Any Astronomers in the forum?

[Asbo Zaprudder]

In the UK, goto scopes start around £200 ($320), for example:

http://www.scopesnskies.com/prod/SkyWatcher/starter-scope/refractor/70a.html

http://www.scopesnskies.com/prod/skywatcher/telescopes/1145pm-synscan.html

http://www.scopesnskies.com/prod/meade/starter-scope/refractor/etx80.html

http://www.scopesnskies.com/prod/Meade/starter-scope/refractor/80NA.html

 

[Owain Taggart]

Yeah, you have to be careful about what you buy. Realistically, you're going to want to at least spend $200 on the scope itself, not counting eyepieces. My Dad makes telescopes by hand and sells them internationally. He's quite well-known for that and has a good reputation, having started his business to make affordable scopes for beginners. Canadian made, with all parts made in Canada.

I bought myself a little scope awhile back. It's the Skywatcher Heritage 130P, a 5" Collapsible Dob, and it was well-received, having great reviews. It was heralded as one of the best beginner scopes on the market. Terrence Dickinson, a renown expert who wrote Nightwatch, when he reviewed it said something to the effect that "finally, someone gets it and actually makes a beginner scope that isn't frustrating to use."

 

[Asbo Zaprudder]

Yeah, that one looks pretty decent for £130 ($200):

http://www.bristolcameras.co.uk/p-skywatcher-heritage-130p-flextube-telescope.htm

 

[Darth Picardous]

For those who would know, is there such a thing as a cheap beginner-level telescope with a star tracker?

Yep, it called a cheap-arse equitorial mount and using your right hand to rotate the RA knob to match Earth's rotation.

Sorry dude, it just brings back memories as a kid having Saturn at 400x and trying to follow it without a motor.

In essence unless you are doing photography or looking for keen details on planets like Mars, tracking objects isn't that crucial.

 

[Darth Picardous]

Yeah, you have to be careful about what you buy. Realistically, you're going to want to at least spend $200 on the scope itself, not counting eyepieces. My Dad makes telescopes by hand and sells them internationally. He's quite well-known for that and has a good reputation, having started his business to make affordable scopes for beginners. Canadian made, with all parts made in Canada.

I bought myself a little scope awhile back. It's the Skywatcher Heritage 130P, a 5" Collapsible Dob, and it was well-received, having great reviews. It was heralded as one of the best beginner scopes on the market. Terrence Dickinson, a renown expert who wrote Nightwatch, when he reviewed it said something to the effect that "finally, someone gets it and actually makes a beginner scope that isn't frustrating to use."

Are you saying your father uses glass blanks made in Canada also to make the mirror? Just some fussy astronomers will use nothing less than German quality glass from Schott or similar for their mirrors! I'm sure your father gets requests for 1/32 wave finishes on his mirrors when they aren't required!

 

[trampledamage]

Thanks for all the advice and suggestions. I've been looking around here in Saskatoon and I haven't round a astronomy store yet, but the Astronomy association rent telescopes, so I'm now thinking of maybe renting one for a while see how she enjoys it.

Unfortunately, Christmas doesn't exactly have decent temperatures for outdoor night sky viewing in Canada!

 

[Asbo Zaprudder]

You can also rent time on remote fairly large telescopes and view the results on your computer. Probably not that interesting or stimulating for a 7-year old 'though.

http://www.lightbuckets.com/

http://www.global-rent-a-scope.com/

http://www.cherrymountainobservatory.com/rentscopes.html

 

[Owain Taggart]

Yeah, that one looks pretty decent for £130 ($200):

http://www.bristolcameras.co.uk/p-skywatcher-heritage-130p-flextube-telescope.htm

Yeah, I've gotten some great viewing out of it. The images are crystal clear. The only thing is, it's a bit small, so I have to prop it up if I want any height out of it. But I brought it out to a star party that was held at a school where many children had a chance to look through it. They were all very amazed at the moon. I love hearing cries of amazement. It means you're doing something right. So, I like the fact that it's also low and I can set it on the ground for someone short. Well worth the money and quite a good bargain for that price range.

 

[Owain Taggart]

Yeah, you have to be careful about what you buy. Realistically, you're going to want to at least spend $200 on the scope itself, not counting eyepieces. My Dad makes telescopes by hand and sells them internationally. He's quite well-known for that and has a good reputation, having started his business to make affordable scopes for beginners. Canadian made, with all parts made in Canada.

I bought myself a little scope awhile back. It's the Skywatcher Heritage 130P, a 5" Collapsible Dob, and it was well-received, having great reviews. It was heralded as one of the best beginner scopes on the market. Terrence Dickinson, a renown expert who wrote Nightwatch, when he reviewed it said something to the effect that "finally, someone gets it and actually makes a beginner scope that isn't frustrating to use."

Are you saying your father uses glass blanks made in Canada also to make the mirror? Just some fussy astronomers will use nothing less than German quality glass from Schott or similar for their mirrors! I'm sure your father gets requests for 1/32 wave finishes on his mirrors when they aren't required!

Actually, I just realized that my earlier answer is a bit more complicated than that. One thing to realize as a telescope maker is that our sources constantly change depending on availability, so while blanks may have been available from Canada at one point in time for us, we've had to change suppliers since, but other than that, everything is done locally, including the coating process. We have a local guy who does that for us, and he does get plenty of requests for those types of mirrors. This guy has recoated the mirrors for the Vatican Observatory and has quite a reputation for being very good.

At one point, in the early days of the business, my Dad would buy slabs of glass and cut out the blanks and grind them himself, but it eventually became too time consuming a process.

My Advice would be to go to a local club meeting, see what people have and have a look through them to get an idea for what's available. Oh and btw, Winter can have some of the best nights for viewing despite the temperature.