If you want to gift a telescope to someone, then you came to the right place. Most likely, you don’t know anything about telescopes and you want to give a gift to that special person who expressed interest in stargazing. It may be your kid, spouse, fiancé, or any other person who is special to you. So before you go and buy some random telescope, you should read this article and then make a decision.
Things to consider
The very first thing you need to think about is at what level of astronomy your special person is. Is the person you are gifting a telescope a beginner, intermediate, or Advanced level in astronomy?
Knowing this is important because it will help you to decide your budget. It will also help the person receiving the gift to make the most out of your gift. Because if you gift a beginner-level telescope to an intermediate-level astronomer, then chances are they already have a good intermediate-level telescope and your gifted telescope will not be of much use to them.
If you don’t know the level then you need to figure it out first by asking them indirectly. Let’s say you know that they are a complete beginner and do not even have a telescope. Then going with the beginner telescope is a good choice. Usually, most parents come under this category who wants to gift their child a telescope to get them started with astronomy.
Beginner Level Telescopes
1. Celestron travel scope 70mm
This telescope is designed for both terrestrial and astronomical observations. This is a lightweight travel-friendly telescope. You can start using it within minutes after opening the box. With this 70mm aperture telescope you can see the moon, the rings of Saturn, and some bright celestial objects. This is a great pocket-friendly beginner telescope.
2. Celestron StarSense Explorer LT 80AZ
This telescope is designed by Celestron for getting new people interested in astronomy. Getting started with this telescope is very easy all you have to do is put your telescope on a tripod. Mount your phone on
the adapter on the telescope. Open the StarSense explorer app and that’s it. The app will guide you around to the moon, planets, and stars. As beginners are not really familiar with the night sky, so this is very convenient for beginners to get started with such a telescope.
Intermediate level telescopes
Intermediate astronomers, usually already have a basic beginner telescope. So they want to improve from their basic telescope.
So here are some telescopes for intermediate astronomers, the first is Celestron NexStar 130SLT, and the second is Celestron NexStar 6SE. Both of these telescopes are computerized telescopes. One is with a 5-inch aperture and 2nd is a 6-inch aperture. They both are suitable for planetary observation and deep space observation. Because they both are computerized telescopes they are a little expensive. NexStar 6SE is more costly than the 130 SLT because it has better optics and performance.
If you want a similar size non-computerized telescope then you can buy any Dobsonian telescope. It will be cheaper than computerized but Dobsonian telescopes are heavy and difficult to move around. So keep that in mind.
Advanced level of telescopes.
Most of the advanced levels of astronomers, know exactly what they want. They probably have a good intermediate level of the telescope which is around a 6-inch aperture. If you want to buy an advanced-level telescope then you have to have a higher budget. So keep that in mind.
Here are some telescopes for advanced levels of astronomers 1st is Celestron NexStar 8SE & 2nd is Celestron evolution 9.25-inch. Both of these telescopes are great, 8-SE has an 8-inch aperture and Evolution has a 9.25-inch aperture. These telescopes are good for observing planets, galaxies, and deep space objects. They are great for astrophotography as well. You cannot go wrong going with these telescopes. But the thing is they are very expensive. Evolution 9.25 is more costly than 8-SE because of its bigger aperture size.
Also, if you are 100% sure that the person is really passionate about stargazing and if budget is not an issue, then gifting them an advanced level of the telescope is actually a very good idea, even if they are at a beginner or intermediate level. Because they are passionate about stargazing they’ll use the telescope very frequently and these advanced-level telescopes will serve them long-term for about 8-10 years.
Extra Tip:-
If you didn’t like the telescopes mentioned in this article and want to buy a different telescope. Then the most important factor you should consider while buying a telescope is its aperture size and sturdy mount. A bigger aperture will give you sharp & better images.
You can also find the best suitable telescope for you with our telescope suggestion tool.
