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THE CAMBRIDGE DICTIONARY defines magnificent as 'deserving to be admired.' I had no trouble doing that when I walked into the offices of Stellarvue to get an extension ring for [...]

PERHAPS NOTHING HAS revolutionized amateur astronomy more than go-to telescopes with motorized drives that find and track any of thousands of deep-sky objects. No longer must users rely on a [...]

WHEN I WAS A TEENAGER, new to observing the sky, I spent a year wandering across the Milky Way armed with nothing more than a pair of 7x50 binoculars. Then [...]

Sky-Watcher Star Adventurer Mini U.S. Price: $299 skywatcherusa.com What We Like: One device can both track and pan cameras Polar-alignment scope included Wireless app allows for easy programming Excellent battery [...]

TAKAHASHI, the Japanese firm long known for crafting some of the world's finest telescopes and astrographs, has upped the ante for wide-field, deep-sky astrophotography. The company's new FSQ-130ED Super APO [...]

The 4-inch refractor has been a favorite of astronomy enthusiasts for countless years, thanks to the combination of portability and resolving power. While these scopes are not the largest light [...]

Tabletop telescopes have become very popular in recent years, and it's easy to see why. Lightweight, compact, inexpensive, and easy to use--what's not to like? The most recent entry in [...]

BY JONATHAN TALBOT Since Stellarvue's founding more than 20 years ago, optical excellence has been the driving force behind their production of top-tier refracting telescopes. Over the years, Stellarvue has [...]

Everything about this telescope looks top-flight--except for the price. Is there a catch? Astro-Tech 14-inch f/8 Ritchey-Chretien Telescope U.S. price: $5,795 Astronomics.com Unfortunately George Willis Ritchey didn't live to see [...]

Sky-Watcher AZ-EQ5 Mount U.S. price: $1,350 Available from skywatcherusa.com and dealers worldwide. I CAN REMEMBER a time not long ago when aspiring astrophotographers had little to choose from in an [...]

FORK-MOUNTED Schmidt-Cassegrain telescopes have been around for more than half a century. That's a sobering thought for those of us who vividly remember the first advertisements for them appearing in [...]

HOW MUCH DOES a decent beginner scope cost? There are plenty of good choices for $400, and the options are almost limitless if you're willing to spend more. At the [...]

CHOOSING A FIRST TELESCOPE is a difficult task for a fledgling amateur astronomer. Frequently, newcomers pick telescopes with computerized go-to controls, only to discover after a lot of frustration--and expense--that [...]

Vixen Ri3oSf Reflector & Porta II Mount Package U.S. price: $399 Vixen Optics 1050 Calle Amanecer Ste C San Clemente, CA 92673 vixenoptics.com THE PERFECT beginner's telescope. What does it [...]

Deep-sky PHOTOGRAPHERS area demanding lot. We'd like sharp optics with enough focal length to provide good detail in our deep-sky targets. But we also want wide fields for impressive images [...]

THE HAWKEYE BORESCOPE FROM GRADIENT LENS IS A GREAT AID TO SHOOTERS BECAUSE YOU CAN DO A LOT MORE THAN LOOK AT A GUN'S BORE WITH IT. AND NOW IT [...]

In the past, my only experience with apochromatic refractors was with an occasional cursory glance through the eyepiece of one set up at a star party. For this reason, I [...]

UNTIL FAIRLY RECENTLY, Maksutov telescopes were not commonly seen at star parties. Amateur astronomers considered them exotic. But that changed in recent years with the introduction of several lower-priced models. [...]

When I received an email from our editor while he was on location filming the 'Handguns & Defensive Weapons' show, I knew something was up. He'd had the chance to [...]

We are fortunate to live in an age when creative individuals and companies have produced a number of outstanding accessories. Fifty years ago, cutting-edge accessories were items such as Orthoscopic [...]

You can't judge a telescope by its sparkly tube, but the new Sky-Watcher USA Maksutov-Cassegrain 127mm sure looks nice right out of the box. I'm always excited to try out [...]

High-magnification rifle-scopes are great, until you need to engage a target at 'in your face' distances, probably moving--and right frakken now. There are situations where you simply do not have [...]

When we saw the first mention of Celestron's NexStar Evolution 8 telescope, we knew it would be a great product. This review gave us the opportunity for a 'first look,' [...]

LEUPOLD HAS ANNOUNCED ITS FIRST HANDHELD THERMAL OBSERVATION and game-recovery tool called the LTO Tracker. LTO stands for Leupold Thermal Optic, and according to the company, the LTO Tracker's state-of-the-art [...]

To an amateur astronomer, nothing says flexibility like a good refractor. That's why I jumped at the chance to review the William Optics GT102 102mm f/6.9 Apo Refractor. Perfect for [...]

I've always been fond of Burris scopes. One of my most accurate rifles, a Rifles Inc. .25-06, has been wearing a Burris Signature for about a decade. I own more [...]

NIKON HAS TWO NEW RIFLESCOPES THAT ARE SPECIFICALLY DESIGNED and engineered for .22 LR. Called Prostaff Rimfire II, the line includes 3-9X and 4-12X 40mm scopes, both featuring Nikon's BDC [...]

BURRIS HAS ALWAYS DELIVERED HIGH QUALITY AND GOOD VALUE IN ITS riflescopes, and the C4 Plus I've been using is no exception. The C4 Plus 4.514X 42mm has a 1-inch [...]

DUE TO THEIR SUPERIOR OPTICAL QUALITY, STOUT DURABILITY, AND UNFAILING consistency, Nightforce scopes are considered by a lot of serious shooters to be the standard by which all others are [...]