Buying a Telescope as a
Christmas Present
It’s
that time of year again. Burnt turkey, chimney fires and family rows: Christmas
can go wrong.
One common mistake you can avoid,
though, is killing someone’s budding astronomy interest with the wrong
telescope.
Having
bought scopes for my daughter, run astronomy evenings at the local Cubs and star
parties at a local dark sky site, I’ve got some idea
what works in a beginner’s telescope. Here are some seasonal guidelines and
recommendations based on those experiences.
I
will work through some basics to let you make an informed choice. Alternatively,
if you’re pushed for time, skip straight to my recommendations.
What
Makes a Good Beginner’s Scope?
Six
things:
1) Wide
field of view
2) Good
finder
3) Simple,
stable mount
4) Good
optics
5) A
smooth focuser that takes 1.25” accessories
6) Quality
eyepieces and diagonal
Let’s
briefly look at each in turn.
1) Wide Field of View
A telescope’s maximum field of view (the amount of sky you
can see) is not down to the diameter of its lens or mirror, but its focal
length (same as a camera lens). You’ll find this somewhere on the tube or box.
Stick to telescopes with a focal length under about 700mm to show
a large area of sky and make finding things easier.
2) Good finder
Simple red dot finders are best for beginners because they
are easy to align and use. Avoid optical finders with plastic brackets: they
never keep their alignment and are frustrating to use.
3) Simple, stable mount
A simple up-down (alt-azimuth) mount, preferably with slow
motion controls, on a good, lightweight tripod is ideal for a beginner. Avoid
fancy GOTO mounts, which can be frustratingly hard to set-up.
4) Good optics
Stick to major brands like Skywatcher,
Celestron and Meade. Avoid scopes under 50mm aperture
and especially toy telescopes like these which can have plastic lenses:
5) A smooth focuser
that takes 1.25” accessories
The focuser should have a metal tube and an opening of at
least 1.25” (not 0.965”).
6) Quality eyepieces
and diagonal
Look for quality eyepieces, with metal barrels and proper coatings,
that give low to moderate magnifications: 10mm to 40mm are ideal.
My Recommendation
That’s it for my six buyers’ guidelines. Let’s get specific
(at last, I hear you say!)
This is my overall top recommendation:
Skywatcher Startravel-80 (or Startravel-102)
This is a small refractor (lens telescope) with a wide field
of view on a simple alt-azimuth or basic equatorial mount. It comes bundled
with quality accessories and meets all my six criteria. The 102mm version is
even better, but not much more expensive. I’d enjoy using either setup myself.
It should cost about £260.
Later on, it’s easy to start doing basic astrophotography and
you can even use it for nature viewing/photography as well.
Other Recommended
Options
On a tighter budget, I have heard good things about Celestron’s Travel Scope 70 (but absolutely not the Travel
Scope 50, which has issues that I’ve described elsewhere on this site) and
other similar small Celestrons, like the Power
Seeker.
If you must have GOTO, I recommend Meade’s EXT80 (NOT the
ETX90 which is a very different scope with a small field of view). But be
prepared to learn how to align it yourself before you give it as a present.
Dobsonians (‘Dobs’) can be good for older children, perhaps
those with a more serious interest from a previous smaller scope. Skywatcher’s ‘Skyliner’ Dobsonians (130mm, 150mm or 200mm) are all an excellent
choice. The tiny Celestron Firstscope
isn’t a bad budget choice – it’s a tiny Dob’.
Amazon can be a good place to buy
thanks to their extended Christmas returns in case there’s a problem (I can
recommend other major photo’ retailers like Wex too):
Buy Sky-Watcher Startravel-80 (EQ-1) Short-Tube Achromatic Refractor from Amazon here:
Buy Sky-Watcher Startravel-102 (AZ-3) Short-Tube Achromatic Refractor from Wex here:
For some good alternatives, check these out:
Merry Christmas 2022 from Scope Views!
(If you do head out after Christmas lunch to try out a new
scope, be sure to check out planets Jupiter and Saturn, both low and bright the
southern sky in late afternoon and Mars which is especially high and bright this
Christmas!)