Telescope Reviews: Wife found a telescope at our local Good Will.

Well, I finally had a couple nights of clear skies. Cold, very cold nights I might add. I couldn't spend no more than an hour outside before it became unbearable. I went back and looked at the moon, jupiter, and M42. First I looked at the moon. The image did not seem as sharp as the 80mm. Focusing on the crescent moon seemed a chore to find that fine point of an image. I constantly went back and forth constantly unhappy with the view, hoping I could find the right focus. The 80mm, which changes the position of the objective lens, was easy to focus and the image of the moon much sharper. Jupiter without the haze of the other night, was was brighter as expected, but also display some chromatic aberration that I did not see before. Its not bad, no where near as bad as the 80mm. I could still see 3 bands on jupiter and hints of small festoon like spots. The orion nebula in the 60mm looks like a hazy patch and I can detect 3 stars in the trapezium. In the 80mm, the nebula is much brighter, sharper, more defined and I can see all 4 stars.

My biggest complaint is the stiff rack and pinion focuser. The mount and telescope vibrate when adjusting the focus. Constant battle between focus, wait for the image to stop shimmering, focus again, wait, focus, wait. I was never happy with the focus on the moon and jupiter. I constantly felt like I was slightly out of focus no matter how hard I tried to sharpen the image.

In the end, I could not recommend this 60mm scope as a starter for a beginner. The views are quite limited, which was expected. The focuser is difficult to use. Many aspiring astronomers would be turned off by its narrow field and dimmed views. It certainly gives me a new appreciation for my 8 inch reflector and how spoiled I am by larger aperture. I was surprised by how much a difference in brightness between the 80mm and the 60mm. I would think they would be closer, but when you do the math, the 80mm has 77 percent more light gathering area than the 60mm. Its very apparent. I spend $22.50 and do not feel bad about it at all. It works better on planets than the 80mm for the time being as a grab and go.

As a future winter grab and go, I am eying the celestron 4SE. It is small, portable, has more light gathering power than my current grab and gos, and less cool down time than my 8inch. The one thing I don't need is the Goto computer. When its so cold outside, batteries lose capacity very quickly, even at full charge. So if I can find the Optical tube and a sturdy mount for the right price I might go that route.

Spring can not come soon enough.

Clear Skies