Telescopes Binoculars and Accessories
Telescopes and Why We Need Them
When we look into the night sky, especially if we live in a rural area, the expansive nature of the universe unfolds as we stare at millions upon millions of stars. One of the most useful inventions ever created was the telescope which enables us to look at distant stars with a close-up view. There are a few things you should know before purchasing your first telescope regarding the size, brand-name, and the price that you should pay for your telescope.
One of the most popular telescopes in history is the Hubble telescope. It is actually outside of the Earth's atmosphere and this allows for extreme clarity that can only be found at the highest altitudes on the earth. Several websites online have shown the amazing photographs that the Hubble has brought back from deep space viewing. Unfortunately, most people cannot afford their own orbital telescope. Here are a few that you should consider if amateur astronomy is in your blood.
Meade telescopes are some of the most popular. Whether you get a 4 inch beginner telescope or a 10 inch diameter scope to view deeper space items, it will be well worth the money spent, especially if you get one that has a GPS coordinate system built in which allows you to type in exactly what stars or planets that you want to see.
Another popular brand of telescope is the Celestron telescope and even the Bushnell telescopes. These offer a wide range of useful items that you can add on to help improve your stargazing at night on a regular basis.
The most pointed reason for having a telescope is to realize that there is more to this universe then merely twinkling lights in the sky. Around these twinkling lights which are stars could be other planets which could also have other life forms. However, without the advancement in technology that allowed us to see beyond what is visible with the naked eye, we would have been still in the dark in regard to how large the universe actually is.
Telescopes are a fun way to spend an evening looking at the different star clusters and nebulas that occupy our nighttime sky. Choose your telescope wisely and make sure not to spend too much on your initial investment until you discover which telescope is right for you.
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Celestron 21045 114mm Equatorial PowerSeeker Telescope - Affordable telescope for beginning astronomer; portable yet powerful
Overall, the Celestron Powerseeker 114 is a budget priced telescope with good optical performance, especially when using the low power K20 eyepiece. If you're willing to spend a little more money, either Orion's SkyQuest XT4.5 or Celestron's Firstscope 114EQ will give you a sturdier mount, an improved finder scope, and better eyepieces. Also, for about the price of the Powerseeker 114, I like the dependable refractor design of Celestron's Firstscope 70EQ.
Celestron NexStar 130 SLT Computerized Telescope - Computerized hand control with 4,000-object database
The popularity of Celestron's NexStar 114 models inspired us to go bigger! Celestron is proud to introduce NexStar 130 SLT. The NexStar 130 SLT has 30% more light-gathering power than our 114mm telescope. And the 114 SLT, like the other models in the SLT Series, comes with a fully computerized hand control. The computerized hand control gives you the ability to automatically slew to any of its 4,000+ objects, including over 600 galaxies, 300 clusters and dozens of beautiful binary stars. With its pre-assembled, adjustable steel tripod, the NexStar 114 SLT can be up and ready to use in a matter of minutes. The SkyAlign alignment technology and the included StarPointer Finderscope with a red LED makes aligning a breeze