Guide to Purchasing A Telescope
- Martyna Maczuga
- Sep 7
- 11 min read
Written by Martyna Maczuga
After doing Astrophotography for almost two years now, the most frequent question I’ve ever gotten asked was “What telescope do you recommend”? I’ve honestly always hated answering this question, not because I am rude or unwilling to help, but because people do not realize how broad of a question this really is. This guide will break down the questions you should ask yourself before even choosing a telescope, and of course will go over the recommended telescopes!
I also want to preface and say that this guide is going to be a lot more “simple” as I did not want to make this TOO long. I also highly, highly recommend you do your own research before making any purchases.
What should I ask myself before purchasing a telescope?
There are, in my opinion, three important things you need to ask yourself to narrow down the search.
Do you want to SEE objects at night? Or take photographs of them? In technical terms, do you want to pursue Visual Astronomy or Astrophotography?
What do you want to see? This question may seem silly, but many people do not realize the scale of space and how dim a lot of objects are.
Do you want to see the moon? Or maybe Jupiter & Saturn too? I will dive a little deeper into this in a moment.
What is your budget looking like? Unfortunately, astronomy in general tends to be an expensive hobby due to the fact that a good telescope will usually cost you around a minimum of $400.
The importance of dark skies
Bouncing off of question #2, I wanted to briefly cover how dark skies impact what you can / cannot see. The sky's “brightness” at night due to Light Pollution is measured on what is called the Bortle Scale . The scale (as pictured below) goes from 1-10, 1 being absolute darkest skies with absolutely 0 light pollution, while 10 is the brightest sky you could have at night, think a city sky where you can barely make out any stars.
For visual astronomy, darker skies are always better! For example, a popular visual target for a lot of visual astronomers is M31, the Andromeda Galaxy. Yes, this galaxy is visible to the naked eyed (And of course through a telescope) in darker skies. Another important factor to visual astronomy AND astrophotography is something called Apparent Magnitude.
Apparent Magnitude measures how “Bright” a star/object is in the night sky, as seen from Earth. The scale kind of works in reverse, so negative numbers produce a higher luminosity, while positive numbers are dimmer. For example, M31 has an apparent magnitude of 3.4, meaning it is a fairly bright galaxy. However, compared to the apparent magnitude of the sun which is -26.74, it is extremely dim. Again, this is something I will dive deeper into in my next guide, however I did include a photo below which will hopefully get the idea across better.
I am lucky to live under Bortle 4 skies, so during the fall and winter, I am easily able to spot the galaxy with my naked eye. You can even photograph it with your phone, which is something I’ll cover in a later guide! Although I am lucky and live in dark skies, not everyone is. For telescope astrophotography, light pollution doesn't matter too much, but if you want to do visual astronomy (or phone/DSLR photography), it's definitely worth considering checking out this Light pollution map and checking your bortle level.
With that being said, another question I am frequently asked is “Do you see all of those nebulae through your scope?”, and the short answer is No. Firstly, because the telescope I use to photograph objects is not visual. Meaning, I cannot see through the actual scope as there is no eyepiece. Secondly, remember how I said different objects are dimmer/brighter than others? The unfortunate truth to space is that a majority of it is not visible to the naked eye, even with telescopes. Now, this does not mean the photographs you see of space are “fake” in any way, but it just means they are processed differently than traditional photography.
A Brief Overview of Astrophotography
In order for me to make any sense & continue forward with this guide, I need to do a quick overview of what Astrophotography is & how it works. Once again, this is a brief overview and there is so much information I can’t cover in this guide, so I heavily encourage your own research.
As I mentioned previously, yes a lot of space is invisible to the naked eye, meaning even when you see the object through a scope, you may not necessarily see it in “all of its glory”, see the photo below as an example.
The photo of M42 (the Orion Nebula) above was taken with a phone camera through an 8” Dobsonian Telescope. Notice how you can’t make out too much detail. Additionally, this photo was taken under bortle 4 skies, again meaning they are on the darker side. In city skies, even less detail would be visible. Next, I will insert a photo of M42 I took on my Astrophotography scope so you can see the difference.
As you can see, this photo shows a LOT more detail, & is far better quality than the phone picture. This does not mean the other photo is “bad” and mine is “good”, it just shows the difference between traditional photography & astrophotography. Although M42 is a very bright nebula & is even visible to the naked eye, you can only ever get details out of photographs of this object by doing two key things. First, a longer exposure time, and second, taking MULTIPLE photos of the same object and stacking them together through a software. Stacking works kind of like a puzzle does, the more time you add to your photo (We call this Integration Time), the more “puzzle pieces” will be added to the final piece. In astrophotography, more time is always better. This is because, again, most objects in space are DIM, and quite literally the only way of getting certain details out of an object, is to spend a ton of time on it.
Additionally, another key factor to astrophotography is the fact that these photographers use Star Trackers, which are built to do exactly what they are called to do, track stars. Everything in the night sky moves, whether it's a Planet, or a Nebula, or a Star. They all have a different orbital path, and in turn will be in different parts of the sky throughout the night. For example, if you took a photo of the sky / an object with a longer exposure time and DIDN’T use a star tracker, you’d end up with a LOT of star trails, which are lines of light created by stars as they “move” throughout the night. This process of tracking & stacking (amongst many other things!) is what separates Astrophotography from "regular" photography.
Just like regular photography though, a longer exposure time allows more light to hit the camera's censor, in turn allowing for more details to show. Getting one photo with a little more detail of an object IS helpful, but once you accumulate a few hundred photos, you can take them onto a PC program (such as Siril or Pixinsight), and stack them together to create one final image in which then you can “edit”!
Again, this is an extremely simplified & watered down explanation of what astrophotography is, & I will be putting another guide out focused on purely Astrophotography soon as well. There is SO much that goes into astrophotography, & even with the help of this guide and the future ones to come, your own research is absolutely needed due to how broad the topic is.
Telescope Recommendations
Now that we’ve discussed the “prerequisites” a bit, let’s dive into some recommendations!
Remember how I stated earlier that the question of “what telescope do you recommend?” is too broad for me to answer alone? You should have an idea as to why! Every telescope is different, and every telescope does different “things”! I am going to start with recommendations for visual astronomy first as the results are a little more “straight forward”!
Another thing I did want to comment on was budget. I am including the prices of these items on average, in USD $. Astronomy tends to be extremely expensive, but I also want to make it clear there are a lot of Astronomy clubs / Universities that sell used equipment, but also Facebook Marketplace tends to have good deals (depending on your area of course) as well!
Binoculars
Yes, Binoculars are actually GREAT for viewing & I HIGHLY recommend getting a pair even if you own a scope. They are just so much fun for quick viewing! Binoculars focus on two numbers, the first being the “zoom” of the binoculars, the second being the diameter of the objective lens in mm. 20x50, 10x25, 30x60 are all examples of those numbers you’ll see when browsing binoculars. Generally for star gazing, a lower “zoom” (around 10) and a higher diameter are preferred.
20 x 50 Binoculars for Observing the Moon
Once again, recall the apparent magnitude scale. The moon is VERY bright, and it's really the only object that is THAT bright, that isn’t the sun. What I’m trying to say is that for viewing the moon, you don’t need much “power” to see details.
The first pair I’d recommend are these 20 x 50 binos, They are currently around $60, but I have seen similar for cheaper:
Amazon.com : 20x50 High Powered Binoculars for Adults, Waterproof Compact Binoculars with Low Light Vision for Bird Watching Hunting Football Games Travel Stargazing Cruise with Carrying Bag
7 x 50 Binoculars
Again, a smaller “zoom” and a larger diameter are recommended for stargazing. These binoculars allow for viewing of brighter nebulae such as M42, & even Jupiter and its moons. Again however, not in great detail. These run around $50, and are better than the above pair, in my opinion.
Amazon.com : Celestron - Cometron 7x50 Astronomy Binoculars – Entry-Level for Stargazing and Comet Watching – Large 50mm Objective Lenses – Wide 6.6° Field of View – Multi-Coated Optics : Electronics
Additional notes
There are more binoculars to explore, some that are even specially geared for stargazing, some that are battery powered, etc. However I am not going to go over them, as a.) don't love them because there is better “value” in telescopes at those price points and b.) this guide would be WAY too long!
Types of Telescopes
Additionally, before I dive into the actual telescopes, I want to briefly go over the two “main” types of telescopes (although there are SO many more subcategories).
Reflectors
The first being Reflectors, these are normally the ones I recommend for viewing, as they produce a far better quality of image. Reflectors work by collecting light into a large mirror called the “primary mirror”. These mirrors vary in size, and usually you want one that's at least 6”. Next, that collected light bounces off of a “secondary mirror”, which is placed at a 45° angle, which then allows the viewer to see that redirected light in the eyepiece. This is also why reflector telescopes show the object “upside down”!
Refractors
The second main “type” of telescope is called a Refractor, which utilizes an objective lens & an eyepiece (Although not all do), and work by having the light entered through a lens, and bend, or refract. This bent light creates a focal point for the eyepiece to receive, and the eyepiece “straightens out” (& magnifies) the light for your eyes (Or cameras) to see.
Visual Telescope Recommendations
In my personal opinion, the best telescope you can get for visual astronomy is a Dobsonian telescope. They range in size but the general idea is the same, they are all Newtonian reflectors (Remember what a reflector is!!) and produce the best visual image quality.
I am not including links for any of these scopes because they are listed on various websites, which may be different to whomever is reading 🙂
This telescope ranges from $350-$500 from what I’ve seen.
Tabletop Dobsonians
These little guys are great if you don’t want a giant scope, they sit on a table (as the name implies) & are very stable. A lot of cheaper produced “department store” telescopes are ALSO Newtonian reflectors, but the mount they are put on is not stable enough which heavily affects image quality (and honestly hassle levels as well). These telescopes can see star clusters, brighter galaxies, nebulae, etc.!
Celestron StarSense Explorer 150mm Tabletop Dobsonian
Dobsonian Telescopes *
This is where I, along with probably everyone else, recommend you get started with astronomy. These scopes are, in my opinion, the best bang for your buck, ESPECIALLY with visual astronomy. They are fairly easy to use, and with a bit of patience can give incredibly rewarding results.
Technically, there are dobsonians that are 4.5” and 6”, however I highly recommend starting with at least an 8” dobsonian because that will give you that wider “range” of objects to view whilst keeping a good image quality. That phone photograph of M42 I showed previously above was taken with an 8” dobsonian, to give you an idea of what you can see.
Apertura Ad8 Dobsonian 8” Telescope
This is the telescope I highly recommend basically everyone start with, if they are able to. Like I mentioned previously, this scope is the best for viewing a range of objects. I’ve seen it range anywhere from $500-$800.
Skywatcher Classic 200 8” Dobsonian Telescope
This is another solid option for an 8” dobsonian. This version & brand is found more commonly with universities than any other dobsonian I've seen. It is usually listed for $400-$700.
Astrophotography Telescopes
This section, like previous, will be a watered-down version of what Astrophotography truly entails. These recommendations I give are put down because they are budget friendly, “easy”, and on a “beginner” level. True Astrophotography rigs take a lot of time & research (& money!) to come up with. The scopes I mentioned above can be used for astrophotography, however they need to be modified.
The only two “real” recommendations I am going to make here are again, oversimplified versions of astrophotography.
DSLR Camera & Star Trackers
To “start” doing Astrophotography, you really only need a phone / camera, but again I will dive deeper into that in the future. A simple DSLR camera & a star tracker will go a long way, & It’s probably the most simple form of astrophotography there is. For the most part, an entry level DSLR camera will work!
For star trackers, these are the two I recommend -
iOptron SkyGuider Pro EQ Camera Mount #3550
And
SkyWatcher Adventurer GTi GoTo Mount Head Kit # S20590
Smart Telescopes
The last recommendations I will share with you are what I personally use to take my photographs! Smart telescopes, which are telescopes (Always refractors!) that have a camera & a star tracker included! These scopes are great for those on a budget, disabled people who can't lift/bend, etc.! The scopes tend to get a lot of hate for being too “easy” (in comparison to other astro rigs), which is true, they ARE easy, but in my opinion, that should be a good thing, no?
Seestar S50 & Seestar S30
ZWO Seestars are GREAT little smart telescopes, I personally own the s50 & I LOVE it. It’s very easy to use, and I have taken the time to learn a lot more astrophotography processing skills which help my images look better! This is a key thing to do if purchasing a Seestar in my opinion!
Conclusions
Thank you for reading this Guide! I really hope I was able to be helpful, & I hope this was able to guide you towards a telescope of some sort! <3 Like mentioned previously, I do plan on making a detailed Astrophotography guide next, which I plan to cover topics like iPhone Astrophotography in 🙂
Thanks for reading!
Per Aspera Ad Astra!
Martyna ✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧
Works Cited / Photograph Credits
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