Sky-Watcher Star travel 80 Optical Tube Assembly - without tripod

This is a good scope for beginners in astronomy. It is made of aluminium, and is strongly made and tough. It has an 80mm air-spaced doublet objective lens, which helps to reduce but not eliminate Chromatic Aberration (CA). It also comes with a 6x30 finder-scope which produces upside down images in the eyepiece. The scope is supplied with a 1.25 inch erect image diagonal/prism. It is supplied with two eyepieces of 10mm and 25 mm focal length respectively. The eyepieces get you started but really need to be replaced with something better  if you start to get serious about observing. You also get a Barlow lens which is used to double the magnification. The scope is then capable of magnifying astronomical and terrestrial subjects by 16 x, 32, 40x and 80 x.

The telescope is designed for astronomy but can be used as a terrestrial spotting scope.   I tested it on the Moon and the planets of Jupiter and Saturn and the Orion nebula. The Moon produced a very bright and clear image of all of its features. The lens cap has a built in aperture mask which when used stops down the lens to 55 mm, this reduces the brightness of the Moon to acceptable levels and makes viewing of the Moon more comfortable: it also has the positive side effect of minimising CA on the terminator and limb of our satellite.

There was no need to stop down the objective for observing Jupiter and Saturn. At the time of my testing I was unable to see the gap between the rings of Saturn clearly at 80 magnification using a replacement 9.7 eyepiece and a Barlow lens to give 80 magnification. However, seeing conditions were not good as Saturn was low in the sky. We also do not have dark skies where we live. The view of the Orion nebula was great and I could pick out the stars of the Trapezium. In the autumn I had a beautiful view of the double star Alberio in the Constellation of Cygnus.

I did not try to find a deep sky object such as the Andromeda galaxy, as the sky is hardly dark in my area.

The telescope has a short focal length of 400mm which gives an aperture of F5, and  because of this it suffers a little from CA  on very high contrast objects such as the Moon but not too much; ED lenses would almost eliminate the CA, but then the cost of the scope would rise considerably. At the moment the scope costs about £120, but it must be mounted on a strong tripod. This will increase costs if you do not have a strong tripod for photography etc. 

If you are also a bird watcher but can't afford a spotting scope, as well, this scope will suffice when down at the hide at a local lake. A 12.5 mm eyepiece will give you 32 x magnification. You will see some CA on high contrast birds such as Swans, when the sun is bright, but you can use the 55mm aperture mask to eliminate this. When it is cloudy or at dusk you can use the full aperture. Remember the scope is not waterproof, and it is a little heavy and unwieldy with the finder scope but you can take this off. You can use a variety of fixed focus 1.25 inch eyepieces to adjust magnification, so it is versatile.

I recommend this scope for beginners or for someone who wants to get outside and start observing quickly when the clouds part. For astronomers it is easily transportable when you go on holiday and you can even use it as a terrestrial spotting scope in the dry. It is worth giving it a go.



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