What is the best portable telescope for space viewing?

I'm looking to buy a powerful yet portable telescope for viewing the moon and stars. By portable I mean light weight, and not too big and bulky. Something that I can easily carry down a flight of stairs. What would you recommend? Im posting this here because I know ATS users know their stuff. Thanks

Ps. I'm also looking for a camera that is ideal for astrology type pictures such as viewing the center of the milky way. Any help would be appreciated!

reply to post by genma


My friend has an eight inch Dobsonian. It is rather portable and, due to the size, you can see many incredible things. If you're not that strong, you can get a six inch model too. The one that he has is from Orion. With this option though, you'd have to be careful going down the stairs because a sudden jolt could knock the mirrors out of culmination and you'd have to go through the tedious process of reculminating them!

I used to own a 60mm refractor from Celestron. I loved that scope. It was REALLY easy to carry around places. Since it had a small apeture, I couldn't see as far into space as my friends Dobsonian, but it was a great beginner's scope. The good thing about a refractor is that since it uses lenses instead of mirrors, you don't have to worry about culmination.

After that I owned a five inch Schmidt-Cassegrain, from Celestron as well. It was about a fourth the size of a Dobsonian. It was a really good scope too.

If you have the ability to actually drive to a good observing site, I would suggest getting a Dobsonian. I'm assuming that you're relatively new to astronomy, and the Dobsonian is a nearly perfect beginners telescope. Heck, I'd get a Dob even if I couldn't go!

As for a camera, unless you know the night sky pretty well, it may just be better to wait until you're more familiar with it until you get one.

This thread might help you out a bit in your search for a telescope. If anything it'll help give you a better idea of how they operate.

I'd agree that an 8 inch dob is probably your best bet. Decent resolving power and pretty good portability. Also, keep in mind things like haze and light pollution which will dramatically decrease your seeing.

As for a camera, this should help. Personally, I've had great experiences with a Canon 20Da. It's a but outdated, but at the time it was hot stuff.

Good luck!

reply to post by genma


You will want a scope with auto tracking for astrophotography and I would suggest looking at ones that have star finders and are capable of automatic alignment with GPS.

Here is a link to a Meade ETX-PE (PE = GPS for auto align) which might be considered light enough and I think cases are available for the scope tube and bags for the tripod.
I bought an 8" LX90 and love it but it is a little heavy, I think the tube body with motors weigh 70+ lbs and the tripod around 20-30 lbs.