Celestron 21073 AstroMaster LT 60AZ Refractor Telescope, Dark Blue

This was perfect for our son's birthday. He became obsessed with astronomy over the summer, so we got him this telescope (the 76AZ) for his birthday. We had it assembled and were looking through it within a half hour. I saw there were two comments about the legs being too short. They are ADJUSTABLE. You have to extend the legs. We actually did put it most of the way down for the birthday boy as he is short. But we were able to stand and look through. And yes, we are average height people. If you aren't familiar with telescopes, you will have a tough time getting used to the up - down - reversed view of things through the scope. I suggest practicing with that before you go looking for Saturn. And yes, I was able to see Saturn's rings. At first, it looks like an oblong blob but if you look closely you will see the separation between the round part and the rings. We haven't spotted Jupiter yet, because it was getting late that first night. Overall a great purchase, and when you consider the reasonable price (relatively speaking) it's a fantastic deal. So happy, and I highly recommend.

Always move up incrementally and reflect on the journey as you move to a larger telescope. Astro pictures do not do justice to being there with a trained eye. The clutch action on this mount does well and its simplicity is preferred by this reviewer over some clunky german equatorial.The market for 3 inch reflector here on Amazon will reveal 2 models from Celestron. The pricier one has a good slewable camera type head, good 20mm eyepiece, good focuser, optimized secondary mirror, springs on the primary mirror mount, essentially a better design. I will take this to the boonies, check out some galaxies and upgrade the final score. Remember, Galileo had only a rough 50mm lens scope, but he applied careful observation and was outspoken in intellectual and didactic forums. When you buy a Newtonian, you buy something that takes a little patience, but looking at the zenith straight into the cosmos will be easier than on your knees. Under country skies in central Oklahoma, if you can at least see the milkyway down through Sagittarius. My goal was to present a professional review here of the scope: Galaxies in Leo and Virgo were a little dim, but improvement might be had from an absolutely remote site. M-27 was grand, M-97 could be found, viewing the ' eyes ', needed more aperture, but M-57 at 230x with a 3x Barlow and a 9mm Nagler, was no problem seeing the doughnut profile. I will make sure to attach the laser finder next time. One more comment: The Leo triplet was viewed, with that extra NGC galaxy. The one that Charles Messier missed. Caroline's galaxy was easy and Ngc288 was right there close so two for one. Reverse the handle position to obtain zenith position. This aperture, and this format, (Newtonian reflector 700mm fl), can take you more places than most others.

I took this out the day I received it form amazon. After it got dark enough I was able to clearly see the rings of Saturn, 4 of Jupiters moons , close detail of the moon etc, all within minutes of trying. Clouds rolled in so I packed it in early but I I have now ordered a barlow lens and some filters and whatnot for my next outing. If you are looking for a scope to see planets and the moon without spending an arm and a leg, I very much recommend this one. Quick note on the tripod, yes it wobbles, it is a cheap telescope and the tripod comes with it. It is good enough and you can shore it up easily. Use it until you saved up for a replacement sturdy EQ tripod which is what you will really want anyway.

Bought this for my 7 yr old for xmas. Upon first use it was discovered the Starpointer red dot finder scope wasn't working. Our first step was to replace the battery and when that didn't solve the problem we knew it was broken. Per Google we learned this piece "adds “point and look” functionality to any telescope! This red dot finder keeps the sky right-side up, matching what you see with your unaided eyes. The adjustable red dot is bright enough to see day or night. " My husband went online and found information that it is common for this piece to be broken with this specific telescope. I have tried calling customer service MANY times and simply cannot get through to anybody. While you can purchase a replacement part on their website there is no way in which I should be required to buy it when it came broken! I am very disappointed with this company.

Nice product to start with

Bought this less then a month ago and the mount is already not working. Won't hold the telescope still. Unable to tighten it. I would have expected this to happen in a few years, but not already. Dissapointed.

This is a really great trialed for the price. Very easy to set up. Already enjoying it on my deck. Great company, shipped fast and safe. Would highly recommend.

I’m brand new to Astro-gazing. I had been trying to use my spotter scope. This is Way better. The pictures are taken from a suburban setting, inside my house, through a closed window, using my iPhone and the $20 phone mount they sell here. Really good shot of the moon, and a barely visible Saturn and its rings. I will say, the iPhone pictures are not as good as what you see when looking through it. My complaints: 1)biggest is the tripod mount. It’s fidgety. Like, you look at the moon and don’t really see it moving in the sky, but when you’re trying to put the scope right on it and it takes you more than a minute to do it, it’s already moving out of frame. 2) the tripod. It has an accessory shelf to hold lenses, etc. which is nice, but you can’t collapse the tripod without taking the shelf off, which means putting the two lenses and iPhone mount somewhere else… if you’re setting up in a field for a couple hours, it’s fine. But an idiot like me? Running around my house to different rooms and gazing out the windows? It’s a pain. 3) the red dot spotting scope was broke on arrival, but Amazon fixed that. Overall I’m happy with the scope. I’ll probably buy a bigger better one, but this one informed my next decision for sure.