Orion AstroView 90mm Equatorial Refractor is an all-around great telescope at this price. If you are a beginner or an intermediate astronomer, it will be perfect for planetary and deep space observations. It has a 910mm(35.8 inches) optical tube and 90mm(3.5 inches) aperture. This means it lets in enough light for deep space objects like nebulas, galaxies and star clusters; as well as sharp images of planets and the spectacular Lunar surface. Rings of Saturn, cloud bending on Jupiter and its four Galilean Moon’s are also visible with sharp, high contrast images. Adding to that, Saturn’s largest moon Titan will be visible if you time your observations.
The telescope comes with two useful eyepieces. 10mm and 25mm Sirius Plossl Eyepiece’s will provide 91x and 36x magnifications. With the 10mm eyepiece, you can observe deep space and get narrower but farther images and with the 25mm eyepiece, you can get wider planetary images. Since the eyepiece slot is 1.25 inches, you get any type of eyepiece to change the magnification of the telescope. You can go as low as 13x and as high as 180x magnification. Adding to that the telescope has a 6mm aperture-30mm length Finder Scope that will make finding celestial objects much easier. With the correct alignment procedures, you will be enjoying amazing views from deep space or planets in no time. There is also a 90-degree star diagonal so that you can observe the celestial objects for long spans of time and not get any back pain.
The aluminum EQ-2 adjustable tripod is sturdy and light. It helps the telescope to be much more portable while being steady for observations. It has a mechanism implemented that allows you to follow fast-moving objects in space manually. If you wish you can enhance it with an electric motor drive and switch from manual to automatic(Drives are sold separately). The tripod is also equipped with a tray so that you can keep your necessary tools nearby.
There is even more that comes with this great telescope. Special Edition of Starry Night astronomy software provides realistic sky simulations, telescope control features and many more that will help you observe the sky even on cloudy days. It works on PCs running Windows XP, Vista, 7 or 8 and Mac’s running OS X 10.4 or higher.