Learning Resources EI-5129P GeoSafari Jr My First Telescope Pink, Toy Telescope for Kids, STEM Toy, Ages 4+

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Reflecting telescopes have an open tube at the front and a round mirror inside the bottom of the tube, called the primary mirror. Where to buy: Omegon 2 Cassegrains for beginners Sky-Watcher SkyMax 180 Pro Sky-Watcher SkyMax 180 Pro Maksutov-Cassegrain I get a lot of queries this time of year from readers asking what kind of telescope they should buy. My answer to this is always the same: Imagine if a stranger walked up to you and asked what kind of car they should get. What would you say? Any good answer would depend on how far they wanted to drive, what they needed the vehicle for, how many passengers they’d have and—the big question—how much money they had to spend.

This is an instrument not just for visual observing, but can also be used for deep-sky astrophotography. All three designs are available as basic models or with fully computerised controls and even built-in wi-fi for operation via smartphone.But once you do, oh, the things you’ll see, the joy you’ll experience! You’ll have given the greatest gift there is: the entire cosmos. The Newtonian design uses a parabolic primary mirror to collect and focus light from your celestial target, while a flat secondary mirror reflects it to the eyepiece. The telescope’s large aperture makes finding fainter objects simpler, and even though we were observing under moonlit skies and a touch of light pollution we were still able to see both sections of the Veil Nebula complex with an OIII filter and 21mm eyepiece. We performed some astrophotography tests with the telescope and found no evidence of unwanted reflections or artefacts, while a star test showed that the lens cell holds the glass without skewing or pinching, even despite drops in temperature greater than 10°C. There is no doubt that a decent refractor, on a sturdy mount or tripod, can provide a thrilling stargazing experience, and whet the appetite for further sessions for many years. Reflectors Newtonians are among the most common reflectors used by amateur astronomers. This is the Orion 6-inch f/4 Newtonian astrograph. Credit: BBC Sky at Night Magazine

We used an EQ5 SynScan mount and found it could could handle it, but the larger NEQ6 mount offered the best performance.

This can be turned freely around, while the telescope can pivot up and down and thus be pointed anywhere in the sky. The VX8 is affordable system, and with the rolled aluminium tube weighing 7kg and measuring just 86cm long, many will find this easy to transport and lift onto a mount using the tube rings and dovetail bar. In this respect refractors have limits. Very large lenses are prohibitively expensive and quite unmanageable for amateurs.

All that said, the most useful advice I can give you doesn’t require buying a telescope at all: just go to a star party! Many universities—even small ones—have observatories, and astronomy clubs and societies are almost everywhere, even in rural areas. Seek out one near you, learn when it holds public events and attend one. There may be dozens of amateur astronomers there with a wide variety of telescopes, and in my long experience, such folks are wonderfully eager to help. You can see how big the equipment is, how much experience you may need to use it and, of course, what the view is through the eyepiece. You wouldn’t buy a car without test-driving a few, right? It’s the same principle here.This kids telescope for preschool children is a realistic working telescope that introduces young children to using scientific equipment. This design allows for much larger apertures than are possible with refractors, and amateur reflectors are available right up to a whopping 500mm diameter. Admittedly, there is a bewildering array of equipment available; however, we can divide all those variations into just three basic types. A 32mm super wide angle eyepiece, mirror-cooling fan, battery box and a red dot finder complete the system.