| The Celestron SkyScout Scope 90 refractor is designed to observe close-up those 50,000 stars and celestial objects that you locate and identify using an optional Celestron SkyScout Personal Planetarium attached to the scope. That said, the Scope 90 can be used equally well as a conventional altazimuth telescope for astronomical and terrestrial observing without a SkyScout. Its altazimuth mount design is a good choice for the beginning astronomer who also wants to do some serious terrestrial observing. The new SkyScout Scope 90 is easy to set up with no tools required. It’s nearly maintenance-free and features precision Celestron optics.
To use the SkyScout Scope 90 to reveal to you the wonders of the universe, simply attach an optional SkyScout Personal Planetarium to the Scope 90’s specially-designed mounting bracket. The Scope 90 is built of non-magnetic materials that will not interfere with the SkyScout sensors. Use the SkyScout as you would normally to locate and identify celestial objects.
Once the SkyScout has located or identified an object for you, the standard equipment low power 40mm 1.25" eyepiece provides a wide-angle 3° field of view that’s six lunar diameters across. It will let you center the scope on small objects located by the SkyScout, such as planets and globular star clusters, as well as let you take in the full sweep of larger objects, such as open star clusters and nebulas. Once centered on a small object of interest, you can use the supplied 10mm eyepiece to provide closer-up 66x views. Multiple bands on Jupiter and the rings of Saturn are very visible at 66x, as are lunar craters and valleys by the hundreds.
This sensibly-priced medium aperture refractor’s 90mm optical system is a good way to begin your journey into the night sky, as well as exploring nature during the day. It provides you with detailed high-contrast views of the Moon and planets within the solar system. Myriad star clusters, nebulas, galaxies, and multiple star systems are visible outside the solar system. And sharp views of birds and animals across a lake or across the way are yours for the looking.
The construction of the optical system is first rate, as the SkyScout Scope 90 has all-glass optical components, with antireflection optical coatings for enhanced image brightness and clarity. The mount has a convenient pan handle, like the control handle on a camera tripod, for guiding the scope around the skies or the landscape. A built-in clutch makes operating the well-balanced scope smooth and easy. The scope assembles in only a minute or two, with no tools required. For the astronomical observer whose interests are the brighter solar system and deep space objects, the SkyScout Scope 90 has a lot to offer. Its 3.5" aperture has a light grasp 165 times that of the sharpest eye for nighttime and twilight use. Its sensibly large aperture and diffraction-free images make it surprisingly good for much deep space observing. Binary stars and globular star clusters are particularly well-resolved and vivid, with the contrasting colors of many binary systems showing nicely. The brighter nebulas and galaxies stand out against a darker sky background than is possible in a comparably-priced reflector with its light-scattering diagonal mirror. The SkyScout Scope 90 can also resolve details thirteen times smaller than you can see clearly with your unaided eye. Combine that sharpness with its two eyepieces (a 40mm Plössl for 16.5x magnification and a 10mm for 66x), and you have the ability to see many, many celestial and terrestrial objects that are simply invisible to the unaided eye. Its views of subtle lunar and planetary details are sharp and high in contrast, bringing the planets to vivid life in the eyepiece. Some chromatic aberration is present in the scope when viewing very bright objects at night, as it is in all achromatic refractor telescopes. However, using an optional aberration-reducing minus violet filter (#CCBF) will help eliminate the faint violet halo of spurious color for the serious lunar/planetary observer (although many people find it unobjectionable in any case). Once you have scanned your way through the solar system and the Milky Way using tan optional SkyScout, you can use the SkyScout Scope 90 to look at things closer to home. The altazimuth mount will let you easily track objects on the ground and allow you to get a sharply-detailed closer look at nature and your surroundings. The SkyScout Scope 90 is an economy-priced scope that can open new worlds for you, both on the ground and in the sky.
This Telescope’s Optical System . . . - Refractor optical tube: 90mm (3.5") aperture. 660mm focal length f/7.3 achromatic doublet lens with all-glass optics. No plastic lenses.
- Fully coated optics: The two-element objective lens is coated with vacuum-deposited antireflection materials on all air-to-glass surfaces for high light transmission and good contrast.
- Dovetail mount: A quick-release dovetail bar on the optical tube fits into a dovetail slot on the mount. The optical tube can be installed and locked firmly in place in seconds using a single no-tool knob on the mount.
- Dew shield: A dew shield (an extension of the optical tube that’s threaded onto the front of the objective lens) slows the formation of dew on the lens in cold weather. This extends your undisturbed observing time. It also improves the contrast when observing objects on the ground during the day.
- Rack and pinion focuser: The well-made 1.25" focuser has dual focusing knobs for precise image control with either hand. The good-sized focus knobs are easy to operate, even while wearing gloves or mittens in cold weather.
- Erect image star diagonal: The 90° viewing angle 1.25" star diagonal (eyepiece holder) allows comfortable viewing when looking overhead at the sky. It provides erect right-reading views (objects are correctly oriented so that what you see in the scope matches what you see with your bare eye and in the SkyScout viewing window). This is particularly helpful when following fast-moving subjects during terrestrial observing or centering objects when using the SkyScout.
- Two eyepieces: You get a low power 1.25" 40mm (16.5x) with a huge 3° field of view (six times the diameter of the full Moon) and a medium high power 1.25" 10mm (66x) eyepiece. Both eyepieces have antireflection coatings on their lens surfaces for sharp images and good contrast.
- Erect image finder: The straight-through 6 x 30mm finderscope has a wide field of view and provides erect right-reading images of the sky and ground, with the view in the finder matching the orientation of the image in the telescope eyepiece and the SkyScout viewing window. The finder is mounted in a quick-release bracket that makes it easy to remove if you want closer access to the SkyScout viewing window, while still allowing the finder to be replaced quickly without losing its collimation with the main scope optics.
This Telescope’s Mount . . . - Altazimuth mount: The sturdy altazimuth mount with camera tripod-style pan handle provides right/left and up/down motions. This is suitable for casual astronomical observing with the supplied eyepieces, and will let you easily track objects on the ground to allow you to get a closer look at nature and your surroundings. An adjustable tension lever at the base of the mount allows you to adjust the drag on the scope during right/left motions or lock the tube in place. This lets you control how smoothly the mount moves as you pan the tube left or right to follow objects moving across the sky or on the land. A simple twist on the pan handle locks the scope in place up and down, as well as letting you adjust the drag on the scope to set the travel smoothness when adjusting its position vertically. The optical tube attaches to the mount by means of two split mounting rings, allowing you to slide the scope back and forth in the rings to balance it properly. However, keeping your hand on the pan handle at all times when the clutches are unlocked would still be a sensible safety precaution. An optional SkyScout Personal Planetarium mounts in a bracket attached to the split rings. The bracket has altitude and azimuth adjusting screws to let you line up the SkyScout precisely with the optical axis of the scope for the highest accuracy in locating celestial objects.
- Tripod: The lightweight pre-assembled tripod has 1.25" diameter stainless steel legs to provide a rigid and stable observing platform. It easily adjusts in height with no tools needed for standing or seated observations through the telescope. Spreader bars lock the legs firmly open when the tripod is set up. The tripod includes a convenient accessory tray that attaches to the spreader bars to hold your eyepieces and accessories close at hand and up out of the dew-soaked grass. The no-tool lock knobs that adjust the leg height of the tripod are on the inside of the legs so they won’t snag on clothing in the dark, a thoughtful touch that’s sure to be appreciated.
- Software: Comes with TheSky Level 1 sky-charting CD-ROM that has a database of 10,000 stars and objects it can plot and display on your Windows-based computer screen. That’s enough solar system and deep space detail to keep you busy observing for years, yet not so much that you’re overwhelmed by charts showing much more detail than your scope can usefully reveal. Custom sky chart printing lets you print out eyepiece finder charts to use with your telescope to help you locate and identify the planets and many famous and faint deep space nebulas, galaxies, and star clusters by star-hopping from object to object using your scope’s pan handle control. There are 75 full color images of well-known celestial objects to help you identify them through your scope.
- Two year warranty: As an expression of Celestron’s confidence in the quality of their products, the SkyScout Scope 90 is protected by Celestron’s two-year limited warranty against flaws in materials and workmanship.
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