Help

harr

I appreciate this has probably been asked a thousand times ... the young lad got a birthday gift of a national geographic scope ...it has no little scope on top to find stuff...it's a solar model with a 20mm and 40mm lens ..problem is I can't see or find anything...yes the moon and the sun but nothing else 😡
The young lad is very disappointed and I feel sorry for him as daddy is not very popular because he can't use it..he is big into planets and science in general even though he is only 6 and I like to encourage him as much as possible.
Is it just that it's a **** scope I think his nan paid about €70 for it not very expensive but a fair whack for a OAP ...

tonka1963

harr wrote: »

I appreciate this has probably been asked a thousand times ... the young lad got a birthday gift of a national geographic scope ...it has no little scope on top to find stuff...it's a solar model with a 20mm and 40mm lens ..problem is I can't see or find anything...yes the moon and the sun but nothing else 😡
The young lad is very disappointed and I feel sorry for him as daddy is not very popular because he can't use it..he is big into planets and science in general even though he is only 6 and I like to encourage him as much as possible.
Is it just that it's a **** scope I think his nan paid about €70 for it not very expensive but a fair whack for a OAP ...

Hello harr, sorry about the trouble the lad is having, unfortunately these nationall geographic scopes tend to be for bird watching and the like, and only good when there is plenty of light( so he can see the moon well) but not stars, planets etc because they are too faint. Exactly the same thing happened to me many years ago, got the telescope and it was useless for astronomy, except the moon.

You would be better off getting him a decent pair of binoculars, say 10 x 50(you can get them in Argos or some camera shops and there is always amazon) he will be able to see 100s of things in the sky and if they are a bit heavy for him you can get tripods to fit them. If he still is interested when he has had the binoculars a while he could get a telescope when he wants to move onto bigger things.

One word of advice, for gods sake be careful when he wants to observe the sun, DON'T look at it under any circumstances with any optical aid . It's bad enough to try and look at the sun with the naked eye, using a telescope would cause permanent damage. Sorry to be so serious for a moment but it's important to know( I'm sure you knew that anyway, but it's better to be safe)


If you still want a telescope for him a company called electron make good entry level scopes. Give the astronomy Ireland shop in Dublin a ring and I'm sure they would be happy to advise you. Hope this helps.

tonka1963

tonka1963 wrote: »

Hello harr, sorry about the trouble the lad is having, unfortunately these nationall geographic scopes tend to be for bird watching and the like, and only good when there is plenty of light( so he can see the moon well) but not stars, planets etc because they are too faint. Exactly the same thing happened to me many years ago, got the telescope and it was useless for astronomy, except the moon.

You would be better off getting him a decent pair of binoculars, say 10 x 50(you can get them in Argos or some camera shops and there is always amazon) he will be able to see 100s of things in the sky and if they are a bit heavy for him you can get tripods to fit them. If he still is interested when he has had the binoculars a while he could get a telescope when he wants to move onto bigger things.

One word of advice, for gods sake be careful when he wants to observe the sun, DON'T look at it under any circumstances with any optical aid . It's bad enough to try and look at the sun with the naked eye, using a telescope would cause permanent damage. Sorry to be so serious for a moment but it's important to know( I'm sure you knew that anyway, but it's better to be safe)


If you still want a telescope for him a company called electron make good entry level scopes. Give the astronomy Ireland shop in Dublin a ring and I'm sure they would be happy to advise you. Hope this helps.

Sorry harr, wee typo there, the company who make the telescopes are called celestron(bloody auto correct)

tonka1963

tonka1963 wrote: »

Hello harr, sorry about the trouble the lad is having, unfortunately these nationall geographic scopes tend to be for bird watching and the like, and only good when there is plenty of light( so he can see the moon well) but not stars, planets etc because they are too faint. Exactly the same thing happened to me many years ago, got the telescope and it was useless for astronomy, except the moon.

You would be better off getting him a decent pair of binoculars, say 10 x 50(you can get them in Argos or some camera shops and there is always amazon) he will be able to see 100s of things in the sky and if they are a bit heavy for him you can get tripods to fit them. If he still is interested when he has had the binoculars a while he could get a telescope when he wants to move onto bigger things.

One word of advice, for gods sake be careful when he wants to observe the sun, DON'T look at it under any circumstances with any optical aid . It's bad enough to try and look at the sun with the naked eye, using a telescope would cause permanent damage. Sorry to be so serious for a moment but it's important to know( I'm sure you knew that anyway, but it's better to be safe)


If you still want a telescope for him a company called electron make good entry level scopes. Give the astronomy Ireland shop in Dublin a ring and I'm sure they would be happy to advise you. Hope this helps.

Sorry harr, wee typo there, the company who make the telescopes are called celestron(bloody auto correct)

harr

tonka1963 wrote: »

Hello harr, sorry about the trouble the lad is having, unfortunately these nationall geographic scopes tend to be for bird watching and the like, and only good when there is plenty of light( so he can see the moon well) but not stars, planets etc because they are too faint. Exactly the same thing happened to me many years ago, got the telescope and it was useless for astronomy, except the moon.

You would be better off getting him a decent pair of binoculars, say 10 x 50(you can get them in Argos or some camera shops and there is always amazon) he will be able to see 100s of things in the sky and if they are a bit heavy for him you can get tripods to fit them. If he still is interested when he has had the binoculars a while he could get a telescope when he wants to move onto bigger things.

One word of advice, for gods sake be careful when he wants to observe the sun, DON'T look at it under any circumstances with any optical aid . It's bad enough to try and look at the sun with the naked eye, using a telescope would cause permanent damage. Sorry to be so serious for a moment but it's important to know( I'm sure you knew that anyway, but it's better to be safe)


If you still want a telescope for him a company called electron make good entry level scopes. Give the astronomy Ireland shop in Dublin a ring and I'm sure they would be happy to advise you. Hope this helps.

Thanks for the advice...I was thinking it was the telescope it's self...loads of stars out tonight and not a hope of seeing any of them ..I will invest in a decent pair of binoculars with tripod mount. The scope has a special filter to put on the front to look at the sun ...we put a sheet of white paper behind scope to get it lined up..
Don't want to invest to much as of yet so binoculars will do till I see if he wants to keep it up.
Thanks again

murphyme2010

Hello Harr,

If you live in Dublin and can get to Sandymount or Clontarf on the 3rd or 4th of February the IAS may be able to help with the scope.

Details and directions are here.

Michael.

harr

murphyme2010 wrote: »

Hello Harr,

If you live in Dublin and can get to Sandymount or Clontarf on the 3rd or 4th of February the IAS may be able to help with the scope.

Details and directions are here.

Michael.

Thanks for that...I am only in Kildare so I might bring himself along for one of the nights .
I have ordered himself a good pair of binoculars with tri-pod ..it's a start..will bring them along on the night ...his new scope is definitely not up to much to be honest.

Kersh

Midlands Astronomy Club are having a meeting/workshop for those with new scopes tomorrow, Monday 30th, at 8pm, in the Bridge House in Tullamore.

They will have a lot of scopes set up, and many of us will be on hand to offer advice. Bring the scope down.

Its a free event.