Astronomy help needed

[Norfolkit]

Good folks of PH, I have a problem.
I've got a 7 year old grandson who's suddenly become fascinated in astronomy.
I was thinking about one of these home planetarium jobs to help find his way around the night sky.
This sort of thing http://www.amazon.co.uk/Brainstorm-Toys-Space-Plan...

The other part of my problem is........he lives in Australia. Anyone got any idea if these things cover the southern sky too, can't fathom it from the product descriptions.

[nellyleelephant]

I bought my nephew one of the Skywatcher scopes shown above, for the money, it's fantastic. From their not very dark night sky we could easily resolve Andromeda. Not so good on the planets though!

[Gandahar]

Binoculars would be better than a telescope. It's only been said 10000000000000000000 times before so it must be right.

Having said that for a child interested in Astronomy I would buy neither that nor a home planetarium. I would buy this.

COSMOS by Giles Sparrow

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/543718.Cosmos

It's mainly pictures. With some words of science as well, but for children ( of all ages of course ) the pictures bring out the awe of the Universe at their level and make them want to see more.

It works out from Earth to the very distant reaches in chapters as is the classical style and does it well apart from a couple of errors. It's big format which aids the photographs but means it is a handful to read.

[M4cruiser]

At 7 years old your grandson can probably work a computer better than most of us, so how about this:-

http://www.astrograv.co.uk/

[Morningside]

On the same lines. Have you tried
http://www.stellarium.org/

Its totally free.

[Moonhawk]

Gandahar said:

Binoculars would be better than a telescope. It's only been said 10000000000000000000 times before so it must be right.

Honestly - I fundamentally disagree with this. Unless you go for very good quality (read expensive) binoculars - you'll get the same problems that dog cheap refractor telescopes (chromatic aberration etc).

Also - the size of the objective lens of binoculars is limited. Even ones with a 60mm objective won't show many objects (especially DSOs) and not to a very high resolution since the resolving power of a telescope (or binoculars) is directly related to the size of its primary light collecting area. Hand holding a pair of binoculars is difficult. To see detail on the planets, moon, double stars etc you need a steady image. Also - to find faint fuzzy DSOs you need the ability to sweep the sky in a controlled manner. Hand holding binoculars just doesn't give you the control or stability you need to get the best views.

They may be fine for a quick glance at the moon or for sweeping star fields - but IMO thats about it. I have never found binos useful for anything else.

IMO - the best bet is to pick up an equatorially mounted newtonian from a reasonable manufacturer. These can be had for far less than a suitable pair of binos. You'll get to see far more with it - and it will be expandable/upgradeable (eyepieces, filters etc) should the hobby take off.

The current version of my first telescope (a 4.5" newtonian) can be had for under £100 brand new. I still have mine after 30 years.