More Information  · Supplied Accessories  · Images of Some Features

The optical quality of this Sky-Watcher is surprisingly good, considering its very modest price. You’ll see the Moon, planets, binary stars, and star clusters – as well as the brighter nebulas and galaxies outside the solar system. Its solid and stable EQ2 equatorial mount has manual slow motion controls and setting circles in both axes so you can easily locate solar system and the brighter deep space objects and manually track them across the sky. At less than 15 lbs., it’s lightweight and compact enough to fit in virtually any storage space, but it’s optically big enough to keep an observer happy for years.

This Telescope’s Optical System . . .

• Reflector optical tube: 114mm (4.5”) aperture 900mm focal length f/7.9 focal ratio Newtonian reflector. All-glass mirrors, coated with highly reflective aluminum and overcoated with quartz for long life. There are no plastic optical components. The reflector design of the scope is totally free of the purple haze of spurious color visible around the Moon and planets in lesser refractor scopes. Images are sharp and clear. You can even collimate (align) both mirrors for the sharpest images. This will have to be done only rarely, thanks to the special design of the cell holding the lightweight primary mirror.

• Rack and pinion focuser: The 1.25” focuser has dual focusing knobs for precise image control with either hand. The large focus knobs are easy to operate, even while wearing gloves or mittens in cold weather. Hinged split tube rings let you rotate the optical tube in its mount to bring the focuser to the most comfortable observing position.

• Two Super Plössl eyepieces: You get a medium high power 1.25” 12mm (75x) eyepiece and a lower power 1.25” 25mm (36x) eyepiece that has a 1.44° field of view (almost three times the diameter of the full Moon). Both fully multicoated eyepieces are premium 4-element Super Plössl eyepieces, the same eyepieces often supplied as standard equipment on telescopes costing thousands of dollars.

• 2x Barlow: Also standard is a 1.25” 2x Barlow lens that doubles the magnification of the supplied Super Plössl eyepieces. The Barlow also doubles the power of any other 1.25” eyepiece you might want to add to your GreatStart reflector.

• Finderscope: A non-magnifying red dot finder mounts beside the focuser. The battery-operated red dot finder seems to project a dot of red light on the sky exactly where your telescope is pointed. The red dot helps you center celestial objects in the telescope so you don’t have to search for them using the narrow eyepiece field of view. Collimating knobs on the finder let you line up its red dot precisely with the main telescope optics to make centering distant objects easy and painless.

• Supplied software: The GreatStart includes a comprehensive “Planetarium Software for the PC” CD-ROM, a computerized sky map for your PC that lets you explore the heavens on your computer.

This Telescope’s Mount . . .

• Equatorial mount: The sturdy all-metal EQ2 equatorial mount is designed for astronomical observing. By aligning the mount on the north celestial pole, you only need to turn one slow motion control knob to follow planets and stars as they travel across the sky. A counterweight on the opposite side of the mount from the telescope balances the weight of the optical tube and makes it easy to move the scope effortlessly from one part of the sky to another. No tools are required to adjust the position of the counterweight to quickly and precisely balance the optical tube. A micrometer control lets you adjust the altitude of the scope mount for fast alignment on the north celestial pole with no tools required.

• Setting circles: Setting circles (graduated scales marked in either hours and minutes or degrees) are provided in both right ascension (the east/west position of objects in the sky measured in hours and minutes) and declination (the north/south position measured in degrees). These allow you to align the scope on the approximate position of an object in the sky by using its r. a. and dec coordinates from a star chart – before you search for it in the red dot finder and eyepiece. Setting circles can reduce the time it takes for you to find the fainter and more difficult deep space objects.

• Manual slow motion controls: There are two slow motion control knobs with flexible steel cables conveniently positioned on the mount so they are easy to reach while observing. One controls the scope’s motion in right ascension (the east/west direction in the sky). Turning this knob enables you to follow the motion of celestial objects as they travel from east to west across the heavens. The second controls the scope’s motion in declination (the north/south direction in the sky). Turning this knob lets you t correct for any north/south drift a celestial object may take as it drifts across the sky, due to an improper alignment of the scope on the north celestial pole when you first set it up. The two controls combine to give you complete access to any part of the sky. They give you the ability to star hop from a known object to any other object by using a star chart. They let you center objects in the field of view, and track them effortlessly with only an occasional quick turn of the r. a. knob.

• Tripod: The stable tripod has aluminum legs that easily adjust in length to put the eyepiece at the most comfortable height for virtually any observer, young or old. The tripod includes an accessory shelf to hold your eyepieces. A lip on the shelf keeps accessories from falling off during use.

Compare our freight-paid sale price of this Sky-Watcher GreatStart 114N-EQ2 equatorial reflector with similar scopes from other manufacturers. When you compare, you’ll see there is no comparison!