Need advice

[Tiny]

Hi guys
Recently, I am planning to purchase a telescope as a Christmas gift to my niece. Last year, I promised her that I'll buy her one, but I broke the promise. I was thinking about giving her a old telescope (about 2 years old), but that one has bad resolution. So I am planning to buy a new one to her. The one that I had is part of the celeron powerseeker series... since I personally like powerseeker series, so I am planning to buy the new model to her, I mean powerseekers 120 or 130 something like that..., so my question is should I buy this one or is there any other kind of telescope better than this one? Oh, she is just a beginner.

Thanks and have a nice day!

[aurora]

Is there a particular reason you have decided against a Dobsonian?

Read some of the other threads in this topic.

[redshifter]

How old is your niece? If she's under 5, I'd go with the 4.5" dob from Orion, if she's 6 or so or older, I'd go with the 6" dob from Orion. Both of those will be more expensive than a cheapo Wal mart scope, but will be infinitely more stable and useable. I suggest the 4.5" if she's very young simple so she can have ownership of the scope, IOW she can take it out herself if she wanted to without necessarily needed to wait for Dad or someone else to help her eveytime she wanted to take her scope out.

[mugaliens]

I couldn't afford a decent telescope, so I shopped for the clearest, most light-amplifying binoculars I could find. They cost me about $90 and I can see Saturn's rings, unbelievalbe details of the Moon, Mars, Uranus, and even strange blinking lights in the sky, which, if I'm not mistaken, are airliners!

[Arneb]

Tiny, the December issue of Sky and Telescope. has a long article about beginners' scopes (all under US$ 200). The three that finish best are all Dobsons, although there is one decent refractor.

If your niece doesn't go into Deeps-Sky astrophotography right away, a Dobson is probably the best value for money.

[fluffysnob]

I agree with mugaliens. You can see lots of interesting stuffs using a binoculars.

I think it will be a better idea if you give her a pair of binoculars first. An 8x50 is good enough for her to see dimmer stars (up to magnitude 10), and some of the bright nebulae and all of the Messier objects (Messier used a 2-inch telescope in creating his catalog).

Plus, it is portable. She doesn't have to struggle understanding complex coordinate systems in using binoculars. Your niece can just point and shoot it anywhere, and forcus of course. She can take it anywhere she goes (she doesn't have to look for any big person who can carry the telescope for her), and even show deep sky objects to her friends. You can also put a strap on it so she can wear it around her neck and at won't break just in case she accidentally drops it.

Perhaps, when she grows older, and has already learned celestial mechanics using the different coordinate systems, she will be ready for a more serious telescope. ^_^

[Dave Mitsky]

Charles Messier used quite a variety of telescopes over the years, a number of them having apertures larger than 50mm.

http://www.obspm.fr/messier/xtra/history/m-scopes.html

Dave Mitsky