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Telescopes for kids stargazing not me boobie gazing

Stuck

In Hell
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May 20, 2020
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As the title says. Im looking for a decent telescope for the kids (5ish) to check out the moon, planets and other heavenly bodies (again not boobs). I have a nice older -60x swarovski spotting scope that we've used but i want some bigger (larger objective]and easier for the kids to use. I looked at a used celstron which seems to be a good commercial brand, but it was huge like 5" tall and 18' around and they wanted over 2k for it. Might go that route but with my luck the kids will use it once and then it will just be taking up room. I would like something easily transportable, in the $3-500 range for now, and be able to see saturns rings. We were up at the farmhouse last month and drove up to the PA wilds to see the comet. Telescope would have been cool to take. So whatcha got, what do you like about it, what features should I look for.
 
There are many ways to answer this question.

First I will say, get this book.


This book is a back up.


You have to learn what a small scope is really capable of.
Seeing Saturns rings. Yes you can see them.
To get any color at all in any planet you look at requires a pretty big scope.
Reading the first book will help you understand what a small scope is really capable of and help you choose what you want.
 
I had a friend with a Celestron scope with this computerized setup. It locates your position, time of year, etc, and will automatically find what you want to see in its catalog of 40,000 items. It also has an informational app so you can search and learn for things on your IPad or computer.

I’m sure other companies offer similar setups. But I thought this might be interesting info and a good place to start.



The closest I’ve gotten to this is using my Vortex Razor 27-60x by 85mm spotting scope to look at the moon and random stuff I think might be a ufo. Not the greatest clarity for astronomy. Awesome for hunting and bird watching though.
 
deadmeat said:
There are many ways to answer this question.

First I will say, get this book.


This book is a back up.


You have to learn what a small scope is really capable of.
Seeing Saturns rings. Yes you can see them.
To get any color at all in any planet you look at requires a pretty big scope.
Reading the first book will help you understand what a small scope is really capable of and help you choose what you want.
Click to expand...

Do you have a recommendation on a book like these but for boobies? :flipoff2:
 
GarScramb said:
Do you have a recommendation on a book like these but for boobies? :flipoff2:
Click to expand...
1730918831095.png
 
My little brother had a pretty good telescope

he would spend forever on the back deck getting it focused on the moon, run it and say he had it, and the moon would move before then family could get a look at it

different story
they moved to a new home, I was out of the house, he would have been 12 or so
I walked into his bedroom to say hi to him (and usually take my CDs back that he stole) his telescope was in the window, I just looked into it because it was there without touching it
He had that thing perfectly centered into the cute neighbor girls bedroom window that was clear over at the next farm:laughing:
I said nothing, the kept the conversation going
 
SomeGuyFromOlympia said:
My little brother had a pretty good telescope

he would spend forever on the back deck getting it focused on the moon, run it and say he had it, and the moon would move before then family could get a look at it

different story
they moved to a new home, I was out of the house, he would have been 12 or so
I walked into his bedroom to say hi to him (and usually take my CDs back that he stole) his telescope was in the window, I just looked into it because it was there without touching it
He had that thing perfectly centered into the cute neighbor girls bedroom window that was clear over at the next farm:laughing:
I said nothing, the kept the conversation going
Click to expand...
Windows don't move like the moon.
 
GarScramb said:
Windows don't move like the moon.
Click to expand...
:laughing:
I know


It was shocking how fast the moon would move out of view, and how lone it took to chase it down in the optics
Those electric gizmos look like they might be worth the money if that is your thing
 
Just to set expectations, I did the same when daughter was young, thought it would be cool. Spent maybe $3-400. The moon looks cool through it. Every thing else…just looks like bigger white stars that you already see.

The awesome photos that NASA shows, you won’t be seeing that.

Yeah, could see Saturn rings, or moons around planets. But not sandstorms on Mars.

It is frustrating too, looking up see a big star and go to look at, now through the telescope there are a thousand more that you couldn’t see before, so never could find the one you originally picked out.

We thought it was cooler to find constellations, obviously Orion’s Belt is easy, so is Big Dipper. But the great square, seven sisters. Was more fun to find those and no telescope is needed.
 
Maybe My telescope I got was cheap or something, but when I was youngish I got one for Christmas to look at the stars and all, and light pollution was a big deal. Even if you're in the country but have a bunch of yard lights and all at night, It seemed to be an issue for the one I had. I also didn't have any neighbors within sight distance with or without telescope to be scoping boobs with :flipoff2:
 
Hooligan said:
We thought it was cooler to find constellations, obviously Orion’s Belt is easy, so is Big Dipper. But the great square, seven sisters. Was more fun to find those and no telescope is needed.
Click to expand...

I spent a few months camping out and got an app that you point your phone at the sky and it has augmented reality to outline the constellations. After a few nights I could easily find some of the more difficult ones I never knew before. Over time on that trip, watching the stars sort of changed my perspective on my place in the universe as each night I could see that the view of the sky had shifted several degrees and I became more aware of the fact that I was riding on the surface of a sphere flying through space.
 
What Hooligan said....plus....

Depending on the strength of the eye piece; once you find, say the moon, you have to keep tracking it due to the rotation of the earth and moon. You'll see it for a bit, but it will quickly pass the optic viewer until you find it again. Now, if you get one of the newer computerized upper end ones, I believe you can lock onto your target, and it will track it for you.
 
One of the celestron ones I was looking at has the auto tracking. Its 114mm around $350 and the 130mm is another hundredish. They are newtonian style(reflector style) scopes. You can either download an app on your phone set it on top and it will record the visible stars to determine your location and the give you a selection of whats visible in that part of the sky. You pick what you want to see and it auto adjusts to that object. Or you can just punch in the coordinates manually. Pretty fucking cool to me. Now if you can punch in the boob size you prefer and it lists the neighbors that you can pick from to zoom into Im sold.
 
I put a phoneskope on my spotter for the GoPro.

You can see, take pictures, etc. Without touching the tripod and shaking shit. Just use the phone app and remote control it, or look at the live view with a tablet, etc.


If they get bored of that then I'd consider a real telescope. My kids used the spotter to see craters, took a few pictures, and were bored and moved on.
 
I’ve tried to do this for my kid back in the day and it was always a better idea than in practice.
 
GonPostal said:
What Hooligan said....plus....

Depending on the strength of the eye piece; once you find, say the moon, you have to keep tracking it due to the rotation of the earth and moon. You'll see it for a bit, but it will quickly pass the optic viewer until you find it again. Now, if you get one of the newer computerized upper end ones, I believe you can lock onto your target, and it will track it for you.
Click to expand...
This is impossible because the earth is flat.
 
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