>Hi Hilmar
>
>>The key indicator is the diameter. 30 mm is MUCH too small.
>>...
>
>Is it so small as to make it useless to view objects that you mentioned in your reply. I know this is not the top-of-the-line, more like bottom-of-the-line telescope, but if the planets still look like fatter dots or the orion nebula still like a hazy dot (no addition to details I mean) as it does in the binoc.s then I don't know if it will perk up any more interest in my kid than he has right now.
>
>Thanks for your response, in fact I felt like getting more costly one and sitting star-gazing myself :). Seriously I do like astronomy myself but have never got around to buying a telescope till now.

I don't think a 30mm telescope will be any better than a 30mm binocular, if you already have one, except for the fact that if it is mounted on a tripod, the image will move less.

Perhaps you can get a tripod separately, and use it with the binoculars.

Oh, well, there is the amplification. The thing is, a maker of cheap telescopes can put on an ocular (eye-piece) to give a strong amplification, and sell it as "40x" or "100x" or whatever, but the main characteristic that distinguishes larger telescopes from smaller ones is the diameter of the main lens, or main mirror, depending on the technology. A large amplification with a small diameter for the main lens/mirror is... inflated. The image will be bigger, but it won't show more detail. It is like when you over-inflate a JPEG image.

Now, I don't remember what is a good diameter/amplification ratio, but I suspect that in a 7x50 binocular (7x magnification, 50mm diameter) the ratio is about right. Perhaps a little more amplification might be appropriate, but not much more.

I would say, the tripod is much more important in this case. It is difficult to hold the binoculars or telescope steady, if you just hold it in your hands.

Then, to awaken interest in Astronomy, I would do some research on the Web. wikipedia.org, www.physicsweb.org, www.science.com, may all have some interesting articles on Astronomy. The Wikipedia, especially, should have relevant links to other sites.

And if you have any question about Astronomy, don't hesitate to ask friends that have been Astronomy fans since their early childhood (namely, me).