Getting Kids Started In Astonomy?

ajlaw asks: "My five-year-old daughter has expressed an interest in the solar system and the stars...she even enjoys watching that NASA channel quite a bit. If I wanted to purchase a decent telescope for us to start looking at some of the planets or the new space station, can you recommend a decent way to get started? Are there any good books or Web sites out there that would help us to learn when to view different objects out there from my location (northern NJ, USA)?"

Comments

Meade telescopes w/ autostar computer controller

[Tumbleweed]

They've got some nice beginner scopes now that have a computerized motor attached that has an astronomical database attached - you can just tell it what object to point it. Can't get any simpler than that. Also, the optical quality of the scopes are quite nice from what I've read. They're also small enough to carry around, so you can go out into the country, away from urban light pollution and air pollution, and get a real clear view.

The models are in the ETX-60, 70, 90, and 125 lines, with the 'Autostar Computer Controller'.

Pretty sweet. Check them out at www.meade.com.

get a decent telescope!

[stratocaster]

If you decide to get a telescope, don't get one of those no-name brands at Sears, JCPenney etc! The optics aren't good but the mainly the tripods are horrible. Get a good brand like Meade or Celestron. (See Astronomics.com) The ETX series by Meade is good. (I actually saw these on sale at Walmart...wow. That's like finding a Trek bicycle instead of an overweight, gaudy Huffy.) Also, don't forget about a good pair of binoculars. For the moon, they're great.

Re:get a decent telescope!

[zoward]

This point cannot be stressed enough. If you get a telescope with poor optics, or a wobbly tripod, the frustrating experience of continually getting poor or wobbly images can ruin a child's interest in astronomy (as it nearly did to me many years ago...but I stuck with it ;-) ). The "good" telescopes typically start at around the $400 range, and quickly get more expensive from there. Celestron (http://www.celestron.com), Orion (http://www.telescope.com) and Meade (http://www.meade.com) all make excellent 'scopes, and the former two have fairly well-written telescope guides on their web pages. Also, don't underestimate the value of a good pair of binoculars; they're not just for viewing the Moon. You can see the moons of Jupiter, Saturn's rings (barely!), and some deep sky objects such as the Orion nebula, the Great Galaxy of Andromeda, many double star and clusters, etc. in a decent pair of binoculars on a clear dark night. Last and simplest, check your local bookstore for a good children's book on Astronomy. I'm not sure if it's still available, but my first was Herbert S. Zim's Stars and Planets. Good Luck!

Re:get a decent telescope!

[maggard]

Wow - Herbert S. Zim. I spent a summer at the Museum of Science in Boston when I was 16 cataloguing books and Zim's were easily some of the most popular ("Z65" under their unusual cataloguing system.) Zim's are always good but there are undoubtably newer ones out there geared for kids too. Check your local library's Children's Librarian or call a school for ideas.

Planetarium?

[Mr T]

Most good sized cities have them. They often do laser shows for the adults to enjoy after a few night caps... ;)

I've generally enjoyed planetarium shows, good astronomers giving them can often tie a lot of things together, anthropology and all sort of cool stuff have a lot to do with stars.

Re:Meade telescopes w/ autostar computer controlle

[Sloppy]

I disagree with giving a beginner a computerized motor. Part of the fun is learning where things are and how to find stuff.

Giver 'er binoculars and a star chart. After that, maybe a reflector on a Dob.

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Re:getting started young

[Bryan Andersen]

Kinda reminds me of my first astronomy class. I hadn't even made it to my freshman year of high school and I had 4 credits of Astronomy from the local community college.

Many people have given good advice above. I'll mainly just second their comments. The order I'd proceed in is.

First item, a good beginners star atlas.

Second item, warm clothing.

Third item, many nights in the country just learning the stars and constelations.

After that go and get a good pair of binoculars or a good telescope.

Last, but not least. As your doughter is so young, you will need to be there as a source of infromation. You'll need to learn alot to help guide her in the early years.

Now for some Links. The first two have good beginners information. Some of the links below may be dead. I just quick cut and pasted them from the astronomy section of my Interesting Places page.

• Astronomy Mag. (www.astronomy.com/home.asp).
• Sky & Telescope Mag. (www.skypub.com).
• Minnesota Astronomical Society (MAS) (www.mnastro.org).
• The Telescope Shoppe (www.telescopeshop.com), 3402 Federal Dr., Eagan, MN, 651-688-7335. Yes this is a local Twin Cities telescope shop. They have a map on their site showing where they are. They are tucked in the lower level along the side of the strip mall they are in. The store is small and easy to miss. If your at the corner of Yankee Doodle RD and Federal Dr., park in the lot to the south east. They are a short stones throw from the intersection.
• Telescope making links
• • Many good links on making AltAz mounts (zebu.uoregon.edu/~mbartels/altaz/altaz.html).
  • ATM's resource List (www.freenet.tlh.fl.us/~blombard).
• Astronomy-Mall.com (www.astronomy-mall.com/Astronomy-Mall).
• Stellafane (www.stellafane.com).
• Terrestrial Planet Finder (tpf.jpl.nasa.gov).
• Many Images of the moon (www.seds.org/nineplanets/nineplanets/pxmoon.html) .
• Solar Views (www.solarviews.com).
• Planetary Image Atlas (www-pdsimage.JPL.NASA.GOV/PDS/public/Atlas).
• Hubble Space Telescope Archive (oposite.stsci.edu/pubinfo/pictures.html).
• Hummble Site (hubble.stsci.edu).
• StarStuff (www.starstuff.org).
• SpaceRef (www.spaceref.com), Your space refference.
• Astronomy Picture of the Day Archive (antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html).
• SkyView (skyview.gsfc.nasa.gov) virtual observatory.
• 2MASS (www.ipac.caltech.edu/2mass/) and (pegasus.astro.umass.edu/GradProg/2mass.html) Two Micron All Sky Survey.
• Large Angle and Spectrometric Coronagraph Experiment (LASCO) (http://lasco-www.nrl.navy.mil/lasco.html).
• AAVSO Network to Search for Optical Counterparts of Gamma-Ray Bursts (www.aavso.org/grb.stm).
• High Altitude Observatory (www.hao.ucar.edu).
• Asteroid Comet Impact Hazards (impact.arc.nasa.gov).
• • Unusual Minor Planets (cfa-www.harvard.edu/iau/lists/Unusual.html).
  • Potentially Hazardous Asteroids (cfa-www.harvard.edu/iau/lists/PHACloseApp.html).& nbsp; Of particular interest to me are LB16 and AN10 which will pass at a distance closer than the moon's orbit. LB16 currently only has one opposition charted so it's predicted orbit will likely change as new data comes in. It's expected to swing by in 2004. In 2027 AN10 will visit earth. It's orbit is calculated with three oppositions meaning it't much more likely to really showup ontime and in place. With further data LB16 could either get closer or farther away. When AN10's orbit was first predicted (only one opposition at the time) it's error envelope included earth. With further data it was found to just pass within the moon's orbit and miss the earth.
  • Forthcoming Close Approaches To The Earth (cfa-www.harvard.edu/iau/lists/CloseApp.html).&nbs p; This is the document to look at when you want to know who will visit next and how far away. It has all close approaches to 0.2 AU away from earth or within 20% of the distance of between the sun and earth. On Sep 19th, 2000 we will have a visiter at 0.0477 AU and on Oct 31st anotehr one will pass at 0.07386 AU. LB16 and AN10 are expected to pass at around 0.25% of the distance between the sun and earth.
• Mars Global Surveyor (mars.jpl.nasa.gov/mgs/index.html).
• Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter (MOLA) (ltpwww.gsfc.nasa.gov/tharsis/mola.html). There are full data on the shape of Mars including 1 degree and .5 degree elevation data sets.
• Planetary photojournal by JPL (photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov).
• NASA's Origins Program (origins.jpl.nasa.gov).

Getting started in Astronomy

[maggard]

Best gift for a youngster getting started in astronomy: Your time (actually it's the best gift - period.)

Best tools? Warm clothing, a pair of binoculars (ask if you can borrow some friend or relatives the first few times out) and enthusiasm. One of the spinny-sky-maps (square of cardboard holding a rotatable circular sky map, adjust it to show tonight's sky by date & time) is nice to have too at the beginning.

Show you daughter the constellations then learn where their names come from, the stories behind those characters. These make great bedtime stories even if you're paraphrasing from a 'grown-up book' and it wows kids to connect them to the outside. Don't forget there are other traditions: Native American sky stories are wonderful.

Consider taking your daughter on a trip to a Planetarium (ok - I'm biased here - volunteered for one for 8 years.) Any decent science education center will have some astronomy exhibits. Make 'catching the mistakes' on TV shows & movies a sport with your daughter.

Since she's young there won't be a lot of late night viewing but you can make it a special treat. A trip out into the countryside, a good warm meal, then an half-hour with Mom & Dad out in a field looking at the stars; *her* time. Bring a big blanket & thermos of hot cocoa so you all can huddle up while watching. If she has some other little friends of a similar bent invite them & their parents for a special "Kid's Star Party".

Other gear: DON'T go buying an expensive telescope the first time out, particularly a refractor. Binoculars are preferable the first few times and can be used for other hobbies as she grows. If her interest remains consider getting her a telescope later on but even then a reflector is usually a better deal & much more portable. Books are *always* a good investment, check your local library & kids book store.

Finally, connect astronomy into other things in her life. The light from stars can be connected to the light from cut crystal which can be connected to an inexpensive prism you get for her. Compare driving to a market to driving to the Moon, or to Mars. Discuss various weights in various places, discuss things like why the ISS stays up, etc. Check some kids science books for simple science projects to do on a rainy day.

Last, with the ISS solar panels up it's now *much* more visible. Consider checking a web site for it's visible times from your area & see if you two can spot it.

Choosing a Telescope - not by brand name

[fmaxwell]

Many people have suggested Meade telescopes and at least one person has suggested their auto-pointing scopes. As an amateur astronomer for over 25 years, I have owned (and built) both good and bad telescopes. The Meade telescopes that you find at Walmart are just imported, undersized, rickety junk. Meade is willing to put their name on junk if they make a profit doing it. For that reason, I will not buy their products -- even those that are good.

Some basic info:

1. The most important two qualities are the light gathering (pi-r-squared) and the sturdiness of the mount. A small (under 3") telescope is almost useless for astronomy (except seeing the moon). A telescope that vibrates and shakes in the calmest breeze is also worthless.

2. Magnification is unimportant. I have an 8" Celestron and rarely exceed 100x. The maximum magnification (Dawes' Limit) is 50x per inch of aperture. Therefore, a 4" scope can use no more than 200x. More magnification will result in a blurry, dim image.

3. If the scope uses .965" eyepieces, it is junk. Any "real" telescope uses 1.25" or 2" eyepieces. The .965" are a Japanese standard that is popular on poor-quality department store scopes.

4. Computer pointed and guided scopes are absolutely the wrong thing to get for a beginner. Much of the joy of astronomy is learning the night sky and discovering, through your own skill, what can be seen. She may decide that she wants a computer pointed scope in the future, but spend your money on aperture, mount, and quality eyepieces.

5. I strongly recommend the book Star Ware: The Amateur Astronomer's Ultimate Guide to Choosing, Buying, and Using Telescopes and Accessories, 2nd Edition. This book is a must-read and will help assure that the telescope you buy is the best choice possible.

6. Do not buy the telescope at a department store. Camera stores are not much better. I recommend buying from a telescope store. Orion is one of the largest and you can reach their website at www.telescope.com.

If I can be of help, please do not hesitate to write me at fbm{at}techie{dot}com.

-- Fred Maxwell --