Looking for feedback on Xmas gift setup

[ObjectionGrounds]

Hello, 

appreciate any feedback on advance. I was hoping for some feedback on what setup to get for the following situation:

 

my parents back yard opens up to a large open-space making it good for observation at night. 
 

My mom has 8 grandkids (10 and Younger). She has always wanted to closeup observe the night sky, moon etc. she will want to be able to share it with the grandkids… that’s probably possible if they don’t have to look through a telescope of their own. 
 

***with that said. Is there a telescope setup that can Wi-Fi to an iPad and show the kids what she is looking at to an iPad? Say, for example, three of them are sitting in a circle with an ipad - they can see what is being seen through the telescope? 
 

thanks again in advance!! 

[TerryMcK]

Hi welcome to the forum. No is the easy answer.

Best way is to get the kids to look through the eyepiece of a conventional telescope themselves.

 

If you really want to go down the rabbit hole of everything app based then there is an alternative made by French startup company Vaonis. This is their Vespera “Observation Station”. It does connect to multiple smartphones/tablets at the same time but does not have an eyepiece. Indeed it is a robotic telescope with integral camera only. I can’t recommend it as it does nothing brilliantly but is adequate for beginners doing casual deep sky views. You don’t need to know what you are doing as it does it all itself. Just tell it what you want to photograph using its app and it does the rest.

Oh it is very expensive too.

 

This is Space.com’s verdict:

 

An easy-to-use and futuristic-looking robotic solution for beginners in light-polluted cities, the Vaonis Vespera Observation Station features impressive live image-stacking for galaxies and nebulae, but lacks resolution and can't image planets.

Pros

• Fully automatic operation from app
• Creates shareable images
• Easy to use
• Cuts through light pollution

Cons

• Very expensive
• Cannot observe planets
• Basic images of the moon
• Images lack sharpness and resolution

 

https://www.space.com/vaonis-vespera-observation-station-smart-telescope-review

 

https://vaonis.com/vespera