Types of telescope: the 17 families, compared
Families, not model numbers — they outlive the catalogue. Each one scored against what you want to see, with the reason next to every score, and sorted by that score, never by price.
Which family for me?
Three sliders, and the advisor's own engine — the same code as /advisor, running in your browser. The rows it would rank first light up below.
The advisor would put first:
- 1130 mm tabletop Dobsonian
- 270–90 mm refractor on an alt-az mount
- 3102–127 mm Maksutov on a GoTo alt-az
Spend ceiling for a first instrument, from the answers alone: €595 for the telescope itself. The full advisor also asks your budget, storage and experience; here they stay at its defaults.
Refine in the advisor →All the families, side by side
Grouped by family. Pick a use to sort by its score — never by price, never by what pays. Tap a score to read the reason behind it.
| Family | Weight | Setup | Learning | Price band | Moon & planets | Deep skyM51 at Bortle 6 | Learn the sky | With a child | Travel | Photo | Serious photo | Sun | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
BinocularsChoose for: Learn the sky · With a child · Travel | |||||||||||||
| 10×50 binoculars50–56 mm | 0.9 kg | 1 min | €70–250 | Not scored for this goal | Not scored for this goal | 0.9 kg · 1 min · €70–250 Best for · Learn the sky5/5 ExcellentNothing else teaches the sky this fast. Wide field, right way up, and the view matches what a star chart shows. | |||||||
RefractorsChoose for: With a child · Travel · Photo · Serious photo · Sun | |||||||||||||
| 70–90 mm refractor on an alt-az mount70–90 mmAdvisor's pick · 2 | 5 kg | 5 min | €150–420 | Not scored for this goal | Not scored for this goal | 5 kg · 5 min · €150–420 Best for · With a child4/5 GoodStanding height, sealed tube, and no mirror to knock out of line. | |||||||
| 70–90 mm refractor on a manual equatorial mount70–90 mm | 12 kg | 12 min | €270–480 | 12 kg · 12 min · €270–480 Best for · Sun4/5 GoodIn white light: sunspots with their penumbra, faculae near the edge, and granulation on a steady morning. Dawes' limit on the Sun: 1.3″ (116 ÷ 90 mm, arithmetic). The cell has to hold each model's own outside diameter, so it depends on the model: from €59 to €79 for 90 mm. Each model's page names its own. Every time: certified filter over the front · finder capped · never an eyepiece filter · an adult with children · never without the filter · measure first. | |||||||||
| 72–80 mm ED refractor72–80 mm | 5 kg | 6 min | €400–1,000 | Not scored for this goal | Not scored for this goal | 5 kg · 6 min · €400–1,000 Best for · Photo5/5 ExcellentThe standard first imaging telescope, and it stays useful for years. | |||||||
ReflectorsChoose for: Moon & planets · Deep sky · Learn the sky · With a child · Travel · Sun | |||||||||||||
| 76 mm tabletop Newtonian76 mm | 2 kg | 2 min | €80–130 | 2 kg · 2 min · €80–130 Best for · With a child4/5 GoodA child can carry it to the table and move it themselves; an adult focuses and finds the first targets. From experience, a child who stays interested outgrows it within a year or two. | |||||||||
| 130 mm tabletop Dobsonian130–150 mmAdvisor's pick · 1 | 6 kg | 3 min | €150–330 | Not scored for this goal | Not scored for this goal | 6 kg · 3 min · €150–330 Best for · With a child5/5 ExcellentOn a garden table it sits at a child's eye level, and they can move it themselves. | |||||||
| 114–130 mm Newtonian on a manual equatorial mount114–130 mm | 10 kg | 12 min | €300–420 | 10 kg · 12 min · €300–420 Best for · Moon & planets4/5 GoodThe same light as a 130 mm tabletop, and once the mount is aligned on the pole one knob keeps a planet centred. Saturn's ring at 100× on 130 mm is an exit pupil of 1.3 mm; the aperture allows about 260× (twice the aperture in millimetres, by the usual rule), the seeing rarely does. From experience, a light head takes a second or two to settle after each touch. | |||||||||
| 150–200 mm Dobsonian150–200 mm | 20 kg | 8 min | €330–700 | Not scored for this goal | Not scored for this goal | 20 kg · 8 min · €330–700 Best for · Deep sky5/5 ExcellentThe classic answer. Aperture is what deep-sky observing is short of, and this is where it stops being expensive.M51 at Bortle 6: a smudge | |||||||
| 130–150 mm Newtonian on a small GoTo alt-az mount130–150 mm | 9 kg | 12 min | €470–720 | 9 kg · 12 min · €470–720 Best for · Moon & planets4/5 Good130–150 mm, and the mount tracks: Saturn stays in the field at 150× on 150 mm (exit pupil 1 mm) instead of drifting out in under a minute (arithmetic, with a 50° eyepiece). Dawes' limit is 0.77″ on 150 mm (116 ÷ 150, arithmetic). The eyepieces in these kits stop at 65–75× on 130–150 mm (an exit pupil of 2 mm); more needs one bought separately. | |||||||||
| 250–300 mm Dobsonian250–300 mm | 40 kg | 15 min | €800–2,000 | Not scored for this goal | Not scored for this goal | Not scored for this goal | 40 kg · 15 min · €800–2,000 Best for · Deep sky5/5 ExcellentThe reason people own these. Nothing else at the price shows as much.M51 at Bortle 6: its shape | ||||||
CatadioptricsChoose for: Moon & planets · Deep sky · Sun | |||||||||||||
| 102–127 mm Maksutov on a GoTo alt-az102–127 mmAdvisor's pick · 3 | 9 kg | 12 min | €450–950 | Not scored for this goal | Not scored for this goal | Not scored for this goal | 9 kg · 12 min · €450–950 Best for · Moon & planets5/5 ExcellentThis is what the design is for. Sharp, high-contrast, and long enough to reach 250× on 127 mm (an exit pupil of 0.5 mm) without effort. | ||||||
| 150–200 mm Schmidt-Cassegrain on a GoTo alt-az150–203 mm | 14 kg | 15 min | €900–2,400 | Not scored for this goal | Not scored for this goal | Not scored for this goal | 14 kg · 15 min · €900–2,400 Best for · Moon & planets5/5 ExcellentAperture, focal length and tracking together — the combination high-power planetary work wants. | ||||||
Smart & imagingChoose for: With a child · Travel · Photo · Serious photo · Sun | |||||||||||||
| Star tracker with a camera and lens30–70 mm | 4 kg | 15 min | €300–900 | Not scored for this goal | Not scored for this goal | Not scored for this goal | Not scored for this goal | 4 kg · 15 min · €300–900 Best for · Photo5/5 ExcellentThe standard recommendation, and the one most people wish they had taken before buying a mount. | |||||
| Smart telescope (30–80 mm, integrated camera)30–80 mm | 3 kg | 4 min | €450–2,600 | Not scored for this goal | Not scored for this goal | 3 kg · 4 min · €450–2,600 Best for · Photo4/5 GoodThe shortest path from nothing to a recognisable image of a nebula. | |||||||
| Equatorial GoTo mount with a small imaging refractor61–100 mm | 22 kg | 45 min | €1,800–5,000 | Not scored for this goal | Not scored for this goal | Not scored for this goal | Not scored for this goal | 22 kg · 45 min · €1,800–5,000 Best for · Serious photo5/5 ExcellentThe mount is the instrument. Everything else is negotiable. | |||||
SolarChoose for: With a child · Travel · Sun | |||||||||||||
| Small telescope with a front-mounted white-light solar filter60–90 mm | 2.5 kg | 3 min | €100–300 | Not scored for this goal | Not scored for this goal | 2.5 kg · 3 min · €100–300 Best for · With a child4/5 GoodDaytime, warm, and a child can see the spots change over a week. Supervise the filter every single time. | |||||||
| Dedicated hydrogen-alpha solar telescope40–60 mm | 2 kg | 5 min | €1,100–2,500 | Not scored for this goal | 2 kg · 5 min · €1,100–2,500 Best for · Sun5/5 ExcellentProminences standing off the edge, filaments across the disc, and a Sun that changes by the hour. The instrument is the filter: its etalon and blocking filter are built in, and nothing else is needed. Every time: certified filter over the front · finder capped · never an eyepiece filter · an adult with children · never without the filter. | ||||||||
Under each deep-sky score: what the family's typical aperture makes of M51, the Whirlpool Galaxy, under a Bortle 6 sky. A rule of thumb from observers, not a calculation.
Same target, three families
One sky for all three. Move it: Saturn does not care, because light pollution does not dim a planet. The globular cluster does — and the deep-sky column of the table above changes with it.
Saturn
The Hercules Cluster
Photo credits
These thumbnails are built from real photographs, scaled and darkened by the same arithmetic as the large view.
- The Hercules Cluster: Wikimedia Commons, Messier_13.jpg, CC BY-SA