Telescope which to buy

Such convenience does come at the expense of aperture light gathering area ; however, this telescope still offers fantastic views! Their 10 times magnification and 50mm aperture lenses are an ideal combination for beginners, making them not only easy to use but also great for observing the Moon and the brighter deep sky objects. More details… Recommended Accessories Red dot finder A red dot finder makes it easy for you to point your telescope at objects in the sky. When looking through this type of finder, a red dot is projected onto the sky and, once aligned, where you point the red dot is where the telescope is also pointing!

More details…. Telrad finder A trendy alternative to using a red dot finder is a Telrad finder. However, these devices work similarly to a red dot finder but project a circular target instead. Smartphone Adapter This cool device allows you to attach your phone to your telescope eyepiece easily and is absolutely fantastic for taking photos of the Moon! Baader Hyperion Zoom Eyepiece All new telescopes come with eyepieces — lenses of different powers that magnify the image that is formed by the telescope allowing you to see things on a larger scale.

The eyepieces that come with the telescopes we have recommended are excellent and perfect for beginners; however, a recommended upgrade is this zoom eyepiece.

Laser Collimator To get the best out of a reflecting telescope one that uses mirrors , it is sometimes necessary to align the mirrors to reflect light optimally. This device shines a laser beam down through the telescope, helping adjustments to be made and, with a little practice or help from your local club or society , is straightforward.

The Baader Laser Collimator is by far the best and is the only one you will ever need to buy! If you have any questions or would like further advice please do email us at [email protected] or send us a message via our Facebook page.

We are always happy to help! Clear skies! Latest news 5 minute read. Latest news 1 minute read. Latest news 3 minute read. Try before you buy The best advice we can give before buying a telescope is first to visit your local Astronomical Society or Astronomy Club who will be happy to help you choose a suitable instrument — many will be able to offer hands-on practical experience with a variety of telescopes explaining the pros and cons of each design.

See current price. Sky-Watcher Heritage p. Sky-Watcher Heritage 76 mini. This database allows you to identify objects you see through the scope, as well as to instruct the telescope to find new objects. The Tour feature offers a list of the best objects to view tailored to your time and location anywhere in the world. Besides offering an appealing collapsable size for transportation and storage, in our tests the NexStar 5SE excelled in its ease of setup and use.

Along with an extensive user manual, the NexStar 5SE comes with an expedited and abridged setup manual replete with instructional photos intended to get you using your telescope as fast as possible. Using these friendly instructions, we had the telescope mounted and set up in under 15 minutes and were already playing with the SkyAlign telescope-alignment features.

The NexStar 5SE includes a 25mm eyepiece, which serves as the best starter eyepiece to expand upon later. It also comes with an ultra-sturdy steel tripod and allows for the attachment of the optical tube with no tools necessary. This telescope does take eight AA batteries, and those are not included.

When the mount is in use, these batteries drain fast, offering an average of only two to four hours of power. When using your NexStar at home or near a wall power outlet, consider investing in an AC adapter, like this one from Celestron.

This telescope is manufactured especially for sale by the nonprofit organization Astronomers Without Borders, whose profits go toward expanding astronomical scientific educational programming in underserved countries around the world.

We vetted the OneSky for all of these common issues, and it passed our examination with flying colors. The OneSky is easily portable. The optical truss tube assembly collapses from its inch viewing length to 14 inches, and it weighs only 14 pounds. The tabletop Dobsonian mount, a simplified alt-azimuth mount, is steady and smooth, and it works well when the OneSky telescope is sitting on a table or some other solid platform. This swiveling mount has an integrated handle for easy carrying, and in our experience it proved reasonably stable and smooth when we searched for objects in the night sky.

The OneSky comes with both a 10mm eyepiece and a 25mm eyepiece for a range of viewing magnifications. For the price, this starter telescope has a dynamic range that can really get you exploring everything from the moon to some deep-sky objects.

We found that out of the box the OneSky needed collimation alignment of the telescope mirrors. With the help of online forums to complete the collimation, you can be ready to go. The upgrade it provides in light-gathering capacity, however, comes with the caveat that next to our Astronomers Without Borders budget pick, this Sky-Watcher Dobsonian model is substantially larger, weighing about 60 pounds including the scope and base.

It ships in two boxes, one housing the tubular scope and the other containing the unassembled swiveling base. We had this telescope fully assembled and ready to go in under an hour, which, compared with the process for some other Dobsonians, proved to be quite fast. This telescope fits the category that experts most often suggest for beginners looking to get the most bang for their buck.

For our tests, we were able to transport two 8-inch Dobsonians in the back of a Subaru hatchback, but we imagine that a single Dobsonian could fit in the majority of cars with some ingenuity on your part. As with our Astronomers Without Borders budget pick, this Sky-Watcher Dobsonian does not come with any computerized components to assist in locating and tracking stars in the sky.

For a beginner the absence of such a system can be either a blessing or a curse. Celestron Astro Fi mm Newtonian : This new telescope from Celestron offers some neat technological features, as it emits its own Wi-Fi signal and allows you to control the mount using an application on your smartphone or tablet. We really wanted to like this smart-tech interface, but delays and glitches in the connection thwarted our repeated attempts at smooth operation, causing more frustration than we thought this tech was worth.

We also found the tripod to be considerably flimsier than that of our top choice. Orion SkyQuest XT8i IntelliScope Dobsonian : While this large 8-inch Dobsonian telescope offered great views of faint galaxies and nebulae in our tests, its time-intensive setup and many moving parts made it feel less accessible and portable than our top pick.

Although it offers a computer database of more than 14, objects, this telescope instructs you to position the scope manually instead of moving on a motorized system. Sky-Watcher Virtuoso : This model is intended to excel at tracking objects in the sky throughout their trajectory, making it suitable for people venturing into astrophotography.

But it comes with a difficult learning curve, and it fits a niche segment that is not beginner-friendly. Levenhuk Strike 90 Plus : This 90mm refractor telescope, while classic in its design, comes with a mount and tripod that produced more shakiness than our budget pick in our tests.

Orion SkyScanner mm TableTop Reflector : While we were impressed with the image quality from such a mini Dobsonian, the SkyScanner did not feel as grab-and-go as another Orion model we tested, the kid-friendly GoScope, a refractor scope ideal for casual viewing. The SkyScanner offered better planetary viewing than the kids scope, but when it came to whipping the Orion GoScope out of its specially designed backpack and pointing it at the moon, it really took the cake.

Take care of your telescope, and your equipment will serve you well for years. Dust or moisture can build up on the lens or mirror depending on what type of telescope you have. The traditional method for cleaning the lens or mirror is to brush lightly with a camel-hair brush. You can find such brushes in camera shops; their soft bristles will do the least damage in scraping the optical unit. Alternatively you can use a can of pressurized air to spray the glass surface to remove any excess dust particles.

If your optical unit is in need of a deep cleaning, you can apply an optical-cleaning solution to remove debris. To minimize the need to clean your telescope, put all lens covers back on once you have finished using it. That said, the best telescope for you is the one that you use the most out in the field. Dirt will inevitably accumulate in small amounts on your telescope lens and mirrors.

You can have quite a bit of dust and crud build up with very little noticeable effect on your viewing experience. We suggest storing your telescope in a safe place inside where it is least susceptible to moisture, dust buildup, and bumps from a child or pet.

People in the amateur astronomy community are generally very welcoming and willing to share their expertise with newcomers who are just starting out. Getting involved with your local astronomy club and attending its organized star-viewing parties can be a great way to get to know like-minded people and hear some advice about telescopes from seasoned veterans. Another question you need to have answered for yourself is, what do you want to look at?

Buying a telescope right off the bat is like buying a set of golf clubs before ever playing the game. By far the most accessible of stargazing instruments is a good pair of binoculars. For more on the topic, our binocular guide is here , though it concentrates on models with 10x magnification—great for viewing far-off critters, but not far-off stars. Spending long nights outside under the stars comes with an element of intensity. Reflecting telescopes have an open tube at the front and a round mirror inside the bottom of the tube, called the primary mirror.

Light entering the tube is reflected back inside the tube onto a much smaller angled secondary mirror, and then out through the side of the telescope near the top end, which is where the interchangeable eyepiece goes.

This design allows for much larger apertures than are possible with refractors, and amateur reflectors are available right up to a whopping mm diameter. There are two ways of using reflectors. Smaller models up to 12 inches or so can be used on tripod-style mounts similar to those used for refractors. A popular alternative option, though, is to mount the telescope tube onto a rotating base that sits on the floor.

This can be turned freely around, while the telescope can pivot up and down and thus be pointed anywhere in the sky. Telescopes mounted in this way are known as Dobsonians and, compared penny for penny, offer the most cost-effective and rewarding views of the deep sky. In fact the views offered by a relatively modest reflector can compare favourably with those offered by expensive refractors.

However, they can be heavy, bulky items that are awkward to take outside and bring back in, or to transport to darker sites, and they can take up a lot of room when not in use. The largest Dobsonian models, although collapsible into manageable components, may even require the use of a stepladder when viewing objects high overhead! In use, Cassegrain telescopes are quite similar to refractors, in that you point the front end at the sky and you look into an interchangeable eyepiece on the back.

Comparatively heavy, they tend to be shorter lengthwise, and this compactness makes them ideal where storage space is limited. These telescopes may need a little tweaking from time to time, to make sure the mirrors are lined up properly. Cassegrain designs give a comparatively more magnified view for a given size of eyepiece, and for those wishing to experience the best views of the planets and our Moon, a Maksutov-Cassegrain or a Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope may well be the best option.

Of course, other deep-sky objects may be viewed, with larger aperture Schmidt-Cassegrains providing the most satisfying experience. Although the views may not be quite as tack sharp as those from refractors, they are a popular choice as a happy compromise between large enough aperture and manageable size.

Because of the higher magnifications provided by these telescopes, the object being observed will more quickly move out of view, and so they are often purchased with electronic tracking mounts to follow the targets as they move. The right telescope for you can be determined by deciding where and how you will use your telescope; maybe at home, or perhaps to take to dark-sky sites. All three designs are available as basic models or with fully computerised controls and even built-in wi-fi for operation via smartphone.

Whatever your choice, refractor, reflector, Cassegrain, it is advisable to make your purchase from specialist astronomy dealers that know all about the telescopes they offer and can answer the inevitable questions.

There is a wide variety of telescope available on the market, and it pays to do research before buying. Our guide below provides a look at three different types at either end of the price spectrum. The LT 70AZ boasts a 70mm diameter front objective lens, fully coated optics and a focal length of mm. It comes as a sturdy yet lightweight aluminium tube mounted on an altaz fork mount and features slow-motion control. The refractor comes with two eyepieces — 25mm and 10mm — plus a Barlow lens and erect image star diagonal.

One nifty inclusion is the StarSense Explorer phone dock, which can be used to fit a smartphone and turns this manual telescope into a hi-tech gadget that can locate celestial objects using your phone and the StarSense app. At six inches in diameter the Evostar ED DS-Pro is probably the maximum manageable size refractor for most amateur astronomers. Also, we found that planetary nebulae M57 and M27 contrasted the background sky very well indeed. We took a look at globular clusters and open clusters and found these sharp and clear: so too lunar views and in particular crater walls.

Where to buy: High Point Scientific. The whole setup is easy to assemble and operate and certainly provides a welcoming introduction to observing the night sky.

The Newtonian design uses a parabolic primary mirror to collect and focus light from your celestial target, while a flat secondary mirror reflects it to the eyepiece.