This is a good telescope for anyone on a budget. It is lightweight and easy to set up. I only had the Celestron telescope for two nights but what I did get to view was surprisingly good.

This type of telescope are good for viewing the planets and the milky way. I was viewing on a very clear night and could see three cloud bands on Jupiter plus 4 of Jupiter’s moons which appeared as sharp white stars.

I viewed Globular Clusters with surprisingly good results. This telescope has good optics, the views are sharp and clear. You find some false color on the planets but not enough to be a problem. And you will see some detail in Saturn’s Rings. Mars unfortunately is to small and shows up as a fuzzy red ball.

If you would like to know what you will see through different size telescope’s, I have put together photos of the planets and other objects at Telescopes – Myths and Misconceptions.

I would suggest you buy a barlow lens which will give your eyepiece higher magnification. Unfortunately the cheap aluminum tripod is very shaky. Fixing this problem is simple. Hang a bag full of sand from the center of the telescope under the tripod, this will stop vibrations and the shaking when you are focusing. I would suggest you invest in a good tripod when your budget allows.

 Celestron Telescopes Recommendation

These celestron telescopes are good for the budget minded or those people who are not certain if astronomy will be a life long hobby. This would also be a good child’s telescope as it is light in weight, simple to set up and will give good views of the planets and the brighter objects in the milky way.