Observing equipment FOR EVERY BUDGET

If you are new to astronomy and have the urge to buy some equipment to see all the wonderful things in the night sky, then Ninian Boyle has some recommendations aimed at different budgets that can point you in the right direction.

Ninian Boyle

£100 – £200

Consider some decent binoculars. Even if you later on decide to go down the telescope route, you will find that they are still incredibly useful, as they are slung around your neck and can really help you with either locating objects to look at, or for just having a quick scan to see what is out there.

You do not need anything fancy to get started but decent quality optics are essential. Look for 7 × 50 or 10 × 50 with BAK4 prisms. Both these magnifications can be comfortably hand-held. If you need to wear spectacles, then look for binoculars that feature ‘long eye-relief’, as this means you do not need to press them tightly up to your face and so you can keep your glasses on while you are looking through them. This is especially useful if your eyes suffer from astigmatism. There are dozens of different makes and models available. Here are just a couple to consider:

The Bresser ‘Corvette’ 10 × 50 binoculars are great quality at a sensible price. They have BaK-4 prisms and fully multi-coated optics and 16mm of eye relief, so they tick a lot of boxes.

If you are in the market for something larger, although you will almost certainly have to tripod-mount these, then the Celestron ‘Skymaster’ 15 × 70 binoculars are highly recommended. They have a wealth of things they get right including BaK-4 prisms and 18mm of eye relief, and all at a very affordable price.

£300 – £600

If you really want a telescope and can increase your budget, then there is quite a lot of choice. If you are interested in just looking at the night sky, then you can get a decent amount of aperture for your money if you were to choose, for example, a Dobsonian telescope. These are straight forward Newtonian reflectors on a simple alt-azimuth style mount. The Skywatcher 200P is good here and will show you many deep-sky objects as well as good views of the Moon and planets.

This level of outlay can also get you into the ‘Smart’ telescope area, where you control the telescope from your smartphone to find innumerable objects. Bear in mind though, that what you gain in computing power you will likely lose in aperture. Having said that, I have seen some remarkable results from the ZWO Seestar S30 Smart APO Telescope. This is an incredibly portable and lightweight bit of kit that is immense fun.

If you like compact equipment then the Celestron Nexstar 4SE is worth considering. This is a good ‘halfway house’, between a fully automated and a fully manual scope. It has a 4-inch aperture and a good computerised handset, which will locate and track in the region of 40,000 celestial objects: impressive by any standard.

£700 – £1000

This budget can get you more aperture and some seriously clever tech if you want it, or just simply more aperture and, in astronomy, aperture is king. Check out the Celestron Nexstar 5SE and 6SE. The numbers refer to their aperture in inches.

Then there is the Skywatcher Explorer 150P-DS with their EQM-35Pro mount. This is a great set-up for anyone wanting to have an equatorial mount for ease of tracking and photography with some clever built-in technology to help you, which also converts to a simple heavy duty camera mount.

On the other hand, you may just want a large(ish) aperture good quality refractor for astro-imaging, if you already have a suitable mount that is. Therefore, take a look at the Bresser Messier AR-152S/760 Hexafoc Refractor Telescope – OTA.

If a larger Dobsonian still appeals to you, then the Celestron Starsense 10-inch, app enabled scope is definitely worth considering. The nifty software will help you find what to look at, or tell you what you are looking at, all on your smartphone.

£2000 – £4000

If you wish to spend some serious money on your hobby, then here are some items worth considering. You can have a fabulous astro-imaging and observing platform such as the Vixen AP-SD81S II-SM Telescope set, which is light enough to travel with you to a dark sky site and is relatively quick to set up.

You might also wish to consider the ZWO FF80 Telescope, AM3N Mount, TC40 Tripod & 160 mm Pier Extension Bundle that again gives you a small but very effective set-up for astro-imaging.

If you fancy easy to use equipment with ‘smart’ technology and a good aperture, then the Celestron Nexstar Evolution 8 might be your dream set-up.

Then again, you may already have a mount and are just looking for that perfect optical tube to put on it, so consider the Televue TV85 scope which will deliver pin-sharp stars and great flexibility for both eyeball observing and astro-imaging.

Ninian Boyle is a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society, and a master violin maker.

Equipment and telescopes mentioned here are not recommendations but a guide only. There are many excellent alternatives.