Telescope for Kids

September 22, 2019
4:48 pm

Want your kids to become engaged in stargazing and astronomy? Well, what better tool to do so with than a telescope for kids?

If you just so happen to be looking for such a telescope, then maybe our 3 picks from 3 different price ranges will interest you!

Reviews

Best Telescope for Kids – Great Value

Aomekie Kids’ 40mm Telescope

Up first on our review is Aomekie’s 40mm refractor telescope, which is a good option if you have a limited budget, or if you aren’t sure whether your kid will become interested in astronomy and don’t want to spend too much money to begin with.

Overall, this telescope is better suited for shorter-distance observations, which is evident from the specs and the kind of accessories this thing comes with.

First of all, this telescope has a smaller 40mm aperture, which is going to be quite enough to observe the Moon and well-illuminated land objects not too far away.

Secondly, this telescope comes with short-distance 12.5mm and 20mm eyepieces with 32x and 20x zoom respectively. The smaller magnification of this telescope also means that it is going to have a wider field of view, which is going to particularly contribute to how landscapes appear.

Aside from the two eyepieces, this telescope comes with a 90-degree diagonal, which is going to allow for a more comfortable observation of the sky and landscapes.

To aid with locating targets, the Aomekie telescope is equipped with a 5×18 finder scope. To also help your kid find their orientation easier, this telescope comes with a compass located right next to the finder scope. And aside from that, the Aomekie telescope boasts 360-degree horizontal and 150-degree vertical adjustment.

Lastly, what this telescope can also boast are lightness and portability. It can be easily taken apart for transport, and since it comes with only 5 parts, your kid shouldn’t have any issues with disassembling it.

Best Telescope for Kids for a slightly higher price point

Aomekie Kids’ 70mm Telescope

This Aomekie kids’ telescope is going to perform better than the telescope we’ve just reviewed due to its larger 70mm aperture. Thanks to it, this telescope is going to deliver a clearer view of dimmer and farther celestial and terrestrial objects.

Being the biggest difference between the two Aomekie telescopes, the aperture isn’t the only thing that is better in this model.

First of all, this telescope has much better magnification. While the focal length of this telescope is shorter – 300mm vs 400mm in the 40mm Aomekie telescope – it has higher magnification thanks to its eyepieces with shorter focal length. The included 6mm eyepiece delivers 50x zoom (300mm/6mm = 50, which is how zoom is calculated in telescopes), while the larger 20mm eyepiece has 15x magnification.

This isn’t all though. Aomekie includes a 3x Barlow lens with this telescope, which triples the magnification of the eyepiece it is paired with without affecting one’s eye relief or ability to focus. As a result, you can get 150x magnification out of this thing!

This telescope also comes with a 5×24 finder scope which has a larger lens than the 40mm Aomekie telescope’s finder scope had. As a result, the 5×24 finder scope in this model makes locating low-light objects easier.

Aomekie includes a 1.5x upright eyepiece with this telescope as well, the purpose of which is to invert the upside-down picture delivered by the telescope (which is a normal thing for telescopes). Aside from that, the upright eyepiece offers additional zoom of 1.5x.

Aside from that, Aomekie ships this telescope with a moon filter which brings the brightness of the moon down to make its details more visible. Plus, it comes with a phone adapter to allow your kid to take photos or videos of what they are observing.

One thing that is worse in this telescope is its limited vertical adjustment – only 90 degrees vs the 150 degrees that the smaller telescope had. This may not be a big issue for your kid, but it’s a thing that you should nonetheless know about.

Best Telescope for Kids – Quality Build

Emarth 70mm Telescope

Lastly, we have the Emarth 70mm telescope, which is kind of a middle-ground model between the two Aomekie telescopes we reviewed.

On one hand, the Emarth telescope has a larger 70mm aperture, so it’s going to offer low-light performance comparable to that of the 70mm Aomekie telescope. On the other hand, it has a lower magnification, so it is going to be a better fit for short-distance observations.

Now, before we proceed to numbers, it seems that Emarth has made a couple of mistakes when writing their product description. At least, this was the case at the moment of this post’s writing.

For example, they claim that their 10mm and 25mm eyepieces have 51x and 128x zoom respectively, which doesn’t make sense given that this telescope’s focal length is 360mm. Below, we’ll provide you with the numbers that should be correct, given that the measurements Emarth has provided are true.

Plus, Emarth has posted a few photos of another Emarth telescope model, which isn’t the model we are talking about. The right model looks very similar to the 70mm Aomekie telescope, so keep that in mind.

So, using the magnification=telescope focal length/eyepiece focal length formula, we get 14.4x and 36x magnification for the 25mm and 10mm respectively. There is 3x Barlow eyepiece available for this thing for increased zoom, but out of the box, thing telescope is going to be more suitable for shorter-range observations.

While the zoom is lower than in the 70mm Aomekie telescope, the optic quality seems to be higher in this model. It is equipped with a BAK-4 prism with a higher refractive index rate and a circular exit pupil, which allows for more uniform light transmission across the entire field of view.

Lastly, what your kid may also like in this telescope is its height-adjustable tripod, which should make this telescope easy to use whether on a support or on the ground. The other two telescopes on the list didn’t have such a feature, so the Emarth telescope is the most versatile one among the three.

About Refracting Telescope

A refractor telescope, also known as a refracting telescope, is a type of telescope that uses a lens to focus light. It was one of the first types of telescopes invented and is still used by astronomers today. The lens at the front of the telescope is called the objective lens, and it is responsible for gathering light and bending it so that it converges to a point of focus at the back of the telescope, where an eyepiece is located to magnify the image formed by the objective lens.

The Optical Design

The optical design of a refractor telescope is relatively simple. The objective lens is a convex lens, meaning that it is thicker in the middle than at the edges. When light passes through the lens, it is refracted, or bent, by an amount that depends on the angle at which it hits the lens and the properties of the glass. The refracted light converges at a point called the focus, which is located a certain distance behind the lens. The distance between the lens and the focus is called the focal length, and it is an important characteristic of the objective lens.

The eyepiece is a small lens that is placed near the focus of the objective lens. Its job is to magnify the image formed by the objective lens so that it can be viewed by the observer. The magnification of the telescope is determined by the ratio of the focal lengths of the objective lens and the eyepiece. For example, if the focal length of the objective lens is 1000mm and the focal length of the eyepiece is 10mm, the magnification of the telescope would be 100x (1000/10 = 100).

In addition to the objective lens and eyepiece, refractor telescopes typically have a few other components to help with focusing and alignment. A diagonal mirror is often used to redirect the light from the objective lens to a more comfortable viewing angle. A focuser is used to move the eyepiece closer or farther away from the objective lens to achieve a sharp focus. Finally, a mount is used to support the telescope and allow it to be pointed at different objects in the sky.

The Advantages of Refracting Telescope

One advantage of refractor telescopes is that they produce high-quality images with good contrast and minimal chromatic aberration. Chromatic aberration is a phenomenon where different colors of light are refracted differently by the lens, causing a rainbow-like effect around bright objects in the image. This can be a problem with some types of lenses, but it is less of an issue with refractor telescopes because they use a single lens to focus the light.

Another advantage of refractor telescopes is that they are relatively low-maintenance. Because the objective lens is sealed inside the telescope tube, it is protected from dust and other debris. This means that the lens does not need to be cleaned as often as the mirrors in a reflecting telescope. However, it is still important to keep the lens clean and free of fingerprints or other smudges, which can degrade the image quality.

Overall, a refractor telescope is a simple but powerful tool for observing the night sky. With a well-made objective lens and a high-quality eyepiece, it is possible to see many of the wonders of the universe, from the craters of the Moon to the rings of Saturn and beyond. Whether you are a seasoned astronomer or a curious beginner, a refractor telescope is a great way to explore the cosmos and deepen your appreciation for the beauty and complexity of our universe.