Any Astronomy/Telescope buffs out there?

[Deleted]

My son is an astronomy nut and has been using an Orion dobsonian XT4.5 since he was maybe 4 or 5 years old which is a nice scope, but a beginner one.  He's 13 now and I'm contemplating upgrading him for Christmas this year, but I'm pretty clueless about what is a good upgrade.  For sure it will be either an 8 or 10 inch, but not sure about the tracking features.  I can get an 8 with non-motorized tracking for about the same price as a 10 without. 

Anyone out there got any tips? 

[Tennesseer]

Sorry, no tips.  Love astronomy-too much night light in the area though to enjoy the night.  I live vicariously off of Internet pictures.

Is there a planetarium around your area you could contact for advice?

[MarleyKeezy78]

We are looking at a Celistron on Amazon for our six year old for Chritmas. Not familiar with telescopes though as DS has a $25 dollar one from ToysRUs at the moment. I would check Amazon though because you can see them, their info and customer reviews.

[MarleyKeezy78]

There is a really nice Orion 27191 Starblast 6i Intelliscope Reflector Telescope for $499.99 on Amazon. We are looking at that one too. 

[grumpyhermit]

What's your price range? And does he enjoy the hunt, or does he just want to look at stuff? Is he more into planetary viewing or faint fuzzies? All of that will play into what the best scope may be for him.

I had started to research scopes a few years ago when I still lived in a rural area, now I am in the city and light pollution is awful so I have pretty much abandoned the idea.

I like looking, but I don't have the patience for star hopping, so if I do get a scope going forward, it is going to be a motorized go-to mount. I will likely sacrifice aperture to keep the price down. The one I had my eye on was the Celestron 6SE

www.astronomyforum.net/forum.php is a great resource and I spent a LOT of time there when I was researching. Probably too much, as I went into information overload and was unable to make a decision.

[Deleted]

Oct 7, 2015 21:28:07 GMT -5 grumpyhermit said:

What's your price range? And does he enjoy the hunt, or does he just want to look at stuff? Is he more into planetary viewing or faint fuzzies? All of that will play into what the best scope may be for him.

I had started to research scopes a few years ago when I still lived in a rural area, now I am in the city and light pollution is awful so I have pretty much abandoned the idea.

I like looking, but I don't have the patience for star hopping, so if I do get a scope going forward, it is going to be a motorized go-to mount. I will likely sacrifice aperture to keep the price down. The one I had my eye on was the Celestron 6SE

www.astronomyforum.net/forum.php is a great resource and I spent a LOT of time there when I was researching. Probably too much, as I went into information overload and was unable to make a decision.

Not sure on the price range.  It depends on what (and if) his Dad and Grandparents want to chip in.  I was thinking about $600 to get something that's significantly better than what he has...but man, the prices for the go to ones can really get up there.

He doesn't know much about star hopping.  He mostly looks at the planets and moons and uses an app on his phone to figure out where things are.  But, with his scope, I don't think he can see much more than that anyway.  He also likes to take a lot of photos.  Right now he's just doing the cell phone through the eyepiece method with no camera mounts or anything.

I think ideal would be a 10 inch go to, but that's way too spendy and I've read the 10 inch are pretty bulky and heavy for moving around.  He's a big enough kid to be able to handle setting it up and taking it down, but it definitely wouldn't be nearly as portable.  I'll probably sacrifice aperture for portability and to keep it affordable as well.

Then they have the ones that have computerized tracking but you manually move the tube instead of a motor.  That could be a good compromise too to save some money.    Kind of thinking of this one.  I sometimes see it a little cheaper.

www.amazon.com/Orion-10018-IntelliScope-Dobsonian-Telescope/dp/B000P2ZPB2/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1444274432&sr=8-1&keywords=dobsonian+telescope+orion+xt8i

[Deleted]

Oct 7, 2015 17:01:04 GMT -5 Tennesseer said:

Sorry, no tips.  Love astronomy-too much night light in the area though to enjoy the night.  I live vicariously off of Internet pictures.

Is there a planetarium around your area you could contact for advice?

One of his teachers was an instructor in the geology department at the university in our town and is a key holder to the university observatory.  I might send off an email to her and ask her opinion. 

[Deleted]

Also, I agree those astronomy forums can be information overload.  I read a couple threads there and my head is spinning. 

[saveinla]

MPL, save it to your wish list and Amazon will track the price for you and send you updates.

[grumpyhermit]

Another project I came across when I fell down the rabbit hole of information gathering, was to build your own "smart" scope.

Essentially the idea was to take a traditional dob, mount a 360 degree setting circle with angle measures around the base, and then attach a digital angle thing to the body of the scope. The idea is you will then have degree measurements in two dimensions (once aligned to a certain star - typically Polaris) so that you can just go to the "location" of the object you are looking for using a star finding program like Stellarium. There were quite a few threads and projects about it on AF (one guy actually used the XT4.5 and it was adorable).

Obviously this is not going to fully replicate a computerized mount, and some reviews were mixed as to how effective it really was in comparison. However, I am cheap enough, and know how quickly my attention span shifts, that the idea of not spending a ton on a hobby I wasn't sure I would stick with was appealing.

Speaking of Stellarium, if you don't already have that I highly recommend it. There is actually a functionality within the software that lets you simulate different common scopes and eyepieces (provided you have all the technical info on them - which you can usually obtain from the manufactures website), so that you can see an approximate "view" of the object. The one BIG caveat is that you pretty much have to ignore the color in the program, as you will almost never see that in the scope itself.

[Abby Normal]

MPL- once again confirming that we have the same child.

My FIL built a telescope years ago and gave it to DS.  It's really cool.  There is a website where you can take a picture of a section of space.  DS did it for his astronomy MB.  I can't remember the name- but I can ask him if you think your DS would like to mess with it.

[grumpyhermit]

This thread is reminding me of why I was never able to make a decision the first time I looked into this hobby.

The temptation to succumb to project creep is great. "Well if I just spend a little more...."

The general rule of thumb is "buy as much aperture as you can afford", but the second is "a small scope you actually use is better than a big one that just sits around collecting dust."



The ten inch dobs are not unsubstantial, and I knew there are full grown adults that find them unwieldy.

[Deleted]

Holy cow!  I thought our 4.5 was decent sized.  I did know the 10" was one where you had to haul the base and tube out separately and each of the pieces were in the 30+ pound rating, but I didn't quite consider the size as far as bulk factor.  My son is a big kid (at least 5'8") and can lift a lot more than I can, but it might take the fun factor out a bit. 

Abby Normal - If you could find out that website I'll show it to DS. 

[Tennesseer]

One of my favorite space photos, a Hubble Deep Field shot of just distant galaxies.  Just galaxies from one tiny area of space.  The galaxies seem so close to each other yet are thousands and millions of light years between each one.


 

[Deleted]

Oct 8, 2015 13:32:34 GMT -5 Tennesseer said:

One of my favorite space photos, a Hubble Deep Field shot of just distant galaxies.  Just galaxies from one tiny area of space.  The galaxies seem so close to each other yet are thousands and millions of light years between each one.


 

We were just looking at this picture (or something similar) recently.   I remember it made me feel really...insignificant.  Sure puts things in perspective anyhow. 

[Abby Normal]

minnesotapaintlady   It's skynetjuniorscholars.org

[NastyWoman]

Oct 8, 2015 7:05:04 GMT -5 deminmaine said:

This is OT, but.....

The moon is aligned with three planets in the early morning sky right now- Venus, Mars, and Jupiter.  A neat thing to see, and visible with the naked eye.  Mars even has a winking reddish glow to it.  I imagine with a telescope it is that much cooler to see the planets.  I don't have one, but tomorrow (or SAT- I think it is cloudy here tomorrow) I will see if binocs have enough resolution to see anything more.  They were neat with the eclipse.

To keep this OT:
-note-When the moon is in the Seventh House
And Jupiter aligns with Mars
Then peace will guide the planets
And love will steer the stars