Beginner Refractor Telescopes

Refractor telescopes are great for viewing near Earth objects such as the planets and the moon. They make excellent starter telescopes for beginners as they are easy to set up and maintain. Browse and compare all refractor telescopes here, from beginner to advanced levels. You may browse by brands or mounting (alt-azimuth or equatorial mounting).

About Refractor Telescopes

The refractor telescope, as improved by Galileo for his astronomy observation purposes, is also suitable for terrestrial viewing. Refractor telescopes use lenses to collect light, which is bent or refracted by the lenses, hence its name.

Generally, lenses provide clearer and sharper views and are best for observing brighter celestial objects such as the planets, the Moon as well as for terrestrial viewing.

Find affordable models of refracting telescopes below. Their low-maintenance, ease of use and portability make them great beginner telescopes for kids and adults alike.

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NASA Image Of The Day

Snapshot of the International Space Station

On March 13, 2008, the International Space Station passed across the field-of-view of Germany's remote sensing satellite, TerraSAR-X, at a distance of 195 kilometers, or 122 miles, and at a relative speed of 34,540 kilometers per hour, or more than 22,000 mph. In contrast to optical cameras, radar does not 'see' surfaces. Instead, it is much more aware of the edges and corners which bounce back the microwave signal it transmits. Smooth surfaces such as those on the station's solar generators or the radiator panels used to dissipate excess heat, unless directly facing the radar antenna, tend to deflect rather than reflect the radar beam, causing these features to appear on the radar image as dark areas. The radar image of the station therefore looks like a dense collection of bright spots from which the outlines of the space station can be clearly identified. The central element on the station, to which all the modules are docked, has a grid structure that presents a multiplicity of reflecting surfaces to the radar beam, making it readily identifiable. This image has a resolution of about one meter (about 39 inches). In other words, objects can be depicted as discrete units--that is, shown separately--provided that they are at least one meter apart. If they are closer together than that, they tend to merge into a single block on a radar image. Since this image was taken, the station has expanded and is more than 90 percent complete, including a full complement of solar arrays. Image Credit: DLR
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Beginner Refractor Telescopes

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