Optimize what you can see and do with your first telescope by using these Best Telescope Accessories for Beginners. Each of the tools below provides an upgrade to your current gear, taking your stargazing nights to a new level! Learn more about the top five best accessories below.
The Top Five Telescope Accessories for Beginners
Additional Eyepieces
Eyepieces are a great addition to your telescope because they magnify what your telescope sees! Typically, they range in three levels of magnification. Low magnification ranges from 25 mm and up, medium ranges from 10 mm to 20 mm, and high magnification ranges from 9 mm and lower. As you may have noticed, a larger number does not mean higher when it comes to eyepieces—a helpful reminder when looking for your new telescope eyepiece. Also, most higher magnification ranges aren’t the best choice for all telescopes. For beginners, a range between low and medium is good. Some great eyepiece choices for a budget are TPO eyepieces. Higher quality eyepiece choices are Explore Scientific and TeleVue, with premium features that deliver stunning results. Check out this guide on choosing the right eyepiece for some extra help.
Barlow Lens
Similar to eyepieces are Barlow lenses. This tool is a great choice if you aren’t looking to spend much on a set of eyepieces just yet. Barlow lenses double, and some even triple your eyepiece magnification. Another cool perk is that if you combine a Barlow lens with a set of new eyepieces, you will have four choices of magnification versus two since your Barlow lens would be doubling the magnification of your eyepiece.
Smartphone Adapter
Taking photos of the Moon and other beginner deep space objects has never been easier! A smartphone adapter like the Celestron NexYZ Universal Smartphone Adapter is a great tool to capture what you see through your telescope and share it with friends and family. Even though placing your phone over your eyepiece can capture what you see, a smartphone adapter will provide stability to help you produce clear images with your phone! Dock your smartphone by attaching it to your telescope eyepiece to take pictures of the Moon and more.
Moon Filter
Observing the full Moon is a great experience, except that it can be difficult to observe for a long time. What happens is that your telescope is focusing the light from the Moon on your eye, causing you to feel uncomfortable even after a short time. A moon filter is a great tool because it reduces the glare and reflected light while increasing contrast. This makes observing the full moon a much more enjoyable experience. Moon filters such as the TPO ND96 Moon filter are made to attach directly to your eyepieces for easy use.
Red Flashlight
One of the best tips a beginner should know when exploring the night sky is to use a red flashlight! It generally takes about 30 minutes for your eyes to adjust to the night sky, or in other words, for your iris to expand and collect more light in a dark environment. When you use white or blue light like from your phone, this makes your iris shrink as tiny as possible to avoid damage from the bright light. A red flashlight like the Celestron PowerTank Glow will help preserve your night vision to help you see in the dark without losing time readjusting to the dark. With three brightness levels and its chargeable feature, the PowerTank Glow is the perfect accessory for visual astronomy!
There are many telescope accessories to choose from, but this list is a great resource as you start exploring ways to see more in the night sky!
