So my daughter has expressed an interest in stargazing, so last night we drove out to there serenity golf course (east of the city) is and looked at the sky for a bit (and got eaten by mosquitos).
i am thinking about buying a telescope (as i like to make sure her and i bond over certain activities - we make sure we go and see all the marvel movies as well).
what do i need to know about telescopes - i'd like to keep the spend to around $200 if possible. Outside of amazon/kijiji/facebook market place - where would one go to buy a telescope in Calgary? I guess, i am asking where is the telescope district?
Other than the observatory, where do folks congregate to do this? I live in New Brighton is the SE, so the serenity location was easily accesible.
PS - there was a similar thread, but it is 10 years old, so I thought I'd give the topic a reboot
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We bought my son an Orion telescope from telescopes.com. There isn't a telescope district in Lethbridge and that site had better deals than Amazon.
We talked to the local astronomy club and they gave a good recommendation for a beginner scope. It doesn't do a great job of magnifying the stars with the lenses it came with but the moon is spectacular.
We took it camping this past weekend and it was pretty good.
You can see things when in the city but it can be difficult.
Pro tip. Buy a red light flashlight. It helps you see in the dark without messing with your pupils.
So my daughter has expressed an interest in stargazing, so last night we drove out to there serenity golf course (east of the city) is and looked at the sky for a bit (and got eaten by mosquitos).
i am thinking about buying a telescope (as i like to make sure her and i bond over certain activities - we make sure we go and see all the marvel movies as well).
what do i need to know about telescopes - i'd like to keep the spend to around $200 if possible. Outside of amazon/kijiji/facebook market place - where would one go to buy a telescope in Calgary? I guess, i am asking where is the telescope district?
Other than the observatory, where do folks congregate to do this? I live in New Brighton is the SE, so the serenity location was easily accesible.
PS - there was a similar thread, but it is 10 years old, so I thought I'd give the topic a reboot
If you're just starting out, I recommend using Binoculars - 10x50 is sufficient. i use a Celestron Cavalry. I find it far easier to star-hop with binos. The binos are also a lot less money.
But maybe consider buying a membership with RASC/Calgary because you can rent telescopes from them on a monthly basis. I think you might get a lot more bang for the buck. https://calgary.rasc.ca/scopes.htm
I live in the NW and, for winter viewing, I drive to Keoma, which is East of Balzac. From here, the east and north skies are dark and I can get some decent photos of the Orion Nebula. I don't go out too much in the summer because to get decent photos of the Milky Way, you have to wait until after Midnight and more like after 0100. I usually drive out to Hwy 66, usually at the summit of the hill past Elbow Falls. The best spot, though, is along the Icefields Parkway. It is dark. Really dark, and the amount of stars you can see will amaze you.
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My son's scope, was good to get us interested and to affirm that we wouldn't be wasting our money on getting a bigger scope. So we started to dream about the day when we would buy a new one.
Unfortunately my son's scope broke. The mount just broke into two where one of the tension knobs are. I tried contacting Orion to see about warranty and/or just buying a new part or completely new stand. I never heard back from them. No return phone calls. Nobody ever monitored the chat line. I got an auto-response that my support ticket was created but they never got back. I tried multiple times across all three mediums. I was even looking at buying one of their dobsonian mounts.
I subbed to /r/telescopes and did some reading and research and I saw a few people were showing off their brand new SkyWatcher telescopes, which they waited months to get. I decided I was going to look into that brand because Orion's customer service was terrible.
Then I remembered https://www.all-startelescope.com which was based out of Didsbury. It seemed like every telescope was sold out all over the world though and I didn't have much hope. I saw that All-Star had an 8" Dobsonian. I saw some place based in Ontario had 6" Dobsonians in stock. I had to act quick. I decided to support local.
I feel guilty because people have been waiting for months to get scopes and I ordered mine on a Saturday and it arrived only 4 days later.
A SkyWatcher 8" Dobsonian. Wow! It is huge! (That's what she said!). It isn't too bad to move around for me, but my son would need my help to get it outside and setup. I can't also get over how much better views I get with this thing. The previous 3"aperture scope could see the moon and stars were just flecks of dust in the sky. This 8" aperture scope sees more stars than the naked eye can see. The views are amazing!
I was able to find and view Orion's Nebula a couple of times too.
The downfall of using the telescope at this time of year is that it's cold outside and my fingers freeze! Also it isn't really prime planet viewing season. Too bad I didn't have this thing in August or September when I could see Saturn and Jupiter for a few hours.
So, if anybody is interested in getting a scope, be very weary of the scopes that are under $200. They do a decent job, but the mounts are terrible! A dobosonian mount is very easy to use and more stable, and you get a scope with a decent sized aperture. The larger the aperture the more light it captures from the sky.
I haven't had a chance to take it out of the city yet, but so far the views have been amazing just from my backyard!
I've learned so much over the past couple of months. Astronomy, where have you been all my life?
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We recently bought a small telescope for my son. We set it up on the driveway last night and looked at the moon, which he really enjoyed. He wanted to see Jupiter/Saturn (great conjunction) but it was too cloudy on the exact night. Still, Christmas Eve seems like a good time to view the "Christmas Star." From our house we can't see the southwest horizon because of other houses. Any suggestions for somewhere we could go (prefer NW) that would be a reasonable place to set up and observe. Attention span is probably only 15 minutes (he's 6) so I don't really want to drive 30 minutes out into the country, but will if the consensus is that it makes a huge difference.
We recently bought a small telescope for my son. We set it up on the driveway last night and looked at the moon, which he really enjoyed. He wanted to see Jupiter/Saturn (great conjunction) but it was too cloudy on the exact night. Still, Christmas Eve seems like a good time to view the "Christmas Star." From our house we can't see the southwest horizon because of other houses. Any suggestions for somewhere we could go (prefer NW) that would be a reasonable place to set up and observe. Attention span is probably only 15 minutes (he's 6) so I don't really want to drive 30 minutes out into the country, but will if the consensus is that it makes a huge difference.
Nosehill Park is probably your best bet inside the City. I saw some pictures posted from people who took pictures through their telescope from there and they were pretty clear. For the conjunction, we actually drove out to Springbank (to a school parking lot) and watched from there, so that might be a different option.
Big Hill Springs (between Calgary and Cochrane) might work as well
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We recently bought a small telescope for my son. We set it up on the driveway last night and looked at the moon, which he really enjoyed. He wanted to see Jupiter/Saturn (great conjunction) but it was too cloudy on the exact night. Still, Christmas Eve seems like a good time to view the "Christmas Star." From our house we can't see the southwest horizon because of other houses. Any suggestions for somewhere we could go (prefer NW) that would be a reasonable place to set up and observe. Attention span is probably only 15 minutes (he's 6) so I don't really want to drive 30 minutes out into the country, but will if the consensus is that it makes a huge difference.
I would suggest the ridge above the Bow River in Varsity - nw of Market Mall. I will look for address . . .
40th ave nw west of 53rd St
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Nosehill Park is probably your best bet inside the City. I saw some pictures posted from people who took pictures through their telescope from there and they were pretty clear. For the conjunction, we actually drove out to Springbank (to a school parking lot) and watched from there, so that might be a different option.
Big Hill Springs (between Calgary and Cochrane) might work as well
This park is closed for refurbishment at the moment.
For suggestion in the NW I concur heading west/north of town is best. It's likely just as close or closer than Nose Hill (for me anyway) and you would be away from the light pollution if viewing to the west or north. At mentioned earlier, the schools in Springbank would be good. Edge is probably the closest and with the airport nearby there is plenty of open space that is dark.
Get into the blue zones for the best results, but you can still see well enough, depending on the telescope, in areas with light pollution. Just get out of light in your vicinity.
In the blue areas or even areas with lack of color you have the best chance of seeing Dark Sky Objects (nebulas, distant stars, etc.) Again, that depends on the telescope you have too.
My 8" aperture scope could see Orion's Nebula in a yellow/orange zone on the map, but not in great detail.
Stargazing/Amateur Astronomy
