OK What is a good brand as far as telescopes go to buy for an 8 year old?

Answer 1

For a hundred bucks, you might try the Orion SpaceProbe 3 Altazimuth 3" reflector. Simple and should be pretty fun for an 8 yr old. Check their on-line catalogue at OrionTelescopes.com.


Edit: Two additional comments.

One, bigger is always better in telescope aperture, but cost goes up steeply. A 3" aperture will allow the little astronomer to see the moon's craters, Saturn's rings and Jupiter's main cloud belts and great red spot, in addition to many of the brighter Messier objects such as M42, M31, M13 etc. Binos won't likely appeal to an 8yr old like a telescope since the weight will wear their arms and shoulders out (probably yours too). Hand-held binos are good for finding things to point a scope at, but somewhat awkward for general viewing (on arms AND neck).

Two. DO NOT LET AN 8 YEAR OLD TAKE A TELESCOPE OR BINOS OUTSIDE UNSUPERVISED DURING THE DAY. One quick glance at the sun and the eye is permanently damaged. Few kids can be trusted with this kind of responsibility.

Good luck and have fun.

Answer 2

Don't get him department store junk, if there's a good way to put out a kid's nuclear fusion in astronomy it's to buy them a crappy telescope. I know kids go through phases and so parents like to keep things cheap, but hear me out.

I would get the kid a reflector with at least 4.5" of aperture from Meade, Celestron, or Orion. A Dobsonian would be good as they are relatively inexpensive and more difficult to break. You will be spending over $100 but you can enjoy the views too.

You might want to consider buying a used telescope from a place like the classifieds on www.astromart.com or from a local source. The reason is, you can get more for your buck and if your kid does lose interest you can almost always sell it for more or less the same price you bought it as used telescopes seldom depriciate in value if they were quality ones to begin with.

Also, every amatuer astronomer needs a good pair of real, quality binoculars (none of those compact funky red lensed ones)

And I'd like to say, the older Tascos were made with a quality the newer generations lack.

Answer 3

I bought a Tasco about 20 years ago,( for Halley's comet), it is a 4" refractor. I've never regretted it, it still works fine. Make sure the eyepieces have large lenses, so that they are easy to look through. Equatorial mounts are good - once they are set up, you can follow the star/ planet around more easily.

Hope this helps

Answer 4

For an 8 year old? Something cheap, easy to use, made for kids. Like the kind you find at toy stores. He/she is a kid, and the thing will get tossed under bed, thrown around, etc. Also, given kid's short attention span, he/she is likely to get bored with it after awhile and stop using it.

Answer 5

cant go wrong with tasco relatively cheap easy to use and set up and also pretty durable