Sky at Night Magazine

[LeeceCD]

Looking for a telescope for my 9 year old for Christmas.

Im tying to meet the following criteria;

Not too huge
Type in coords to find item (if possible)
Self tracking
Ability to take photographs either by web cam / digital DSL camera attachment.

Was looking at about £100 - £200 (I may be optimistic on this - but don't mind spending more at a push as it's educational and basically.... I want one!)

Im happy to buy a basic one we can add onto as it's his birthday in January were he will be 10. We could then add camera attachments / filters / eyepieces etc.

Thank you from a Mum who is stressing what to buy!

He loves space and loves using his cheap point and shoot camera which became obsolete with the advent of iPhones. Thought it would be a great idea.

Cheers!

[Aratus]

I think you are probably asking for something that can't fit all your specifications.

Your main problem is wanting a computerised 'goto' mount. That would more than swallow up your £200 before you even got a telescope to go with it. The other problem is the complexity of the mount. The simplist is an alt-azimuth mount. A 10 year old will be able to use it 'out of the box'. You could do some lunar and planetary photography with that. However, it is not good for very long exposures.

The alternative is an equatorial mount. They tax some adults, let alone a 10 year old! They need some setting up each time before they are used. A motorised one will follow an object IF correctly aligned. If not correctly aligned you may as well have not bought one. If they are set up then dozens of faint objects may be photographed. Some of your money will pay for the mount, so a smaller telescope.

Take a look at these.
https://www.firstlightoptics.com/beginner-telescopes/celestron-astromaster-130eq-telescope.html The 'MD' version will track an object, and you should be able to use it with a 'web cam' type camera. It is an equatorial, and will require some patient setting up.

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/beginner-telescopes/skywatcher-skyliner-150p-dobsonian.html
This is putting all your money into a big telescope. No set up - but no tracking. Very limited photographic opportunities. (the moon - bright planets) Visually you would see a lot of objects with it.

None of these telescopes will automatically move to an object. You have to find them yourself. Personally - I think that is the part of the fun when starting the hobby.

[The Man with the Corrugated Iron Roof]

I'd start him off with a pair of binoculars. See my reply on a similar topic.

If his point-and-click camera still works, he can capture some of the constellations.

You could also get a DSLR and tripod. There's loads he can do!