very solidly built and has decent optics that provide 40X, 100X, and 400X magnification.

 

http://nationaloptical.com/products/compound/models/109-L.html

 

Your son might be better off with a stereo (dissecting) microscope, which operates at lower magnification (typically 10X to 40X) and illuminates specimens from above rather than below. Such scopes are ideal for getting a close-up view of larger objects, such as rocks, leaves, insects, and so on. National Optical offers several suitable models. The least expensive are single magnification. If you go for one of those, I'd recommend 30X. At somewhat higher cost, NO also offers dual-magnification models such as 10X/20X and 20X/40X. I'd recommend the latter. NO doesn't sell directly to individuals, but their products are widely available at competitive prices. HST also offers several suitable stereo microscopes.

 

As to telescopes, there's no quick answer. Dobsonian models offer by far the most bang for the buck, but Alt-Az mounted small refractors are also popular. Avoid buying a "department-store" telescope, which is what most on-line vendors sell. The source I always recommend to beginning astronomers is Orion Telescope and Binocular. Most of their stuff is Chinese, but all of it offers excellent bang for the buck, and they don't sell shoddy products.

 

Before you buy a telescope, I'd recommend that you grab a copy of our book, _Illustrated Guide to Astronomical Wonders_, at the library or bookstore and read the initial chapters on choosing equipment.

[higginszoo]

We ended up getting this microscope. Relatively inexpensive, yet still useful through all of their high school biology labs. http://www.stevespanglerscience.com/product/duo-scope

[Mrs Mungo]

We have the celestron 44104. It has an abbé condenser, iris diaphragm and mechanical stage. It has 10x and 12.5x eyepieces, and 4x, 10x and 40x objectives. You could buy a 100x objective separately if you really needed it (it is honestly not used that much). It has an LED light and a mirror (some of the reviews complain it has an incandescent bulb, I ordered this recently and it has an LED). It came with a cover and 5 prepared slides. It has fine and coarse focusing knobs. It was a bargain from amazon @ $125.

 

I know a lot of people like the Sonlight microscope

 

A lot of people also like these from home science tools:

http://www.hometrainingtools.com/home-1000x-microscope/p/MI-4100DXL/

 

http://www.hometrainingtools.com/ultimate-home-dual-head-microscope/p/MI-5000DHD/

 

eta: We have an Orion telescope and have been happy with it. You'll see them in various price points around Christmas. :)

Edited October 26, 2011 by Mrs Mungo

[*lifeoftheparty*]

.

[gardenmom5]

after doing lots of research on bino's to replace my husband's old military bino's, I found Garrett Optical. They also make telescopes. Optics are very good. We had one guy who was looking through them and promptly went out and bought a pair himself.

[Guest IdahoMtnMom]

I just want to say that my ex husband bought DS a microscope/telescope set from Tasco for his birthday this past July and it was pure garbage.... at least the telescope. It won't even stay straight enough to see anything :-(

[Jean in Wisc]

I wrote about telescopes a few months past. Here is the link--it might give you some ideas of where to start:

 

http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=228765&highlight=jean+in+wisc%3B+jean+in+wi%3B+astronomy%3B+telescope

 

Ask if you have more Q's.

 

Jean

[ChrissySC]

I wrote and linked ours here

 

I love National.:001_smile:

[*lifeoftheparty*]

.

[*lifeoftheparty*]

.

[Perry]

We like our Galileoscope.

[*lifeoftheparty*]

.

[Jean in Wisc]

What do you think of this one??? My son is only 7, so I don't want to start off with anything TOO fancy or expensive :)

 

http://www.amazon.com/Celestron-21061-AstroMaster-Refractor-Telescope/dp/B000MLHMAS/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1319819847&sr=8-3

 

One of the reviews at optcorp.com says:

 

User Reviews for AstroMaster 70 AZ Refractor Telescope

Average Rating for this product 3.0

3.00 Review Date: 3/9/2011

Reviewed By: Chaven

 

Its a good first time scope for beginners to astronomy. One can distinguish Saturn although quite small in the eyepiece (~1 mm in sizewhen viewed at 45x magnification. However the image quality is limited by the amount of light entering the scope, so trying to use a higher magnification didnt help much. Looking at stars was a bit difficult as they appeared faint in the eyepiece. One needs to be as far away from artificial light sources to get improved contrast.

 

It has 2 eyepieces, but you might not be able to look at much with the higher power because you will not have enough light--perhaps it would be used with the moon only. The other eyepiece is going to show everything to be very small--they say Saturn is about a 1mm, which is quite tiny. You will not be able to see much more than a wobble that indicates the rings. You probably will not see much unless you are using it outside the city where the skies are rather dark.

 

This would not be my first choice.

 

Do you have a picnic table to set the scope on? This little scope has TONS of good reviews and only costs a little more:

 

http://www.telescope.com/Telescopes/Dobsonian-Telescopes/Mini-Dobsonians/Orion-StarBlast-45-Astro-Reflector-Telescope/pc/1/c/12/sc/28/p/9814.uts?refineByCategoryId=28#tab-6

 

It has 4.5 inches of light gathering ability, allowing you to use a little higher magnification. It has a red dot finder. It's rather small. But yes, it is more $$...but you do get what you pay for. I'd hate your little person to get frustrated and not use it just because it was hard to use.

 

Also, when you buy, I'd suggest you buy from one of the astronomy retailers. I've had excellent service with optcorp.com. Orion is good as well: telescope.com. Many people in my club order through telescopes.com. These folks can answer your questions about using the scope and problems with your scope that Amazon will not have a clue on how to answer. BTW, prices have gone up since I looked at them last. I don't know if it is because of the economy or because of Christmas. You might want to buy sooner than later.

 

:D

 

If you have any others you are looking at, I'd be willing to evaluate them. Or you can type in the name of the scope plus "review" (i.e. Starblast reviews) and find out what others have to say about them. The astronomy websites usually have people reviewing them who have used telescopes before--which is preferred.

 

Let me know if I can help any more.

Jean

[TrulySusan]

I had an email this week from homeschoolbuyersco-op that they are planning a microscope group buy in early November. I'm planning to see what they have available and maybe get a great scope for a great price. It sounded like they may offer several choices. If nothing is a good fit for us, I have one saved in my Amazon cart.

[TheHomeScientist]

Do you have a picnic table to set the scope on? This little scope has TONS of good reviews and only costs a little more:

 

http://www.telescope.com/Telescopes/Dobsonian-Telescopes/Mini-Dobsonians/Orion-StarBlast-45-Astro-Reflector-Telescope/pc/1/c/12/sc/28/p/9814.uts?refineByCategoryId=28#tab-6

 

It has 4.5 inches of light gathering ability, allowing you to use a little higher magnification. It has a red dot finder. It's rather small. But yes, it is more $$...but you do get what you pay for. I'd hate your little person to get frustrated and not use it just because it was hard to use.

 

Also, when you buy, I'd suggest you buy from one of the astronomy retailers. I've had excellent service with optcorp.com. Orion is good as well: telescope.com. Many people in my club order through telescopes.com. These folks can answer your questions about using the scope and problems with your scope that Amazon will not have a clue on how to answer. BTW, prices have gone up since I looked at them last. I don't know if it is because of the economy or because of Christmas. You might want to buy sooner than later.

 

:D

 

If you have any others you are looking at, I'd be willing to evaluate them. Or you can type in the name of the scope plus "review" (i.e. Starblast reviews) and find out what others have to say about them. The astronomy websites usually have people reviewing them who have used telescopes before--which is preferred.

 

Let me know if I can help any more.

Jean

 

Yes, the StarBlast is an excellent little scope. I've had one for years. It's marketed as a kids' scope, but it's always very popular when we haul it out at observing sessions even when we're surrounded by 10" to 20" Dobs. (I always think it's ironic when we have this $200 scope set up with a $400 eyepiece in it.)

 

The Starblast is marginal for planetary work--it tops out around 100X to 125X maximum useful magnification--but it's great for looking at the moon, star clusters, bright nebulae, and so on. The wide field of view with a low-magnification eyepiece also makes it easy to locate objects.

 

If $199 is too much, Orion also sells a similar model that has a slightly smaller 100mm mirror (versus the 114mm mirror in the Starblast) for only $99. I haven't seen that one, but I suspect it'd be a great first scope for a kid.

[TheHomeScientist]

Oh, yeah, if it's any indication of usefulness, I was able to bag more than 80 of the 110 Messier objects in one evening using just the Starblast. If I'd done it at a better time of year and at a darker site, I don't doubt that I could have bagged at least 100.

[*lifeoftheparty*]

.

[Alessandra]

As to compound (high magnification) microscopes, one excellent choice for elementary students is the National Optical model 109, which is available with your choice of tungsten or LED illumination, and typically sells for about $125 from on-line vendors. The 109 is smaller than standard microscopes, ideal for elementary school kids. It's very solidly built and has decent optics that provide 40X, 100X, and 400X magnification.

 

http://nationaloptical.com/products/compound/models/109-L.html

 

Your son might be better off with a stereo (dissecting) microscope, which operates at lower magnification (typically 10X to 40X) and illuminates specimens from above rather than below. Such scopes are ideal for getting a close-up view of larger objects, such as rocks, leaves, insects, and so on. National Optical offers several suitable models. The least expensive are single magnification. If you go for one of those, I'd recommend 30X. At somewhat higher cost, NO also offers dual-magnification models such as 10X/20X and 20X/40X. I'd recommend the latter. NO doesn't sell directly to individuals, but their products are widely available at competitive prices. HST also offers several suitable stereo microscopes.

 

As to telescopes, there's no quick answer. Dobsonian models offer by far the most bang for the buck, but Alt-Az mounted small refractors are also popular. Avoid buying a "department-store" telescope, which is what most on-line vendors sell. The source I always recommend to beginning astronomers is Orion Telescope and Binocular. Most of their stuff is Chinese, but all of it offers excellent bang for the buck, and they don't sell shoddy products.

 

Before you buy a telescope, I'd recommend that you grab a copy of our book, _Illustrated Guide to Astronomical Wonders_, at the library or bookstore and read the initial chapters on choosing equipment.

 

Home Scientist -- nice to see you here. We have your Illustrated Guide to Home Chemistry Experiments and have watched some of your videos. They are a big help.

[TheHomeScientist]

Home Scientist -- nice to see you here. We have your Illustrated Guide to Home Chemistry Experiments and have watched some of your videos. They are a big help.

 

Thanks for the kind words.

 

I've been lurking here for quite a while, dithering about whether to join and start posting. I didn't for a long time, because I didn't want people to think I was just trying to sell our books and science kits.