Telescopes can have multiple uses depending on their design. Refractors and Cassegrains can provide a "correct-image" view, so they can be used for daytime land viewing as well as astronomy. Reflectors render the image upside down so they are not recommended for daytime viewing. This is not an issue for astronomy, however, because there's no "right-side up" in space.

Beginner - Telescopes suited for beginners are easy to use and maintain. Very good optical and mechanical quality. A great first telescope that will show you the moon and planets.

Intermediate -Telescopes for the intermediate user are more robust in features and performance. Excellent quality in optics and mechanics, and more complex in use. An intermediate telescope will allow an enthusiast to "grow" in the hobby.

Advanced - Advanced telescopes are high performance, with exceptional quality. They may require more commitment to use in set-up time and technical savvy. Some advanced telescopes are easy-to-use but large and heavy. An advanced telescope is a purchase for a lifetime.

Expert - Expert telescopes offer uncompromising optical and mechanical quality for the most demanding amateur astronomer. They may be technically involved or designed for specialized use, such as astrophotography or detailed deep sky observation. They carry a premium price; but are designed to provide the ultimate performance in the field.

A small, quality achromatic refractor of 60mm to 80mm aperture makes a fine starter scope for observing the Moon and major planets. They're affordable ($100 to $350), portable, and maintenance-free, all desirable factors if you're just "testing the waters" of Astronomy. If nebulas and galaxies are your main interest, a Newtonian reflector or Schmidt-Cassegrain is the way to go. Moving up to a 90mm or 100mm refractor will snare more objects and provide better performance, for a higher price. Renowned for crisp, sharp images, refractors are the priciest per inch of aperture of all telescope types. A refractor is the scope of choice if you will be doing most of your stargazing from city or suburbs, where the night skies are moderately light-polluted. Since viewing is restricted mostly to the Moon and planets a big scope would only amplify the skyglow, yielding poor washed out images. Reflectors Newtonian reflectors are great all-around scopes, offering generous apertures at affordable prices. They excel for both planetary and deep-sky viewing. Of course, the larger the aperture, the more you'll see. Smaller, 3" and 4.5" equatorially mounted Newtonians will provide a nice "survey" of celestial luminaries, and they maintain their portability. Six-inch and 8" Newts have enough aperture to deliver captivating images of fainter star-clusters, galaxies, and nebulas-especially in a reasonably dark sky. Although the 6" to 8" Newts are bulkier and weigh more, with a Dobsonian mount they are easily manageable by one person making them a wonderful beginner scopes. Dobsonian-mounted reflectors have lower price tags than their equatorial counterparts, starting in the mid-$300s for a 6" Dob. Schmidt-Cassegrains If portability is important to you, you might want to consider a "catadioptric" scope such as a Schmidt-Cassegrain or Maksutov-Cassegrain. They pack a hefty aperture into a very compact tube. An 8" Schmidt-Cassegrain provides excellent views of the Moon, planets, and deep-sky objects, and is well suited for astrophotography. Schmidt-Cassegrains should be considered as an investment priced over $1000 for the most basic 8" models (and hundreds more to outfit it for astrophotography). The Bottom Line Now that you've received the crash course on telescopes, here's some parting advice for aspiring astronomers: Get as much aperture as you can reasonably handle. Big aperture is desirable, however you don't want to end up with a scope that is too big or complicated to conveniently set up, haul around-and use! Also, avoid those gee-whiz, techno-toy scopes with the hefty price tags that are showing up in the big chain stores. For a first telescope, we recommend a basic refractor of 90mm aperture or smaller, or a Newtonian reflector of 6" aperture or less, unless you're really committed. After you've learned the basics of observing and developed an appreciation for the hobby, then you can move up to a bigger, fancier scope.

The optical diameter (also known as aperture), is the size of the telescope's main light collecting lens or mirror, measured in millimeters or inches. As the diameter increases, more light is collected and the resolution increases.

The distance from the center of a curved mirror or lens at which parallel light rays converge to a single point. The focal length is an inherent specification of a mirror or lens and is one of the factors in determining resultant magnification for a telescope (along with the focal length of the eyepiece being used).

The focal ratio of an optical system is the ratio of a telescope's focal length to its aperture. Short focal ratios (f/5, f/4.5) produce wide fields of view and small image scales, while long focal lengths produce narrower fields of views and larger image scales.

Lenses are coated with an anti-reflective material to ensure that as little light as possible is reflected away, thus more gets to your eye. Good lenses are at least "fully coated," with a single layer of magnesium fluoride applied to each air-to-glass lens surface. Multiple layers of coatings are even more effective; the term "multi-coated" means one or more lens surfaces have multiple coatings. "Fully multi-coated" is superior because all lens surfaces are multiple-layer coated. Mirror star diagonals are coated with a reflective material similar to telescope mirrors in order to reflect the light into the eyepiece. Standard aluminum coatings reflect between 88%-92%, and enhanced aluminum reflects 97%. Dielectric coatings use a different process to deposit a coating that reflects 99% of the light. In addition to the higher reflectivity, Dielectric coatings are much more durable than aluminum coatings, so they last longer and can be cleaned with less risk of damage.

Newtonian reflectors will have either a spherical shaped mirror, which is less expensive to produce, or a higher quality parabola, which does not result in spherical aberration. Cassegrain telescopes routinely use spheres in addition to other lenses in the optical path to correct for residual spherical aberration. Refractors use a series of lenses to provide a clear image. Designs range from a standard air-spaced doublet (two lenses in a row) to exotic designs such as oil-spaced triplets and 4-element multi group lenses.

Refractors use glass lenses to focus the light, and the glass material plays an important role in the quality of the resulting image. Standard achromatic refractors routinely use Crown and Flint for the two elements, but more expensive apochromatic refractors can use ED (extra low dispersion) glass for one or more of the lenses. Reflector mirrors are made from glass with different levels of thermal expansion. Standard mirrors are made from material such as Soda-Lime Plate glass and BK-7 glass. Glass with Pyrex or other low thermal expansion material will not change shape as dramatically during the cool-down period, resulting in more stable images during this period.

The theoretical resolving power of a telescope can be calculated with the following formula: Resolving power (in arc seconds) = 4.56 divided by aperture of telescope (in inches). In metric units, this is: Resolving power (in arc seconds) = 116 divided by aperture of telescope (in millimeters). Note that the formula is independent of the telescope type or model, and is based only upon the aperture of the telescope. So the larger the telescope's aperture, the more it is capable of resolving. This is important to keep in mind when observing astronomical objects which require high resolution for best viewing, such as planets and double stars. However, it is usually atmospheric seeing conditions (not the telescope) which limits the actual resolving power on a given night; rarely is resolution less than one arc-second possible from even the best viewing locations on Earth.

Lowest useful magnification is the power at which the exit pupil of the telescope (the beam of light exiting the eyepiece) becomes 7mm in diameter. Powers below this can still be reached with the telescope to give wider fields of view, but the image no longer becomes brighter at a lower power. This is due to the fact that the exit pupil is now larger than the average person's dark adapted pupil, therefore the eye cannot absorb any more light.

The highest practical limit is different from the often used "highest theoretical magnification" specification. The "theoretical" limit generally is 50x the aperture of the scope in inches (2x the aperture in mm). So for example, an 80mm refractor is capable of 160x, and a 10" telescope is theoretically capable of 500x magnification. But after approximately 300x, theory breaks down and real world problems take over. The atmosphere above us is constantly in motion, and it will distort the image seen through the telescope. This effect may not be noticeable at lower powers, but at higher powers the atmosphere will dramatically blur the object, reducing the quality of the image. On a good night (a night where the air above is steady and the stars aren't twinkling), the practical upper limit of a large telescope is 300x, even though the theoretical limit may be much higher. This doesn't mean the scope will never be able to reach those higher "theoretical" powers - there will be that rare night where the atmosphere is perfectly still and the scope can be pushed past it's practical limit, but those nights will be few and far between.

The limiting stellar magnitude is a measure of the faintest star you can see through the telescope.

"Diffraction Limited" means that the limits of image detail are determined by the physical properties of light, and not by optical defects in the telescope.

The astro-photographic capability of the telescope is based on the style, stability, and accuracy of the mount and tripod. Telescopes on either very lightweight mounts or non tracking mounts (such as Dobsonians) are capable of only very short exposures such as lunar photographs. If a motor drive is attached to an equatorial mount, even a small lightweight mount is capable of capturing some planetary detail. Larger EQ mounts that utilize very precise tracking and excellent stability are capable of longer exposure deep-sky photography.

The weight rating is a measure of how much the mount can handle before vibration become excessive. This specification is dependent on the shape of the telescope. For example, if you have two telescopes that both weigh 15 lbs., but one is a Cassegrain with a very short tube and the other is a very long focal length refractor, the Cassegrain will be more stable due to the fact that the tube itself is much shorter. The extra length of the refractor tube acts as a "lever arm" and vibrations become much more prominent. So be careful as you approach the weight capacity limit that you don't overload the mount with a very long tube.

A universal attachment system for holding the optical tube onto the tripod. A dovetail bar is attached to the tube rings, then it slides onto the mount itself, making for quick assembly and disassembly.

A motor drive automatically moves the telescope in right ascension at the same rate as the east-west drift of the stars so stars can be continuously tracked in the eyepiece without manual adjustment. Motor drives are usually equipped with a hand control that allows the telescope's tracking speed to be slightly increased or decreased, which is particularly critical when taking long-exposure astro-images.

Some mounts are compatible with a motorized Go-To system for fully automated computer finding of objects in the night sky. Other mounts are compatible with computer finding systems which require the user to manually move the mount to the object's position as indicated by the computer finder.

Periodic errors are inherent in almost all worm gears due to slight eccentricities and misalignments. PEC (Periodic Error Correction) training function provides a manual correcting method to reduce the amplitude of the worm gear errors. By recording a full cycle of guiding actions, the mount can compensate for drifting in the R.A. sidereal tracking caused by periodic errors. The PEC training function is recommended for advanced users with interest in long-exposure astrophotography. Standard sidereal tracking is sufficient for all casual visual applications, and PEC training is not required. Also, PEC is typically not used in conjunction with an auto-guider.

A GPS module automatically sets the date, time and location for the mount, relieving the user from the need to look up coordinates on a map or manually enter perfect time. This can be very beneficial when traveling with the scope as locations can quickly be automatically entered into the hand control.

The latitude range refers to the usable range on the EQ mount's latitude axis. If you live above or below the latitude specified, the mount may not be able to polar align properly because of interference with the counterweight shaft or the polar axis housing.

Ports allow the mount to connect to devices such as autoguiders (for long exposure photography without tedious manual guiding), PC's running planetarium software (via the RS-232 port) and GPS receivers (through the Aux port).

The height range specification is a measure of the tripod itself - not the eyepiece height. Since telescopes come in all shapes and sizes, the eyepiece height will vary, even when using the same tripod. For an EQ tripod the mount is set up so the counterweight shaft is horizontal, and then the height is measured from the ground to the center of the mounting plate.