[kennedy]

I love being a Daddy.

It's great isn't it? We get to do all of the fun stuff that we did or ever wanted to do as kids.

So fellow Freepers, what would you recommend in an under $500 telescope that would allow my daughters to look at the rings of Saturn from our back yard?

[RandallFlagg]

So fellow Freepers, what would you recommend in an under $500 telescope that would allow my daughters to look at the rings of Saturn from our back yard?


$545.00 (Click to see)
But, the bigger the area for incoming light, the better the view.
Also, be ready to spend a bit more for eyepieces, Barlow lenses, cleaning gear, software, etc. Some of this crap you can hook up to a computer and get the image on your monitor (the warm and lazy way to do it -my personal fav).
Also, don't bother with batteries for the starfinder rig; they die too fast. Hook it up to an adapter.

[RandallFlagg]

Sorry. I should have posted this with the above:
What You Can See
All details and objects of lower aperture telescopes plus more detailed cloud belt patterns, color changes, and satellite shadows on Jupiter, high detail of the Great Red Spot, dusky markings and ring shadows on Saturn, Cassini Ring Division, lunar rilles, higher resolution moon detail such as craterlets, color variations and the structure of crater walls, Andromeda Galaxy structure.