Basic Reflector Package

Dobsonian Package

Dobsonian Telescopes are likely the most popular beginner's telescopes today.  The Dobsonian telescope is a Newtonian Reflector Telescope with a very sturdy, simple-to-use mount of relatively recent design.  Our Dobsonian is easy to operate, economical and great for beginners.  The model pictured at the left is the best-selling form of the Dobsonian, the Orion Intelliscope. It is designed with beginner astronomers in mind yet has features that will have experienced observers appreciating them.  These are the same telescopes we use every night at the Observatory in our hands-on area. Thousands of people get to experience astronomy first hand using these telescopes.

The 8 inch version of this telescope is so simple to use, anyone from a six year old on up can use it.  To use it, simply plop it down on its base and point it to the sky.  The computer object locator supplied with this scope needs basic alignment of two bright stars and it is ready to go to help you find 14,000 objects in the sky.  The Dobsonian is a "push-to" telescope which means it doesn't have any motors. All motion, left and right and up and down is provided by the user. The scope rotates and tilts in a natural way. There are no knobs or levers to mess with.

The scope is bright and powerful.  It's brighter than any other telescope offered on this page.  You can easily track down deep sky objects like galaxies, nebulas, star clusers and other celestial objects. The eight inch size can keep you busy for a life-time of observing.  This is NOT a toy telescope by any means and is owned by a number of our staff members.

The Dobsonian Telescope does have three disadvantages.

First:  It has no motor drive, so, as the earth rotates, you have to keep the target in the eyepiece manually.  This isn't a big deal and you soon learn to "nudge" the telescope to keep the object in the field of view for as long as you need.
Second:  Because it has no motor drive, this telescope can't really be used with a camera to take astro-photos.  The images will blur as the earth rotates.
Third: The scope is BIG.  It weighs about 42 pounds and stands over four feet tall.  It certainly can't be packed in a suitcase but most folks can easily move it in two pieces.

Member price includes expert set-up and instruction
8" Orion Intelliscope including Telrad and eyepiece $529.95 plus shipping
8" Orion SkyQuest XT8 (package without computer locator) $329.95 plus shipping

Computerized Telescope Package

The NexStar ushers in a whole new generation of computer automated technology.  Simple and friendly to use, the NexStar is up and running after locating just two alignment stars.  It's the perfect combination of power and portability.  If you are new to astronomy, you may wish to start off by using the NexStar's built-in Sky Tour feature, which commands the NexStar to find the most interesting objects in the sky and automatically slews to each one.  Or if you are an experienced amateur, you will appreciate the comprehensive database of over 18,000 objects, including customized lists of all the best deep-sky objects, bright double stars and variable stars. No matter at what level you are starting out , the NexStar will unfold for you and your friends all the wonders of the Universe.
 
The NexStar has altazimuth operation (no need to polar align). Even if you can't find the location of two bright alignment stars,  NexStar will find them for you.  Just enter the date, time and your location, and the NexStar will align itself to the necessary stars.

With the NexStar's ergonomically designed hand control, the user is free to remove the hand control from the fork arm for remote use or leave it mounted for hands-free operation.  With a touch of a button you can select the object catalog, change the slew speed, view fascinating information about an object, or simply know if a desired object is visible in the sky.

The hand control includes a built-in RS-232 communication port allowing you to control the NexStar from a computer and use popular astronomy software (like The Sky) for point-and-click slewing ability.

Mounted on a sturdy metal base, the NexStar sits securely on any flat surface and has three rubber gripping feet for vibration suppression and traction.   The 8" NextStar weighs under 35 lbs., the 5" is under 18 lbs so the NexStar is extremely portable and can be mounted onto the NexStar Tripod for use in the field.

The NexStar's deluxe features combine with Celestron's legendary Schmidt-Cassegrain optical system to give amateur astronomers one of the most sophisticated and easy to use telescopes available on the market today.

There are a few disadvantages to this scope, however:

First, like all Schmidt-Cassegrain scopes, the image in this scope will not be bright as the Dobsonian above.

Second, this really isn't the telescope for kids.  For most kids, they LIKE being able to move the telescope around on their own and showing things to their parents.  The automatic nature of this scope takes a lot of the fun out of it for them.

Third, the NextStar 5" scope isn't really big enough to see many deep space objects.  It's great for planets and bright objects, however.  It can also do nice work with a camera mounted to it.

The NextStar is a marvel of technology.  It's great for people who don't want to spend a lot of time learning how to find things in the sky or who need to portability.

Member Prices:
5" NextStar with tripod and eyepiece $995 plus shipping.
 
8" NextStar with tripod and eyepiece $1,379 plus shipping.
 
11" NextStar GPS with tripod eyepiece $3,200 plus shipping.

To order or find out more call 866-598-4406