Celestron Zhumell ZHUS001-1 Z100 Portable Altazimuth Reflector Telescope, Black

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A small, inexpensive refractor may do a slightly better job on the planets than the Z100, but the Z100’s larger aperture makes it superior for viewing deep-sky objects, and it’s also far more lightweight, compact, and portable than a refractor. Nice to see you are thinking logically, so should she grow out of the interest you can sell it and recover some of the cost. Solid-Tube Dobsonians are fairly bulky, heavy things. Telescopes of similar aperture tend to weigh as much or more, but SCTs and Maksutovs are more compact and can sometimes be stored more compactly, especially when travelling.

The Orion Nebula: As a very familiar deep-sky object, I know what to expect. I could see the four stars of the Trapezium at 40X with the 10 mm eyepiece that came with it. I was pleased with that result. Using my 2X barlow, I was able to move in closer at 80X. First off, we’ve created guides on a variety of stargazing areas such as our guide to find the best low cost telescope, our walk through of how to use a telescope (for beginners), our astronomy guide for beginners and our guide on determining the best type of telescope to buy for your first telescope. We’ve also created a series of helpful guides, such as our list of interesting facts about astronomy (which any kids or beginners will no doubt find interesting), and our breakdown of astronomy vocabulary for kids. Celestron Lens Cleaning Kit – dust can get everywhere, and it’s important to keep the optics of your telescope and eyepieces clean. This kit has everything you need to ensure you get the best views possible. z100, you can't rotate it, can't collimate it, shorter focal length, making it best as a low power sweeper.

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Celestron 1.25″ Moon Filter – pretty much an essential accessory, this filter reduces the glare of the Moon and allows you to observe it without being dazzled. It’s also “neutral density,” meaning that it produces a natural color view of the Moon, and is compatible with the Z100. At 5' 1" she could probably use most of the popular dobsonians honestly, a Skywatcher Heritage 130 or 150 would be totally managable too. Just bear in mind with any of the mini dobs you'll need to stand it on something sturdy, I use a 3 legged stool from Ikea for my Orion Starblast 4.5 for example, and another to sit on. There was a lot of detail visible on the Moon, even with the low powered 17mm eyepiece (24x.) Features were sharply defined, with countless craters being clearly visible across the entire surface. There was also quite a bit of tonal variation visible (since there wasn’t any color visible, per se.) Could the XT6-Plus save us from a wobbly focuser and a no-power finder? No. The more expensive version, which is typically more expensive than the other 6 inch dobs, has the same flawed plastic focuser and the same red dot finder. It merely adds a 10mm Plossl eyepiece for 120x magnificaiton, and a 2x Barlow which, when added to the other eyepieces, provides either 96x or 240x. The XT6-Plus also regrettably has the same flawed adjustable altitude bearing system as the SkyWatcher 150P, albeit its long jab-you-in-the-gut handles are replaced with low-profile knobs.

The GSO-Deluxe Dobsonians have the best set of default accessories among all of the imported dobs, but they’re also pretty reliably the most expensive. For your top dollar, you get a 30mm wide-angle eyepiece that provides a bright image and a wide field of view, a 9mm Plossl that provides 133x high magnification, a big 8×50 Right-Angle-Correct-Image finderscope, a small moon filter to darken the image as seen through 1.25” eyepieces, and a laser collimator. A Dobsonian reflector is a Newtonian reflector mounted on a simple, strong, and easy-to-use mount that moves up, down, and left and right. It’s the simplest way to aim above the horizon, as it eliminates the need to mess with an equatorial mount’s complicated and expensive hardware. A section on using the eyepieces is next before a short explanation of altitude and azimuth, focusing the image and then aligning the finderscope.

We’re in town with far too much light pollution (Bortle 7) so for us the moon and planets have been best. But for that you will need a more substantial telescope. Planets also have the advantage that they are relatively bright and on the whole you don’t need to get your eyes use to the dark. For the most part, these are fairly minor issues as the eyepieces are only meant to get you started. The most important part of the telescope is the mirror as the eyepieces can be easily and relatively inexpensively upgraded. As a reminder, when we discuss telescopes, the important number is the aperture, or in this case, the diameter of the primary mirror.