Have a look at some of the Celestron offerings. They have quite a few products aimed at the beginner that seem to offer decent optics and features at a good price..

Look out for the NexStar range of computerised mounts that can be told to go to a particular object and they will find it in the sky (after being set up of course) or the simpler Firstscope range that do without motorised mounts..

Whatever you get try and have a budget in mind and try and see them in use. Size is significant as is complexity - a huge, heavy scope that takes an hour to set up is not going to get used but equally, a poor quality instrument on a cheap wobbly mount will give such poor views that you won't bother with it either..

Generally for a refractor (lens based design) you want at least 75mm of aperture and for a reflector (mirror based design) you want to go a bit bigger, say 100mm or more. That's not to say there aren't some very good smaller instruments, but the smaller it is, the less you can see...

Shekar narayanan wrote:.

I would like to buy a telescope for my kid to do some skyexploration. Any suggestions?.

Learning Photographer.

If you can afford it I'd suggest the Celestron Starseeker 130 at about $400. You'll want to add a neutral density filter for looking at the moon..

The advantage of this tele is that it'll find the objects for you and then track them. It does not have high magnification and trust me on this one, you do not want high magnification. The prettiest celestial objects need a wide field (low mag)..

You can spend less but the frustration of seeing and pointing will quickly relegate them to the storage room...

Thank you both..

I will check out the Celestron telescopes. I am very new to this and really appreciate for giving some hints..

Learning Photographer..

You might want to start with binoculars..

When I was teaching elementary and junior high kids astronomy we started out by just familiarizing them with the night sky and the constellations. Each kid got a copy of Rey's bookhttp://www.amazon.com/Stars-New-Way-See-Them/dp/0395248302.

And a planisphere http://www.telescope.com/...itemType=PRODUCT&RS=1&keyword=planisphere.

Then we went out and using either a strong laser pointer or just as easy a 5 cell flashlight I would point out the stars in each constellation..

We went to dark sites to see many of the nebulae in the southern sky that can be seen with the naked eye..

The next step up from naked eye is the binocular. They should be light enough for the child to hold and of low magnification. The moons of jupiter and the rings of saturn are easily seen with binoculars. Not to mention hundreds of other celestial objects. Lawn chairs or pool loungers make it easy to stabilize the binoculars and get you off the ground when you are looking at objects overhead.Astronomy with binoculars..... see this linkhttp://www.stargazing.net/david/binoculars/index.html.

We bought several and the whole family can stargaze together. We actually prefer the binoculars to the telescope most nights just because of the ease of "setup". The telescope I have is a monster 12.5 inch Dobsonian that takes two to move and hours to stabilize to the outdoor temperature and a stepladder to use..

Now you're ready to think about the telescope. While I recommended a Celestron they aren't the only company and there are lots of good choices at Orion Telescope. Think wide apature and low magnification and computer guided for the best experience.A member of the rabble in good standing...

Thanks for the links LM1. I already have a nice binocular and that's what we have been using. I really likle the Star Target Planisphere and probably git it along with the book you referred..

Thanks again..

Learning Photographer..