Which telescope for 9 year old boy?

soeds · Guest

My 9 year old son has about $300 to spend on first telescope. Way too complicated to figure out what is best for him. He is easily frustrated with things, so thought a "go to" scope would be best for him? Meade EXT80 GoTo or Sky Scout personal planetarium look promising. Is the sky scout in place of a telescope or does it attach to one-not understanding how that works. Basically I am looking for the best, easiest to use scope out there for a $300-$350 price range. He wants to be able to see the planets, not just stars.

Jne_K · Site Admin Joined: 24 Sep 2003 Posts: 4991

Hi

No, the Skyscout is not a telescope - it only locates objects, it does not magnify them. Get a telescope, first.

Any telescope can see the planets, the moon, galaxies, star clusters and nebulae, but the larger the telescope and the better the quality the telescope, the more of these objects a telescope can see and the more detail the telescope will show in these objects. Price is a very good indicator of both size and performance in a telescope, so I generally recommend that you buy the largest telescope you can afford that has the features you want.

The ETX80 is a wonderfully portable scope, but it won't keep up with a larger scope, such as the Nexstar 114 SLT in terms of performance or the Nexstar 80SLT in terms of optical quality.

For the basics and how to choose a telescope, see my article
How to choose the right telescope
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