Any astronomy buffs here?

[guitar man]

(I posted this in the Lounge first because I didn't see an astronomy forum, then a kind soul directed me here :) )

My daughter has showed an intense and ongoing interest in the stars and planets for a while now, so I was looking for a telescope for her and I to spend starry nights together with. I scored this over the weekend for literally next to nothing. From what I've gleaned off the web so far, it's a Meade DS-90, not sure of the vintage, but it's got the controller and motors and stuff with it and it fires up and moves around.

What I'm wondering is, will the "star hunter" thing it's got onboard actually work or is it just a gimmick? Also, the diagonal mirror/eyepiece mount that came with it was broken. I grabbed the one off my little $30 telescope that I use to watch wildlife with and it actually worked, but I was wondering if I could find a better replacement that won't break the bank. The Meade website doesn't show any replacement parts for discontinued scopes that I can find.

[Orsino]

1. Former astronomy teacher, long out of practice.

Yes, auto-find works, if you align the instrument properly. It'll need to be leveled (the scope part, at least) and oriented on the Pole Star somehow.

This looks like the relevant manual here: http://www.meade.com/manuals/TelescopeManuals/Reflectors/DS.pdf

[guitar man]

3. Thanks!

I'm going to try to align it tonight and see how she works. :)

It came with the manual, which seems a bit vague in some places and downright sparse in others :silly:

[daggahead]

2. Meade makes good instruments.

What size eyepieces do you have for it?

The mount looks a bit flimsy, which can cause vibration. However, if you're just interested in looking at the moon and the planets, it will probably do just fine.

[guitar man]

4. it came with

25mm and 12.5 mm eyepieces, and a 3x barlow that seems pretty worthless.

And you're right about the mount, it gets pretty shaky at times, just have to turn the focuser a little bit and then wait for it to stop shaking lol. But the views I got the first night out with it were pretty encouraging :)

[pokerfan]

5. I will tell you the same thing I tell everyone

Get in touch with your local club! Telescopes come in many flavors (I have several myself) and they all have their pros and cons. Does she want to observe planets mostly or concentrate on deep sky objects? Interested in astro-photography or CCD? Your local club will probably have periodic "star parties" where you can look through a variety of scopes and they may even have scopes available for loan. Try before you buy.

I'm of the mind that beginners shouldn't start with autofinders and first learn the night sky instead. In fact, to qualify for the Messier certificate, objects must be found without the aid of an automated telescope. (There's also a binocular certificate so don't forget about the binocular as an astronomical instrument.)

You can find your local club here: http://www.skyandtelescope.com/community/organizations

[guitar man]

6. Thanks!

Right now she's into the planets. She's only 5 but she's incredibly bright. I got this scope for us to use together and I think I'm going to get her the little Celestron "first scope" that she can use by herself too.

She started displaying this interest about a year and a half ago. Every time she goes with her mom for the weekly library run she brings back at least one book about the solar system or outer space in general. Last night she told me she wanted to see a nebula because "that's where baby stars are born."

Gotta love a kid that uses her mind for something besides video games :)

[pokerfan]

7. cool

You can probably still see the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orion_Nebula">Orion nebula (M42) in the southwest this time of year. Nebulae are an example of a DSO that are perhaps better observed with a large reflecting telescope than a small aperture refractor but M42 is so big and bright you will get good results in any instrument, including binoculars.



You might also want to check out Stargazer Steve's telescope kits: http://stargazer.isys.ca
Our club has built these before with kids and for kids and they've turned out quite well. Your budding astronomer will also learn exactly how telescopes work.

[guitar man]

8. cool, thanks a million

Those telescope kits look really neat, I'd love for us to build a reflector together. :D

[daggahead]

11. I built a 6" reflector ...

on a Dobsonian mount years ago.

It worked well. I only wish I would have invested more time in a better mount for it.

It now is in pieces, sitting in a box in my basement.

Wanna buy the parts?

[jayfish]

9. Very Cool!

That's a perfect little scope for a 5-year old. The Autostar system should work fine as long as it is calibrated properly (not difficult) prior to each observing session. I wouldn't worry about using it verses star charts at this point. She's five... As long as you call out what you're looking at, it's parent constellation and a nearby bright star, you should be fine. Don't sweat the diagonal either. You're probably not going to get a huge increase in performance by spending any money on a new one. ...unless it is really, really bad. If it's really bad you could try one of these:

http://shop.telescope-warehouse.com/product.sc?productId=133&categoryId=6

You'll probably get more bang for your buck picking up a couple of decent eyepieces. A nice 32mm Plossl and 10mm Plossl come to mind. That gives you magnifications of 31x and 100x.

http://www.telescope.com/32mm-Orion-Sirius-Plossl-Telescope-Eyepiece/p/8728.uts?ensembleId=51
http://www.telescope.com/10mm-Orion-Sirius-Plossl-Telescope-Eyepiece/p/8736.uts?ensembleId=51

The 32mm will really shine on the Summer Milky Way.

Clear skys!

[guitar man]

10. thanks a million

I don't really have a point of reference as to the performance of the diagonal I have in it vs the one it came with, but I had Saturn resolved to the point where you could see the division between the planet and rings with the 12.5 mm eyepiece so it didn't seem all that bad to me. The views we got of the moon with the 25mm eyepiece were pretty good too.

Those eyepieces are not priced too badly at all, I may pick those up since they are something I can keep and use from scope to scope through the years. :)