Much lighter and more easily portable than its 8″ cousin, this 6″ telescope uses the same GOTO interface. It exhibits a minor amount of chromatic aberration, An HBG3 controller and joystick are available which allow control of the telescope via an Android phone.
T47 – Celestron C6 6″ SCT Read More »
At almost 10″ in diameter, this is the largest dobsonian in the library. This venerable telescope (made in Canada!) is mounted on a solid metal base and adjusts easily. It can fit in the back seat of a car, fully assembled, which is quite unusual for a large Dob. It’s a really good telescope, with stars showing nice and crisp. The optical finderscope is somewhat awkward to use since the tube is relatively short.
T46 – Omcon 620D 10″ Dobsonian Read More »
Celestron has made a great many fine telescopes, but some models really stand out. The white-tube C5 is one of those. The optics are very sharp, and the portability is outstanding. Place the mount with its built-in wedge on a flat surface like a picnic table, orient it roughly north/south, and the built-in motor drive will follow objects in the sky faithfully for many minutes. The 9V battery will power it for up to 50 hours.
T32 – Celestron C5+ tabletop SCT Read More »
This is a well-made telescope, with extremely good optics. Stars are nice pinpoints. It is quite heavy for its diminutive size, but the views make it worth using. Includes a soft travel bag.
T16 – Orion Starmax 5″ Mak Read More »
This featherweight travel telescope has quite acceptable optics on a very shaky mount. It packs into the included small backpack. Lenses are plastic, the finderscope is not necessary, and the whole thing threatens to blow away if there is some wind, but it is quite usable as a telescope.
T25 – Travelscope 70mm refractor Read More »
Harvey has been around for many years. This high resolution telescope is quick to set up and simple to use. It has little chromatic aberration, and the quality of its field of view is quite comparable to the larger 8” reflectors in the telescope library. It provides nice views of nebulas, planets, and the moon. It lacks sufficient power for viewing smaller deep sky objects.
It is rather tall, and the tube is quite sturdily constructed. Unfortunately the one-arm Dobsonian mount is a lot shakier than ideal, and has a tendency to spring back when pointing the scope. Like all reflectors it can be somewhat counter-intuitive when trying to center the view on an object.
Comes with a deep sky filter for nebulae and galaxies.
T13 – Harvey, the 6″ Dobsonian Read More »
This versatile rich field telescope is quick to set up and simple to use. It is a great first telescope. It has very little chromatic aberration, and its wide field of view is quite crisp and provides fine views of star fields and the moon. It is not quite as well suited for viewing the planets and smaller deep sky objects. It is rather short, which can make viewing of objects which are low in the sky somewhat awkward. Like all reflectors it can be a little counter-intuitive when trying to center the view on an object.
T07 – SkyWatcher 8″ reflector Read More »
