These telescopes would have cost you over $600 in 1998. You are going to be very happy with the performance these celestron telescopes will give. I’ve owned the C 102GP and was looking forward to seeing how this scope would stand up to testing.

The owner of the telescope told me it was perfectly collimated and no adjustments were needed. The telescope was mine for a couple of weeks and I took full advantage of it. We have been blessed with beautiful clear nights lately and I was eager to go viewing.

As usual I turned the telescope on the planets first and was given great views of Jupiter with 3 distinct cloud bands and the great red spot. I kept viewing Jupiter for awhile to watch Io, Europe, Ganymede, and Callisto orbiting the planet.

Saturn was next and I could see the Cassini division clearly. The planets all had good detail to them. The optics are very good on these Celestron telescopes and are coated in a deep rich green, which appear much darker than my C 102GP which is coated in light blue. You will find that these Celestron telescopes have some false color but I did not think it that bad.

I then viewed M81 and M82 with good results. Then came the Lagoon nebula M8, Trifid nebula M20, Eagle nebula M16, and the Ring nebula M57 which had very good detail to it.

Except for some false color I could not find any problems with this telescope, the star test was good and I had crisp, clear and detailed views of the planets. The Nebulae and galaxies were surprisingly good but I was fortunate to have very clear and dark sky to view them.

I would suggest you buy Starry Night Software. This software will help teach you about the night sky by giving you all the information you will need about any object you want. It will help you plan your night’s viewing by showing you where an object will be at any time on any day you choose. It is recommended for all ages.

You will find a lot of plastic on it and I hate plastic but for the price this can be overlooked. It weighs around 36 lbs and is easy to set up and move around.

 Celestron Telescope Recommendation

I can highly recommend these Celestron telescopes, you are getting real value for money. A great beginner to intermediate telescope for the serious astronomer.