With the holidays right around the corner, you may be fretting over what to buy your young astronomer. Well, we may have the answer! A beginner or child telescope can be the perfect Christmas gift. And not just any telescope, but a Celestron Nexstar telescope. And now is the perfect time to purchase one of these remarkable telescopes. Why you ask?

Because Celestron is offering a minimum of a $50 rebate on its line of Nexstar telescopes with an expiration date of January 30, 2008 (postmarked submission). Celestron offers 3 separate beginner models ranging from $279 to $399 (Telescopes.com prices), excluding a $50 rebate. So, this child telescope (3 to choose from) is not only affordable, but has excellent design features.

This telescope line is designed for quick set-up, with pre-assembled, adjustable stainless steel tripods, and quick-release fork arms and tubes. The NexStar SLT telescope is made to be set up in a matter of minutes, with no tools necessary! Perfect for any kids telescope!

One word of caution though — these telescopes are not toys, and therefore, are not recommended for a younger child (under 10, unless supervised by a parent) but would be perfect for most youngsters over 10 years of age.

Celestron Nexstar’s less expensive models are perfect for your youngster’s first experience with astronomy. A child telescope needs to be as easy to set-up and operate as possible, and these models will have your child exploring the heavenly skies in no time at all. Why not check out these Celestron telescopes (114 SLT, 80 SLT, 60 SLT Models) at Telescopes.com and save today!

So you want to try your hand at making a homemade telescope? We’re not talking about a used cardboard tube and a cheap lens here, but a more sophisticated telescope project. You can liken a homemade telescope project to something like building a computer from a kit.

But don’t get overwhelmed just yet! All it takes is someone with minimal technical skills and a little bit of free time. Of course, the parts will need to be purchased from an optics supplier so a little cash, or available credit card, will be needed.

While you can take the easy route and just purchase a telescope, making a homemade telescope allows you to take personal pride in your new telescope creation. It also allows you to customize the telescope with features just to your liking.

Making the Decision

The choice as to buying a stock telescope or taking on the challenge of making your own is a personal choice. Our advice is to think very hard and long about this project if you are a beginner astronomer and this is your first beginner telescope. It may be a better project for the intermediate and advanced astronomer, who understands the desired features and user skills which are beneficial as you build a usable telescope.

What Type of Telescope Should You Make?

Dobsonian telescopes are probably the easiest to make. The assembly process is well documented on the Internet, while the parts required are available at reasonable prices from the better telescope suppliers. The equipment necessary to build your homemade telescope includes:

• Mirrors
• Tubes
• Lenses
• Mounting System

Additional components may be required depending on the specific features and capabilities you wish to build into your new telescope.

A homemade telescope can be a challenging project, but we have found that those who take on this project seem to develop an even greater interest in astronomy. Perhaps it’s just the pride of viewing the heavens with your own telescope creation, or maybe the sense of participating in a hobby where you have created the required tools yourself. Regardless of the reason, you will certainly walk away from your telescope project with a better understanding of the mechanics of the modern telescope and how the components work together and how each part functions.

Product: Meade ETX-80AT-TC GO TO COMPUTER TELESCOPE (MODEL 0805-04-21)

Price: Under $300.00

Consumer: Beginner Astronomers

This is Meade’s newest ETX telescope – the ETX-80AT-TC Go To Computer Telescope Model 0805-04-21. Meade’s new, larger 80mm diameter ETX telescope is a real prize package. It delivers more light-gathering which results in increased image brightness and much greater detail.

The manufacturer’s hi-tech AutoStar computer can solve the amateur astronomer’s 2 biggest challenges with the navigation of the nights sky with a computer telescope:

1. Alignment of the telescope with the night sky
2. Locating celestial phenomenon in the star filled heavens.

Once initialized, which is a simple step-by-step process, AutoStar will make locating the heaven’s elusive jewels virtually as easy as pushing a few buttons. You can observe land or over 1400 celestial objects in high resolution, as well as, learn about the sky with Meade’s comprehensive astro-library.

Pros:

• An internal Time Chip (TC) keeps precise factory calibrated time and date.
• A built-in Barlow Lens flips into position when needed. This highly desirable feature provides more power when studying lunar and planetary surface features.
• A Bubble-level/Compass is provided to make initialization faster and easier.
• Includes a sturdy, adjustable, aluminum tripod
• Now includes two premium 4-element 1.25″ Super Plössl eyepieces (SP9.7mm, SP26mm) for more comfortable long viewing eye relief and an expansive wide visual field.
• AutoStar Suite Astronomer Software on DVD for PC, now with instructional DVD.

Cons:

• The Meade ETX-80AT-TC telescope is a beginner telescope and geared toward the beginner or low intermediate skill level astronomer. So, if you are more of an advanced stargazer, you may wish to upgrade to a more advanced model.

Price Guarantee: Telescopes.com is an authorized Meade telescope dealer and will meet or beat any advertised price on the same item (see website for details).

The Bottom Line: This is a great beginner telescope for novice astronomers who want more than just a basic model. Packed with many attractive features, the value is here with this telescope. Any experienced astronomer will tell you that it is light gathering, and not power, that makes all the difference in stargazing. Meade’s 1.25″ diameter Super Plössl eyepieces provide wider fields of view, allowing you to see more of the sky at greater magnifications. This telescope is a winner!

Where to buy: Telescopes.com

Sample User Reviews:

ETX-80AT-TC Astro Telescope with AutoStar - B. Dermont
“A good beginner’s telescope for the price. Do not expect to see the large and detailed images of planets such as the images of Saturn or Jupiter prominently displayed on the shipping box. But they are easily observed using the ETX-80AT. The soft case provided for the tripod probably won’t be used much if at all. Better Meade should throw in some other useful item in place. Perhaps a beginner’s guide to astronomy or LED Flashlight with red lens. The instruction manual and CD go a long way towards helping a novice set up their scope for “first light”. BUT they leave out one crucial part of aligning the telescope. A combination bubble level/compass is provided to set the scope level and to magnetic north. The instructions fail to tell the user the scope must then be adjusted for magnetic deviation to true north. This will result in the telescope pointing frustratingly far from the target stars needed to align the scope. Once the scope is aligned it tracks very well. Some people complain the autostar tracking system uses up batteries very quickly. I have not found this to be a major issue. But be sure to have spares on hand as they will die in the middle of a viewing session. All in all you get what you pay for. This is an inexpensive refractor that appears to have pretty decent optics.”

ETX-80AT-TC Astro Telescope with AutoStar - Jamie Mazurowski
“I like the telescope very much. It’s my first telescope. I had a little difficulty getting it lined up because I didn’t know the names of the stars it was trying to line up to. Even though I had it pointed north and had it level, I always have to slew the 2 motors to get the alignment star in the field of view. I also found it is easier to get it lined up in the early evening when there aren’t so many stars out. The alignment stars are usually bright and easier to pick out in the early evening. You still need to know the alignment stars’ names and where they are or you won’t know where the telescope should be pointing. I had to get a star atlas to get familiar. It was pretty easy to get it lined up when I learned a little bit. Also, this telescope doesn’t have a dew shield out yet. I just wrapped a sale flier (plenty of them in the mailbox everyday) around the scope and taped it. Seems to work fine and blocks out some of the street light as well. I hope they come out with a dew shield for this model soon. I also trained the scope on my bird feeder and got some pretty awesome views. The moon looks pretty good as well.”