Growing up on a rural farm in Brazil, we didn’t have phones or computers at home. Without much control over the TV (and not really interested in watching soap operas), I had a lot of free time at night. I often found myself lying on the cow’s trough(it was clean, I swear), staring up at the night sky, thinking about how small we are, and hoping to catch a shooting star.
Recently, during camping trips, my wife and I started a similar habit. After the campfire dies down, we lie on our beach chairs, either chatting or just quietly watching the sky, waiting for shooting stars and taking in the vastness above us.
For the moon, we use our Nikon binoculars, which are a nice upgrade from the naked eye, but they only offer 8x magnification.
I’ve always wanted a telescope, and after a few recent stargazing nights, that desire only grew. But I didn’t want to spend too much, and since we live in a small one-bedroom apartment in the city, space and light pollution are also issues.
It turns out that finding a good, affordable, and compact telescope is tricky. I learned through research that there are two main types—Dobsonian and Refractor—each serving different purposes. Dobsonians are better for deep space, while Refractors are great for the moon and planets. Given my budget and space limitations, I knew I couldn’t get both, so I had to make a choice for my first telescope.
I ended up going with a Celestron, one of the more affordable brands that still seems to get good reviews. I paid about C$180 for the Celestron Travel Scope 80, which claims it can magnify up to 189x. It’s small, and even comes with a travel bag, which is convenient.
Setting it up was easy, and I started by using it during the day to get the hang of it. But when night came and I pointed it at the moon, I started to feel a bit frustrated. The tripod is really unstable, making it hard to focus on anything. Even the slightest touch makes everything shake, and if you’re trying to take a picture, it’s almost impossible to keep it steady.
The scope comes with two eyepieces, a 20mm and a 10mm, but the 10mm didn’t give me the zoom I was expecting. Even though it’s supposed to offer 40x magnification, the zoom didn’t seem nearly that strong. Taking a picture with my phone was even more difficult because the added weight threw off the balance of the whole setup.
Here’s a photo I managed to take of the moon a few days after it was full, using the 10mm eyepiece. While the quality is decent, the whole process of getting this shot was a challenge. With the unstable tripod, even just looking through the scope is tough, and taking pictures is harder.
View of the from the Celetron Travel Scope 80
Also, despite what the box claims, the zoom doesn’t feel anywhere near 189x. Even at 40x, I’m not sure if the tripod will be stable enough to handle it. I really wish they had invested a bit more in a sturdier tripod.
In the end, it was a cool experience, but also frustrating. I bought a cheap telescope with a flimsy tripod, and now I’m trying to make the most of it. I’ll keep practicing on clear nights and see if I can work around its weaknesses. But in short, I would not recommend this one.
Maybe one day, when I have more space, I’ll get a better one. But I’ve definitely learned that stability is key when buying a telescope.
Happy stargazing!