Buying guides
Which one, for the sky you actually have
A hub weighs a whole family against itself. A guide takes one question instead — a figure to spend, a first telescope for someone who has never found anything but the Moon, what fits in the trunk of a small car — and answers it with a short ordered list and the reasoning that produced the order.
- Getting started
A first telescope, and the three figures that decide it
How to choose a first telescope: aperture, a steady mount and a standard 1.25 in eyepiece fitting matter; magnification does not. Five telescopes compared.
- Getting started
A telescope a child will use more than twice
How to choose a telescope a child will keep using: quick setup, a steady mount and something to find, with kids' telescopes, binoculars and a planetarium.
- Choosing
The most aperture you can carry, and still carry often
How much telescope aperture you can carry: tabletop Dobsonians, folded Schmidt-Cassegrains and Maksutovs compared on aperture, weight and setup.
- Choosing
A telescope that travels, and gets used when it arrives
How to choose a travel telescope: packed length, total carried weight and setup time, with backpack refractors, a compact Maksutov and a travel GoTo mount.
- Accessories
The first three eyepieces, and why three
Which three eyepieces to buy first: a wide finding eyepiece, an everyday medium power and a planetary one, or a zoom and a Barlow, with eye relief for glasses.
- Imaging
A camera, a tripod and something that turns
How to photograph the Milky Way and nebulae without a telescope: a camera and lens on a star tracker, payload and polar alignment, and what filters can do.
- Mounts
The mount outlasts the tube
Why a telescope mount matters more than the tube: payload, slow motion, GoTo and tracking, from a manual CG-4 to the Advanced VX and AZ-EQ6.
- Observing
What still works under a bright sky
What you can see with a telescope from a light-polluted city: the Moon, planets and double stars, with filters, a compact Maksutov and a smart telescope.
- Solar
What makers publish for an eclipse, and what to read
What solar filter and tracker makers publish for an eclipse: the standard cited, full-aperture fit, inspection instructions and solar tracking rates.
- Getting started
What binoculars teach before a telescope is bought
Why to start astronomy with 10x50 binoculars: exit pupil, true field and steadiness learned by looking, and when to move up to a first telescope.
- Choosing
The numbers that mean something, and the ones that do not
How to read a telescope listing: aperture and focal length matter, magnification claims rarely do, and five real Amazon.com listings show what to check.
- Accessories
What a filter can do, and what no filter can
What astronomy filters really do: Moon, color, UHC, OIII, CLS and H-alpha filters, which targets each helps, and why none makes anything brighter.
- Choosing
A second telescope, chosen by what the first one got wrong
How to choose a second telescope: more aperture, a smaller tube, a tracking mount or a smart telescope, depending on what the first one could not do.
- Observing
The one object that is never disappointing
How to observe the Moon: watch the terminator, choose the right phase and magnification, and tame its glare with a variable or ND4 Moon filter.
- Observing
Star-hopping, and the tools that shorten it
How to find things in the night sky: start at low power, aim with a red dot or 9x50 finder, use a correct-image view or a phone-guided telescope.
- Troubleshooting
Four causes, in the order to check them
Why a telescope image looks soft or blurry: seeing, cool-down, collimation and focus, in the order to check them, and three of the four cost nothing.
- Mounts
The mount is the camera's tripod, and it has to turn
How to choose a mount for astrophotography: payload with margin, polar alignment and periodic error, from star trackers to GoTo mounts like the Advanced VX.
- Observing
Small, bright, and worth the magnification
How to see planets with a telescope: aperture for resolution, a long focal ratio, patience for steady air, the right eyepiece and Barlow, and color filters.