Telescopes for beginners

Top 6 Beginner's Telescopes Between $500 and $1000

If you have spent some time observing the sky with your naked eyes and a pair of binoculars, you may be ready to move on up to telescopes. As in most things in life, you typically get what you pay for. If you are looking for better telescopes to start out with, one which might carry you from a beginner to intermediate stargazer, check out these beginner's telescopes ranging from $500 to $1000.

1) Meade ETX-105PE Telescope with UHTC

Until now, the stargazer's two biggest challenges to enjoying the night sky have been aligning their telescope and finding objects. Meade's new ETX Premier Edition series eliminates these two challenges and makes astronomy as easy as pushing a button – right out of the box. Setting up your scope is a snap with the Automatic Alignment + SmartFinder™ system – just enter your zip code, and your scope will level itself, point to true North and set the time automatically.

2) Meade LXD75 SN-6" Telescope with UHTC

Open up the sky to images and capabilities previously unavailable to the cost-conscious amateur astronomer. Designed to operate at an extremely low focal ratio (f/5), this 6" scope displays very wide, well-corrected fields of view with the convenience and usability of Autostar control and advanced, equatorial mountings. The result is a professional-level – yet user-friendly – telescope with brilliant, rich-field imaging of nebulae, galaxies and star clusters.

3) Meade LXD75 AR-5" Telescope

Packing big power into a small package, Meade's short-aperture AR-5 impresses with a classic, light-hungry achromatic optical configuration. Designed to operate at an extremely low focal ratio (f/9), the 5" LXD75 Achromatic Refractor displays very wide, well-corrected fields of view with the convenience and usability of Autostar control and advanced, equatorial mountings.

4) Meade ETX-90PE Telescope with UHTC

5) Coronado Personal Solar Telescope

This telescope is quite different from the others we offer. With a surface that's constantly changing, the sun is the most dynamic object in the sky and a fascinating subject of study. Finally, you can safely observe this stunning phenomenon in brilliant detail. Definitely do not attempt to use standard telescopes for direct solar observation.

6) Meade ETX-90AT Telescope with UHTC & Autostar

The revolutionary Meade ETX-90AT goes anywhere with you at a moments notice and presents high-quality optical images in an ultraportable package. For the casual or beginning observer the Meade ETX-90AT may be all the telescope ever required. Or, for the advanced astronomer who already owns a larger instrument, the ETX-90AT is the perfect diffraction-limited field telescope.