New telescope

[moeferg]

I just bought for my 9 year old the Galileo 800mm-80mm Newtonian Reflector Telescope. He is interesetd and I thought this scope priced at $100 would be a good start for him. WHat kind of things will we be able to see with this type ofscope. Mars, jupiter, saturn, nebulas????

Please don't flame, I am new to this.....

[redshifter]

Do you have a link to the scope? It sounds like it's an 80mm mirror with an 800mm focal lenght. 80mm isn't much aperature for a reflector. How is the mount? Is it stable? How is it setting up? If this was an Xmas gift, you might not know the answers yet :) As far as what you can see with it, the moon will look very nice. Jupiter will show a couple cloud belts (maybe up to 4 on a very clear night from a dark sky site). Saturn's rings will be visible. You might be able to see an ice cap on Mars (again, on a very clear night). For deep sky objects, you should be able to see most if not all Messier objects. A good resource to start with would be Turn Left at Orion. It's a great 'beginner' book. Also, Nightwatch is a good starter book as well.

What eyepeices came with that scope? That might be a good first upgrade - higher quality eyepeices.

[slotdrag]

I have a 76mm by 700mm celestron reflector scope. so its a little smaller than yours. i have seen four bands on juipter. The rings of saturn. Also neptune and uranus. the dumbell nebula. Alberio a doudle star. getting away from city lights and under dark country sky's make a big difference. good eyepeices also help.

[moeferg]

Thanks for the great info... We live out aways from town and we really don't get bothered much by city lights....Alot of nights, we can see the milky way with the naked eye....

Here is some info I found out about it....

Galileo 800mm x 80mm New Age Newtonian Reflector Telescope

• Telescope Type: Reflector A mirror-based telescope that operates by reflecting light into focus. This design is mainly for astronomical viewing because it inverts the image and provides a large light grasp for high contrast and resolution.
• Finderscope: Mars Eye A red dot is focused on the night sky and you can move the telescope to position the red dot on the object you want to look at so it is perfectly centered in the field.
• Focal Length: 800 mm
• Eyepieces: F8 Through F16-mm Zoom, 20-mm, 1.5X Erecting
Key Specs:

• Model Number: FS-85MOHDX
• Tripod: Pre-Assembled Metal Tripod
• Barlow Lens: 3X
• Rack and Pinion Focusing: Yes

[moeferg]

PS - Will I be able to distinguish any color??

[JohnW]

PS - Will I be able to distinguish any color??
Yes, in planets and double stars, but not in galaxies and nebulae. This would be true even if you had a much larger scope. The human eye needs a lot of light to see colours.