During my tests I pointed the Celestron Inspire 100AZ at Venus, Jupiter and Saturn, as well as the moon moving through its many phases. It is possible to see a little chromatic aberration in the form of a purplish-yellowish line around bright objects, but it's nowhere near as distracting as on cheaper telescopes. Manually locating and then fixing on to much dimmer, harder to find objects is a challenge when using the Celestron Inspire 100AZ. So those are the basics, but which of our chosen contenders for the best intermediate telescope you can buy will best suit your own particular requirements? Read on to find out… Celestron Inspire 100AZ vs Meade Polaris 114mm reflector telescope: design and features

Included Alt-Az mount features a red LED flashlight stored in the middle of the mount head. This flashlight can either be used to softly illuminate the accessory tray or taken out easily when an external spotlight is desired. This will help you/ your children learn about the night sky, celestial objects, and how to plan your next observing session. Smartphone AdapterThe relative size and weight of all the components affect its overall portability. The mount will of course add to this. If a telescope has a shorter Focal Length it is typically more portable, but will require better quality eyepieces to ensure great views. Pros and Cons of a Refractor: Includes 1 free year of the “SLOOH Astronomer” subscription. Remotely reserve, control, and image through professional grade telescopes, access to livestream SLOOH shows, and many other features The finder included with the Inspire 100AZ is Celestron’s “StarPointer Pro” red dot finder. Advertised as an improvement over Celestron’s standard “StarPointer” (itself a generic red dot finder like the kind sold with many beginner telescopes), the StarPointer Pro is basically a failed attempt to copy the Telrad. It has two circles instead of a dot in the middle, both of which are exceedingly wide. It is somewhat hard to actually centre anything in the finder, or align it precisely, or keep it aligned with the telescope particularly well. However, for a telescope with a fairly short focal length and a consequently wide field of view, like the Inspire 100AZ, it works well enough to get targets in the field of view most of the time. But if you’re hunting for faint fuzzies that you might not recognise at first glance, we might recommend replacing the StarPointer.

Tend to be more expensive than Reflector equivalents, Celestron Inspire 100az Telescope Performance

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That's because its bearings are a little stiff and imprecise, though with a little practice it’s possible to get good views of the star clusters and galaxies. However, the darker the sky, the better. The Bresser Messier 6” f/8 Planetary Dobsonian has a 2” single-speed Crayford focuser, double the light gathering power, and 50% more resolving power than the Inspire 100AZ, mounted atop a full-sized and sturdy Dobsonian mount which requires neither a table nor tripod to be used. Other 6” f/8 Dobsonians are also available if you are unable to obtain an Bresser Messier 6”. All in all i cant find a bad thing about it. It seems ideal for a kid of 8. The Kellner eyepieces may not be the greatest in the world (it takes time to find out what works best for you) but they will do for now and work very well. As Doug said above, a 32-40mm Plossl eyepiece (1.25") will be a good addition and it will allow a wider view and make it easier to find your way around. The lens cap has an integrated smartphone adapter built into it. Place your smartphone against the rubberized friction surface on the outside of the cap so your camera is viewing through the imaging port. Secure the smartphone using the two adjustable bungee cords. The inside of the lens cap has a fitting that secures to your eyepiece using two set screws. Voila! You are now ready to take high power images through the telescope.

It may not be dark enough out. You’ll need to wait at least an hour after sunset for StarSense Explorer to be able to “see” enough stars to find its position. If you can’t see many stars with your eyes, it is not dark enough yet.

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The mount is a free form altazimuth mount that moves very smoothly and has functional settings that allow for you to cruise around the night sky with fluid ease or hone in a specific spot with the same amount of precision. It is possible to access these images by selecting “Save Images & Logs” from the Menu icon at the bottom left of the main screen before using StarSense Explorer. The app will then save the images it captures and they can be accessed later. We have provided access to the images so that they can be used for troubleshooting purposes. If you are having problems finding astronomical objects in the night sky using StarSense Explorer, these image and log files can help the Celestron Tech Support Team diagnose the issue. We recommend turning on “Save Images & Logs” only if you are having problems with StarSense Explorer and need to troubleshoot. Otherwise, the images will fill up the memory storage on your smartphone. To retrieve the image and log files, follow the steps below.

There may be something in the camera’s field of view that is affecting the phone’s ability to “sense” stars, such as power lines, trees, or the edge of a building. Try moving to an area with a clearer view of the night sky, without interference from anything on land. The Inspire 100AZ is an excellent entry-level telescope that will be enjoyed for years even as you progress in your astronomy experience. Can you use a Barlow lens with the Celestron Inspire Telescopes?Bold new design - The main telescope lens cap comes with a fully integrated smartphone adapter built-in, perfect for the budding astrophotographer. The asymmetrical mount design offers light weight and incredible stability. Erect image optics enables a fully correct image for easy viewing day or night, terrestrial or astronomical. Despite that, it will not get as clear and sharp views of deep sky objects as a dedicated reflector geared for deep space viewing. It will also lag behind more focused refractors that excel at getting views of high contrast things like the rings of Saturn. Again, it can do everything well but nothing spectacularly. The 1.25” star diagonal included with the Inspire 100AZ is also mostly plastic, and the design is an Amici erecting prism, which provides correct images both left-right and up-down. Unless you plan on frequently reading signs and snooping on people’s reading material from a distance, this feature is essentially worthless and comes at a cost, too. Due to the way it works, any Amici erecting prism produces annoying bright spikes, glare, and additional chromatic aberration on bright targets – which doesn’t help when there are already glare issues with the dew shield and chromatic aberration from the objective lens itself to begin with. The Inspire 100az comes with two eyepieces; a 10mm and a 20mm. This is excellent and provides you with a variable magnification range depending on your preferences. At the lower end you can expect a 33x magnification and at the higher end it scales to 241x. StaryNight Software Speaking of which, the telescope can be assembled in minutes without tools. Everything unfolds and hooks together without having to deal with small screws or specific tools. Some telescopes require tightening and configuration with specialized tools or small screwdrivers which can be a bear to deal with when all you want to do is look at the sky. There is none of that frustration present here.