An Indian Parents Guide To Telescopes

A Telescope is a fantastic gift for a young one. My son is always fascinated by stars and the moon and I know most kids are.

A telescope helps the kids to view planets, galaxies and stars. It also helps develop curiosity and a scietific temper.

However, It is important that we choose the best telescope for kids so that their curiosity is maintained and the device itself does not turn into an uniteresting, complex machine.

Kids and Beginers should not get a very expensive telescope because other wise they will spend most of the night fiddling with the telescope instead of enjoying the stars.

This is not a pleasant situation because this will kill the enthusiasm of the child.

This blog is an educational blog that will help beginner and parents to find the best telescope in India.

A few minutes of reading this blog will help you avoid years of regret later.

Who Invented Telescope?

Dutch eyeglass maker Hans Lippershey was the first to file a patent for a Telescope in 1608.

I was telling my son that I will buy a telescope for him and the first question that he asked me was who invented Telescope?

I did not know.

So my first advice is do read a few things about telescope yourself so that you can guide your kids.

This article on telescope from Britannica is a good starting point.

Why buy your child a telescope?

• Good Telescopes for kids can help stimulate scietific temper and stem skills
• Kids also learn to use machines and learn various scientific concepts
• A Telescope helps a kid explore stars and planets
• Spending time with kids exploring the stars and the planets is a fantastic bonding experience and a good family past time.

Types of Telescopes

Refracting Telescope

A Refracting telescope is a simple and reliable design and requires little maintainence. it uses the refractive properties of lenses and is also called a refractor.

A refractor telescope is excellent for observing objects within our solar system- Planets, moons etc.

Refractor telescopes are best for kids and beginners.

Reflecting Telescope

Unlike refractors, a reflecting telescope uses a uses a single or a combination of curved mirrors that reflect light and form an image.

Reflector telescopes give you a greater value per inch of aperture, since making a mirror is less labor-intensive than making lenses.

A reflector telescope is used for observing galaxies and is ussually expenisve than the refractor telescope.

Catadioptrics

Long focal length Telescopes are designed to scan long distances with a short optical tube.

These telescopes use an Aspherical correcting plate, where light enters through the thin corrective transparent material and reflects off spherical mirrors before being refracted at different angles by two secondary ones located directly behind them in order for it then be completed.

For the purposes of this blog post I will list only the best telescope for viewing planets and galaxies.

Best telescope for kids to see planets

I am going to break this section into various sub categories such as price, use, age etc.

I could have made a genric best telescopes in India list but in my opinion that does not serve the purpose of a guide.

My purpose is to make the job of a reader easier by giving him the best option according to their needs.

There are 3 qualities that I think are essential to a good telescope for kids:

1. Easy to setup
2. Sturdy build
3. A telescope with an app

There are two questions you need to ask yourself before you buy a telescope:

1. What is your budget?

Quality does not come cheap. you will have to shell out money for better power models. If your budget is limited I have listed the telescopes acoording to budget a little later in the post.

2. Whats is your goal?

Are you a beginner or are you just starting your kid with astronomy ?

Do you want to click pictures of stars via your telescope ?

So basically you will have to figure out the reason for which you will use the telescope.

Let’s begin.

Best Telescope by Price in India

Price is one of the most important criteria for buyers in India. I have segmented the telescopes according to price here.

I am going to recommend a couple of products in each category so that you save time.

Best Telescope Under 5000

Unfortunately, there are no good telescopes available under 5000 rupees.

A good telescope for kids will cost atleast six to seven thousand rupees.

If you are looking for a telescope under 5000 rupees I will recommend that you increase your budget a little.

You can see the celestron power seeker 21039 model listed below. It is the best telescope for beginners in india and the price is around 6500 rupees.

If you don’t want to spend above 5000 then you can get a good quality binocular under 5000.

Best Telescope under 10000

Both models listed below are power seeker models. These are manual models where you will have to find the objects yourself.

It is good because it is very satisfying for a kid to do all of this.

1. Celestron Power Seeker 21039

The power seeker 21039 is the number one seller in the catadioptric telescope category on amazon.

This model is one of the best telescope for kids because it is cheap, has a good brand name and offers a phone app that can help the kids identify stars via their phones and then see the object on this telescope.

This telescope is easy to carry, lightweight and a prefect models for beginners and kids.

You should not expect too much from such a lower priced model but Celestron is a reputed brand in the telescope industry.

It has been in the industry for 6 decades.

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2. Celestron PowerSeeker 60AZ 

The Celestron 60 AZ is an amazon’s choice product. It is pretty similar to the model listed above except that it has a wider aperture of 60 mm as opposed to the 50 mm aperture of the 21039.

You know the best part about these telescopes? you can use them for long distance landscape viewing.

Maybe bird watching or animal gazing as well.

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Best Telescope under 20000

As we move higher up the price range we start to get more powerful telescopes with better features.

If you have a budget of 20000 rupees you should be buying one of these three models from celestron.

The reason all the three models are from celestron is that frankly speaking there are not any good telescopes from other brands in this price range.

1. Celestron ASTROMASTER 70AZ 

The Celestron Astromaster AZ is a perfect telescope for beginners.

It is a refractor type of telescope which uses lens. The 70 mm aperture helps a user to see brighter pictures. You should know here that a wider aperture means more light that a telescope can gather and more light means a brighetr and better picture of the stars etc.

You can use the 10 mm eye piece for seeing moon craters, jupiter, saturn rings etc. The 20mm eye piece can be used for seeing distributed objects such as galaxies.

You can use this telescope to see planets, nebulas and star clusters.

You can also buy a mobile phone adapter along with the telescope to click the photo of the planets etc.

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2. Celestron AstroMaster 130 EQ Telescope

Celestron AstroMaster 130 EQ is a 5 inch, reflector Newtonian telescope.

This telescope has some advanced features that makes it difficult for a beginner to configure.

It is not very portable which makes it difficult to carry around.

This model also has a smaller focal length compared to some other models in this price range.

Having said that the Celestron Astromaster 10 EQ has some great features. The aperture is 130 mm large which is great for brighter view.

It can also track objects if a motor is attached to it. You can mount a camera on the top of the telescope.

At this price, this is perhapr the only model that is offering such a wide aperture.

I highly recommend this product but only if you are a patient person.

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3. Celestron Speciality Series Travel Scope 70

The Celestron Speciality Series Travel Scope 70 is a table top telescope. It is a perfect telescope for beginners.

It has a 7400 mm focal length and an aperture of 70mm.

It is a refractor telescope that comes with two eyespieces. Here is a picture taken with this telescope.

The celstron travelscope was designed with travelling in mind. At this price you cannot expect a great material quality but the travelscope is all right in that regards. I would say it is not too bad a piece for kids and beginners.

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Best Telescopes under 30000

1. Celestron 21045

Celestron 21045 114mm Equatorial PowerSeeker EQ Telescope is a powerful telescope that is a jump from the beginner level to the more serious stargazers.

You can use this powerseeeker model to see planets, nebulas and star clusters. Even from the city !

This is an upgrade on the 70-76 mm telescopes that you get in celestron.

This model comes with an equatorial mount. that can help track the planets.

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2. Orion 10012 SkyScanner Telescope

The Orion Skyscanner is one of the highest rated telescopes in the market.

It is a tabletop reflector telescope on a dubsonian spiral mount. You can keep it on a stool or a tabletop.

If you are doing deep sky observing this telescope will give you a much brighter image. You can see the jupiter, saturn rings and moon easily with good amount of detail.

The orion skyscanner will make a very good camping telescope because it is so portable and useful.

It is a perfect telescope for a family.

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Best Telescope under 40000

1. Meade Instruments 216006 Polaris 130 EQ Reflector Telescope

Meade Polaris 130 EQ Reflector Telescope is one of the most sought after model in India. It is not easy to get your hands on this one.

Meade Polaris 130 EQ is more expensive than the celstron 130 EQ listed above because it has more features.

Features of the two models are quite similar, the focal length, the aperture are all the same.

Build quality is a little bettre in Meade Polaris. The picture quality and optics of the Meade is better than the Celstron EQ.

The Meade has 3 eyepieces and the celestron EQ 130 has 2 eye pieces.

If you have the budget definitely buy the Meade Polaris. You will not regret it.

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Conclusion

A telescope is a good investment that will help your child.

You can bond with your child over astronomy nights and can also join astronomy clubs.

I hope this blog has given you good food for thoought and has also helped you to shortlist the best telescope for kids to see planets.

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Thanks.