Astronomy Gifts for Dads: Telescopes, Binoculars, and More

hey everyone John Reed here host of learn to stargaze and author of the things to see with the telescope Series so every year I do a video around Father's Day for the folks out there looking to get the fathers in their lives something special related to space or astronomy so this year here's what we're going to cover binoculars for stargazing these will range in price from about $50 to $150 telescopes knowing that most of the telescopes I've talk about here are under $500 telescope accessories most of which will be under $100 and Facebooks because I read a lot and I'm an author this video is not directly sponsored but it does contain a few affiliate links which I'll call out in the video description note that I'll only link to products that I truly believe in recognizing that there are a lot of folks on tight budgets this year I wanted to start off by talking about binoculars as a tool for stargazing I think a lot of people truly underestimate just how amazing binoculars are for observing the night sky many of the knight's best Target such as the Andromeda galaxy and plees look far better in binoculars than they do through a telescope that said if your dad is asking specifically for a telescope this Father's Day then he probably wants a telescope so feel free to skip until the next section there are three types of binoculars that I enjoy for stargazing the first is a basic pair of 10x 50s and for these I'd budget around $50 now I have an old pair that I need to replace and when I do I'm currently looking at these ones the Bushnell power viiew 10 x 50s for binocs the first number is the magnification and the second number is the aperture the the diameter of the primary lens so for the Power view binoculars the magnification is 10 and the aperture is 50 I found that 10x is a pretty good level of magnification for stargazing if you're just holding the binocular freehand when you get much higher the image seems to bounce around aperture determines how much light the binocs gather as well as how detailed objects will appear That's why 50 mm and higher are generally recommended for observing things in space in any case if you're picking up an o for stargazing it's good to get what's called a monopod and a binocular adapter to connect the adapter to the binoculars the logo on the hinge of the binoculars pops off and there's a place to screw in the binocular adapter then there are the twox or Milky Way binoculars I found these to be a lot of fun basically they give you superum Vision they don't magnify the sky very much but when you use them so many more stars seem to pop into a view even from light polluted Skies then we have actual astronomy binoculars the most popular version of these are in the Celestron Sky Master Series the most popular being the 15x 7s or 25x 70s both versions surprisingly seem only to cost around $100 I haven't personally owned these but I've used my friends Pairs and I didn't have any issues with them they seemed great the 15x versions are probably easier to use but in any case I definitely recommend using them on a tripod or at least a monopod with a binocular adapter there are lots of other options for binoculars but as you get fancier like with zoom binoculars or image stabilizing binoculars I feel like you might as well just invest in a telescope now let's talk about telescopes assuming your dad is a beginner I have five rules for choosing a beginner telescope rule number one is that the telescope must have 100 millim or more of aperture yes there are some good telescopes with less aperture like the skywatcher Evo star or EVO Lux but having a requirement of 100 mm of aperture eliminates a lot of the crap that's out there on the telescope Market rule number two the telescope should come with a red dot or Bullseye finder not a finder scope or at least a universal dovetail adapter so that you can attach the finder of your choice rule number three the telescope should come on an AZ or dobsonian style Mount not an EQ Mount alasm or AZ mounts are just so much easier to use and I think they're just far more fun rule number four the telescope should be free to move but stay fixed in place when released this eliminates telescopes on camera tripods or rod and Yol mounts struggling to point the telescope or struggling with a stabilizing Rod are things that just suck the fun out of using a telescope finally the telescope should simply be able to point straight up and if it's a refractor it should come with a 90° diagonal not a 45° diagonal you be surprised how many telescopes that are marketed to beginners simply can't Point high in the sky with these five rules in mind here are my recommendations for 2024 and currently these tend to run between about $200 and $500 I also frequently check the refurbished page of B&H photos as I found some fantastic deals on there as well the beginner telescopes that I recommend for those on a budget tend to fall into three categories first the 102 mm refractors and second the 130 mm newtonians and third the 6 to 8 in dobsonians note that none of these telescopes include computerized mounts as a good computerized Mount is typically purchased separate from the telescope let's talk about the 102 mm refractor for a second there are a lot of 2 mm refractors on the market and I've been fortunate to be able to try most of them and most of these I've had pretty good luck with the highest quality version I found was the skywatcher star travel 102 however this does break rule number five as you'll need to buy a 90° diagonal separately often times you may find that Costco carries a 102 mm refractor for around $200 usually this will be the omni2 which I've covered extensively in this Channel or the natat ge12 which I used in my last video the n Geo version is actually made by explore scientific now explore scientific has a few versions of the 102 mm refractor and they're all generally pretty good except that the mount that some of them come on is the Nano Mount which can be a bit lightweight and does not include slow motion controls that said I actually don't mind the nanom mount I have one and telescopes tend to be quite well balanced on it moving on we need to talk about the star sense series of telescopes by Celestron I really like Star sense as a technology star sense connects your cell phone to the telescope via a special mount it uses a mirror to direct light into your phone's camera to identify where the telescope is pointed in the sky and then shows you within arrow on the screen which way to point your telescope to get to your target I have several telescopes with star sense and I've never had any issues there is one common misconception though and that's that you can use star sense to take pictures of space that's just not how it works star sense is there just to help you find Targets which you'll then observe through the eyepiece now I really like the DX versions of stuff sense and I believe I've used them all the LT versions however I found to be lacking in Optical quality so the DX versions are definitely the way to go there's even a 102 mm version called the Celestron star sense Explorer dx12 for about the same price as the dx12 there is a new tonian version at 130 mm I've used several of these and they've been great except you really need to check the colation of the mirrors colation is simply the process of aligning the mirrors the easiest way to cumate a Newtonian telescope is with a colation laser which cost about $20 I'll post a link in the description for that I personally have the dx5 which is a Smith Crain design which I really enjoy there's also the dobsonian series which I got to test and that was an absolute blast speaking of dobsonians to get the best views of deep space per dollar spent you need to look at the dobsonian style telescope these days the only version that seems to be under $500 is the 6-in version but you can often find the 8 in version used for under $500 as well I actually got my 8 in dubson and used for $200 but that was about 5 years ago now if you're interested in Astro photography but don't have a budget of several thousand new this year is the zwo sear s50 for just $499 I've had one for several months now and it's been really fun to use it was especially fun during the total solar eclipse because I could just set it up set it to Time Lapse and just leave it alone well that's it for telescopes now let's talk about access accessies here are a few astronomy gifts for dads for under $100 if you think of anything else that folks should know about let us know in the comments first we have red light headlamps these are very helpful to help you maintain your night vision and for reading astronomy guide books there are several of these on Amazon and they're usually found for under $20 next we have zero gravity chairs these are great for watching meteor showers or stargazing with binoculars here in Canada we typically pick up zero gravity chairs at Canadian Tire I've used them I've never owned one but people seem to really like them so there you go now if you want to connect a cell phone to your telescope check out the Celestron nexyz this is the only cell phone adapter that I found Works effectively and for looking at the moon and planets I actually really enjoy these Zoom eye pieces I have the Celestron version but there's also one made by SV bony that people seem to really enjoy another inexpensive astronomy accessory that I really enjoy is a USB do heater for keeping the de off my lenses you can also use these for binoculars and if you want an eyepiece upgrade that won't break the bank there are 18 mm Ultra flat field eyepieces for around $100 and I found that these offer really great views above and beyond the eyepieces that come with your telescope now for the books a few years ago I posted a video of my 10 favorite space books but in this video I'll just highlight a few that I think fathers who are interested in space might enjoy the first is when the heavens went on sale by Ashley Vance this book is about the rise in new space companies within the last decade or so the next book is Robert kon's man which tells the story of Apollo 8 now Apollo 8 was actually the first mission where astronauts traveled to the moon now Apollo 8 didn't land on the moon they just orbited it but it was a Monumental Mission nonetheless during Apollo 8 is where the famous earthrise photo was taken and you'll find that story here in this book the next two books are fiction and these are the books by astronaut and test pilot Chris Hadfield we have the Apollo murders and the sequel The Defector both of these are really quite good now in terms of astronomy books to get your father started with his new telescope there's my book 110 things to see with a telescope however this will actually be going off the market at the end of this month because it's transitioning to a new publisher so you need to get it before June 30th 2024 otherwise you'll need to wait until October when it will be back on the market and then there's my favorite book to have written 50 things to see on the moon which won the Simon Nukem award back in 2020 well I hope you enjoyed this video and that it helped you choose a gift for your father this Father's Day subscribe to learn to stargaze to take your stargazing experience to the next level and remember the future is looking up

Channel: LearnToStargaze

Views: 1,528

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Id: XR9E7mYy184

Length: 10min 42sec (642 seconds)

Published: Tue Jun 11 2024