Don't Buy a Child a Telescope!Apr 09 '01 (Updated Apr 11 '01) Write an essay on this topic.
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The Bottom Line Choose binoculars and a good book to learn a bit about astronomy before purchasing a department or camera store telescope under US$200, or a computerized GOTO telescope for children.
That's right, I said don't buy a child a telescope. There doesn't exist a telescope that is really of any value, other than for the imagination, designed for a child under 12 years. When we get them, they may spark an interest, and certainly a night, maybe two or more of observing the moon, maybe even Jupiter or Venus, but mostly they collect dust. Why? a. Because department & camera store telescopes are ALL toys that are of very little use for viewing anything except the moon ("real" telescopes cost more than US$200), b. Until you have gained some experience, there is really very little to "see" in the sky that a child can't see with his or her own eyes, or with the assistance of a pair of binoculars, c. It's much more satisfying for a child to "learn" astronomy in stages than to be disappointed and discouraged by a cheap optical instrument. Unfortunately today's light polluted urban and suburban skies are no help to any beginning astronomer. But the news isn't all bad. Any budding astronomer, of any age, will be best served with a reasonable quality pair of binoculars of (e.g. 7 x 50 or 10 x 50 power) and a good book like: Turn Left at Orion by Consolmagno & David (good for any age, but particularly useful for kids of 9 years & up - meant for small telescope owners, but also useful for binoculars) A Skywatcher's Year by Jeff Kanipe (good for tweens through adult) There are more books out there, look specifically for titles indicating Binocular or Naked Eye astronomy. That's not to say that an imaginative child won't turn a department store or camera store telescope into a life-long interest in the stars, but the likelihood is much greater that they will be disappointed and the "scope" will find a dark corner of the closet until it's garage sale time. What everyone harps on is that the optics of cheap telescopes (particularly refractors under 3" in diameter) and their attendant eyepieces are horrible. But it's not just the optics(in fact they can be fairly good instruments to view the moon's surface for the first time. THE reason I suggest not purchasing these toy scopes as a first telescope is that most people initially expect to see a lot more than you can, based on the "Hubble" and other pictures we see of "Deep Space Objects" in magazines, the Internet and television. Most people don't realize that much of what we see in pictures can't actually be observed, even with the more sophisticated land-based telescopes, using non-photographic methods of observation. I will suggest that the most satisfaction in the hobby is to be gained by first "learning" one's way around the sky. Start by looking upwards and being able to recognize constellations (they are so large they don't fit into a telescope view anyway). Most children (and adults) find it more comfortable if their back is supported at an angle or horizontally (i.e. lie on the ground, or in a comfy lawn chair). The moon is a good target both with the naked eye and with binoculars. Start with the naked eye, then look at it through binoculars, and then back again to see if you can recognize regions in each. Most observers will find that their observing power gets better the way. Next comes identifying the naked eye planets, some are so bright in the sky that you may have mistaken them for stars! I suggest moving forward while learning about specific deeper space and star formations (and how they can chart the "life" of a star, its galaxy or our universe). It is very rewarding both for parent and the child to learn together, and much more rewarding to gaze skyward and say "see, that is the big dipper" and "there goes a satellite" than it is to strain awkwardly over a very small fragile telescope and say "See that indistinct hazy ball of fuzz? It's Andromeda. No wait, that's an out-of-focus street light across the way." You would be surprised at how many people (including adults) will go up to a telescope and say "oh yes!" when in fact they haven't seen anything because they're too embarrassed to admit that they haven't had their eye positioned over the eyepiece properly (it's not easy for a beginner). A good set of binoculars is a relatively high quality economical optical instrument, easy to hold with two steady hands, easy to swing about the sky at a moments notice, with the added bonus of being easier to use since it has two "eyepieces". The books suggested above will point you to objects observable with binoculars at different times of the year. Keep in mind too that unless astronomy is your hobby, impatience is the bane of your audience. Children, especially, hate waiting while you set up a tripod, position the telescope and fidn what you want to observe ..... You can whip in and out of the house on a cold clear night in a moment's notice with a pair of binoculars. But you say "I can now buy a computerized "GOTO" scope and it will make it so much easier to "Find" everything for my child to see." Not particularly so, one must spend a lot of money on aperature (telescope size) and a good location (with dark skies) in order to make an appreciable improvement over "binocular" views. Also, particularily in a child's case, you could be robbing them of the opportunity to "learn" the sky by letting a computer do the work. WARNING: Please teach your child never to look at the sun, either with their own eyes or any sort of optical instrument, even if they think it is safe or someone (like a teacher) tells them it is safe to do so. NO child should be instructed to observe the sun directly, even with a proper and approved filter. Why? Because it is too tempting for children to "sneak a peek", too easy for filters to fail, and any exposure could result in irtreparable damage to young eyes. Children should only observe the sun, and sun phenomena (like eclipses) on television, or by "projected" viewing (where an image of the sun - such as through a pin hole - is projected onto an opaque reflective surface, always facing in the opposite direction away from the sun (and under expert supervision, of course). Wishing you dark skies tonight! Wayne Powell Moderator of the International Meade LX90 Users Group www.yahoogroups.com/group/lx90 The Meade LX90 is an 8" diameter medium aperature Schmidt-Cassegrain computerized GOTO telescope.  |
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