Posted: 1/11/2026 4:16:26 AM EDT
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I am trying to buy my soon to be 11 year old a telescope for astronomy for her birthday. About two years ago, I bought a $90 model off of Amazon and it was total junk. I realize for the price point, I should expect nothing serious, but the thing was totally unusable and showed up not fully functioning, including the aiming eyepiece. Similarly, I have bought a microscope and experienced the same thing. I am looking at buying a Celestron 22450 StarSense Explorer LT 70AZ Refractor Telescope, 32 Inch Tube Length, f/10 Focal Ratio, off of Amazon and it's not "cheap" for a "toy" (I would assume). Am I way off base, or can someone give me some kind of idea on what I should be looking to spend? She is the oldest of three and I don't mind investing in something that the whole family can enjoy and learn from. However, if the starting point is $1000 for anything that could be considered remotely usable, we will have to pick a different hobby effort. *PS: Would love any recommendations on microscope if you have any! Thanks in advance! |
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Oh boy. You’re walking into a minefield trying to buy a beginner’s telescope without experience in the hobby. You’re going to get a ton of good advice here, however if you don’t grasp the basics you might struggle finding one. There’s a guy on YouTube named Ed Ting. He’s a very knowledgeable guy and he’s got some great videos about the different types of telescopes and what is good for beginners. He has access to a lot of equipment and does a great show and tell to explain things. His recommendations for beginners is to stay away from the stuff that you are looking at. They tend to be very poor performers and will discourage people from the hobby. They can be the equivalent of a gun that jams. You spend time fooling with the equipment instead of enjoying it. I also recommend reading through Cloudy Nights. It’s Arf for astronomy. Ed usually recommends a Dobsonian telescope in a minimum of 6” aperture for beginners and families. They’re easy to use, gather a lot of light (which is crucial) and are point and shoot type of things. Astromart and Cloudy Nights both have used equipment for sale, as does Craigslist. Your budget might go further with used stuff and most amateur astronomers take care of the equipment. I have been getting back into the hobby after being away for a while. The used equipment is great for my needs because I don’t have very good skys where I live. Give Ed a watch and go from there. Good luck with your decision! ETA:  Getting Started in Amateur Astronomy - for COMPLETE BEGINNERS. Telescopes? Books? Binos? Part 1 |
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Bummer. I just sold an 8 in Dob for $75. I hadn’t touched it for 10 years since I graduated from college. I could have met OP in GA this Sunday and given it to him. 
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ARFCOM GD hates everything so don't freak out if you catch grief for what you like. Unless you like AKs, then GFY.
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A Dob telescope is what you want. The 6" versions are somthing a 11 yo could take out and use to observe on their own. That being said, an 8" is probably a better choice. When thinking of first telescopes for observing from home, magnification is not what you want. The less electronics the better. |
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I reached out to my local astronomy club recently when I decided to get back into the hobby after being out of it for 20+ years. What I learned is that visual observing (looking through the telescope) isn't much of a thing any more. Nearly everybody seems to be using some sort of smart telescope. As I understand it, they set a little device out in the yard and then go inside. Hours later (maybe the next morning), they download the images, do a little magic on the computer and then post their cool deep sky photos on the internet. Sort of seems like cheating to me but it's probably more in tune to how our modern world works. I suspect the smart scope approach is more likely to appeal to kids these days than standing around in the cold squinting into an eyepiece trying to find some vague smudge of fuzzy light. These are two two I see people discussing in the local astronomy club's online chatter: Seestar S30 Smart Telescope SeeStar S50 Smart Telescope |
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It probably should be mentioned that astronomy is not for the faint of heart. It's pretty easy if all you want to do is look at Jupiter and Saturn, but that gets boring quick. Going further than that is hard. First, you've got to get away from the city to escape light pollution. If you live in town, you have to travel to a dark sight if you want to see any of the fainter objects. Then there's only a few really good opportunities to do astronomy each year. You need a night when the skies are clear, and the moon stays hidden because a bright moon will wash out the sky and make visual observing of faint object difficult if not impossible. Rain, clouds or even high humidity can put you out of business. Seasonal changes bring their own challenges. In the summer, it doesn't truly get dark in most of America until at least 11 p.m. (Yeah, the sun went down but it's not really dark). Is Mom OK with you keeping the kiddos up past their bedtime? Summers are hot and buggy. In winter it gets dark sooner, but damn it's cold. No matter what the temperature is, it's going to feel about 20-30 degrees colder when you're standing next to a telescope. It just is. It really is pretty miserable sometimes. But let's assume you and the kiddos are cool with the discomfort and inconvenience of stargazing, what do you see? Not much, it turns out. The view through the telescope doesn't look anything like what you see in photos. For one, it's not colorful. Often you can't even really see what you're looking at. Deep sky objects that look beautiful in photographs appear in the eyepiece as barely discernible smudges of light. Sometimes you can't even see them. You have to look away from them and pick them up with "averted vision." Even then, you're not sure you really saw what you were looking for. (And that's assuming you can even find what you're looking for.) So why do it? Well, for some especially nerdy folks, it's really cool to see things so far away and cosmic events that occurred so long ago with your own eyes. It really is quite amazing. But its not for everybody. It's a pretty tall order to expect little kids raised in front of electronic screens to be thrilled by it. Maybe they will. But to go beyond the "Look, there's Saturn!" stage requires an unusually patient and focused individual. There's a reason that so many people own telescopes they don't actually use. |
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Originally Posted By bpm990d: A Dob telescope is what you want. The 6" versions are somthing a 11 yo could take out and use to observe on their own. That being said, an 8" is probably a better choice. I definitely agree that a 8" Dob is more capable than a 6", but I suggest stopping there. I would suggest that the OP resist the usual ARFcom impulse to go bigger. When I did astronomy 20+ years ago, I had an 8" Dob. When I got back into it recently, I picked up a 10" dob off of facebook. The 10" lets in more light so you see more, but it is bigger and heavier. While the 10" is still fairly easy to move and set up, it's just enough more difficult that a lot of nights I decide to stay inside. If I still had the 8" I probably would make the effort. In hindsight, I think the 8" Dob is the sweet spot. (Though I've become convinced that the smart scope approach probably makes more sense than a Dob.) |
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Originally Posted By Bladeswitcher: So why do it? Well, for some especially nerdy folks, it's really cool to see things so far away and cosmic events that occurred so long ago with your own eyes. It really is quite amazing. But its not for everybody. It's a pretty tall order to expect little kids raised in front of electronic screens to be thrilled by it. Maybe they will. But to go beyond the "Look, there's Saturn!" stage requires an unusually patient and focused individual. There's a reason that so many people own telescopes they don't actually use. My two got pretty bored with it, but they would come outside and look a fair amount. That being said, I think backyard astronomy is somthing best led by an adult (especially at first) and the scope should really be somthing that an adult will use, otherwise they will get bored. My two kids got good at knowing N/S/E/W. They could identify constellations like Hercules, Cassiopeia, Cygnus, Ursa Major and Orion. They could point the dob at some of the deep sky objects and could point out planets sometimes. My guess is they have forgotten most of it by now. Yes the views of deep sky objects are not that great, but learning where they are in the sky and being able to pick them out was kind of a wizard skill. Sort of like where is Waldo in the sky. |