Beginner

See larger image Orion StarMax 90mm TableTop Maksutov-Cassegrain Telescope (Electronics) List Price: $199.99 USD New From: $199.99 In Stock

Intermediate

See larger image Celestron NexStar 6 SE Telescope (Electronics) List Price: $1,405.95 USD New From: $719.99 In Stock

Advanced

See larger image Celestron CPC 1100 StarBright XLT GPS Schmidt-Cassegrain 2800mm Telescope with Tripod and Tube (Electronics) List Price: $5,589.95 USD New From: $2,999.00 In Stock Used from: $2,599.00 In Stock

Beginner

See larger image Celestron 31045 AstroMaster 130 EQ Reflector Telescope (Electronics) List Price: $375.95 USD New From: $199.99 In Stock

Intermediate

See larger image Orion XT8 Classic Dobsonian Telescope & Beginner Barlow Kit (Electronics) List Price: $399.99 USD New From: $399.99 In Stock

Advanced

See larger image Orion XT10 Classic Dobsonian Telescope & Beginner Barlow Kit (Electronics) List Price: $579.99 USD New From: $579.99 In Stock

Beginner

See larger image Celestron 21061 AstroMaster 70 AZ Refractor Telescope (Camera) List Price: $183.95 USD New From: $106.37 In Stock Used from: $75.50 In Stock

Intermediate

See larger image Orion AstroView 120ST Equatorial Refractor Telescope (Electronics) List Price: $549.99 USD New From: $499.99 In Stock

Advanced

See larger image Orion Sirius ED100 EQ-G GoTo Refractor Telescope (Electronics) List Price: $1,799.99 USD

One of the key decisions is to choose your brands. In the beginners market, it is best to stay away from the mass-market toy store brands and look for those from major manufacturers such as Celestron, Orion or Meade amongst others. All three of these offer a range of scopes from small reflectors up to larger refractors and catadioptrics such as the Schmidt-Cassegrain design ranging from less than $100 to well over $3000. This will cover the needs of anyone new to astronomy for many years.

But where to buy! In the Internet age, there are many online retailers that are taking the place of the specialist store of times gone by. A large number of online stores now offer their services through Amazon.com’s telescope section and their marketplace so the range of both telescopes, accessories and books is wide. Seller ratings and information are offered for all items not stocked by Amazon themselves.

You should now have all the information you need to make an informed choice. We have put together our own recommendations at different budget levels for the three major telescope types in the following pages.

1. Recommended refractor telescopes
2. Recommended reflector telescopes
3. Recommended catadioptric telescopes

Most importantly – have fun and enjoy what could be a lifelong and fascinating hobby!

Previous: Telescope Accessories

Telescope Mount and Telescope Tripod

Telescope mounts are used to support the mass of the telescope and to allow for it to be accurately directed towards the body the viewer wants to see.  Some telescopes come with a mount but many, including those from major manufacturers.  There are many types with the majority being created to allow for the easy tracking of stars as the Earth rotates.

The first of the two common types of mount is the altazimuth mount or altitude-azimuth mount is easily understood and tracks up and down and side to side.  This sounds logical but makes it hard to track bodies moving in the sky by hand and until the recent development of digital, motorised tracking systems made in unsuitable for use for astrophotography and for extended viewing.

The second type is the equatorial mount, which has a north-south axis tilted to be parallel to the Earth’s polar axis making it easy to swing east-west and vice versa.  The equatorial mount makes it much easier to track celestial bodies at the expense of cost and mechanical and configuration complexity.

A telescope tripod is essential for creating a stable platform for viewing.  Thin, lightweight and flimsy tripods will cause the image to bounce around at the slightest touch by the viewer or even the wind and can ruin the enjoyment.  Look for a heavy, robust and solidly constructed tripod for best results and ensure it is on stable ground when viewing.  A sizeable portion of the overall budget should be set aside for the tripod and mount as they can render an expensive scope useless if connected to a wobbly, under-engineered tripod or mount.

It is common for the mount and tripod to be bundled together.  These are often from the large manufactures and can include motorised “goto” controllers to point a properly aligned telescope at objects from a celestial database held on board or via a computer.  Examples include the  Celestron CG-4 German Equatorial Mount and Tripod providing a solid platform and manual tracking at around $400 through to high-end items such as the Orion Atlas EQ-G Computerized GoTo Telescope Mount at $1400.  The beginner scopes often come with a lightweight tripod and the next step up is catered for by items such as the Celestron Heavy-Duty Altazimuth Tripod at around $130.

Once you understand the full budget you will need covering the telescope, mount and tripod and any other accessories you need or desire, we will look at where to buy a telescope in todays Internet connected age.

Previous: Telescope Prices

Next: Where To Buy A Telescope

As a rough guide, a 6″ refractor telescope, such as the popular Celestron Advanced Series C6 R-GT 354 x 150mm, can be had for around $1800 list price whereas a 6″ reflector, such as the Orion XT 6″ Classic, is around $300 with the difference in price between the two designs increasing as the aperture size goes up. A catadioptric design such as the Celestron 31057 Omni XLT 150, using the Schmidt-Cassegrain layout, weighs in somewhere between and reflector and refractor at around $900.  A beginners telescope for kids such as the Celestron 21024 FirstScope is available for around $70 so there is never any need to buy the extremely low quality telescopes found in many toy shops or department stores.

At this point you should now have a basic understanding of what you want to get out of astronomy, the types of telescope available, the pros and cons of each as well as the pricing and budget requirements for each type under our belts. It is now time to start to look at the all important telescope accessories, some essential and some just useful, that will round out your new hobby and make it much more enjoyable and satisfying.

Previous: Telescope Types
Next: Telescope Accessories

We are going to evaluate each of these scopes looking at portability, economics, maintenance, image detail and the type of viewing the design is best for in order to help guide you in your telescope choice.

Refracting telescope

A refracting telescope conforms to the traditional image of a telescope as a long, tube with a lens at each end.  The larger objective lens, farthest away from the viewer, gathers the light and focuses it to a sharp image at the eyepiece, or ocular lens where it can be seen by the viewer.  The eyepiece has various magnification elements and is able to focus the image by sliding elements in and out of the main body of the telescope

• Pros
  • Easiest to use
  • Very little maintenance
  • Sharp images
• Cons
  • Larger aperture lenses are very expensive
  • Larger aperture refractors are very long and cumbersome
  • Color fringes on some objects
• Ideal for planets, the moon and bright stars

Reflecting telescope

Uses one or more curved mirrors to reflect light onto an eyepiece where an image is formed for the viewer.  A classic Newtonian reflector has a concave mirror at the back of the telescope which reflects onto a  second, flat mirror in the center of the telescope body which then reflects the light sideways into an eyepiece mounted on the telescope body rather than the end.  Several other designs exist such as the Cassegrain reflector which has a second mirror that reflects the light backwards through a small hole in the center of the primary mirror to an eyepiece mounted on the end of the telescope as with a traditional refractor.

• Pros
  • Largest aperture per dollar
  • Best for faint deep sky objects
• Cons
  • Requires regular maintenance and collimation
  • Often big and bulky
  • Less sharp and lower contrast
• Ideal for galaxies, stars and deep-space objects

Catadioptric telescope

Constructed using a combination of lenses and mirrors to get the best of both worlds.  Catadioptric telescope designs such as the Schmidt-Cassegrain or Maksutov ‘fold’ the optical path within the telescope to keep the size and weight down.  Their design makes them rugged but due to the complex optics they are expensive to produce and suffer from taking a long time to cool down to ambient temperature and stabilize the viewing image.

• Pros
  • Great all-rounder
  • Most compact design
  • Requires infrequent maintenance and collimation
• Cons
  • Expensive design and optics
  • Long time to cool to ambient temperature
  • Narrower field of view
• Ideal for mixed viewing of planets and deep space objects.

Now you have asked yourself the key questions and covered the telescope types that provide the best match for your requirements, it is time to look at some  telescope prices to help fix your budget.

Previous: Buying A Telescope

Next: Telescope Prices

Aperture is king

The aperture of a telescope is the diameter of the main lens or mirror, depending on the telescopes design.  A telescope should not be judged based on claims of the magnification it can achieve and you should avoid like the plague any manufacture or brand who sells itself based on outrageous magnification claims (e.g. 300x or 500x etc…).  These claims are usually a sign of a low quality product.

Key questions

When buying a new telescope, there are some critical questions that need to be answered to ensure you get a scope that enables you to see the things that interest and excite you as often as possible so you can get enjoy astronomy to its full.

1. What do you want to see?

Are you mainly interested in seeing the Moon, planets and other near Earth objects or more distant (and fainter) deep space objects such as galaxies and stars.

2. How often do you want to observe?

Smaller telescopes are easier to get out of the cupboard and setup and are faster to cool to the ambient temperature so the image stabilises.  A smaller telescope you use more often is perhaps a better bet than a larger scope that requires planning and a group of friends to lug around.

3. Where are you located?

Are you in an urban area with lots of light pollution where you will need to travel to a darker spot or out in the wilds of the countryside where you just need to get the scope out in the garden.  These factors, and your transport options will effect your choice of scope.

4. How much is your budget?

The telescope itself is only one aspect of the initial purchase.  A good mount, eyepieces and potentially some filters depending on what you want to observe are essential and often overlooked as part of the initial budget.  A good star chart and some astronomy books won’t go amiss for a beginner too.

Once you have answered these basic questions, it is time to start looking at the different telescope types available that best match the answers to the questions above.

Previous:Telescope Buying Guide Introduction

Next: Telescope Types

This buying guide aims to take you through a simple five step process asking you the right questions, providing some options and arming you with the knowledge to help you buy the right telescope for you and what you want from your new hobby.

1. Buying A Telescope
2. Telescope Types
3. Telescope Prices
4. Telescope Accessories
5. Where To Buy A Telescope

You are ready to embark on the five step telescope buying guide by answering the questions you need to answer before buying a telescope or alternatively skip straight through to the telescope recommendations.

Next: Buying A Telescope

So if the worth of the arts were measured by the matter with which they deal, this art, which some call astronomy, others astrology, and many of the ancients the consummation of mathematics, would be by far the most outstanding. This art which is as it were the head of all the liberal arts and the one most worthy of a free man leans upon nearly all the other branches of mathematics. Arithmetic, geometry, optics, geodesy, mechanics, and whatever others, all offer themselves in its service.

— Nicolaus Copernicus, 1543

Welcome to buyascope.com, your online guide for choosing the right telescope for you.  You are about to embark of one of the most satisfying and relaxing hobbies out there.  This guide will take you through the labrythine of questions and conflicting information available via our short five step telescope buying guide.

We hope you enjoy the guide and find the right telescope for you.

- The BuyAScope Team