Are you looking for a telescope to begin on your astronomical journey? Fortunately, many kinds of telescopes have seen in markets nowadays. But you may in trouble when buying a suitable telescope with your conditions. If you are an amateur in this subject, I would be able to give support to select a telescope as your wish.
This article is about telescopes which are perfect for beginners. I have told about only 5 of them. This was the best choices as I thought. For these choices, I considered their lens, aperture, distance, cost, size, etc. Hold my hand. Let’s walk among the telescopes to find the best telescope for beginners.
Best Telescope for Beginners 2023 – Comparison Table
| Preview | Item Name | Details | |
|---|---|---|---|
 | Orion 09007 SpaceProbe 130ST |
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 | Celestron NextStar 6 SE |
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 | Celestron 21035 70mm |
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 | Celestron Inspire 100AZ |
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 | SkyWatcher S11620 |
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1. Orion 09007 SpaceProbe 130ST Equatorial Reflector Telescope
Orion 09007 SpaceProbe 130ST is a reflector telescope with a very good outlook. It has a 5.1-inch aperture that can be gathered much light at once. The 130mm parabolic primary mirror is the bottom of the tube that can help to reflect whole light on the eyepiece.
What do you think about the meaning of “ST” on the name of the telescope? It represents “Short Tube”. Yeah! The length of the tube is 24 inches only. I know what you think of it. Yes! It will be an extra feature for you to travel. Now let’s talk about its performance.
Specifications:
- Optical design – Reflector
- Optical diameter – 130mm
- Focal length – 650mm
- Focal ratio – f/5.0
- Lowest useful magnification – 19x
- Highest useful magnification -260x
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Product information : Dimensions : 24 x 24 x 51 inches Weight : 24.2 pounds Model number : 9007 |
As I mentioned before, its 5.1 aperture can gather much light. Then you can observe deep sky objects such as star clusters, nebulae, galaxies. Furthermore, as it is a reflector telescope you can see the moon, planets such as Saturn, Jupiter clearly more than you think. The 25mm and 10mm eyepieces can get 260x maximum and 19x minimum images on your eyes. And also aluminum tripod is provided with Orion 09007 SpaceProbe 130ST can be adjusted as you like.
Finally, I would like to say that this is a better choice for beginners and intermediates.
Pro
- Easy to handle
- Great magnification
- Clear images
Con
- Little expensive
2. Celestron NexStar 6 SE Telescope
Celestron NextStar 6 SE is a Schmidt- Cassegrain reflector telescope and I Like to introduce it as a backyard cosmos companion. Perhaps you will think that it is a little bit expensive than other telescopes but I’m sure, it will get you a tremendous cosmos experience rather than its price.
The Celestron NexStar 6 SE Telescope consists of 16-inch length orange aluminum optical tube, 6-inch aperture, finderscope, tripod. The full package is little heavier. Then this is not suited for traveling experience if you have not a transporting vehicle. Next, we talk about its performance.
Specifications:
- Optical design – Schmidt – Cassegrain
- Aperture – 150mm
- Focal length – 1500mm
- Focal ratio – f/10
- Limiting magnitude – 13.4
- Low useful Magnification – 21x
- High theoretical magnification – 354x
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Product information : Dimensions : 32 x 26 x 12 inches Weight : 21 pounds Model number : 11068 |
The 6-inch aperture has excellent light-gathering ability. It is nearly equal to 459 times as the human eye. Then you will be able to Cassini’s Division in Saturn’s rings, the cloud bands on Jupiter, and geographic features on the surface of the moon clearly. The highest useful magnification is 354x and the lowest is 21x. The limiting stellar magnitude is +13.4.
It says that you would be able to observe hundreds of pinpoint stars in the Hercules Globular Cluster, the spiral arms of the Whirlpool Galaxy, and more. Furthermore, It has fully automated GoTo mount with a database of 40,000+ celestial objects. Though you are a very beginner to the astronomy, then you can easily align any celestial objects in the database just a single button press. It is cool, isn’t it?
Eventually, I would like to say that the Celestron Nextar6 SE would be a worthy excellent cosmos companion than your affordable payment.
Pro
- Easy to use without knowledge of ansronomy
- Fully automated GoTo mount
- Compact design
Con
- Very expensive
3. Celestron 21035 70mm Travel Scope
Are you an astronomy buff who loves to travel? Then the Celestron 21035 70mm Travel Scope is designed for you. The Celestron 21035 70mm is a refractor lightweight telescope. Basically, it has a 70mm aperture, 400mm focal length, 20mm eyepiece, and 20x magnification power. I think that it is most suitable to observe deep sky object as it is a refractor.
The Celestron 21035 has a 70mm aperture to gather light and it is fully coated. The focal length is 400mm. 20mm and 10mm eyepieces and erect image diagonal are included as accessories for better viewing. The low useful magnification is 10× and high is 165×. The limiting magnitude is 11.7. Furthermore, the Celestron 21035 70 has a manual Alt-azimuth mount system and you can track manually any celestial object easily and smoothly. This telescope also can be used for terrestrial viewing because it can provide vivid images.
Specifications:
- Aperture – 70mm
- Focal length – 400mm
- Focal ratio – f/5.71
- Limiting magnitude – 11.7
- Low useful magnification – 10x
- High theoretical magnification – 165x
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Product information : Dimensions : 18 x 7 x 14 inches Weight : 3.3 pounds Model number : 21035 |
In addition, Celestron provides bits own backpack and a sky x software that features a database of 10000 objects. At last, I would like to highly recommend this telescope for absolute beginners who love to travel.
Pro
- Affordable price
- Comes with a backpack
- Fully-coated glass optics
- Portable
Con
- Magnification is not so impressive
- Tripod is unstable and ordinary-type
4. Celestron Inspire 100AZ Refractor Telescope
Celestron Inspire 100AZ Refractor Telescope is a short refractor telescope and specially made for astrophotography. The design of this telescope is basically simple and lightweight. Then you can handle it easily.
Celestron Inspire 100AZ has 100mm fully coated glass optics and lightweight frame. Light gathering power is increased about 212 times more than a human eye. Then limiting stellar magnitude would be 12.5. The highest useful magnification is 241× and the lowest is 15×. Moreover, Celestron Inspire 100AZ Refractor Telescope can mount manually and smoothly to the right point.
Specifications:
- Optical design – Refractor
- Aperture – 100mm
- Focal length – 660mm
- Focal ratio – f/6.5
- Lowest useful magnification – 15x
- Highest useful magnification – 241x
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Product information : Dimensions : 38 x 33 x 52 inches Weight : 20 pounds Model number : 22403 |
The special feature of this telescope is having the smartphone adapter. It allows you to capture the high-quality images of the deep sky.
Pro
- Smartphone adapter built-in
- Lightweight
- Easy setup
Con
- Magnification cannot be satisfied
5. SkyWatcher S11620 Traditional Dobsonian 10-Inch Telescope
SkyWatcher S11620 Traditional Dobsonian 10-Inch is one of the stunning looked beginner telescopes popular in these days. It has a shiny white out frame but 40 pounds weight. Then SkyWatcher S11620 Traditional Dobsonian 10-Inch is not suitable for travel.
This Telescope is a 10-inch Dobsonian-style Newtonian telescope. The focal length is 1200mm. It has a 2-inch single speed Crayford-style focuser. This is a very powerful telescope and it is affordable to your payment.
Specifications:
- Optical design – Dobsonian
- Primary aperture – 252mm
- Focal ratio – f/4.7
- Focal length – 1200mm
- Dawes limit – 0.46
- Rayleigh limit – 0.55
- Limiting magnification – 14.5x
- Minimum magnification – 36x
- Maximum magnification – 500x
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Product information : Dimensions : 49 x 27 x 20 inches Weight : 40 pounds Model number : S11620 |
Pro
- Awesome magnification
- Reasonable price
- Comes with additional accessories
Con
- Bulky
Things You Need to Know Before Buying a Telescope
I have listed these buying guides by using their features. And also I have said to you about how we choose our selection of telescope in this guide. I believe that would be helpfull to you when buying a telescope.
Brand: Sometimes you may think, the Brand is not important for the performance of the telescope. But I suppose that you can keep trust in the brand. Because the company who has a good brand name try to keep their image positively. Then they always introduce good items to the market.
Review: Before, we buying the telescope, we can consider the customers’ reviews. Sometimes these reviews include some facts about the telescopes that not mentioned in company descriptions. For example, think, you want to buy a telescope and you have already chosen one. But you want to know its performance in the deep sky. If you read the reviews then you can find some details about it. Sometimes it may with photographs.
Easy to use: All telescopes before we mentioned in this article are suitable for beginners. But some of them can categorize as the intermediate. Then, when we use it, we will have to face little bits of troubles such as moving the telescope, fixing the accessories, etc. If you are looking for a telescope for a kid then it might be a huge problem. Therefore consider it’s handling before to buy.
Price: The astronomical items are generally really expensive. But if you search carefully you can find a good telescope for your price. all the telescopes I mentioned above article are less than $1000. But prices can vary. Therefore, focus on the purpose that you expect from the telescope and then find one suit your price range.
Aperture: This is the most important considerable thing when you buying the telescope. The aperture size, normally we can call it as the diameter of the primary lens or mirror. When the aperture size is increasing higher and higher, the ability to gather light is increasing proportionally. Though you buy a telescope having large aperture then you will be able to take a bright and sharp image on the eyepiece.
Focal Length: The focal length is a little bit complicated fact when we consider before buying the telescope. The focal length defines the distance between the mirror or lens and the image made by it. This specification affects to the magnification of the telescope.
Magnification: Magnification defines how many times it increases the size of the image than the real object. The eyepiece of the telescope directly affects this. The size of the eyepiece and the magnification is inversely proportional together.
Computer Control: This fact will only find you with the expensive telescopes. They are programmed with thousands of celestial objects. If you aim the telescope to an object in the sky then the computerized data will tell you what it is. Inversely, if you want to find a specific sky object (ex: Orion Nebula), you should only type its name on the program. Then the telescope auto-aim to the Orion Nebula. But the second fact only has more expensive telescopes.
Refractor Telescope: This type of telescope uses the lenses to create the image. They were very popular in the 19th century. But nowadays it is not found more. When we use the lens to the telescope, the light ray become an aberration. Then the edges of the images are getting rainbows. It is a reason to not clear the images. Furthermore, the refractor telescope is very large from others. Then, they not easy to handle.
Reflector Telescope: This kind of telescope basically uses curved mirrors to gather light. The mirrors can prevent the aberration of light. The reflector telescopes are popular since the 17th century. These days you can mostly find them. For seeing planets reflector telescopes are perfect.
Compound Telescope: This kind of telescope is a combination of reflector and refractor telescopes. This was invented by a German astronomer, Bernhard Schmidt in 1930.
