Is stargazing an expensive hobby? Not necessarily! In this article you will find the best options for fantastic nights under the stars on a budget – roughly under €300/$300. This is an article in a series on the best telescopes for every budget.
What to expect?
What can you expect from low-budget telescopes? More than you think! On a reasonably dark location, using binoculars or a small telescope is a pleasure. You’ll see the moons of Jupiter as bright ‘stars’ next to the planet, well-known emission nebulae such as the Orion Nebula and the Lagoon Nebula, star clusters (for example Messier 35 and the three bright clusters in Auriga) and you can even peek deep into the universe: the Andromeda Galaxy at 2.5 million light years away! An advantage of binoculars or a small telescope is that they are easy to transport. So you can easily take them to a dark spot. That is often worth more than a large telescope on a light-polluted location!
Binoculars
Binoculars for stargazing? Yes, certainly! Binoculars are perhaps the most versatile tools to discover the night sky. And you don’t even need a pair of binoculars specifically for astronomy, you can just use that old pair that you still have in the closet. But are you looking for the perfect binoculars to go stargazing? Then read on or jump straight to Waddensky’s choice!
What to look for when purchasing?
You can see much more with any binoculars than with the naked eye. There are three important aspects to pay attention to when deciding on a purchase: the magnification of the binoculars, the aperture of the binoculars and the exit pupil. All these values can be derived from the markings on the device, such as 7×50, 8×42 or 10×50.
The number before the ‘x’ is the magnification. Keep in mind that more magnification is not always better: a high magnification results in a smaller field of view, so you’ll see a smaller part of the night sky. That might make it difficult to find your observing targets. In addition, you not only enlarge the objects you want to view, but also the movements of the binoculars! Roughly speaking, most people can hold a magnification of up to 10x in a stable hand. Above that, the use of a tripod or monopod is recommended for a calmer, more stable image.
The aperture is the number after the ‘x’, and is expressed in millimeters. This is the diameter of the openings in the binoculars through which the light enters. The larger these openings, the more light you ‘catch’ and therefore the fainter the objects you can observe. There is also a downside: binoculars with a larger aperture quickly become heavy! So always take notice of the weight before purchasing, or visit a physical store to properly estimate the weight.
The exit pupil is the diameter of the beam of light coming out of the binoculars that your eyes need to catch in order to see the image the binoculars produce. You can calculate this value by dividing the aperture of the binoculars (the number after the ‘x’) by the magnification (the number before the ‘x’). The exit pupil of a 10×50 binocular is therefore 50 / 10 = 5.0 mm. Why is this important? The pupils in our eyes have a maximum size of around 7.0 mm in dark conditions. This decreases as we get older.
If the exit pupil of the binoculars is larger than the pupils of our eyes, part of the incoming light does not reach your retina, while that light is so important during stargazing! So make sure that the exit pupil of the binoculars is always smaller than your maximum eye pupil size. With 7×50 binoculars, the exit pupil is already a bit on the large side for most people (50 / 7 = 7.1 mm), for stargazing 10×50 (5.0 mm) or 8×42 (5.3 mm) are therefore better suited.
Waddensky’s choice
Europe
USA
Tabletop dobsonians
A tabletop dobsonian is a small but super stable telescope that you place on a table or other elevated surface to observe with it.
A tabletop is a variant of a dobson telescope. That is the name for a reflecting telescope that is mounted in a very simple way. You don’t need a tripod, you put a dobson directly on a flat, stable surface. Because the mounting of a dobsonian is so simple, there is budget ‘left over’ to invest in what is most important for a telescope: the diameter of the mirror (the aperture). So you get the most ‘telescope’ for your budget. That is why dobsonian telescopes are by far the most popular telescopes for the beginner and even the advanced observer.
There are large dobs that you put down on the ground and sit next to to observe. These fall into a slightly higher price range. A tabletop dobson is a smaller, easier to transport and less expensive variant of the same design. Want to know if this is something for you? Read on or jump to Waddensky’s choice.
What to look for when purchasing?
There’s only a small number of factories in the world that make dobsonian telescopes. These are sold under various brand names, such as GSO, Sky-Watcher or Omegon. Optically they are therefore very similar, but the accessories and price may differ. All tabletops are ready to use, they come with eyepieces and often also a finder scope. So you can start stargazing right away!
To make a good choice, the shape of the mirror in the telescope is important. In smaller dobs, in particular, this is often spherical, which actually means that the incident light can never be concentrated exactly on one point. The image therefore always remains a bit blurry. You’ll only notice this at high magnifications though, so it is not really noticeable with small telescopes that cannot magnify that much.
The somewhat more expensive telescopes in this category have a parabolic mirror. This gives razor-sharp images at all magnifications and is therefore preferred. Unfortunately, the shape of the mirror is not known for all telescopes in this price range. The suggestions mentioned in Waddensky’s choice all have a parabolic mirror, according to the webshop.
The telescopes in this price category come with eyepieces that are often not top quality. That doesn’t matter, because the diameter of the eyepieces has a standard size (usually 1.25 inch) you can always upgrade later. So I advise you to start with the supplied eyepieces, and only spend more once you have built up some experience.
Finally, tabletop dobsons need a stable surface to put down on. This can be a simple garden table. While observing, you sit next to it and look through the eyepiece. Easy and fun!
Waddensky’s choice
Europe
USA
If you make a purchase through one of the links on this page, Waddensky receives a small compensation from the webshop for forwarding visitors. This does not change the price for you, but the compensation allows Waddensky to continue to provide you with valuable information on astronomical topics. Thanks in advance for your support!