Thinking about which telescope to buy

[Sky Pilot]

This would be our family's very first telescope. I want to find one that will capture the imaginations of my 11 and 9 year old boys. Celestia has helped capture their imagination...now it's time to see some of the actual bodies that we've looked at on the computer.

Are there good affordable telescopes that can see lots of really cool bodies? How can I tell from the specs what kind of things can be seen?

Thanks for your suggestions!

[t00fri]

This would be our family's very first telescope. I want to find one that will capture the imaginations of my 11 and 9 year old boys. Celestia has helped capture their imagination...now it's time to see some of the actual bodies that we've looked at on the computer.

Are there good affordable telescopes that can see lots of really cool bodies? How can I tell from the specs what kind of things can be seen?

Thanks for your suggestions!

I am an active amateur astronomer since childhood, have made various telescopes myself and own an 8inch Celestron Schmidt Cassegrain telescope since many years. In this forum, I have written several times detailed advice of what to buy and what NOT. Being a physicist myself with high expertise in astronomical optics, I usually value optical quality very high against any kinds of gadgets that cost money and do not enhance the viewing pleasure. For example, computerized "GOTO" telescopes usually support peoples ignorance of the sky rather than teaching them how to find the objects of interest (if invisible to the naked eye).

Please understand that I must refer you to our powerful search engine, since my time is strongly limited.

Bye Fridger

[tad34]

Are there good affordable telescopes that can see lots of really cool bodies? How can I tell from the specs what kind of things can be seen?

Thanks for your suggestions!

Orion's ED80. A lot of capability in a small and affordable package. You can take it to about 200 power on the planets.
You should be able to see the Cassini Division in Saturn's rings pretty much without fail, the brown south temperate belt on Saturn, Saturn's moons Titan, Iapetus (when it's showing us it's bright side ), and Rhea, definition in Jupiter's cloud bands and the GRS, and eclipse shadows (watched Io's a few weeks back). Sadly, I got it several months after the 2003 Mars opposition...but the next opposition is only months away now, can't wait to see what it can do.

Because it's a small lens (3.1"), it won't show much in the way of deep sky except for the brightest objects. For dim or faint deep sky, I would recommend a 10/12 inch dobsonian, but they are not that portable.