re: telescope for child

kaoldt · Guest

Our son has expressed an interest in having a telescope and learning about the stars and planets. His dad would like one that can connect to the computer. We know very little about telescopes and don't want to invest a huge amount of money. What would you recommend as a type or brand of telescope?What is involved in connecting a telescope to a computer?

BobY · Guest

What do you consider a huge amount of money?

There are a number of good telescopes for well under $200, but if you want to be able to control the telescope with the computer, you will need a motorized mount with a computer interface, which will cost well over $200. The Meade ETX-70 is one of the cheapest telescopes with a computer interface.

If you want to use the computer for displaying images from the telescope, you will need an electronic imager, in which case image quality is going to be directly related to price.

What are you looking to do with the computer? If you want to use it for auto-locating objects, the purpose-built "goto" systems are a much simpler solution...