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We present you best telescopes of 2025.
Here you will find a telescope for every level of astronomer and for every budget.
If you are looking for the best telescopes to explore the night sky. You came to the right place. If you are a beginner or advanced-level astronomer, buying a telescope is always a daunting task. Usually, beginners don’t know much about telescopes. So, it is difficult for them to choose the right telescope. However, advanced astronomers, know a lot of things, and finding a telescope that fulfills all their needs is also not that easy. When choosing a telescope budget plays an important role, whether you are a beginner or advanced level astronomer.
One thing you should always remember is “YOU GET, WHAT YOU PAY FOR”. What does this mean? If you buy a beginner telescope & you expect results as you see on those Instagram reels. That is not going to happen. If you want an advanced telescope, that gives you excellent results, then it will cost you more. What we always suggest is “if you can afford to buy an advanced telescope & you have enough interest in astronomy, then you should buy an advanced telescope”.
When you buy a good telescope that gives excellent results, it is very difficult to outrun these telescopes and you end up using these telescopes for a long period. This ultimately makes spending money on the telescope worthy. Instead of a good expensive telescope if you go with a beginner telescope, then chances are that you will outrun this telescope very quickly and soon will be looking for a new telescope.
In general, a beginner telescope will give you clear views of the moon, maybe some bright planets and stars. But if you want to explore deep space objects then these beginner telescopes will struggle a lot. In such a scenario, you can go with the intermediate levels of telescopes. These telescopes are good for beginner and intermediate levels of astronomers. They are the middle ground between beginner and advanced level astronomers. These telescopes will show you what an advanced level telescope shows you, just the images you see will not be crispier and sharper. They will also struggle a lot if want results from them like a well-advanced level telescope.
You might also notice there are a lot of telescopes from Celestron in this list because Celestron does make good and affordable telescopes. They also have a wide range of telescopes that are suitable for every budget and every level of the astronomer.
So, we have categorized these telescopes as Beginner level, Intermediate level & Advanced level.
THE BEST TELESCOPES FOR STARGAZING: BEGINNER LEVEL
CELESTRON ASTROMASTER 102AZ
Best beginner telescope for land and sky viewing.
SPECIFICATIONS
TYPE: Refractor
FOCAL LENGTH: 660mm
FOCAL RATIOS: f/6.5
APERTURE: 4-inch (102mm)
MOUNT: Alt-Azimuth
Lowest Useful Magnification: 15x
Highest Useful Magnification: 241x
WEIGHT: 14.1096 lbs. (6.4 kg)
REASONS TO BUY
+ Suitable for observation on land as well as stargazing.
+ Large, bright 102mm objective lens.
+ Generous 660mm focal length.
+ Tripod, software, and manual included.
REASONS TO AVOID
– It is a little bit heavier for the size
This telescope is aimed toward beginner-level astronomers. It has a quite big aperture than a refractor telescope can offer. The refractor telescope has some advantages over other types of telescope. Its main feature is its 102mm aperture and focal length of 660mm.
With this telescope, you can see the rings of Saturn and Jupiter’s moons. Though, if you get really clear weather then you might as well see the Encke division of Saturn’s rings.
As a beginner, you will not require much time to set up the telescope. You will not need any tools to set up this telescope, everything will be provided with the telescope itself. As mentioned in the specifications the weight of the telescope is 6.4kg. The telescope is not lightweight. You will get 10mm and 20mm eyepieces with this telescope. The red dot finder scope will also be included in the box. The red dot finder helps you locate the stars and celestial objects.
You will also get Celestron Starry Night software with this telescope. It is the premium astronomy software on the market, putting more power and knowledge in the user’s hands to help you observe our Solar System and thousands of other celestial objects. Starry Night takes you on a guided tour of our Solar System’s past, present, and future, and can even model exactly how the night sky will appear from your backyard, a neighboring town, or anywhere on Earth. So, overall this telescope offers quite a lot of features for the price.
ZHUMELL Z100 Newtonian Reflector Telescope
A groundbreaking Dobsonian telescope
SPECIFICATIONS
TYPE: Reflector
FOCAL LENGTH: 400mm
FOCAL RATIOS: f/4
APERTURE: 3.94-inch (100mm)
MOUNT: Dobsonian
Lowest Useful Magnification: 14x
Highest Useful Magnification: 200x
WEIGHT: 13.66 lbs. (6.2 kg)
REASONS TO BUY
+ Extremely good optics.
+ Very easy to use.
+ As a Dobsonian the telescope is lightweight.
+ Price wise it is very affordable.
+ 2 Year Warranty by Zhumell.
REASONS TO AVOID
– Cannot do collimation.
– Eyepiece quality is average.
Zhumell’s Z100 is the telescope that offers all the features of a larger reflector telescope but in a smaller size and lower price range. Usually, you expect some kind of coma with such small and cheaper telescopes. It is not the case with Zhumell’s Z100 telescope. The optics is so good that you will not experience any coma with the 17mm and 10mm eyepieces. When you use the lower magnification eyepiece like 25mm you will see the chromatic aberrations at the edge of the field of view.
The Z100 provides a tabletop Dobsonian mount. It has a plastic dovetail Vixen saddle that attaches to the optical tube assembly. It comes with two Kellner 17mm & 10mm eyepieces. The eyepieces are decent and are made up of metal & glass.
The Zhumell Z100 will show you great views of the Moon. You will get quite decent views of Venus, Mars, and Jupiter & Saturn. The great red spot of Jupiter will also be visible with this telescope. Uranus and Neptune will be visible as a small tiny bluish dot.
Overall the telescope is a great choice for beginners who are on a very tight budget and want to get started with astronomy.
Celestron StarSense Explorer LT 114AZ
A beginner telescope for astrophotography
SPECIFICATIONS
TYPE: Reflector
FOCAL LENGTH: 1000mm
FOCAL RATIOS: f/4
APERTURE: 4.49-inch (114mm)
MOUNT: Alt-azimuth
Lowest Useful Magnification: 16x
Highest Useful Magnification: 269x
WEIGHT: 10.41lbs (4.72 kg)
REASONS TO BUY
+ Easy to set up and collimation
+ Can perform beginner-level astrophotography.
+ Will guide & suggest the objects to observe.
REASONS TO AVOID
– No computerized mount.
This telescope is good for beginners as well as intermediate astronomers. This telescope is very easy to assemble. It will take a maximum of 20 minutes to assemble this telescope.
The telescope has built-in StarSense technology of Celestron. With StarSense it is easier to align the telescope. All you need to do is download the StarSense app and put your smartphone’s camera on the eyepiece. The app will figure out which stars are in the field of view of the telescope and also figure out the orientation of the astronomer.
The beauty of the Celestron StarSense series is that you can read up on the literature offered by the app for each target you observe. Slewing from one target to another, we found that the StarSense Explorer LT 114 is a sturdy piece of kit and operates smoothly.
The aperture is big enough to show the various distant objects. The optics of the telescope are standard which Celestron provides. Considering the ease of use and the price the telescope is quite a good choice for someone who never touched the telescope before.
Orion Starblast 4.5 Astro
A good telescope for beginner astronomers
SPECIFICATIONS
TYPE: Reflector
FOCAL LENGTH: 450mm
FOCAL RATIOS: f/4
APERTURE: 4.5-inch (114mm)
MOUNT: Dobsonian
Lowest Useful Magnification: 16x
Highest Useful Magnification: 228x
WEIGHT: 13 lbs (5.9 kg)
REASONS TO BUY
+ Compact & portable.
+ Easy to set up and user-friendly.
+ Good for kids & beginners.
REASONS TO AVOID
– Eyepieces provided are not of good quality.
This is one of the budget-friendly telescopes a beginner can buy. Performance-wise this is not the greatest telescope but for a beginner, it does get the job done for you. The telescope is very portable and comes with a great tabletop mount.
The aperture is 114mm and the focal length is 450mm. It has a fast and wide focal ratio of 4, which means you can get the highest magnification up to 228X.
With this telescope, you will be able to see Jupiter, its red spot & the cloud bands on Jupiter. You will also be able to see Saturn and its rings. The aperture is big enough to show you the deep space objects such as Nebulae, and star clusters but don’t expect any details on them.
Overall this telescope will allow seeing most of the objects but due to magnification and the limitation of the eyepieces, it will have the limitation on the details. But for a beginner, the telescope is quite good, given that it offers to view a wide range of objects.
THE BEST TELESCOPES FOR STARGAZING: INTERMEDIATE LEVEL
CELESTRON NEXSTAR 130SLT
Biggest telescope in the SLT series.
SPECIFICATIONS
TYPE: Reflector
FOCAL LENGTH: 650mm
FOCAL RATIOS: f/5
APERTURE: 5.12-inch (130mm)
MOUNT: Single fork Alt-Azimuth
Lowest Useful Magnification: 19x
Highest Useful Magnification: 307x
WEIGHT: 18 lbs. (8.1 kg)
REASONS TO BUY
+ Easy to set up, No tools are needed to set up this telescope.
+ The telescope has a wide field of views.
+ Alignment is very easy
+ Computerized mount with pre-recorded data reduces star-hopping time.
REASONS TO AVOID
– Vibrations during the movement or tracking/focusing
This is the biggest telescope in the NexStar SLT series. The mirrors of this reflector telescope are well polished. The telescope comes with two eyepieces one is 25mm & the other is 9mm. The wider 25mm eyepiece will be useful in observing the galaxies. The 9mm eyepiece is good for observing the details of the planets and nearby objects.
The telescope has Celestron’s sky align technology. It helps in setting up the telescope by using the objects in the night sky. The telescope used the in-built data of the 4000 objects provided in the mount to set up the telescope.
The telescope has a focal length of 650mm and a focal ratio of 5. A focal ratio of 5 means it is quite fast and you get a wide field of views which is good for the short exposure astrophotography.
The telescope is a Newtonian Reflector telescope so the images you will see are upside down. This is the reason you cannot use this telescope for terrestrial observations.
The optics of the telescope is good. It has a parabolic mirror that is coated and they perform extremely well. The images you get are crisp and clear and there is very little chromatic aberration
The mount of this telescope is small compared to the OTA. Whenever you move the telescope it vibrates making it difficult to track this problem can be solved using the anti-vibration pads.
This is a good telescope for the price you pay for.
Sky-Watcher 8″ Classic Dobsonian Telescope
Cheapest 8-inch Dobsonian telescope
SPECIFICATIONS
TYPE: NewtonianReflector
FOCAL LENGTH: 1200mm
FOCAL RATIOS: f/5.9
APERTURE: 8-inch (203mm)
MOUNT: Dobsonian Alt-azimuth
Highest Useful Magnification: 406x
WEIGHT: 45 lbs. (20.4 kg)
REASONS TO BUY
+ Cheapest 8” Dobsonian available and best value.
+ Very easy to Set up.
+ Big Aperture
REASONS TO AVOID
– Tensioning knobs stick out from the sides.
Dobsonian is considered one of the best and cheapest telescopes out there. This 8-inch model is one of the cheapest in the Dobsonian category. This is a great well-built telescope. This telescope will last for years to come.
The telescope has a 1200mm focal length and focal ratio of 6. This focal ratio does not lean toward planetary viewing or deep space object viewing. So this is ideal for anyone who wants a telescope for both.
The telescope’s aperture is big enough to show Jupiter and its cloud bands, the great red spot, and some of its moons. You will be able to see mars with its polar ice caps. You can also see the rings of Saturn with its divisions. Phases of Venus will be easily observable with this telescope.
In deep space, you will observe the bright & popular deep space objects such as the Andromeda galaxy, Orion nebulae, star clusters, etc.
Usually, the optics are good on Dobsonian telescopes. These telescopes are huge and bulky because of their bigger size it has enough light-collecting ability that it shows most of the object very crisp & clear.
Considering the performance, price, and maintenance of this telescope. You can buy this telescope without hesitation.
CELESTRON NEXSTAR 6-SE TELESCOPE
Superbly made telescope with flawless optics
SPECIFICATIONS
TYPE: Schmidt-Cassegrain
FOCAL LENGTH: 1500mm
FOCAL RATIOS: f/10
APERTURE: 6-inch (150mm)
MOUNT: Single Fork Alt-azimuth
Lowest Useful Magnification: 21x
Highest Useful Magnification: 354x
WEIGHT: 21 lbs. (9.5 kg)
REASONS TO BUY
+ Extremely good optics.
+ Good aperture size.
+ Mount capacity is perfect for the size.
REASONS TO AVOID
– Takes a long time to set up.
– Drains batteries quickly
-AC power cord required
Celestron’s NexStar series is very popular for being high quality and best-performing telescope. This is the second last model in the SE series. It can be called an all-rounder telescope, which fulfills so many sky-watching needs. It can be used by beginners as well as advanced levels of astronomers.
As this telescope fulfills many requirements of an astronomer, you will find it very difficult to outgrow the telescope. Setting up this telescope does not take much time. The built quality of the telescope is so good that it will last you for years to come. It has a 1500mm focal length; the 6SE also tends to have a much wider field of view than its larger siblings and is, therefore, more flexible and comfortable for viewing.
The mount which comes with this telescope is a computerized single fork alt-azimuth go-to mount. This mount has data on 40,000 celestial objects. You can control the telescope with the hand controller which is attached to the mount. Any object you wish to observe is at a click of a button and the telescope will find it in the sky.
If you are interested in doing short exposure astrophotography where you take photos of bright objects such as the moon, planets, and bright deep space objects then this telescope will be perfect for you. However, long exposure astrophotography will have many limitations, given that the mount is an alt-azimuth type mount.
This telescope is perfect for beginner & advanced levels of astronomers. This telescope can be used as your main telescope or it can also be used as an add-on telescope you have. Whatever role you need, mostly somehow this telescope manages to fit in it.
If it is your first telescope, then instead of buying any other telescope mentioned in this article, you should buy this one without any hesitation.
Sky-Watcher Skymax 150mm Maksutov-Cassegrain
A groundbreaking Dobsonian telescope
SPECIFICATIONS
TYPE: Maksutov-Cassegrain
FOCAL LENGTH: 1800mm
FOCAL RATIOS: f/12
APERTURE: 6-inch (150mm)
MOUNT: No mount only OTA
Highest Useful Magnification: 300x
WEIGHT: 14 lbs. (6.4 kg)
REASONS TO BUY
+ Extremely good optics.
+ Very Portable.
+ Use lenses instead of mirrors and glass.
REASONS TO AVOID
– Comes without the mount.
This telescope is Maksutov-Cassegrain type. Usually, these telescopes are very portable and this is one of the advantages of these telescopes. Considering the aperture this telescope is much more portable than same-sized refractor telescopes. This telescope is useful for both planetary and terrestrial viewing.
A Maksutov-Cassegrain uses both mirrors and lenses to gather and focus light.
You will get sharp and crispier images with this telescope. You can see Jupiter and its clouds, the red spot, and Saturn and its rings. The moon will look amazing through this telescope. This telescope is
good for viewing bright celestial objects such as planets and stars.
The telescope does not come with a mount. But you can fit this telescope on any regular equatorial mount and it will be able to handle this OTA with the camera, filter wheels, etc. If you are going to buy a separate equatorial mount then definitely try to buy a German equatorial mount. It is slightly expensive but this mount will serve you for the long term. Learn about different kinds of mounts here.
Overall, if you want great results and portability is what you are looking for then this telescope is for you.
THE BEST TELESCOPES FOR STARGAZING: ADVANCED LEVEL
CELESTRON NEXSTAR 8SE
This is a telescope with some great quality optics inside.
SPECIFICATIONS
TYPE: Schmidt-Cassegrain
FOCAL LENGTH: 2032mm
FOCAL RATIOS: f/10
APERTURE: 8-inch (203mm)
MOUNT: Computerized alt-azimuth single fork arm
Lowest Useful Magnification: 29x
Highest Useful Magnification: 480x
WEIGHT: 24lbs (10.88 kg)
REASONS TO BUY
+ High-quality optics.
+ Good visuals and imaging.
+ Excellent build quality.
REASONS TO AVOID
– It is a little bit heavier for the size
As we mentioned in the beginning, “YOU GET, WHAT YOU PAY FOR”. This telescope is the perfect example of that.
This is one of the expensive telescopes from Celestron. This can be classified as a high-quality super performing telescope. This is one of the most popular and loved telescopes among astronomers.
Every single glass surface of this telescope is coated with StarBright XLT coatings. Because of this, you can get spectacular views of the planets, moons & DSO with perfect contrast and clarity. With this telescope, you get two eyepieces a 25mm eyepiece, and a 10mm eyepiece. Both of these eyepieces gives excellent result in a combination of this telescope.
If you want to observe a celestial object just at the click of a button then this telescope is for you. The mount of this telescope has data of 40,000 celestial objects. All you have to do is to enter the object you want to observe and the telescope will find it for you. It completely reduces your star-hopping time and you can spend your precious time studying the objects.
You will be able to see everything that you can see with 6-SE plus Saturn’s rings in more detail such as Cassini or Encke division on its rings. You’ll see Jupiter’s clouds and the GREAT RED SPOT. You’ll also see “The messier 51 whirlpool galaxy and many more”.
If you have a budget then you should go with this telescope. You will never be wrong if you decide to buy this telescope.
CELESTRON NEXSTAR EVOLUTION 9.25
You will get the best views with this telescope.
SPECIFICATIONS
TYPE: Schmidt-Cassegrain
FOCAL LENGTH: 2350mm
FOCAL RATIOS: f/6.5
APERTURE: 9.25-inch (235mm)
MOUNT: Computerized alt-azimuth fork arm
Lowest Useful Magnification: 34x
Highest Useful Magnification: 555x
WEIGHT: 62.6 lbs. (28.39 kg)
REASONS TO BUY
+ Superb views through the telescope.
+ Very easy to set up.
+ The parts and design are of very high quality.
REASONS TO AVOID
– It is a little heavier, so not very portable.
– It is very costly.
It is very difficult to create a professional telescope. Given that it is a professional telescope it will have a high cost but you have to justify that high cost with quality results. In justifying the high cost of this telescope Celestron is spot on. The quality of images you will get with this telescope is just mind-blowing.
This is a 9.25-inch aperture telescope; it collects enough light to show you sharper images of objects in our solar system. You will get sharper images of Jupiter, Saturn, Mars, Venus, The moon, Neptune, and Uranus.
The mount of this telescope is sturdy. After looking at its built quality you will feel that this mount can carry this big OTA. The mount is also manually usable, which is not the case with other computerized telescopes.
You can do short-exposure astrophotography with this telescope. The long exposure astrophotography has some limitations with this telescope because of the mount. For long-exposure astrophotography, you will need a wedge. The other thing you can do is to buy the HyperStar for Astrophotography. One more thing you can do which is ultimately the best solution for any type of telescope is to buy a really good equatorial mount. This will serve you long term and you can use any other telescope with this mount.
Overall, this telescope is really good and gives great results. But as mentioned earlier the best result comes with more cost. If you can afford this telescope then definitely consider buying this one. This telescope will last you a minimum of 10-12 years.
If you are looking for a telescope specifically for astrophotography then you need to check this article. You can also find the best suitable telescope for you with our telescope suggestion tool.
