How to give advice about buying a telescope for the "Kids"?

[marlind]

Okay it is that time of year again. Pepole know that you are into Astronomy and ask the question - Mark What is a good telescoe to buy?. I ask how much do you want to spend? They answer oh about $100 or so. I say by a good book and a pair of binoculars. Some have already purchased this great telescope and want me to show them how to use it. What can we do about people buying this kind of stuff and educating the public before they get these department store telescopes?

[Radar]

Thats a hard one Mark. I think most parents buy this stuff impulsively.

I agree that a pair of bino's and an astronomy book would be a better investment.

I think a good way to get this message out there would be for the major telescope manufacturers to get some of their entry level stuff into these same department stores. Then when parents are looking at buying these cheap scopes, they will at least see that there are much more expensive telescopes available, and hopefully they will be able to make the mental leap that these $100 scopes are el cheapos.

The boxes on these $100 scopes don't help much either. All over the boxes are pics of deep space objects and close ups of planets and wording like
800 magnification.

Shame this stuff is out there because it has the potential to put people off astronomy.

Welcome to MyAstroSpace mate :thumbsupmate:

[CanisMajorTom]

Hi Marlind, yes it is that time of year again where more money will get spent on these useless scopes than gets spent by the amataer astro commiunity in an entire year.

I look at the for sale section in the papers every week and always keep an eye on what scopes are for sale. Early January there are simply heaps of cheap scopes for sale that people are trying to get rid of. I think in the end people stop trying to sell them and just bin them. I guess it is better for parents to buy a cheap scope though rather than a unwanted pet.

[Radar]

These cheap little scopes can always be used as garden ornaments :nana:

[Robert TG]

As a child my brother had a pair of "Hop-a-Long Cassidy" binoculars complete with pictures of the cowboy hero and Indians stenciled on them. They were great, I could see the moon up close and it was all that was needed to spark my first interest in Astronomy.

As hard as I tried, my eyes and binoculars could never match the beautiful photos I've seen in the astronomy magazines.

So, what I'm saying is even a cheap scope will create the interest in the childs mind to learn more. The magazines will fire the interest even further.

[CanisMajorTom]

So, what I'm saying is even a cheap scope will create the interest in the childs mind to learn more. The magazines will fire the interest even further.

I agree with this.

Though even with those cheap scopes, you can see the rings of Saturn or Jupiter's moons. They are a good starting point for youngens.

[rocketman]

As everyone will tell you, those cheap scopes are hobby killers-they are very frustrating.You take 15 minutes to find mars as a fuzzy red blob then lose it 15 seconds later not to be found again in a hurry because of the crappy stiff mounts.I had such a cheap scope as a kid(at least it had a metal tube and quarter useable eyepieces).It was totally useless for anything astro, but was fun to look at distant terrestrial objects.I only realised how useless it was when looking at Halley's comet in 1986-the view through the 35mm camera eyepiece with a 500 f/5 old takumar left my childhood telescope for dead.When it became apparent that my son was interested in astronomy it rekindled my old interest.The advice of buying a pair of good binoculars($100 is not really quite enough) and a subscription to sky and space magazine is sound.Another way of introducing the younguns to astronomy is to take them to one of the private observatories in dark skies as part of a trip to the countryside.Seeing the splendour of the Milky Way in full glory is something that is sure to astound and stimulate. All the private observatories we have visited have been inexpensive and child friendly.Astronomy 2007 has a list of the private observatories as well as being the "bible" .

rocketman