More Information  · Supplied Accessories Price $119.00 Shipping $20.00 Highest Useful Magnification 120x Visual Limiting Magnitude 11.4 Focal Length 900mm Focal Ratio f/15 Resolution 1.93 arc seconds Aperture 2.4" Net Weight 16 lbs. Ship Weight 20 Warranty 1 year

The optical quality of this 60mm Konus is surprisingly good. Its achromatic refractor optics and sensible choice of magnifications provide you with sharp views of the Moon, planets, binary stars, and star clusters – as well as reasonable views of the brighter nebulas and galaxies.

The construction of the mount is quite good, with an adjustable height metal tripod, slow motion controls, and setting circles to help you locate object too faint to see through the illuminated red dot finderscope.

The 60mm Konus has a light grasp 73 times that of the sharpest eye, and almost nine times the eye’s resolving power (the ability to see small details). Combine that light grasp and resolving power with the highly usable 45x and 112x magnifications of its two eyepieces and you have the ability to see many, many solar system details that are simply invisible to the unaided eye – all at a price no higher than that of lesser quality department and toy store telescopes.

This Telescope’s Optical System . . .

• Refractor optical tube: 60mm (2.4”) aperture air-spaced two-element crown and flint glass achromatic lens. 900mm focal length f/15 all-glass optics. No plastic lenses.

• Multicoated optics: The two-element objective lens has antireflection multicoatings for high light transmission and good contrast.

• 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.

• Rack and pinion electric focuser: The 1.25” focuser has a factory-installed battery-operated electric focuser for smooth low-vibration focusing at high powers. A hand control box with two pushbuttons controls the focusing so you never have to touch the scope during critical focusing, eliminating a possible source of image-blurring vibrations.

• Star diagonal: The 90° viewing angle 1.25” star diagonal (eyepiece holder) allows comfortable viewing when looking overhead at the sky. It provides the normal mirror image astronomical view (objects are reversed left for right).

• Two eyepieces: You get two 1.25” Huygenian eyepieces – an 8mm (112x) and a 20mm (45x). While the field of view is relatively narrow, in keeping with the scope’s primary use of observing small objects such as the planets and lunar craters at high powers, they have antireflection multicoatings on their lens surfaces for sharp images and very good contrast.

• Barlow lens: You get a two-power Barlow lens that doubles the powers of the supplied eyepieces to 90x and 224x. The 224x magnification is generally going to be more than the scope can handle on all but the brightest objects, and will probably be the least-used magnification supplied with the scope. The 112x magnification of the supplied 8mm eyepiece by itself will be a more useful maximum magnification.

• 1.5x image erector: For terrestrial observing, you get an image erector that increases the power of your eyepieces by one and a half times, but more importantly provides straight-through viewing images that are upright and right-reading (in which printing is right side up and readable). Without the image erector, images in the scope would be either backwards, or upside down and backwards, depending on whether you were using the star diagonal to observe. An equatorial mount can be clumsy to use when tracking terrestrial subjects, so you will probably use this eyepiece sparingly.

• Moon filter: You get a 1.25” optical glass Moon filter that threads into the base of the eyepieces. Its green color cuts the glare of the brightly-lighted Moon and improves the contrast so it is easier for you to see faint details that might otherwise be washed out by the brightness of the lunar surface.

• Finderscope: The supplied battery-operated non-magnifying red dot finder seems to project a dot of red light on the sky exactly where the scope is pointed at all times. It makes initial scope alignment on the north celestial pole and object centering easy and painless.

This Telescope’s Mount . . .

• Equatorial mount: The sturdy equatorial mount is designed for astronomical observing. By aligning the mount on the north celestial pole, the supplied motor drive can automatically follow the motion of the planets and stars as they travel east to west 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.

• Motor drive: The supplied single axis battery-operated right ascension motor drive has a variable speed control to match the slightly different speeds at which the Moon, planets, Sun, and stars move across the sky. This keeps objects from drifting out of the field during long observing sessions, or while several people in a row observe the same object. The drive runs up to 40 hours from one 9-volt transistor radio battery.

• 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 finderscope 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 connected to the mount by long flexible cables so they are easy to reach while observing. One controls the scope’s motion in declination (the north/south direction in the sky). Turning this knob enables you to 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 second controls the scope’s motion in right ascension (the east/west direction in the sky). Turning this knob enables you to manually follow the motion of celestial objects as they travel from east to west across the sky, should the battery in your motor drive die when you’re out observing.

• Tripod: The aluminum tripod easily adjusts from 2.3’ tall to 3.8’ to accommodate a variety of observer heights. As with all refractor telescopes that have an eyepiece at the bottom of a long tube, however, most observers will that find a seated observing position is more comfortable for extended viewing sessions, particularly when observing objects near the zenith (directly overhead). The tripod includes an accessory shelf that holds your eyepieces and accessories.

• Software: The supplied Windows-based CD-ROM of planetarium/star charting software is one of the most sophisticated and flexible available. You can use it to print out detailed star charts to help you locate stars, planets, galaxies, asteroids, comets, star clusters, and more. You can also use it to print out charts showing the positions of the moons of Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune so you can identify them, plus lunar maps and more. The software will help you find your way around the skies with your Konus refractor like a pro.