The Ten Best Telescopes

Sky-Watcher Evostar 102 - £215

The Evostar is a 4” starter telescope that’s ideal for tours of the Moon, catching deep-sky details and keeping an eye on other planets.

www.sherwoods-photo.com; 01527 857 500

Meade LX90ACF - £1,598.99

A sophisticated go-to telescope with in-built GPS that not only knows where it is, but can auto-align itself, too. Once done, the universe is yours.

www.telescopehouse.com; 01892 550 100

Sky-Watcher Infinity 76P - £27

The Infinity is the ideal way to introduce a child to astronomy. Better than most toy-shop scopes, its optics deliver bright images at a useful magnification of 30x.

www.acecameras.co.uk; 01454 325 615

Sky-Watcher Skyhawk-1145PM - £139

A fantastic starter instrument, with an impressive 4.5 inches of aperture. Eyepieces, Barlow lens, driven mount and a red-dot finder are all included.

www.opticalvision.co.uk; 01359 244 200

Meade Lightbridge 12” Dobsonian - £699.99

Don’t let light pollution get you down. This huge 12” reflector rapidly collapses down into an easily transportable unit. It sets up quickly, too.

www.modernastronomy.com; 020-8763 9953

Coronado PST - £439.99

A scope dedicated to observing the Sun by means of a hydrogen-alpha filter, showing sunspots, dark filaments and arching prominences.

www.telescopehouse.com; 01892 550 100

Meade ETX 125 PE - £699

The ETX is a compact and portable computerised scope which gives great views. Its special camera takes a pretty mean picture, too.

www.telescopesales.co.uk; 01243 379 322

William Optics FLT 110 APO - £1,900

This scope delivers first-class views of the sky and excels when coupled with a camera; it was built for photography. Price doesn’t include a mount.

www.iankingimaging.com; 01892 834 004

Europa 250 - £659

A10”, easy-to-handle Newtonian reflector that fits across the back seat of any family car. Excellent for observing galaxies, nebulae, clusters and stunning views of the planets.

www.orionoptics.co.uk; 01270 500 089

NexStar CGE 1400 - £6,349

The 14” CGE 1400 is used by some of the world’s leading lunar and planetary imagers to produce amazingly detailed images of our solar system neighbours.

www.green-witch.com; 01954 211 288