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Buy the right telescope, not the biggest one

150×
Saturn at 150× in 152 mm — exit pupil 1.0 mm, Bortle 6 sky. Computed, not photographed.

150–200 mm Dobsonian

Bresser Messier 6" Dobson

The most aperture per euro anyone has yet arranged. A full-size rocker box on the floor, a tube you carry in two trips, and views that stop people mid-sentence.

€359seen 8 Oct 2026 at Astroshop

See it at AstroshopAll the sellers
  • 152 mmAperture
  • f/7.9Focal ratio
  • 19 kgTypical weight
  • 25–304×Useful magnification

Should you buy it?

  • Yes if what you mainly want is nebulae, clusters and galaxies, by eye, the moon and the planets: that is what this family does best.
  • No if your priority is sharing it with children, taking it with me: other families do better for the same money.
  • 19 kg: you need to be able to carry it outside, every night, unaided.

Computed from its family's per-goal scores and its own numbers — not a rating, not one evening's opinion.

Where to buy

Also search at First Light Optics · Optique Unterlinden · Pierro Astro · Teleskop-Express (searches; neither price nor stock checked)

1 of these 5 links earn us a commission, marked above. Sorted by price, never by what pays. How this site is funded.

Prices are observed on the date shown, never live. Links marked earn us a commission and cost you nothing extra.

What it shows, really

These circles are simulations, computed from the aperture, the magnification and the sky — indicative, not exact. A real night also depends on the turbulence, your eyes and your experience. Closer to the truth than the photo on the box; still not a promise.

Under a suburban sky (Bortle 6), through a common 25 mm eyepiece for wide targets and a 10 mm for planets. Every circle is the true field — nothing is enlarged.

The Moon48× · 152 mm 3.2 mm exit pupilDetailed
Saturn120× · 152 mm 1.3 mm exit pupilDetailed
Jupiter120× · 152 mm 1.3 mm exit pupilDetailed
The Orion Nebula48× · 152 mm 3.2 mm exit pupilRecognisable
The Andromeda Galaxy48× · 152 mm 3.2 mm exit pupilRecognisable
The Hercules Cluster120× · 152 mm 1.3 mm exit pupilRecognisable
Photo credits

These thumbnails are built from real photographs, scaled and darkened by the same arithmetic as the large view.

  • The Moon: NASA Scientific Visualization Studio / LRO, public domain
  • The Orion Nebula: NASA, ESA, M. Robberto (heic0601a), CC BY 4.0
  • The Andromeda Galaxy: Adam Evans, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0
  • The Hercules Cluster: Wikimedia Commons, Messier_13.jpg, CC BY-SA

The numbers

Bresser Messier 6" DobsonPhoto: Astroshop
Aperture152 mm
Focal ratio1200 mm · f/7.9
MountFull-size Dobsonian rocker box
Typical weight19 kg
Eyepieces25 mm and 9 mm
Useful magnification25× to 304× at 152 mm
Resolution (Dawes)0.8″ — the tightest double star this aperture can split
Faintest star, suburban skyaround magnitude 12.2
Observed price€359 seen 8 Oct 2026 at Astroshop

Made for

  • Nebulae, clusters and galaxies, by eye

    The classic answer. Aperture is what deep-sky observing is short of, and this is where it stops being expensive.

  • The Moon and the planets

    Plenty of resolution. You will be nudging it along by hand every thirty seconds at high power.

  • The Sun

    In white light: sunspots with their penumbra, faculae near the edge, and granulation on a steady morning. Dawes' limit on the Sun: 0.8″ (116 ÷ 152 mm, arithmetic). The maker's solar filter is in the box and made for this instrument: nothing to buy, nothing to measure. Every time: certified filter over the front · finder capped · never an eyepiece filter · an adult with children · never without the filter.

Not made for

  • Sharing it with children

    The eyepiece height wanders between standing and kneeling as you move around the sky.

  • Taking it with me

    It goes in a car and nowhere else.

The Sun, safely

Solar filter in the box (read on the listing)

The Sun with this model

The maker's solar filter is in the box and made for this instrument: nothing to buy, nothing to measure.

In white light: sunspots with their penumbra, faculae near the edge, and granulation on a steady morning. Dawes' limit on the Sun: 0.8″ (116 ÷ 152 mm, arithmetic).

Past about 100 to 125 mm, daytime air rather than aperture generally sets the limit on the Sun (experience: the AAVSO solar observing guide).

Every time

  • A certified solar filter over the FRONT of the instrument, fastened so it cannot slip or blow off.
  • Cap or remove the finder. It is a second telescope, and it has no filter.
  • Never a filter at the eyepiece end: the concentrated sunlight there can crack it in an instant.
  • With children, an adult is there every time.
  • Never look, or point, without the filter on. Check it before each use; a scratched or torn filter goes in the bin.
Sources for the Sun

The family it belongs to: 150–200 mm Dobsonian

What it does well

  • Enough aperture that globular clusters resolve into stars rather than staying fuzz
  • No mount to align: push it, and it stays where you left it
  • Nothing electronic to fail at −2 °C

What it costs you

  • Two trips outside, or one heavy one. This is what decides whether it gets used
  • The base is bulky in a way the tube is not — storage is the real constraint
  • Useless on a balcony: it cannot swing past a railing or reach anything high

Everything about 150–200 mm Dobsonian →

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Compare it

Read next

Open this telescope in the simulatorIs it the right one for you? Ask the advisor

€359seen 8 Oct 2026 at Astroshop

Where to buy