Low Pay

Most beginner astronomers have no idea what to except from an astroscope. Often, they have looked through astronomy books and been wowed by the clear, precise images of the planets and celestial bodies. But, unless you are ready to shell out over $10,000 for an astroscope and head out to the desert to view the sky, then you aren’t likely to get anything near this quality of image.

The good news is that you can get a decent beginner’s astroscope for just about $250. At this price, you can expect a 60 mm refractor and even some cool features like computerized locators. The cheap astroscopes which cost less than $100 are going to be reflectors and aren’t going to do such a good job of locating the celestial bodies you want to observe.

You can read all about the different aspects of astroscopes, like reflector vs. refractor, aperture, focal length, magnification, and so forth. But, you aren’t going to fully understand these components until you have looked through the lenses of various astroscopes. Before you buy your first astroscope, see if you can’t take a peek through your friends’ astroscopes. If you have a planet-watching club nearby, ask some members if they will let you test out their different models of astroscopes. By viewing the sky with many different astroscopes at the same time, you will be able to get a feel for what you can really expect with a cheap astroscope compared to the expensive models.