The best telescopes for beginners are those that give good views of the planets, but most importantly are simple to set up and use. Credit: Panther Media GMBH/Alamy Stock Photo
Best telescopes for beginners, at a glance
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Key advice and more info
The best telescopes for beginners are easy to use and set up.
If your first telescope is too large and unwieldy or requires a lot of tinkering, you’ll be put off.
You may find it difficult to transport and your scope could be consigned to the garden shed or garage, never to be used again.
If you’re on the lookout for a mount to go with your new telescope, read our guide to the best telescope mounts available.
Best telescopes for beginners
Skymax-127 Virtuoso GTi tabletop telescope
Best tabletop telescope for beginners
Tabletop telescopes are among the best telescopes for beginners because of their light weight and easy set-up. Simply put them on a table or sturdy surface and they’re ready to go.
The Sky-Watcher Skymax-127 Virtuoso GTi is a compact telescope with a Wi-Fi-controllable Go-To mount, meaning you can observe chosen targets at the touch of a button.
Its long focal length makes it ideal for observing the Moon, planets and double stars, as well as some brighter deep-sky objects.
Computerised Go-To telescopes automatically located night-sky objects that a beginner might otherwise struggle to find, but they do still need to be aligned.
For beginners, this can be tricky, often involving the use of a smartphone app to navigate the night sky, so why not use the same app to align the telescope?
Celestron’s StarSense Explorer app is at the core of how this combination works.
Also included with the DX 130AZ are two 1.25-inch eyepieces, 25mm and 10mm, which give 26x and 65x power, respectively. These will serve beginners well.
When you first begin your session, the app asks you to point the telescope towards a clear patch of sky with stars and wait for the red bullseye on the screen to turn yellow.
Then you follow the directions to your target, wait for it to turn green and look through the eyepiece.
We loved the twin-knobbed, low-gear focusing control and we were able to quickly achieve sharp views of the Moon’s cratered southern highlands.
The StarSense app also has lists such as ‘tonight’s best objects’, each labelled ‘City Viewable’ or ‘Dark Sky Viewable’, helping beginners manage expectations.
Key specs
Optics: 130mm (5.1-inch) Newtonian reflector
Focal length: 650mm, f/5
Mount: Altaz with slow-motion controls
App control: StarSense Explorer app with StarSense Sky Recognition technology and planetarium
Extras: StarSense dock for your smartphone, 25mm and 10mm eyepieces, StarPointer red dot finder
The Sky-Watcher StarQuest 130P Newtonian is short, which makes it a nice, easy scope for beginners to handle.
Plus, it weighs just 8kg and is easy to assemble. This means it’s a great choice for newcomers but also, for more experienced astronomers, it’s not as likely to get left in storage and remain unused.
The 130P Newtonian may not be an imaging telescope, but we did manage to attach a smartphone adaptor to the 25mm eyepiece and were able to use our iPhone to capture an image of the Moon.
The StarQuest 130P is easy to use, and it’s well-made. As a result, it’s made our list of the best telescopes for beginners.
But it could also work as a grab-and-go scope for more experienced observers.
Key specs
Optics 130mm (5.1-inch) parabolic mirror
Focal length 650mm (f/5) focal length
Mount Equatorial/altazimuth mount
Focuser Rack and pinion
Extras Red dot finder, 1.25-inch 10mm and 25mm eyepieces, slow-motion control cables
The MAK80 is compact and is suited for a range of uses, including birdwatching as well as practical astronomy.
The tube is just 270mm long and the telescope’s focal length is 800mm, giving a focal ratio of f/10.
This makes it well-suited for observing the planets, the Moon and double stars.
The MAK80 comes in a box with a soft carry case, an 8x 21mm finderscope and two eyepieces, 20mm and 10mm, giving magnifications of 40x and 80x.
Included is also a phase-coated 90˚ roof prism star diagonal and a smartphone holder, should you wish to photograph what you’re observing and share it on social media.
Key specs
Design: Maksutov-Cassegrain telescope
Optics: 80mm (3.15-inch) primary mirror
Focal length: 800mm, f/10
Mounting: 45mm Vixen-style Sky-Watcher dovetail bar with standard ¼-inch tripod thread
Extras: 8x 21mm finderscope; 20mm and 10mm 1.25-inch eyepieces; star diagonal; smartphone; adaptor; carry case; giftbox
Unboxing the WideSky 80, we found it has the look and the feel of telescope worth twice the price.
It’s robust, clean and sturdy, making for a trustworthy telescope that could survive trasnportation to far-flung dark-sky sites.
The WideSky 80’s aperture of 80mm means it’s by no means a powerful light-gatherer when observing deep-sky objects, but we did get a view of the Andromeda Galaxy on a clear night.
We got great views of the Pleiades open star cluster and Bode’s and Cigar Galaxies.
Each of these targets returned a beautiful view through the WideSky 80
This telescope certainly holds its own for visual observing, and it fared well as an astrophotography instrument too.
Key specs
Optics: ED doublet with fully multi-coated Ohara FPL-53 glass
Aperture: 80mm
Focallength: 500mm, f/6.25
Focuser: Heavy duty dual-speed 2-inch rack and pinion hybrid drive with 10/1 (ratio from coarse to fine) and brass compression ring
Celestron StarSense Explorer LT 70AZ refractor review
The StarSense Explorer phone dock, which incorporates a smartphone holder and a mirror, turns this simple, basic manual telescope into one that can easily locate objects via a touchscreen phone and the StarSense app.
This is a sturdy, reliable refractor that’s good value for those beginning their adventure in amateur astronomy.
Key specs
Optics 70mm fully coated objective lens
Focal length 700mm, f/10
Mount Manual altazimuth mount with smooth, altitude slow-motion control
App control StarSense app with StarSense sky recognition technology and planetarium
Extras StarSense dock for your smartphone, 25mm and 10mm eyepieces,2x Barlow lens, 90º erect image diagonal, StarPointer red dot finderscope
Celestron Omni XLT AZ 102 refractor with basic mount
Celestron Omni XLT AZ 102 Refractor/basic mount
This scope comes with a finderscope, diagonal, eyepiece and mount that boasts slow-motion controls.
Setting it up is relatively quick and easy due to the mount and tripod coming pre-assembled.
All you need to do is attach the telescope to the mount, add the diagonal and eyepiece and you’re ready to go.
It offers pin-sharp views of stars and galaxies and, weighing just 6.2kg, can be easily moved around your viewing spot or taken on trips to dark-sky sites.
This 3-inch telescope enables observations of a wide range of celestial objects and comes with an altaz mount that’s intuitive to use.
The whole package is a doddle to set up. An aluminium dew shield cuts down on unwanted light and keeps dew at bay, while the supplied red dot finder makes locating bright celestial objects easy.
Emphasis is on lightweight materials, making it a good ‘grab and go’ instrument to encourage beginners to leave the light pollution behind and head for a dark-sky site.
Honourable mention: classic telescope for beginners
Celestron Inspire 100AZ refractor. Credit: BBC Sky at Night Magazine
Celestron’s Inspire range of refractors are made with the beginner in mind, but the 100mm version is our pick.
It’s a classic telescope and easily one of the best telescopes for beginners.
It offers a good aperture, a focal length of 660mm and plenty of features.
The scope would appeal to younger astronomers as it’s affordable and attractively designed.
It comes with a tripod, 2 eyepieces, a diagonal and a red light LED torch.
One particular bonus is its smartphone adaptor: ideal for those thinking about getting started in astrophotography, or for sharing your observations on social media.
Key specs
Optics Achromatic lens
Aperture 100mm (4 inches)
Focal Length 660mm, (f/6.5)
Focuser Single-speed rack and pinion with micrometer scale
Mount Manual Altazimuth
Extras Red-dot finder, erect image star diagonal, 10mm and 20mm eyepieces, red light LED torch, printed instruction manual
There’s a saying in amateur astronomy: the best kind of telescope is the one you’ll actually use.
The Evostar-90 AZ is simple to assemble and, at a combined weight of 6.25kg, light enough to lift.
Its AZ Pronto mount and tripod system is easy to use: locking clamps can be loosened to move it manually, and there are slow-motion controls to help you fine-tune onto targets.
The tripod has an adjustable height range of 78.5-150cm, and is sturdy, helping avoid too much vibration.
Key specs
Aperture 3.5-inch
FocalLength 900mm (f/10)
Mount AZ Pronto
Weight 6.25kg (tube 2.4kg, mount and tripod 3.85kg)
The Newtonian reflector has always been a popular choice for people starting out in astronomy – it offers the most aperture for your money of any optical design.
Sky-Watcher’s SkyHawk 1145P is a reflecting telescope equipped with a parabolic primary mirror at a competitive price.
Sky-Watcher’s Heritage telescopes are portable and uncomplicated to set up, and can be simply placed on a tabletop for instant observing of the night sky.
You can be stargazing in minutes, without the hassles of a more complicated system such as an equatorial mount.
At 7.5kg, the Heritage 150P Flextube is lightweight, making it great for bringing out to catch gaps in the clouds, or whisked away easily to a dark-sky site.
Collapsed down, it’s easily transported and set up quickly in a dark-sky location.
Key specs
Optics 150mm (6-inch) parabolic mirror
Focal length 750mm (f/5)
Mount Single-arm, wooden altazimuth Dobsonian mount
Focuser Rack and pinion
Extras red dot finder, 1.25-inch 10mm and 25mm eyepieces
The Starbase 80 is a quality grab and go achromatic telescope suitable for entry level. It sits on a portable easy-to-use altaz mount and benefits from good optics.
Assembly is easy: with the mount and tripod in one section, you just need to attach the tube and rings, then add the slow-motion controls and altitude clamp.
Were able to locate bright deep-sky targets like the Orion Nebula and the Pleaides, and we were also able to find the hazy central bulge of the Andromeda Galaxy and several bright double stars.
We turned the Starbase 80 to the Moon and found it crisp in both the 14mm and 6mm supplied eyepieces.
This is a great beginners’ scope and mount package that will provide hours of viewing pleasure.
Key specs
Optics 80mm
Focal length 800mm (f/10) focal length
Mount Altaz mount with adjustable steel tripod
Focuser Rack and pinion
Extras Peep hole finder, 6mm & 14mm 1.25 inch-fit eyepieces, smooth slow-motion control cables, star diagonal and accessories tray
Most people setting out to buy their first telescope likely aren’t going to have a high budget, but if you do and you’re looking for a completely different experience from an ‘ordinary’ telescope, you might consider the Unistellar eVscope eQuinox.
This is a 4.5-inch, f/4 reflector with a built-in camera sensor that tracks and stacks images in real-time to produce rich images of deep-sky objects.
It’s very much one of the best telescopes for beginners if you like your gadgets, and can afford it.
Key specs
Optics 114mm (4.5-inch) reflector
Focallength 450mm, f/4
Sensor Sony Exmor IMX224
Mount Motorised single-arm, altaz, Go-To
Power In-built lithium-ion rechargeable (12-hour) battery
Tripod Aluminium, adjustable height
Ports USB-C for power, and USB-A for charging a smartphone
Another modern telescope for those on a high budget, the Vaonis Vespera Observation Station is designed to take all the effort out of observing the night sky.
The Vespera is a telescope, but also a camera, and produces its view of targets by continually imaging that target, stacking the images to produce an ever-crisper view.
Align the telescope, download the app and you can simply click on whichever galaxy, nebula or star cluster to want to see.
The telescope does the rest.
If you’re after a basic telescope that will teach you how to navigate the night sky, this is not it.
But if you love gadgetry and want to be able to explore the night sky at the click of a button, download images of what you see and share online, this might be the one for you.
The telescopes on our list were tested using the same criteria: assembly, build and design, ease of use, features and optics. The features we looked at included:
Finderscope
Finding what you want to look at is the first step, so we examined the finderscopes supplied, testing how easy they were to use. We checked whether they were awkward to look through and if they were easy to align with the main scope.
Focuser and eyepieces
Fine focusing is vital for sharp views, but the focuser shouldn’t be too stiff or have too much play in movement. We also inspected the eyepieces to see if they provided a useful range of magnifications.
Mount
We checked that the mount was sturdy enough to support the telescope and had no play in either of the axes. The telescope should be able to move freely to take in as much of the sky as possible without being hindered by the tripod.
Optics
It goes without saying that the best telescopes for beginners will have good optics. Optical surfaces should be free from defects, so we looked for imperfections on the front objective lens. Using the supplied eyepieces, we checked to see if the optics gave crisp views at the centre and at the edge of the field of view.
Tripod
We looked at how stable the tripod was as the telescope was moved into various observing positions. The legs need to be steady with little flexure, and any vibrations should quickly dampen down otherwise they could spoil the view.
