Any astronomy buffs here?

[guitar man]

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.

[BillStein]

1. online

you might want to try Edmund Scientific- they're good with optics, and highly knowlegable

http://www.edmundoptics.com/

There's a store near my office that sells used telescopes etc. I can check there if you want, just tell me exactly what perts you need

[guitar man]

2. thanks!

Thanks for the link, I'll check it out :hi:

[TreasonousBastard]

3. The optics on that should be pretty good for...

the Moon, planets, and some of the brighter deep space objects. You may not get a better diagonal, but you might find more eyepieces that show a brighter, sharper, and wider field.

If you have the manual, set it up according to the instructions. You'll need a star chart, or at least be able to find two or three stars to line it up so it gets its "bearings."

Speaking of bearings, one telescope shop owner I know keeps as many parts for all Meade scopes in stock as he can because gears and bearings crap out faster than you would imagine. If the mechanical connections on that scope seem loose or shaky to you-- they very likely are. Everyone I know with a Meade scope complains about shoddy mechanical design.

But, even if the computer or motor doesn't work just right, using it manually and learning how to use the sky charts isn't a bad thing.

See if there are any astronomy clubs in your area that have events you can take your daughter to. They sometimes have swap meets and equipment for sale and lots of great advice.

[guitar man]

5. Thanks

So far just piddling around with it manually we've managed to see some fantastic detail on the moon and the rings of Saturn. :)

I wasn't sure about the diagonal, whether a mirror is just another mirror or whether there's a higher degree of precision involved in the mirror that came with this scope vs. my cheapo dept store scope. If there's no real difference I'll probably just save the money

[snagglepuss]

4. What a great Dad you are. Why not also post this question in the Science

Forum?:yourock:

[guitar man]

6. Aha! Science forum

I looked for an astronomy forum and didn't see one :silly:

thanks :)

[snagglepuss]

7. Googling 'astronomy for kids' pulls up a lot of sites for a budding astronomer

NASA's starchild site has a great list of links to other sites.


http://starchild.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/StarChild/other_places.html

[pscot]

8. The astronomy magazines

like Astronomy or Sky and Telescope publish a star chart every month and tell what you can see right now. Barnes and Noble used to carry them. For $5 or $6 you can get a good, basic education about what to look for. It's easy to get caught up in the gear, but you can see an awful lot with a decent pair of 10X binoculars. Help her learn the constellations. The Greeks and Arabs left a fabulous legacy of myth about the heavens. It's not a bad starting point. And as Jack Horckheimer used to say, keep looking up.