The Wonderful and Fulfilling Hobby of Astronomy
The image you see here is a photograph I took in 1997 of the great Hale Bopp comet. The photograph itself was taken with an inexpensive EXA II 35mm camera and a 135mm lens. The camera was attached to the side of an inexpensive Meade 90mm refractor telescope in a piggyback arrangement. The telescope came with a simple clock drive that I modified to have a hand-held on/off and fast/normal buttons.
Hundreds of years ago, comets were one of the scariest objects seen in the heavens. Other than the brief shooting stars, all of the other objects -- stars and planets -- were familiar. Though the movements of planets were mysterious to those who studied them seriously, they were still familiar, appearing predictably.
But comets seemed to come from nowhere, and sometimes would dominate the night sky.They were often considered to be precursors to something terrible about to happen.
If you study this photograph you'll see that even with this amateur photograph, much information about the Hale Bopp comet is evident. First notice that the comet seems to have three tails. There are two blue tails extending along the same direction, and a broad, faint tail extending from the comet in a different direction.
The broad tail is a dust tail caused by dusty debris falling away from the comet as some of the ice that holds the comet together melts. The dusty debris is distributed along the path traveled by the comet.
The blue trail is cause by a more complex mechanism. The ultraviolet radiation of the sun beating on the comet causes some atoms of the gas emanating from the comet to disassociate, leaving charged particles in the gas.
The sun's surface is so hot that it disassociates atoms of the sun's atmosphere. The energetic particles of the sun's atmosphere stream away from the sun at high velocity, and make up what's called the solar wind.
Because charged particles react with magnet fields, the solar wind particles interact with the strong magnetic field of the sun, pulling and stretching the magnetic field away from the sun.
The sun's magnetic field, being pulled and stretched away, reacts with charged particles it encounters along its way. That magnetic field reacts with the ions in the gas of comets and pulls them along with it.
The result is what you see in this photograph of Hale Bopp. The ions in the gas emitted by the comet are caught up in the suns magnetic field and are pulled along by the field. The result is that the ion tail, as it is called, always points nearly directly away from the sun, regardless of the path being followed by the comet.
Comets are left over material left over from some supernova in the past, the supernova that generated the materials for our solar system. Comets populate the region of our solar system beyond Pluto. Occasionally a comet gets jostled out of it's far away orbit, likely by a close encounter with a neighboring object, and falls close to the sun in a highly elliptical orbit. As it does so, the sun's radiation reacting with the comet gives us a spectacular view.
A beautiful sight, and just one of many within the range of fantastic observations one can make with modest amateur astronomy equipment. Comets bright enough to be seen by the naked eye, and thus excellent in binoculars or telescopes, seem to pop up every couple of years. If you are interested in observing comets, you may be happy to know that even an inexpensive telescope or pair of binoculars can give wonderful views. In fact, a high powered telescope is actually less useful for comet viewing than a wide field instrument.
Hundreds of years ago, comets were one of the scariest objects seen in the heavens. Other than the brief shooting stars, all of the other objects -- stars and planets -- were familiar. Though the movements of planets were mysterious to those who studied them seriously, they were still familiar, appearing predictably.
But comets seemed to come from nowhere, and sometimes would dominate the night sky.They were often considered to be precursors to something terrible about to happen.
If you study this photograph you'll see that even with this amateur photograph, much information about the Hale Bopp comet is evident. First notice that the comet seems to have three tails. There are two blue tails extending along the same direction, and a broad, faint tail extending from the comet in a different direction.
The broad tail is a dust tail caused by dusty debris falling away from the comet as some of the ice that holds the comet together melts. The dusty debris is distributed along the path traveled by the comet.
The blue trail is cause by a more complex mechanism. The ultraviolet radiation of the sun beating on the comet causes some atoms of the gas emanating from the comet to disassociate, leaving charged particles in the gas.
The sun's surface is so hot that it disassociates atoms of the sun's atmosphere. The energetic particles of the sun's atmosphere stream away from the sun at high velocity, and make up what's called the solar wind.
Because charged particles react with magnet fields, the solar wind particles interact with the strong magnetic field of the sun, pulling and stretching the magnetic field away from the sun.
The sun's magnetic field, being pulled and stretched away, reacts with charged particles it encounters along its way. That magnetic field reacts with the ions in the gas of comets and pulls them along with it.
The result is what you see in this photograph of Hale Bopp. The ions in the gas emitted by the comet are caught up in the suns magnetic field and are pulled along by the field. The result is that the ion tail, as it is called, always points nearly directly away from the sun, regardless of the path being followed by the comet.
Comets are left over material left over from some supernova in the past, the supernova that generated the materials for our solar system. Comets populate the region of our solar system beyond Pluto. Occasionally a comet gets jostled out of it's far away orbit, likely by a close encounter with a neighboring object, and falls close to the sun in a highly elliptical orbit. As it does so, the sun's radiation reacting with the comet gives us a spectacular view.
A beautiful sight, and just one of many within the range of fantastic observations one can make with modest amateur astronomy equipment. Comets bright enough to be seen by the naked eye, and thus excellent in binoculars or telescopes, seem to pop up every couple of years. If you are interested in observing comets, you may be happy to know that even an inexpensive telescope or pair of binoculars can give wonderful views. In fact, a high powered telescope is actually less useful for comet viewing than a wide field instrument.
What You Can Find Here
- A Handy Telescope Shopping Matrix
- One Of The Best All Around Beginner Telescopes
- The Bushnell Option For The Beginning Astronomer
- The Infinite Mysteries of the Moon
- The Venerable 60mm Refractor, A Great Low Maintenance Beginner Telescope
- For Deep Space Work, Consider A Large Dobsonian Telescope
- Don't Forget The Planets
- For The Lunar and Planetary Viewer
A Handy Telescope Shopping Matrix
The telescope shopping matrix shown above is an overview of the different telescope types you might consider for different viewing targets. Also included in the matrix is the concept of portability.
To use the chart, consider what your favorite (or anticipated favorite) targets are, and how important portability is for you. Then look on the chart to see what kind of binoculars or telescopes satisfy your target and portability concerns. Then, look through the rest of this article to see some examples of the different telescopes you might find useful.
One Of The Best All Around Beginner Telescopes
Viewing star clusters, nebula, galaxies, and comets is a great way to get started in astronomy. Beginners need to know that many such objects are within reach of a modest sized telescope. While some would advise starting with the biggest telescope you can afford, I tend to believe that starting with too large or complex an instrument, especially for a youngster, can actually server to stifle one's enthusiasm. Decent optics in an easy to use package often provides the best launching platform into the wonderful hobby of astronomy.
A great choice for a first telescope and comet telescope is the Edmund Astroscan, an award winning telescope that's been a favorite for over 30 years. The smooth ball and socket mount is the essence of simplicity. The Astroscan is all about viewing, and none about complicated telescope maintenance and arcane telescope mounts. The Astroscan comes with a parabolic mirror, and thus produces sharp images at low and high powers.
While a good general purpose telescope, the Astroscan is great for wide field star viewing and comet viewing. The wide field and easy pointing of the telescope makes comet observing very enjoyable.
The Astroscan remains popular because it's big enough (4 1/8 inch aperture) to see a lot, it's simple to operate, and it's very portable. However, It's not the optimal telescope design if you what high magnification viewing of targets like planets.
You can always get a new Astroscan at Edmund Scientific Company. Here's a nice review of the Astroscan.
If the Astroscan is appealing to you, it's always good to check for an Astroscan bargain at Ebay. Any current listings are shown below.
Fetching new data from eBay now... please stand by
The Bushnell Option For The Beginning Astronomer
The ball shaped design and closed optical system are what makes the Astroscan a marvel, and a perfect beginner and low power star and comet telescope. In recent years, Bushnell added their own version of the closed optical system, ball and socket mounted telescope to the fray.
You may want to consider the Bushnell version of the ball-mount telescope design. It has about the same operating parameters and convenience as the Astroscan at a lower price. The Bushnell comes with a spherical mirror rather than the Astroscan parabolic mirror, but it works well for the low power viewing intended for the telescope. In fact, I've read reviews of side by side comparisons of the Astroscan and Bushnell, and as often as not the Bushnell comes out on top. The Bushnell model does allow the user some control over optical alignment in that the diagonal mirror alignment can be adjusted A good review of the Bushnell model can be found at Bushnell Voyager Review.
You may want to consider the Bushnell version of the ball-mount telescope design. It has about the same operating parameters and convenience as the Astroscan at a lower price. The Bushnell comes with a spherical mirror rather than the Astroscan parabolic mirror, but it works well for the low power viewing intended for the telescope. In fact, I've read reviews of side by side comparisons of the Astroscan and Bushnell, and as often as not the Bushnell comes out on top. The Bushnell model does allow the user some control over optical alignment in that the diagonal mirror alignment can be adjusted A good review of the Bushnell model can be found at Bushnell Voyager Review.
Bushnell Voyager 100mm x 4.5" Family Reflector Telescope
The Bushnell Voyager has the popular closed optical system design with the handy ball and socket mount. It works well for low power observations, is durable, and portable.
Amazon Price: (as of 12/23/2009) 
The Infinite Mysteries of the Moon
This image is of a region of the moon named the Bay of Rainbows. It is just one of innumerable beautiful sites on the moon within reach of modest telescopes. The image itself was taken through a small telescope using a modified $30 web cam as a camera.The telescope used was a Meade ETX 90, a small 3.5 inch diameter Maksutov telescope. The modified web cam was used to take a film strip of about 4 seconds (about 40 frames). The best half-dozen or so images were averaged together to make this image.
Observing the moon with even a 60mm telescope can reveal lunar treasures without end. Views of the moon when near fully illuminated reveal light colored lines (called rays) emanating for hundreds of miles from a few prominent craters. These magnificent rays were produce when larger meteors crashed into the moon to form the craters, and the violent explosions sent freshly exposed lunar and meteor material in all directions.
Close up the moon reveals impressive craggy mountains, rilles, and crater walls. It is apparent with even a cursory examination of the moon that it has had a violent past. Now we know that early in the formation of the solar system, much material collected into planets and moons, and the rest of the debris collided into the fledgling planets and moons until orbital paths were cleared of the menacing debris. Occasional collisions still occur as objects in unstable orbits cross the paths of of other objects.
The craggy features of the moon that offer testimony to that violent past are best seen when they fall near the moons terminator (boundary between illuminated and un-illuminated parts of the moon). Near the terminator, the suns rays are coming to the moon at low angles, causing the lunar features to cast long shadows. These stark shadows make the features stand out clearly, even to small telescopes.
If moon observing is of interest to you, you may want to go beyond binoculars or a short focus telescope. Longer focus instruments more easily allow the magnifications necessary to see many of the moon's best features. However, a telescope still does not have to be a large diameter one. Even a 60mm refractor will give impressive views of the moon.
The Venerable 60mm Refractor, A Great Low Maintenance Beginner Telescope
You can certainly get any opinion you want about what telescope to buy as you begin the hobby of astronomy. In the end, there are really only two criteria. Good quality, and what works for you. You may live in an apartment or have to travel to a dark location to observe. You might have a bad back and need something light. You may have an itch that can only be scratched with a very large instrument.
But I can tell you that if you don't know what you need, you could do far worse than to purchase a quality 60mm refractor for your first instrument. The refractor is the lowest maintenance telescope available. It never need alignment, never needs to be disassembled to be cleaned (just carefully clean the exposed optical surfaces once in a great while), and it can last for decades.
With a 60mm telescope you can see stars down to at least 10th magnitude in dark skies, enough to see a few hundred star objects including double stars, star clusters, nebula, and galaxies. You can see countless craters on the moon, the rings of Saturn, some of the larger details on Mars, the phases of Venus, cloud bands on Jupiter, and the 4 Galilean moons of Jupiter.
While most people eventually either move to larger telescopes or at least add larger telescopes to their collection, most who sell their first 60mm regret it. I know of a number of long time observers who still often use their 60mm refractors. I have refractors of both 50mm and 60mm, and still use them both on occasion.
If you have nothing and are just starting out, it is a telescope type you may want to consider.
But I can tell you that if you don't know what you need, you could do far worse than to purchase a quality 60mm refractor for your first instrument. The refractor is the lowest maintenance telescope available. It never need alignment, never needs to be disassembled to be cleaned (just carefully clean the exposed optical surfaces once in a great while), and it can last for decades.
With a 60mm telescope you can see stars down to at least 10th magnitude in dark skies, enough to see a few hundred star objects including double stars, star clusters, nebula, and galaxies. You can see countless craters on the moon, the rings of Saturn, some of the larger details on Mars, the phases of Venus, cloud bands on Jupiter, and the 4 Galilean moons of Jupiter.
While most people eventually either move to larger telescopes or at least add larger telescopes to their collection, most who sell their first 60mm regret it. I know of a number of long time observers who still often use their 60mm refractors. I have refractors of both 50mm and 60mm, and still use them both on occasion.
If you have nothing and are just starting out, it is a telescope type you may want to consider.
Celestron Firstscope 60EQ 60mm Refractor Telescope
A basic, well performing refractor for the beginner.
Amazon Price: $69.00 (as of 12/23/2009)
Celestron Nexstar 60GT 60mm Go-To Refractor Telescope
The basic 60mm refractor with a twist, the addition of a computerized goto mount.
Amazon Price: $195.00 (as of 12/23/2009)
For Deep Space Work, Consider A Large Dobsonian Telescope
If you've already been exposed to astronomy and are convinced that hunting down DSO's (Deep Space Objects) is what you want to do, then the most cost effective way to satisfy your craving is with a Dobsonian telescope. Dobsonians are Newtonian telescopes on simple but effective mounts made popular by John Dobson. He called his creations "sidewalk telescopes" because he often set up his telescope near a sidewalk to interest passersby.
The Dobsonian has become one of the most popular designs because of the mounts ability to inexpensively handle large aperture telescopes. Usually the Dobsonian mount turns on Teflon pad bearings, making it easy to construct and very smooth in operation. While generally not motorized, the design is easy to use, putting large aperture telescopes within reach of most budgets.
There's no complicated machinery involved with the Dobsonian mount. Just nudge the telescope in azimuth and elevation to get it pointed where you want, then enjoy the view. As an object appears to move through the field of view due to the earth's rotation, a little nudging will easily move the telescope to re-acquire the object of interest.
Dobsonian telescopes in the 6 and 8 inch size can be in a variety of focal ratios, from f/5 to f/10. The shorter focal ratios make the instruments great for wide star fields, the medium ratios for general work, and the long ratios for lunar and planetary work. Larger instruments, such as 10 inch and larger, are usually in the shorter focal ratios, f/4.5 to f/6, because of their size.
Here's a few popular sized Dobsonian telescopes you may want to consider. Telescopes of these sizes need to be allowed to cool down for at least 30 minutes before you can expect them to deliver at their best. The main downside to a Dobsonian is that like any Newtonian optics system, you'll need to learn how to occasionally clean the telescope's optics and to align the mirrors.
Six and eight inch Dobsonian telescopes are rather easy to set up and use. One lifts the telescope off of the base, moves the base to his or her observing location, then puts the telescope back onto the base. An easy one person operation. For ten inch and larger telescopes, you may need a bit of help to set up.
The Dobsonian has become one of the most popular designs because of the mounts ability to inexpensively handle large aperture telescopes. Usually the Dobsonian mount turns on Teflon pad bearings, making it easy to construct and very smooth in operation. While generally not motorized, the design is easy to use, putting large aperture telescopes within reach of most budgets.
There's no complicated machinery involved with the Dobsonian mount. Just nudge the telescope in azimuth and elevation to get it pointed where you want, then enjoy the view. As an object appears to move through the field of view due to the earth's rotation, a little nudging will easily move the telescope to re-acquire the object of interest.
Dobsonian telescopes in the 6 and 8 inch size can be in a variety of focal ratios, from f/5 to f/10. The shorter focal ratios make the instruments great for wide star fields, the medium ratios for general work, and the long ratios for lunar and planetary work. Larger instruments, such as 10 inch and larger, are usually in the shorter focal ratios, f/4.5 to f/6, because of their size.
Here's a few popular sized Dobsonian telescopes you may want to consider. Telescopes of these sizes need to be allowed to cool down for at least 30 minutes before you can expect them to deliver at their best. The main downside to a Dobsonian is that like any Newtonian optics system, you'll need to learn how to occasionally clean the telescope's optics and to align the mirrors.
Six and eight inch Dobsonian telescopes are rather easy to set up and use. One lifts the telescope off of the base, moves the base to his or her observing location, then puts the telescope back onto the base. An easy one person operation. For ten inch and larger telescopes, you may need a bit of help to set up.
Orion SkyQuest XT6 Classic Dobsonian Telescope
Many consider the 6 inch Dobsonian to be the ideal starter telescope. Simple to operate, yet a significant optical size.
Amazon Price: (as of 12/23/2009)
Orion SkyQuest XT8 IntelliScope Dobsonian Telescope With Object Locator
Nearly as easy to handle as the 6 inch, the 8 inch Dobsonian is the choice of many. Eight inches of aperture lets you see stars down to 13th magnitude, enough to discern detail in globular clusters and some galaxies.
Amazon Price: (as of 12/23/2009)
Orion SkyQuest XT10 10" Classic Dobsonian
The 10 inch Dobsonian brings a wealth of galaxies to the observers. On clear evenings, details on Jupiter are breathtaking.
Amazon Price: $499.95 (as of 12/23/2009)
Don't Forget The Planets
With even a 60mm telescope, some of the solar system's planets make for great viewing. Mars has always been one of my favorites. The image you see here was created with my little Meade ETX 90 and a modified web cam. See my Web Cam Astrophotography page for how to make a web cam astro camera.The image shown here is an average of a dozen or so frames taken from a web cam movie file (avi file). The averaging of images gets rid of the pixels visible in the individual frames, and it helps average out atmospheric fluctuations. The result is an image that contains nearly all the details that can be seen with such a telescope. In fact, since one can enhance the contrast in a digital image, details can be brought out that might be too faint to notice when using a telescope visually.
The main planets observed by amateurs are Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. Each provides it's own form of beauty, and each offers some educational variety.
Venus, forever covered with thick clouds, gives not even a peek at it's surface. But Venus is one of the brightest objects in the evening or morning sky, and offers easily viewed phases like the moon. The phases are due to the fact that Venus is closer to the sun that we are. When Venus happens to be between us and the sun, we see only it's un-illuminated side. When it is nearly opposite the sun from us, we see it fully illuminated. Only a planet closer to the sun than us can show an un-illuminated side. The phases of Venus was one of the clues that helped Galileo grasp the nature of our solar system.
Mars' thin atmosphere offers tantalizing views of its surface. From Earth we can see dark regions on an orange-red ball. Bright ice caps can usually be seen at the poles. Viewing Mars on consecutive nights shows that it's orbital period is a bit different than Earth's, as it slowly reveals different details creeping into view each evening.
The best views of Mars occur with Mars is in opposition, meaning it appears on the opposite side of the earth than the sun. That means Earth and Mars are closest to one another in their orbital travels. Because Earth and Mars are in elliptical orbits, these close approaches vary in distance. Mars can appear to be from about 12 arc-seconds in size to about 25 arc-seconds, depending upon how close an opposition is. For scale, the dominate lunar crater Copernicus is about 60 arc-seconds in apparent size. Sadly, some Mars oppositions are ruined by global dust storms that can engulf Mars. On these occasions, Mars appears as just a bright red-orange ball with no features -- regardless of telescope size.
Jupiter probably offers the most night to night variety. Cloud bands can be seen on Jupiter, and even with a 3 inch refractor or 3.5 inch reflector the Great Red Spot (GRS) can be seen, when it is on the Earth facing side. Note that with telescopes smaller than 6 inch diameter or so, these features appear rather colorless, but with larger apertures Jupiter's features take on some color.
Jupiter also has many moons, four of which can be seen even with a pair of binoculars. These are called the Galilean moons, as they were first viewed by Galileo. Following observations of the moon for very long will reveal that they do indeed go around the planet, a major discovery by Galileo. The moons offer another great sight when they cross between Earth and Jupiter, an even called a transit. While small telescopes often cannot reveal the moons themselves as they cross in front of the planet, the shadows the moons cast onto Jupiter are easily seen. That's why most computer planetarium programs show when these crossing occur so users can plan their observing schedule.
Saturn is arguably the most beautiful of planets. With it's stupendous ring system encircling it like a halo, it often draws oo's and ah's when viewed for the first time. As Saturn goes through its 30 plus years orbit, the orientation of the rings change. In 2009 the rings go through a ring crossing, becoming nearly invisible as they are seen only edge on. Over the next several years the planet will be viewed more tipped with respect to Earth, revealing the rings with more and more splendor. Saturn also provides glimpses of a few of its moons, depending upon the size of telescope you have. With my ETX 90 I can see up to 3 of Saturn's moons, depending upon their position with respect to the planet, and with my 6 inch I can see up to 5.
For planet viewing, a longer focal length telescope is best. If you have to resort to using extra lenses (called Barlow lenses) and very short eyepieces to get to the powers needed to see planetary details, then you are struggling with a telescope of too short a focal length.
For planetary viewing, you'll need to magnify from 100x to 300x to see many details. So the short focus telescopes like the Meade ETX 80 short refractor or the Edmund Astroscan are not your best choices.
I've used my etx 90 for very enjoyable views of the planets, but my best planetary telescope is the dobsonian instrument shown here. This telescope was designed from the bottom up to be a planetary telescope. It is a 6 inch f/10 Newtonian designed by Stargazer Steve. I wouldn't suggest that you start with such a specialized telescope, but I would definitely suggest that you check out Stargazer Steve's more general purpose telescopes. He makes a fine product.
You can read a full review of this specialized Dobsonian at my Planetary Dob Review page.
Telescopes in the f/8 to f/10 focal ratio ranges make good general purpose telescopes, and can be successfully used for planetary viewing. The f ratio is a number that describes the relationship between a telescopes focal length and its diameter. The f ratio is the focal length divided by the diameter. F ratios above f/10 are very good for lunar and planetary work, but have rather narrow fields of view for wide field targets like star clusters and nebula.
While low power star observing can be accomplished nicely with a simple, hand powered mount, you might find that for planetary viewing you want a telescope with a motorized mount. If your telescope mount is not motorized, then you'll find you need to slightly adjust the telescope's pointing angles every few seconds. With a motor driven mount you can relax and spend your time looking at the planet, waiting for those moments of startling clarity.
Many amateur astronomers suggest at least a 3 inch diameter refractor or a 6 inch diameter reflector for serious planetary work, but don't feel compelled to stress your budget. I've seen some of the larger details on mars with a 50mm (2 inch) refractor. With that little refractor I can easily see Saturn's rings, cloud bands on Jupiter, Jupiter's 4 largest moons, and the phases of Venus. If you're telescope is of good quality and can be used at over 100 power, then it will set you see enjoyable views of the planets.
For The Lunar and Planetary Viewer
Some of you are no doubt interested in using higher magnifications on solar system targets, like the moon or planets. Some also want to try a bit of astrophotography. For those interests, you may want to consider a cassegrain telescope design. These are telescopes that use a combination of a lens (corrector plate) and mirror to produce amazingly compact instruments. This compactness makes packaging the instruments with clock drives easy to do. The clock drive makes those long planetary viewing evenings much less tiring, and is a necessity if you are interested in astrophotography.
There are two popular cassegrain designs out there, the Maksutov and the Schmidt.. The Maksutov is more common in smaller apertures, 7 inches or less. The Maksutov has a longer focal ratio, making it great for lunar and planetary work.
The Schmidt (usually called SCT) is very popular in the 5 to 8 inch apertures, but can be made in much larger sizes.
Here's some excellent cassegrain telescopes you might want to consider. Because of their compact size and longer focal ratios, these telescopes make very good general purpose instruments. Especially if you have interests in astrophotography, you should consider telescopes similar to these.
There are two popular cassegrain designs out there, the Maksutov and the Schmidt.. The Maksutov is more common in smaller apertures, 7 inches or less. The Maksutov has a longer focal ratio, making it great for lunar and planetary work.
The Schmidt (usually called SCT) is very popular in the 5 to 8 inch apertures, but can be made in much larger sizes.
Here's some excellent cassegrain telescopes you might want to consider. Because of their compact size and longer focal ratios, these telescopes make very good general purpose instruments. Especially if you have interests in astrophotography, you should consider telescopes similar to these.
Meade ETX Premier Edition ETX 90PE UHTC Telescope
The popular Meade ETX 90 is the ETX that started a telescope revolution at Meade. The ETX 90 is a Maksutov design with full goto capability. Just align the telescope and let the goto computer point the telescope at whatever you select. I have one of the older models and am still amazed at the sharp views afforded by the telescope.
Amazon Price: (as of 12/23/2009)
Meade ETX 125 EC UHTC Maksutov Cassegrain Telescope
After the amazing success of the ETX 90, Meade introduced the ETX 125, a Maksutov with a full 5 inches of aperture. This goto telescope can go further into the viewing of star objects than its smaller cousin.
Amazon Price: (as of 12/23/2009)
Celestron NexStar 5 SE Telescope
The Celestron NexStar 5 is the next generation of the popular Celestron 5 inch Schmidt Cassegrain. It updates the 5 inch to a handy goto design so you can spend your evenings viewing, not hunting for targets.
Amazon Price: $699.00 (as of 12/23/2009)
Celestron NexStar 8 SE Telescope
The 8 inch NexStar provides one of the most compact packages of the popular 8 inch Schmidt Cassegrain. The NexStar mount provides a sturdy, compact mount for the classic Celestron 8, and gives full goto capability.
Amazon Price: $1,199.00 (as of 12/23/2009)
by BetchaLikeIt
L. D. Smith is an author, graphic artist, astronomer, and computer scientist.
You can see his latest novels at Novels, his artwork at Betchalikeit,... (more)
You can see his latest novels at Novels, his artwork at Betchalikeit,... (more)
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