Meade ETX90 Observer

If you’re looking for a beginner’s telescope that shows you the night sky at the press of a button, this motorised instrument is ideal for you

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Telescope advice

Cost: £489 / $499

From: Amazon

Type: Maksutov-Cassegrain

Aperture: 3.54”

Focal length: 49.21”

Best for…

Beginners

Medium budgets£ Planetary viewing

Lunar viewing

Bright deep-sky objects

Basic astrophotography

It’s the time of year where some may be considering breaking into the hobby of astronomy and are looking to purchase their first telescope. If you’re someone who likes to get observing a specific object as quickly as possible, instead of taking your time in finding your chosen target, then we can strongly recommend a GoTo telescope, which are notorious for taking the fuss out of night-sky navigation. The Meade ETX90 Observer is one such telescope, and features everything the beginner needs, including accessories such as a red dot finder and two 1.25” super Plössl eyepieces of 26mm and 9.7mm, which provide magnifications of 48x and 129x respectively. The packaging provided by Meade Instruments is superb, and for a low cost in comparison to similar telescopes on the market you get a hard carry case for the telescope tube and a ‘messenger’ bag for the stainless-steel tripod. The ETX90 Observer can be taken to an observing site with minimum fuss, and if you’re looking to travel light – and have a tabletop at your destination – you can leave the tripod at home.