If you have a planisphere, you can “star hop” to the more popular galaxies, nebulae, and star clusters that are marked on the chart. After lining up the correct date and time, orient yourself by holding up the planisphere and matching the chart with what you see in the sky. Once you find a few of the brighter stars, visually “hop” to the next star, and the next, until you find the general location of the object you wish to see, then find that point in your finderscope, and if you’ve aligned it correctly, the object you star-hopped to should be in your eyepiece. Voila! Kepler primarily observed faraway stars in a single sky patch. TESS, on the other hand, covers an area that’s about 400 times larger: roughly 85% of the entire sky. To do that, TESS circles Earth in a unique high Earth orbit of 12 to 15 days, which is inclined in a way that the telescope’s skyview is largely free from obstructions by our bright planet and the Moon. Using an eyepiece with a shorter focal length will increase the magnification of your telescope. This is handy for observing the moon and planets. Attaching a Barlow lens to your eyepiece is another way to make your telescope more powerful (increase magnification). 4. How to aim a telescope?

While not as long as the Celestron Inspire 100AZ, the Sky-Watcher Explorer 130 EQ2's long tube length results in f/7 and makes high magnification possible. During our review of the Sky-Watcher Explorer 130 EQ2, we could easily get sharp views of the Jovian System (Jupiter, its rings and moons) and Saturn's rings looked impressive while using the supplied Barlow lens. During our Celestron Inspire 100AZ review, we found a small amount of false color (purple color fringing), and a slight blurring in the field of view was noticeable. The latter is easily resolved with a careful selection of eyepieces, so we recommend investing in one of the best eyepieces to make the most of the Inspire 100AZ's optical system. The slight amount of false color shouldn't dampen your experience unless you are particularly fussy about color accuracy being spot on. The achromatic refractor is cheaper than the apochromatic refractor and, combined with its efficiency, is often the type of telescope that novice astronomers go for. Even if you choose the more expensive achromatic, you'll likely get a stubborn degree of purple fringing around some targets. Center your subject in the finder scope's frame; there are usually crosshairs or a dot so you know when it's central. Now when you look through your telescope's eyepiece, your subject will be centered here too. Price is another really important factor for analysing the quality of Star Finding Telescope vs other products in the Telescopes category. It’s obvious, but you will need to set your expectations of quality based on your budget and the price of the product you’re looking at, against the price of alternatives.Are you looking for a telescope to get started with? When you want to get into stargazing, one of the most important – if not THE most important bit of kit is a telescope. Without a telescope you might just be gazing dreamily at the stars out of your bedroom window! Despite these few niggles, the SkyWatcher Explorer 130M Motorised Newtonian Reflector Telescope comes extremely well reviewed, with consistently high scores and customers impressed with what's delivered for the reasonable price tag. An excellent option for new stargazers and onwards, this one should whet your appetite for further investigation of the Moon – and beyond! The Celestron NexStar 8SE is a high-end telescope, and it comes with a substantial price tag. Nevertheless, it proves to be a worthwhile investment for those serious about skywatching or astrophotography. While it might be beyond the budget of casual astronomy enthusiasts, it is an excellent choice for those planning to immerse themselves in these activities for the long run. If the notion of peering into an eyepiece to look at stars seems quaintly old-fashioned to you, Unistellar's eVscope eQuinox could be the telescope you're looking for (as long as you have a suitably enormous budget). There's no eyepiece; it connects wirelessly to your phone or tablet via an app and enables you to see the heavens directly on your screen, complete with built-in image processing so that you get a much clearer picture than you would by looking directly into an eyepiece.

A red dot finder displays a wide field, zero magnification view of the sky. Instead of looking through an eyepiece, the user looks at a glass or plastic screen that a red dot, or in some designs, a bull’s eye, is reflected onto. This illuminated point is adjustable, both in brightness and in its placement on the screen. Christina: I think that seeing how beautiful the images are and how high quality they ended up being was definitely a high point. We calculated that we would be able to do things like this, but it was different to see it and have the real data in practice.They may not be marketed as such, but most of the best telescopes for beginners are good for looking at either planets or deep sky objects – rarely both. The Celestron NexStar 6SE is an exception, with the step-up in price coming with a huge advance in image quality. Its 6-inch aperture gives it high usable magnification on planets and the Moon and on distant star clusters, galaxies and nebulae. Our expert staff and knowledgeable freelance contributors thoroughly test each telescope. This ensures honest reviewing based on the telescope's price, category, and intended use. For example, a 10-inch Dobsonian should not be compared to a 2.76-inch refractor, even though they may be the best in their own class. If the brand you buy is important to you, our best advice is to spend some time writing up your own list of ideal brands. That way when you come to the point where you’re comparing product options you can filter to only show the products from brands in your list. The Unistellar eVscope 2 isn't like traditional telescopes, featuring a built-in camera, modern design and electronic eyepiece. It's the second version of the eVscope series and comes with noticeable improvements in its design and ease of use. With a 114mm aperture and a focal ratio of f/3.9, it's very well-suited for observing celestial objects like nebulas and galaxies.