Pair it with our new book

Note:

• I own, or have owned, each telescope (or at least a variant) listed here.

• This page is not sponsored by any manufacturers, but these are affiliate links.

• For non-go-to telescopes for deep-sky viewing, I generally follow the: “get the largest Dobsonian you can afford” rule.

• Mak telescopes provide wonderful views, but their high focal lengths make viewing large star clusters challenging. Finding deep-sky objects at high magnification is often a challenge with these telescopes when not connected to a go-to system. However, because these telescopes are quite compact, I often recommend them as portable telescopes.

• Some Dobsonian telescopes have finderscopes instead of bullseye finders like Telrads or Rigel Quikfinders. If you get a Dobsonian with a finderscope, you’ll probably want to upgrade to a bullseye finder. This will make finding targets much easier.

• The largest factor in determining how many deep-sky objects you will be able to observe is the darkness of your skies, not your telescope. However, based on subjective analysis, I’ve found that refractors tend to perform better under light polluted skies, compared with reflectors of similar aperture.