Average Cost of a Telescope and Telescope Accessories

0 Shares

In the article, we will walk you through the average cost of a telescope and telescope accessories you will need for astronomy. When looking into the night sky, having a quality telescope could open up a whole new world to look at. Telescope’s allow you to see far away stars and planets. Like most things in life, the better the quality the higher the pierce that will need to be paid. On average, our cost bot expects a telescope and telescope accessories to cost about $681. To find out the cost of game consoles, computers, and other items and experiences, check out our other articles!

Topics

Average Cost of a Telescope: $256

According to our bot, the average price of a telescope on Amazon is $256. There are a few different components of a telescope that you must consider when buying a telescope. The most important part of the telescope to focus on is the aperture. The aperture is the diameter of its main optical component and can be either a lens or a mirror. The aperture determines both how bright and how sharp an object will look in the telescope.

Average Cost of Telescope by Type

When looking at the telescopes and telescope accessories, there are a few different types that you can choose from. For telescopes there are Refracters, Schmidt Cassegran (SCT), Dobsonian, Newtonian, and Ritchey-Chretiens. Refractors use convex lenses to bend light outward. SCT’s are a strong all-purpose telescope that combine a mirror in the back with a lens in the front. Newtonians use a curved mirror at the back which reflects light back up the tube where a second small diagonal mirror is used to reflect the image out the side of the telescope to the eyepiece. Dobsonians are a type of Newtonian that are put on a box-like mount to allow better stability for deep space viewing. If you are looking for the best value for amauter, our cost bot recommends getting a Newtonian telescope. However, for those that wish to partake in serious astrophotography, the Ritchey-Chretiens model is the best one to get. This telescope design is used by the most powerful telescopes such as the Hubble Space Telescope, but it is by far the most expensive.

Type	Price	Link
Refracter	$303
Schmidt Cassegran(SCT)	$407
Dobsonian	$440
Newtonian	$295
Ritchey-Chretiens	$986

Average Cost of Telescope by Brand

There are several different brands of telescope. The most popular brands are Celestron, Orion, Gskyer, and Meade. As with any brand, there could be a wide range of different types of telescopes they sell. If you are looking for a telescope on the cheaper side, your best bet would be to look for a CSSEA telescope. If you are willing to spend more money for higher quality, Meade Instruments telescopes tend to be the most expensive.

Size	Price	Link
Celestron	$349
Orion	$272
Gskyer	$175
Meade Instruments	$462
CSSEA	$71

Average Cost of Telescope Camera: $159

When taking part in astronomy, it is common to want to capture the images you see. A telescope camera will allow you to take pictures of the image on your telescope. Understanding the primary types of images that you will be taking is important for determining which type of camera to get. When it comes to cameras, there could be a wide variety. The different types are planetary, solar, deep space, guide cameras, CCD, CMOS, and video cameras. As the name suggests, planetary and solar cameras are best for planets and stars respectively while deep space cameras are best for recording images of deep space. Guides cameras help move the telescope to increase astronomy accuracy. CMOS cameras use a small silicon chip to capture light with incredible accuracy to create the highest quality picture. Lastly, video cameras are able to broadcast images to a monitor in real time.

Brand	Price	Link
Planetary	$136
Solar	$138
Deep Space	$228
Guide	$178
CMOS	$170
Video	$200

Average Cost of Telescope Mount: $266

The telescope mount support the telescope firmly so that objects can be viewed and photographed without vibrations and provide a system for smooth controlled movement to point and guide the instrument. Altazimuth and Equatorial are the two main types of mounts, with Dobsonian, German Equatorial, and Fork Mounts being variations. Altazimuth are able to move both vertically and horizontally and are usually mounted on a tripod. Dobsonian mounts are Altazimuth mounts that are mounted to the ground by a heavy platform for better precision. Equatorial mounts have an axis parallel to the Earth to allow for easier tracking of a celestial body. The German Equatorial has a counterweight for balance while the Fork Mount is used to automatically track objects and is used by most professionals. Altazimuth tend to be the cheapest while Fork Mounts tend to be the most expensive.