Nice grab-n-go telescope

This review is from: Celestron 21024 FirstScope Telescope

I’ve usually wanted a light-weight telescope for some speedy grab-n-go viewing. This is the ideal scope for that purpose. I was able to see the edge-on rings of Saturn under a light pole near my home at evening. With a great Barlow, you can even see some details on Saturn.

On the first night I had the telescope, I also did some swift viewing of Mars and Venus. Venus was clearly in a crescent shape, while Mars shows a little disk.

Overall, this is a excellent telescope for its price. I’ve another high-end telescope, but I find that driving to a dark-sky internet site to utilize all the big-scope potentials could be troublesome at times. When you need some rapid looking at an object, this really is perfect.

The only problem I’ve with this telescope is its included eyepieces. They’re Huygens eyepieces, not as excellent as Plossls. But if you’ve some other good eyepieces, you can quickly substitute them. Also, I highly recommend getting a good Barlow for planetary viewings.

General, I genuinely enjoyed this little scope. I’ve yet to bring it to a dark web site to enjoy its wide-angle deep sky viewings of the summer milky way, but I’m certain it’ll be good.

Nonetheless, in case you need to stimulate interests in children about astronomy, you may desire to think about slightly larger telescopes like the Orion XT6. This really is far more for persons who’re already familiar with astronomy to just get some casual observations done at residence.

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September 2nd, 2010 admin Celestron Telescope product reviews , , , 0

Excellent starter telescope

This review is from: Celestron 21024 FirstScope Telescope

After many years of wanting a telescope, I was very pleased to find the Celestron Firstscope for such a reasonable price. It made trying to be a hobbyist astronomer a little less daunting, and it’s a great way to start. My first night with my telescope I looked at the moon from my bedroom window and was instantly pleased and knew I wanted more out of this little telescope.

I can’t really think of a con with this telescope, for the price, you get more than what you expect and it’s definitely a great value.

I would recommend a moon filter and a barlow lense just to give the telescope a little push to the top so that you really get the full experience of star gazing. Without it, the moon will look a little fuzzy and definitely be a little too bright to fully enjoy and watch for a long time. A barlow lense will give you a greater opportunity to see more of what the night sky has to offer.

Overall, I am very pleased with this telescope and would definitely give it as a gift to someone with an emerging interest in astronomy, or someone with a really great view of the night sky.

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August 31st, 2010 admin Celestron Telescope product reviews , , , , , 0

Perfect Beginner Telescope

This review is from: Celestron 21024 FirstScope Telescope

First of all I’ve just started amature astronomy this year so I’ve never owned a telescope, I’ve been applying a 15×70 celestron binocular on a tripod. I’ve had the Celestron Firstscope for a couple of weeks now and I’ve been please with it..considering how much I paid for it (big bang for the buck). Anyway, I know a lot of people suggest not to invest in the accessory but one thing I learn when I attended a star party prior to purchasing this telescope is Finder Scope is incredibly useful/important when trying to align your scope having a specific object. So I did buy the accessory, and I’m glad I did. Despite the fact that it’s true that using the finder scope is tricky to use if you have the telescope on best of a table or the ground, so what I did is I seem around my house which is tall enough that I can put it on best and I discovered an old cd rack within the garage that is about 5 feet tall. It was incredibly sturdy and produced making use of the telescope so easy using the finder scope.

While using the eyepiece that came while using telescope and accessory everybody who said that they’re useless…they are correct, those sort of eyepiece are genuinely tough to seem into and may perhaps disappoint you. So what I did is I baught a 2x Barlow and a 25mm plossl eyepeice from Orion as well as the diffrence are night and day, while using the eyepiece I purchase it made field of view very much clear, crisp and I saw far more stars. So far I’ve been out observing and star gazing as significantly as I could and as a great deal as the weather permits. The moon by means of this telescope while using 25mm and 2x barlow eypiece looks awesome the craters are incredibly clear, mars look like a tiny orange dot and saturn…so far same as mars appearance like a dot maybe using a medium or higher power eyepiece I might be able to see saturns ring. Overall great acquire specially for a starter like me, I will most likely use this until I’m ready to move to the next level at least now I can save up to a much powerful and high priced telescope.

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August 28th, 2010 admin Celestron Telescope product reviews , , , , 0

An amazing astronomy keepsake

This review is from: Celestron 21024 FirstScope Telescope

I have usually been a star gazer, and I wanted to be able to share the hobby with my nephew and niece. I found this telescope after some research, and heard some incredible things about it. I decided instantly to purchase it. I was excited to see how easy it was to use, and I wasn’t disappointed. Even without having a finder scope, I was able to very easily uncover objects inside the night sky by aiming down the left side of the tube using the finder scope mounts like a gun sight. This, combined while using 20mm (15x) eyepiece made it incredibly straightforward to locate what I was searching for. My advice for a person just starting with this telescope: Practice locating your objects while using 20mm eyepiece over and more than till you can do it efficiently. Once the object is inside middle of your field of view, you will be safe to throw in a higher magnification eyepiece.

Unlike cheap department store telescopes, the rotating mount is incredibly stable and only blurs for about 2-3 seconds when tapped. Also, the mount enables for simple tracking with its butter-smooth rotation. I could not be any happier while using the ease of use of this powerful minor telescope.

Now, the fine part:

With a little telescope like this, don’t be expecting Saturn to fill the field of view, but do expect to see the rings with all the 4mm eyepiece. You will need to focus quite slowly and carefully for the greatest results. Jupiter is also an awesome sight as a result of this small guy, with 4 moons incredibly visible. Also, viewing the moon is a pure pleasure as a result of either on the two packaged eyepieces. The craters are clear, and also the contrast is fantastic. It also resolved the Andromeda galaxy fairly well in lower lighting away from the city. Just a quick pass via the arm in the Milky Way provided an amazing view of thousands of stars.

For even greater views from the brighter objects (Moon, Jupiter, Saturn, as well as the Andromeda galaxy) I use the Celestron Omniłx Barlow Lens (1.25″) which effectively doubles the magnification of any eyepiece. This is one of only two Barlow lenses that Celestron recommends for this scope due to its short focal length. I was surprised by how little light was lost when utilizing this barlow, and also the views are even much more incredible.

You can find only a few complaints that I can muster. The primary mirror is just not adjustable, so collimation on the optics isn’t easily possible. The eyepieces are adequate, however you may possibly need to invest is some higher good quality Plossl eyepieces for simpler viewing.

All-in-all, you will not come across a greater telescope for the cash ANYWHERE. I am accustomed to 6-10 inch telescopes, and this tiny 3-inch blew my socks off. It stays in my car nearly everywhere I go, and I’m not afraid to take it out with crazy children all above the place wanting to look as a result of it. My wife loves it, my niece and nephew adore it, and admittedly..
.I really like it. I can’t wait until my youngsters get their introduction to astronomy with this gem. Celestron genuinely went out of their solution to create something unique. What a solution to jump-start the minds of this upcoming generation!

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August 25th, 2010 admin Celestron Telescope product reviews , , , , 0

Perfect Novice Telescope

This review is from: Celestron 21024 FirstScope Telescope

1st of all I’ve just started amature astronomy this year so I’ve never owned a telescope, I’ve been utilizing a 15×70 celestron binocular on a tripod. I’ve had the Celestron Firstscope for a couple of weeks now and I’ve been please with it..thinking about how very much I paid for it (big bang for the buck). Anyway, I know a lot of persons suggest not to obtain the accessory but one thing I learn when I attended a star party prior to purchasing this telescope is Finder Scope is quite useful/important when trying to align your scope with a specific object. So I did obtain the accessory, and I’m glad I did. Even though it’s true that employing the finder scope is tricky to use if you have the telescope on top of a table or the ground, so what I did is I glimpse around my house that may be tall enough that I can put it on top and I discovered an old cd rack within the garage that’s about 5 feet tall. It was quite sturdy and made applying the telescope so simple while using finder scope.

Using the eyepiece that came while using telescope and accessory everyone who said that they are useless…they are correct, those sort of eyepiece are really tough to appear into and may disappoint you. So what I did is I baught a 2x Barlow and a 25mm plossl eyepeice from Orion as well as the diffrence are night and day, while using the eyepiece I purchase it made field of view much clear, crisp and I saw more stars. So far I’ve been out observing and star gazing as very much as I could and as significantly as the weather permits. The moon via this telescope while using 25mm and 2x barlow eypiece looks awesome the craters are really clear, mars appear like a tiny orange dot and saturn…so far same as mars seem like a dot maybe with a medium or higher power eyepiece I may well be able to see saturns ring. Overall fantastic purchase specially for a starter like me, I will most likely use this until I’m ready to move to the next level at least now I can save up to a very much powerful and expensive telescope.

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August 16th, 2010 admin Celestron Telescope product reviews , , , 0

Works with some quirks

This review is from: Orion StarBlast 4.5 Astro Reflector Telescope!

Optics are decent for a scope of this price with some coma around the edges. Lightweight and very portable (though you need a table to set it on).
Telescope Reviews
Wide field views are great. But when you put in the high power (short focal length) eyepiece, it becomes nearly impossible to keep the object in the field of view. The mount simply isn’t smooth enough to move without jerkiness. This has been a disappointment in what could have been a very nice scope.

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August 9th, 2010 admin Orion Telescrope porduct reviews , , , , 0

A Nice Little Family Scope

This review is from: Orion StarBlast 4.5 Astro Reflector Telescope!

I’ve had an Orion StarBlast for over a year now, and even however I have larger, far more sophisticated telescopes, it may be the one I use most. The setup is instantaneous though, like other reflectors, it takes some time to cool down on cold nights. It’s effortlessly portable, and operates nicely like a grab `n go. The short focal length makes it superb for low energy, wide field views of deep sky objects along with the moon. By way of the StarBlast, I have observed (to name a few) the Ring Nebula, the Andromeda Galaxy (along with its two neighboring galaxies), Galaxies M81 and M82, countless open clusters, the Lagoon and Trifid nebulas, The Eagle Nebula, the nebula in Orion, comets NEAT and LINEAR. Jupiter’s belts and moons are apparent at higher power, as are Staurn’s rings plus the phases of Venus and Mercury. In the course of the last opposition, I could see Martian polar ice caps. Throughout the last lunar eclipse, I had no trouble taking digital photographs by means of this instrument.
Telescope Reviews
This is the same fast optics formula as the Edmund AstroScan and Bushnell Voyager bowling ball. The StarBlast is far and away the greatest of the three, but as with the others, the high power views are soft. That feature is not a difficulty for those of us primarily interested in deep sky. Planetary views could be far more detailed, and my own StarBlast won’t split the double double in suburban skies. (Orion’s somewhat longer 4.5″ f 8 dobsonian is much more suited to these subjects.) Furthermore, most globular clusters present as unresolved fuzzy balls, as they will in any instrument of this aperture.

For the price, nevertheless, you can’t really beat the StarBlast. It works well as a family telescope, or being a casual scope for somebody interested but not obsessed by astronomy. It can be small, inexpensive, and intuitive sufficient to be handled by children. It also works nicely for crusty old guys like me who have bigger hardware, but just do not feel like moving it every single night.

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August 7th, 2010 admin Orion Telescrope porduct reviews , , 2

Nice optics but needs better dob mount&base

This review is from: Orion StarBlast 4.5 Astro Reflector Telescope!

As usual from Orion nice optics for the price. Would work much better on XT4.5″ mount& base. I’ve experimented with this scope taking mirror cell out & installing altitude bearings from a xt4.5.

Then installing on XT4.5 base & mount. Balance is not an issue on such a short focal length. High power views are now easy to track plus height is a liile better. If you love your starblast order an XT4.5″ mount & base from Orion.
Telescope Reviews

Probably under 1Ǡ bucks. My XT8 base was 110 shipped. Only thing is you’ll have to dig up used altitude bearings from somebody. Well worth the work. I do not suggest attempting this unless your absolutely sure what you have to do to make it work, drilling of holes for bearings, alighning bearings evenly side to side, etc. But the results are great

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August 5th, 2010 admin Orion Telescrope porduct reviews , , 0

Orionreviews:Hits the Mark

This review is from: Orion StarBlast 4.5 Astro Reflector Telescope!

My sister was considering a telescope but was unsure whether or not she must put out a large amount of cash for something she may not usually use. I suggested the Orion StarBlast Astro Telescope as a way to test the waters 1st. The telescope is very inexpensive, yet reviews from the scope are fine. What I didn’t assume was how great this tiny telescope could be. Saturn’s rings are obvious, having a hint of Cassini on still nights. Jupiter’s two primary bands are obvious as well, and globular clusters are much brighter and far more resolved than you would believe possible for a scope of this value (do not expect glittering jewelry boxes though.)

The scope is properly built, solid, yet lightweight. Its incredibly easy to use, as well as the view in the primary’s sweet spot is bright and clear. Outside the sweet spot the images get distorted quickly, but for this value that’s a small consideration.

Like the rest with the scope, the red dot finder is easy to use. My sister’s scope did not have the jerkyness other reviewers have reported, but I can’t say no matter if we were lucky or they weren’t.
Telescope Reviews
I have an informal check of whether a initial telescope is any fine: did the new owners place it in closet right after a few frustrating attempts, or have they developed a growing fondness for and knowledge of astronomy? In our case the little StarBlast excelled at this check.

One prior reviewer asked why, using a telescope this great at this cost, everybody didn’t have a telescope? Great question — for a initial scope, its nicely worth the cost. If you are planning to buy or give a first scope, I wouldn’t look any further. You will still be happily making use of this scope long right after you move up to larger, much more powerful telescopes.

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August 4th, 2010 admin Orion Telescrope porduct reviews , , 0

Great value, good features for a beginner

This review is from: Orion StarBlast 4.5 Astro Reflector Telescope!

Telescope Reviews

Hello!

This is a excellent telescope for a beginner.

Very first, let me share my experience: I’m an advanced amateur astronomer, having been in the hobby for over fifteen years. I have a 16″ diameter telescope that I made myself, and I worked for a telescope firm (not Orion!) for 4 years, designing telescopes for them. I think I know a little bit about telescopes…

I bought this scope (my 5th!) mainly because it received a quite positive review in Sky & Telescope magazine, and it fit my needs: something portable, easy, of excellent quality, and inexpensive. I bought it with the intention of using it only for quick sessions when someone asks me to look at something. I’ve ended up using it for much more than that!

In talking with my students, I see that choosing a telescope becomes incredibly complicated if you try to learn about the features and specifications and try to make a choice that way. Frankly, don’t bother. Just buy this one and most likely you’ll be satisfied. It certainly beats other telescopes in its price range.

It has only 2 drawbacks. First, the eyepiece ends up extremely low, so you need to place the scope on a table, crate, etc. The option is to observe on your knees, which is fine for most, but might not be what you expect.

The second drawback is that views of the planets will be small. But they WILL be decently SHARP. I would recommend buying a 2x Barlow lens, to increase power. This is an inherent tradeoff in wide-field telescopes like this one, and a tradeoff I would take ANY day because finding objects is much easier if you’ve got a wide field of view. Just buy the Barlow and you’re all set.

Some other reviewers mention a “jerky” motion in either axis. You can adjust that! Just loosen the bolt holding the axis together, and you’ll reduce friction. Note, however, that if it’s too loose, the scope won’t stay put! This happens on every telescope, by the way, not just this one.

I highly recommend this scope. Good luck, and keep looking up!

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August 3rd, 2010 admin Orion Telescrope porduct reviews , , , 0