Telescope glossary.
Aperture: Diameter of the primary mirror or lens, which allows a telescope to collect light.
Field of view: Area of sky visible through the eyepiece.
Focal length: A telescope's tube length. Short focal lengths offer a wide field of view and a small image.
Focal ratio: Also known as the telescope's speed. Small focal ratios provide lower magnifications, wide field of view and a brighter image.
Magnification: Relationship between the telescope's optical system and the eyepiece.
If you are new to astronomy, choosing the best telescope can be difficult. We are here to help you find the right telescope so you can use it. We scoured the internet and found some of the best telescopes for beginners to suit everyone.
We scoured through a lot of brands and picked out the best telescopes for beginners from the likes of Celestron, Meade Instruments, and Orion. We have guides to the best deals from each brand.
When looking for the best telescopes for beginners, it's important to remember the different types of telescopes. For objects that are faint in the deep-sky, reflectors are better than refractors. If you want the best of both worlds, then a type of telescopes called Maksutov-Cassegrains, or catadioptric telescopes are what you want. The light is focused by the mirrors on the telescope, whereas the light is focused by the lens on the eye piece.
If you want to check out the best telescopes for beginners, then read on below, we have in-depth round-ups of the best telescope deals and top-rated telescopes under $500.
The Astro Fi is a great model that gives you more telescope for your money if you are comfortable with digital devices. It is a telescope with cutting-edge technology and superb support for anyone trying their hand at skywatching.
The Astro Fi is an excellent piece of kit for the price and includes everything beginners need for a great night sky tour. The build is of good quality, especially given the sturdy aluminum tripod.
The Astro Fi 102 has good views of the moon and is able to pick out planets with ease. Through the four-inch lens, we can see Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn, as well as the rugged terrain of our moon. The whole family will be delighted with what the Astro Fi 102 is able to reveal. When playing with the magnification, the disk of the AndromedaGalaxy comes into view.
SkyAlign technology is an attractive aspect of the Astro Fi 102. The Astro Fi 102 is able to slew to your desired target at the touch of a button if you Align your instrument before you begin your observations.
Skywatchers just need to download the Celestron SkyPortal app on their phone and pick three bright stars to assist with the alignment procedure. You don't need to know anything about the night sky to enjoy the Astro Fi 102, but it does serve as a tool in learning your way around it.
If you don't know what to look out for on your first night, the Celestron SkyPortal app will suggest objects. The feature is useful for beginners.
The StarSense series of beginners telescopes take full advantage of the new ways in which we interact with technology thanks to the development of the smartphone. The design and ease of use of the Starsense app is what makes the Starsense Explorer a winner.
Normally, a GoTo telescope user would have to align their telescope on one or two bright stars for the onboard computer to figure out what direction it is pointing in. This could be a bit daunting for newcomers to the hobby who just want to start observing amazing stars, without gettingbogged down in setting them up, but the Star Sense technology from Celestron is ingeniously able to do all of the calibrations and align for you in a matter of minutes
Once you have downloaded the StarSense app onto your device, it will show a simulation of the night sky with a menu to select objects to view. When you choose your target, screen arrows will show you how to use the telescope. The app will alert you when it's in your instrument's field of view, if you look through the eyepiece.
The Star Sense Explorer range includes a 4.5-inchNewtonian and a 4-inch refractor, but for better light-grasping views, the Star Sense Explorer DX 130AZ.
As with all mass-produced budget telescopes, we recommend purchasing additional accessories to make the most of the instrument.
It has to be said that this isn't a heavy-duty telescope and you'll have to manually move it to see the night sky because of a lack of motor drive. It is a starter telescope that is easy to use and good in quality, so you will be hard-pressed to find an instrument that is as good in quality and easy to use in this price range.
The AstroMaster 102AZ is an easy to use telescope. It is the perfect telescope for those who want to learn their way around the night sky without using technology. The AstroMaster 102AZ is a must-have for beginners as it is easy to assemble and use.
The telescope is attached to a single-arm alt-azimuth mount and has a slow-motion control for fine movements from left to right as well as up and down. We found that locking onto a target is simple with the panning handle. The object remained in the center of the field of view.
The waning gibbous moon was visible using our observations. There is a degree of blue-purple around the lunar limb that can be seen from the cratered surface. The minor flaw in this portable refractor's optics is quickly forgotten when observing planets like Jupiter and Saturn.
Like most beginner telescopes, the AstroMaster 102AZ is fully equipped for a successful night under the stars. skywatchers get a good quality mount, a red dot finder for star hopping, an erect image star diagonal for comfortable viewing, and a 10 and 20mm eyepiece. The duo will offer magnifications of 66x and 33x, which is enough for observing the solar system and a selection of bright deep-sky targets.
The AstroMaster is available in a number of sizes, but for a budget.
It looks like the AstroMaster is out of stock in the U.S.
Today's best deals are from the CelestronNexStar 102SLT Computerized Telescope.
A great choice from Sky-Watcher's telescopes, Dobsonians are considered to be observing powerhouses that don't require a tripod. Sky-Watcher solved the problem of portableness by manufacturing the tube so that it splits in two, allowing it to collapse into a more compact form.
Because of their design, Dobsonian mounts can comfortably hold larger telescopes, which is usually less expensive than the tripod-mounted telescopes. If you want to see some of the furthest, the Skyliner 200P is a great bargain because of its light-gulping ability.
The telescope needs frequent collimation, the process of aligning the primary and secondary mirrors, using tiny screws that hold them in place. Even a few small shocks can knock the mirrors out of alignment, so be prepared to tinker with this instrument.
Although the set up is more portable and compact, the tube and mount still weigh over 50 lbs. Together, they have 22.7 kilograms. It's not quite a grab, so we advise you to use a telescope before going to dark-sky sites.
The Skyliner 200P has a 10mm (120x) eyepiece that can show wide fields of view, and a 25mm (48x) eyepiece that can show a close up of the rugged lunar surface or the planets.
Sky-Watcher has a variety of models, but for a beginner wanting a little bang for their buck, the larger models.
The Sky-Watcher Skyliner 200P is out of stock in the US, but it is in stock in the UK.
The best Skyquest deals are today.
The best deals of the day are from the Celestron Powerseeker 127EQ.
The top telescope for beginners is the Celestron Inspire 100AZ. It offers great ease of set up and use, and it comes with a far greater selection of accessories than most other starter telescope bundles - it is the complete package for those trying their hand at astronomy.
There are some nice targets in the night sky, such as the moon, planets and brighter deep-sky targets.
We detected false color and blurred field of view during our observations. It is easy to resolve the latter with a careful selection of eyepieces, so we recommend investing in further eyepieces to make the most of the optical system.
A pair of eyepieces (20mm and 10mm), a red flashlight, accessory tray, StarPointer Pro finderscope, and a smartphone accessory are included in the Inspire 100AZ.
There are lots of beginner telescopes out there that come with flimsy optical finders that limit star-hopping or navigation to the best stars in the sky. The StarPointer is a pleasant surprise, but that isn't the case with the Inspire 100AZ telescope. It can pick out faint stars even under moderate light pollution.
The StarBlast II 4.5 is an all-arounder for those looking for an all-inclusive piece of kit. The equatorial mount can take a bit of getting used to compared to the simpler alt-azimuth and the computerized telescopes on the market. If you want to get used to the counterbalance and fine-tuning controls, we recommend playing with the setup during the day. The overall build is very good, but the lightweight tripod could use an upgrade.
The telescope is easy to assemble, but a manual is provided for those who need more guidance. Included with the mount, tripod and optical tube assembly is the Orion StarBlast II 4.5, which has two eyepieces, a 10mm and 25mm, which offer magnifications of 18x and 45x. The all-inclusive telescope is a very good starter telescope.
You can slew from one target to the next once you have mastered the mount. The red-dot finder can pick up fainter, low magnitude stars, making star-hopping a breeze. We did not suffer with an undriven instrument, but if you want to try your hand at astronomy then we recommend choosing a motor drive.
The Orion StarBlast II 4.5 is a fast telescope, meaning that it offers large fields of view compared to a telescope with a longer focal length. The views were bright through the shorter optical tubes.
Jupiter was visible in the southeast during our observations. We were able to pick out the gas giant's atmospheric belts and largest moons. We detected a small amount of coma, which caused our images to appear as if they were falling into the field of view. We had to look for the distortion with this telescope. It did not affect our views of the night sky.
The telescope is better suited to wide-angle objects, so we turned the tube to the Pleiades. The stars were like jewels. We were able to pick out the Merope Nebula, a reflection nebula surrounding the 4th-magnitude star, Merope, using our peripheral vision.
Even though it takes a little getting used to, this is a top choice telescope for beginners. The eyepieces to maximize the magnifications are the stand-out accessories. It is a great choice for beginners until they are ready to upgrade their equipment.
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