Do you love looking at the stars? Telescopes let you get an up-close and personal view of the night sky, and they’re a great way to explore new galaxies and planets!
If you’re thinking about buying one, here’s everything you need to know to make the right decision for your needs.
What are the best telescopes for sale?
- 【Great Telescope for Kids& Beginners!】 The telescope meets all the needs of astronomy beginners, the adults & kids’ astronomical journey begins from here! Equipped with 3X Barlow len and two eyepieces, H20mm and H6mm, you can get magnification of 15X to 150X. This is a great telescope for adults astronomy beginners.Whether it's viewing planets and stars, our telescope is the best helper for adults & kids.
- 【70mm Large Aperture】The telescope equipped with 70mm aperture and 300mm focal length, which provide more lights and clearer images, even beginners can get clear images. The bigger the aperture, the bigger the field of vision, and the clearer the image.
- Excellent Quality Optics: This telescope is 600mm(f/6.7) focal length and 80mm aperture, 80mm aperture to capture more light picture and multi-fully high transmission coated all-optical lens enhance image brightness and clarity.107..
- Optimum Magnification: Our telescope for kids and adults is quipped with two replaceable excellent-quality eyepieces (25mm and 10mm) for 24X and 60X magnification. 3x Barlow lens trebles the magnifying power of each eyepiece. magnificate moon up to 72 or 180 times. Also with 5x24 finder scope makes locating objects easy.
- Large Aperture: A great option for amateur astronomers who want to explore the night sky. With a focal length of 400mm(f/5.7) and an aperture of 70mm, it can provide clear and detailed images of celestial objects such as stars and the moon.
- Quality Optics: The fully coated optics glass lens with high transmission coatings can help to reduce reflections and increase the amount of light that reaches the eyepiece, resulting in brighter and more vibrant images. Additionally, the lens is designed to protect the eyes of the observer, making it a safer choice for extended viewing sessions.
- ☆★Aluminum alloy tripod made of stainless steel is solider and stabler！ protects children's eyes from harm, the product quality is good, and standard optical glass The lens is not easy to break,Its quality is unmatched in its class and against competitors.
- ★☆The astronomical telescope features 400mm focal length, fully multi-coated optical glass with high transmission, creating stunning images with increased brightness and clarity.
- Powerful Optical Performance: This telescope features a 90mm aperture and 900mm focal length refracting design, providing exceptional optical performance that allows you to easily observe deep space objects in the universe..
- Sturdy and Durable Mount: The sub-black Vertisteel Altazimuth Mount provides stable support. The Free-Stop non-polar shaft - Follow-up and stop design, allowing the lens to move smoothly with high precision and maintain accurate positioning.
- UNLEASH THE POWER OF YOUR SMARTPHONE: Let your iPhone or Android phone take you on a guided tour of the night sky—no telescope experience required. Just follow the arrows to locate stars, planets & more!
- PATENTED STARSENSE SKY RECOGNITION TECHNOLOGY: This one-of-a-kind telescope uses patented, award-winning StarSense sky recognition technology and your smartphone to analyze star patterns overhead and calculate its position in real time.
- Excellent Quality Optics: Astronomical telescope features 500mm(f/7.1) focal length and 70mm aperture, provides stunning views and protects your eyes.107.
- High Magnification: Our telescope for kids and adults is quipped with two excellent-quality eyepieces (25mm and 10mm) and a 3x Barlow lens.it trebles the magnifying power of each eyepiece. Also with 5x24 finderscope makes locating objects easily.
- 【Upgraded Tripod with Precise Positioning】Our telescope has an upgraded tripod that can quickly position and precisely track your desired target on the vertical and horizontal axes. You can manually adjust the telescope tube to quickly locate the approximate position of the target, then fine-tune the slow-motion knobs to pinpoint and track the target. In addition, This stable tripod is made of thick aluminum alloy material and the height can be extended from 33.9" to 56.1".
- 【90mm Multi-Coated Optical Lens】The telescopes for adults astronomy equipped with 90mm large aperture and fully coated optical glass lens. The multi-coated high transmission lens can reduce the reflection of light, and the large aperture can increase the amount of light reaching the eyepiece, which can enhance brightness and clarity for clearer and brighter images. And the 6X30 finderscope with crosshairs helps to locate objects easily, Great telescope for kids 8-12 and astronomy beginners.
- Superior quality optics: Our telescope uses high-quality lenses with anti-reflection coatings, delivering bright, clear, and high-contrast images. The lenses are also equipped with scratch-resistant coatings for added durability..
- 70mm Large Aperture: The telescope equipped with a focal length of 400mm(f/5.7) and an aperture of 70mm, good light collecting ability, imaging brighter, making it an excellent choice for amateur astronomers who want to explore the night sky.
- INSPIRE CURIOSITY – The NASA Lunar Telescope allows your child to see the moon in incredible detail; the perfect gift for girls and boys interested in space, the moon, and astronomy
- HIGH-QUALITY OPTICAL GLASS AND FINDER SCOPE – This easy-to-use telescope comes with a finder scope, low power, and high-power eyepieces; when used correctly, this combination will allow your child to easily locate the moon and then zoom in for a close-up view
Types of Telescopes
There have been telescopes since the 1600s, so needless to say they have evolved quite a lot. Nowadays, you find three main types of telescopes that are widely used.
Refracting – Light creating an image
These are for beginners. It collects light and focuses it on one point. This telescope was invented over 400 years ago and is still the simplest type.
How Does refracting telescopes work?
A refracting type of telescope uses light to show an image. The bending of the light creates the image. This type is best for photographing stars or other things you can’t see with your naked eye.
Some cheaper microscopes might have color fringing that is visible at high magnifications. This is not a big problem anymore because there are two types of modern telescopes that solve this issue – the achromatic and apochromatic.
Reflecting – Mirrors that reflect light and create an image
This type uses mirrors to reflect light. This makes the light go into another mirror. The result is shown at the top of the telescope.
How Does reflecting telescopes work?
This type is different from others because the image is upside down. You can fix this problem by using the finder on the scope.
It comes built-in to most modern reflecting types, but if yours does not have it, you will need to buy an additional piece for your telescope.
Catadioptric – These are both Refracting and Reflecting
You can have a telescope either with lenses or only mirrors. Catadioptric has both. These are famous for being small and compact compared to the other two types.
There are many kinds of catadioptric telescopes, including Schmidt-Cassegrains, and Maksutov-Cassegrains. The kind you should use for seeing planets is the one that can capture things very close up as professionals do.
What to Look for When Buying A Telescope?
Telescopes are not cheap, which is why you need to do proper research and find the best ones for the value you’re paying.
However, remember there is no perfect type as they all have different features, so you simply have to find the ones that work the best for your budget, lifestyle, and needs.
The Aperture determines how clear the image is
This has to be the most important feature. Aperture is the diameter or size of the light-gathering lens or mirror. The bigger the aperture, the better, as then it can collect more light which results in a clearer image.
There are a lot of other factors to consider, such as the bigger the aperture, the more costly it will be. Also, it will be bigger in size so it will not be as easy to travel with.
Even with a very good aperture, the location matters a lot.
A dark night will yield better results than a very lit city with the same aperture.
The Focal Length and Focal Ratio impacts the magnification of the telescope
Focal length is simply the distance at which the image that gathers comes into focus. It is also known as the magnification of a telescope. The focal ratio is the telescope’s light-gathering ability.
The focal length determines how far away you will be able to see by using it. Generally, the more the focal length, the longer your telescope gets.
The Mount must be steady
This is often ignored and under-appreciated, but it is important. If your mount is not steady, you will not be able to view the stars.
In fact, the mount needs to be much more stable than a simple tripod used for taking pictures. There are three basic types of mounts to choose from.
“Alt-az” Mount
It manually requires you to move the mount up and down, left and right.
Equatorial Mount
This can track celestial objects by turning on a single axis but it needs to be aligned properly towards Polaris, the North Star. These are much more complicated to use.
“Go-to” Mounts
These are the more modern types and can move around the sky with the push of a single button on the hand control.
How to take care and give maintenance to your telescope?
Although most modern telescopes don’t require much cleaning, they can still get dirty, especially if moved around a lot. Moreover, to make sure that it lasts the longest; you have to take proper care of it.
Storage
The telescope should be kept in a clean place that resembles the outside temperature the most, decreasing the cooling or heating time when set up outside.
Another way to store it properly is to cover the lens after each use and ensure that it is completely dry before storing it to prevent mold.
Cleaning
You should use a camel hair brush to clean the dust, which softly removes all the loose dust. A compressed-air can work well as long as it doesn’t damage the lens.
Next, you need an optical tissue with a lens-cleaning solution to clean the rest of the lens.
Alignment
Not all telescopes need it, only the reflecting type needs it the most and occasionally catadioptric type may need it as well.
How Do Telescopes Work?
Most telescopes work by using glass to look at planets, stars, and other far-away objects. There are two main parts to it.
The first one is the objective lens or primary mirror, which collects lots of light from far objects and brings it into focus.
Next is the eyepiece lens, which takes the light from the focus of the object and magnifies it so that it can take a large place on your retina. This is how it works in simple terms.
Following this logic, the bigger the mirror is, the more light it gathers, so the brighter and more in focus the resulting image is.
The mirrors and lenses need to be of perfect shape, clarity, and in a perfect place to make this phenomenon work.
How to Use a Telescope (Especially if you are a beginner)?
Telescopes are pretty easy to use if you can place them properly and understand how they basically work.
Firstly, you have to find the perfect place to mount it. Ideally, it should be in a high place with minimal lights. Then you have to select the mount.
After this, the eyepiece is the most important object. It will help you focus and see the object of desire. Always start with a low-power eyepiece to find the target and then find the best comfortable view for you.
What are the Best Brands for Telescopes?
Some brands have made a name for themselves for a reason, so here are top five of them that you should choose for your next purchase.
If you are looking for a budget-friendly beginners telescope, you may want to check the Gskyer telescope AZ70400, which is one of the best selling models because of all the features it has and how affordable it is.
Orion GoScope 80
This is beginner-friendly and comes already assembled. It is a refracting type that has an aperture of 80 mm.
- Complete telescope system neatly organized in a padded backpack for on-the-go visual adventures
- A versatile telescope ideal for daytime scenic viewing or casual nighttime stargazing and moon watching
Celestron StarSense Explorer LT 114AZ
A fan of astrophotography will find this reflection type of telescope very useful. It is easy to set up and has an aperture of 114 mm.
- UNLEASH THE POWER OF YOUR SMARTPHONE: Let your iPhone or Android phone take you on a guided tour of the night sky—no telescope experience required. Just follow the arrows to locate stars, planets & more!
- PATENTED STARSENSE SKY RECOGNITION TECHNOLOGY: This one-of-a-kind telescope uses patented, award-winning StarSense sky recognition technology and your smartphone to analyze star patterns overhead and calculate its position in real time.
Another interesting model is the Celestron travel scope 70 which is very popular among telescopes users. This model is great for beginners and budget-friendly as well.
Unistellar eVscope eQuinox
This one is another reflecting type of telescope that is super smart and captures objects in stunning detail. It is expensive and has an aperture of 114 mml.
- Unistellar eQuinox Digital Telescope: With the eVscope eQuinox, you can enjoy the beauty of deep space, protect the planet against near-earth asteroids, conduct hands-on science, and so much more
- Enhanced Vision: 100x more powerful than a regular telescope. Technology that allows a live observation of faint objects thanks to the live accumulation of the light we receive from them
Vaonis Stellina Observation Station & Hybrid Telescope
This is a very compact and beautiful one that uses refraction and has an aperture of 80 mm. It is very easy to use, and hence, perfect for beginners.
FAQs for telescope beginners
Q. What is the difference between a telescope and a binocular?
A binocular is an instrument consisting of two telescopes, which are designed to be held with both hands, whereas a telescope is one single telescope.
Binoculars are frequently used for activities such as bird watching and hiking, whereas telescopes are frequently used for activities such as stargazing.
Q. Is a telescope expensive?
Telescopes vary in price, ranging from inexpensive ones that may cost less than $100 to extremely expensive ones that may cost more than $1000.
Conclusion: Telescopes are cool gadgets everybody should try
We’ve given you everything you need to know about telescopes in this post. We hope that this knowledge will help you when buying one!
