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Best scope under $180! 80mm Diameter. Plossl Oculars. Robust Equatorial Mount + Tripod. Dual Slow-Motion Controls!

The Sky-Watcher 80AR-EQ2 is a medium aperture premium entry level telescope with superb optics and a robust equatorial mount with beefy tripod suitable for more advanced studies of the heavens. This is a great telescope to start your adventures in astronomy. Be aware not all telescopes are created equal. This telescope is better! Read on and see why this telescope is the best in its class. Trust Sky-Watcher to deliver a great first experience in astronomy!

The Sky-Watcher SW 80AR-EQ2 has an 80mm aperture telescope offering the increased light gathering ability to discern highly detailed surface phenomenon in solar-system favorites and faint structural detail in prominent deep-space objects. This telescope will also serve as a high resolution terrestrial spotting scope for razor sharp views of distant landmarks, nature and people. As seen through the SW80AR, the Moon is a veritable cornucopia of wondrous detail. Along the lunar terminator of the first quarter Moon the lunar contrast is at its best. The SW 80AR will deliver near breathtaking detail of famous high-walled craters and vast flat expanses known as lunar seas. The planet Saturn reveals deeply satisfying views of the planet's ring structure and 4-prominent moons. Jupiter's equatorial bands begin to show good detail with evidence of discontinuities between the bands not visible in smaller aperture telescopes. In deep-space prominent nebulae, and globular star clusters are revealed as luminous, amorphous regions with some brighter stars appearing as discrete pinpoints. A number of double stars are suitable for study as are larger satellite transits silhouetted against the surface of gas giants like Jupiter.

World renowned optical quality from Sky-Watcher!

The Sky-Watcher brand name is your assurance of painstakingly rigorous standards of optical quality. The air-spaced, achromatic doublet objective lens of the SW80AR-EQ2 is fabricated of Grade-A Crown & Flint glass. Each lens element is precision pitch polished to demanding standards of optical excellence. Each air-to-glass is multicoated with metallic high-transmission optical coatings ensuring the optimum through-put of light. The metal focuser assembly is solid and stable with a mechanically smooth metal rack & pinion focuser.

Sky-Watcher offers the advantage of advanced Plossl Eyepieces!

Only premium quality Plossl eyepieces are supplied with SW entry level telescopes. For this reason alone, the SW 80AR-EQ2 will outperform most all other instruments in its class! Eyepieces are half of the telescope's optical system. They are hugely important to a telescope's overall optical performance. Plossl eyepieces are the world's gold-standard for popular premium eyepieces. This $175 telescope comes with $94 worth of premium Plossl eyepieces. Get the best performance your telescope can deliver! Demand premium 4-element SW Plossl eyepieces! Enjoy huge 52° picture-window fields of view, image sharpness edge to edge, and eye relief that's just plain comforting.

Equatorial mount with robust construction and mechanical quality!

The 80AR-EQ2 is an equatorial (polar) mount telescope. The telescope's mount is aligned to the Earth's axis which is approximated by pointing the telescope's polar axis to the North Star. The mount's mechanical orientation compensates for the observer's latitude anywhere on Earth. The mount's cantilevered orientation is off set by counterweights to maintain dynamic balance. When set up in this way, the telescope only needs to follow objects in one axis. The telescope physically emulates the natural motion of the sky as objects move from East to West. Slow-motion controls allow very fine incremental tracking adjustments that facilitate keeping fast moving sky objects centered in the eyepiece. Just a fraction of a turn of the cable control knob is all that is required to keep an object easily captured in the telescopic field of view.

Stability of the mount and tripod is critical to the utility and enjoyment of a telescope. Insufficiently rigid mounts and vibration prone tripods act like tuning forks transferring undesirable vibration to the eyepiece. This will deprive the viewer of a steady view. Fortunately, Sky-Watcher equatorial mounts and tripods are some of the most stable and robust in their class. The mount of this telescope is made of metal in all critical structural and functional areas. The equatorial body itself is metal, the gear assembly is metal, the slow-motion cables are flex-steel, the latitude adjuster is metal, heavy-duty tripod is aluminum, the counterweight shaft and counterweights are metal, and the optical tube rings are metal. This quality telescope is structurally sound and offers smooth, precise mechanical controls. The telescope also includes as standard features a latitude scale, setting circles, and accessory tray.

Quality accessories compliment superb optics and construction.

• Red-Dot Finder: Sky-Watcher entry level telescopes are supplied with Red Dot finders to facilitate easily locating objects prior to viewing through the telescopes main optical tube. The illumination is variable and the platform for the finder includes micrometric controls for aligning with the main optical tube.
• 2X Barlow Lens 1.25": Sky-Watcher entry level telescopes are provided with 2X Barlow lenses that provide twice the power when used with any eyepiece.
• Mirror Diagonal 1.25": Sky-Watcher entry level refractor models are provided with a diagonal mirror accommodating 1.25" eyepieces for observing the sky at a convenient 90° angle.
• Superior Super Plossl Eyepieces - SP25mm and SP12mm 1.25": Sky-Watcher entry level telescopes are provided with premium 4-element Super Pl?ssl eyepieces. The same eyepieces often supplied as standard equipment on telescopes costing thousands of dollars.
• Planetarium Software for the PC: Sky-Watcher entry level telescopes are provided with a planetarium program that allows for exploring the heavens on your personal computer.

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