MnAstro Forums

Hi all
Looking for some advice on a Christmas gift for our 11 year old daughter. She loves science and has long wanted a telescope to view the night sky. We can spend around $500. No need for picture taking or anything fancy. Needs to be easy to use and portable enough to take to cabin or camping where sky is very dark. We live outside the city so would also use at home since not so many lights.

Ease of use is important as she will be setting up and primary user. She is very good at figuring mechanical things out so I am sure she could do this with a little help from us. I have been reading up on telescopes but there is so much out there that it is challenging to land on something. Do we need a “go to “ scope? Seems like this takes out some of the challenge and fun.

Any help would be appreciated so I can get something ordered in time for Christmas. Thanks so much.

Trena has an Orion Newt with goto that was in the $600 range. Nice scope she still uses. You could save a little money with a smaller aperture.

My best advice is to check out some of the scopes from the loaner program to determine size and type that works for how you want to use. I know that doesn't help much for this xmas.

As with Dave, my general recommendation for a first scope is a Dob. It used to be that the 8" Orion SkyQuest Dob fit perfectly around $400, but... inflation. Now it's more like $650. If you go down to a 6" aperture you get to around $400 which leaves some room in the budget for necessary accessories.

Now, the Dobs are simple to set up and use, are relatively light because the tube is essentially open with just the heavier primary mirror in the back and the lighter secondary mirror and focuser in the front. But they are a bit large and bulky. Also at this price range they aren't computerized. But manually finding and guiding is the best way to quickly learn the night sky.

If you want computerized, the prices go up quickly. However if you are happy to use the electronics intelligence in your smart phone, I've become a bit of a fan of the Celestron Starsense Explorer series. They use your phone as an electronic finder, and they work well in all but the worst light pollution. There is a 130mm (5") reflector in the line that is about $400. Don't get the two cheapest ones in the series as the mount on those is really light and shaky.

For the most compact tube to make carrying it around easier, there is a newer model in the line, the StarSense Explorer DX 5, a 5" SCT that also uses the smart phone Starsense Explorer app. https://www.celestron.com/products/popu ... rer-dx-5in That one is $500 and includes a red dot finder to help with initial alignment, a diagonal and a 25mm and 10mm eyepiece.

Earlier I'd purchased the least expensive refractor in the line, made an adapter for the smart phone bracket to use with my larger Dob and also for a 5" SCT OTA I bought used. I also took the 80mm refractor tube from it, put a dovetail on it and use it with a heavier alt-az mount. The tube is surprisingly good, and as I said above, the app is reliable. I just didn't use the lightweight mount. The 5" SCT OTA on alt-az mount and StarSense bracket has become my favorite grab-and-go scope.

So, bottom line - Dave has some good advice - check out the MAS loaners first to see what she'd like. But if you must buy a gift right away, a Dob is a good value. And if not a Dob, a scope on a good and steady alt-az mount is best to start out with as compared to a lightweight equatorial mount which can be confusing to deal with at first, and lightweight ones are not very steady and get frustrating pretty quickly.

Also, 130mm (5") is probably the minimum aperture you want unless you are going with a refractor. Even 5" is a bit small as 6" or larger is better for deep sky objects. Smaller aperture is fine for the Moon, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn and some of the larger open star clusters.

Edit/addition: Throughout the past few years we've gad similar discussions on this forum, and various members have presented on selecting scopes in BSIG meetings. One I did in Feb 2020 can be found here: viewtopic.php?f=5&t=11473

These articles are good: https://skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-e ... elescopes/

Read what not to buy: https://skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-e ... ot-to-buy/

I am a fan of the Orion Starblast 6 but I wish the base was smaller. Its still takes up significant room on a camping trip. The starsense looks interesting. If the slow motion controls work well it could be the a good choice too.

Thank you all for the input, it has been really helpful. We were looking at constellations last night in northern WI and the sky was clear and lit up with stars. Will be great with a telescope! I think we will also gift her with a membership to this organization. Have a wonderful holiday season all!

Hi all,
After much reading and viewing your video-thanks for the link Steve, we are landing on the Starsense explorer 102 refractor. One last question is whether there is anywhere local in the twin cities that sells telescopes? I prefer that over mail order but I could only find Best Buy who doesn’t sell the refractor at this price point. Barring that, any suggestions on a reputable mail order? Thanks.

The best customer service and delivery is High Point Scientific. The MAS orders nearly all components and equipment from them. They always answer our questions. They are simply there when we need them.

https://www.highpointscientific.com/

Mark

Newby wrote: ↑Sat Dec 04, 2021 8:44 am ... One last question is whether there is anywhere local in the twin cities that sells telescopes? I prefer that over mail order but I could only find Best Buy who doesn’t sell the refractor at this price point. Barring that, any suggestions on a reputable mail order? Thanks.

Unfortunately, there are no longer any dedicated shops in Minnesota. Radio City (ham radio + amateur astronomy) was the last one but Dan Fish retired some time ago. He moved his remaining inventory to Pioneer Cycle, but now it appears they've quit as there are none on their web site.

Our marketplace place has a couple of used ones.

Resurrecting this thread, as it was referenced this year (2022, approaching the holiday season).

For a relatively inexpensive gift telescope, the Astronomers Without Borders OneSky 5" (130mm) tabletop reflector shows to again be in stock. Its current price is $250 which is still quite a bargain.https://shop.astronomerswithoutborders. ... -telescope

The same scope is also available as a Sky Watcher scope, but at a higher price ($310), so the AWB version is really a bargain.https://www.highpointscientific.com/sky ... Y4QAvD_BwE