Telescopes for idiots? (xmas present for my dad)

[falkster]

Hi all

My dad is the worst person in the world to buy xmas presents for so Ive spent the last 11 months using my mum to extract info from him. He mentions he would like a telescope and I remember he always had one when I was young but knowing nothing about them I dont know where to start.
Without ruining the surprise I cant really ask him to point one out and the only info I have gleaned is that it would need to be 500x magnification. My budget isn't defined but he would go nuts if I spent anything more that 50p so, as usual, would have to make up some elaborate story (but believable).
Any help would be great.

[nellyleelephant]

First off, forget the 500x mag, it's achievable but the quality of the image will be totally awful.

Do you mean astro or terrestrial?

You may get more answers with a post in the Science forum, there are quite a few astro threads in there.

[Magic919]

MX-5. Or a Skywatcher 200p.

[mini me]

There are three "main" makes to look at. Meade, celestron and skywatcher. Start by researching some of these online to get an idea of prices. After that I would look at getting a bit of advice from the shops that sell them. It can be very costly once you add in accessories and is fairly highly dependant on what you want to use it for.

Edited by mini me on Saturday 24th November 15:23

[PeanutHead]

Helpful thread running in science section also,
http://www.pistonheads.co.uk/gassing/topic.asp?h=0...

[falkster]

PeanutHead said:

Helpful thread running in science section also,
http://www.pistonheads.co.uk/gassing/topic.asp?h=0...

Brilliant, I really thought photography was the right section.

[Big Al.]

falkster said:

Brilliant, I really thought photography was the right section.

Lets stay with that one then please.