Best Newtonian Telescopes of 2026
* We independently evaluate all recommended products and services. If you click on links we provide, we may receive compensation.
Newtonian telescopes are a type of reflecting telescope that use a concave primary mirror to gather and focus light. They are named after Sir Isaac Newton, who invented this design in the 17th century. Newtonian telescopes are popular among amateur astronomers because they offer a larger aperture for a lower cost compared to other designs. They are also relatively easy to set up and maintain. With their high-quality optics, these telescopes provide excellent views of planets, stars, and deep-sky objects.
At a Glance: Our Top Picks
Top 10 Newtonian Telescopes
Celestron AstroMaster 130EQ Telescope with Accessories
The Celestron AstroMaster 130EQ is a powerful and user-friendly reflector telescope, perfect for both beginners and experienced users. Its fully-coated 130mm primary mirror ensures high-quality views of celestial and terrestrial objects, making your stargazing experience more enjoyable. With a lightweight frame and manual German Equatorial mount, you can easily set up and adjust the telescope for precise positioning. The included two eyepieces and StarPointer red dot finderscope enhance your viewing experience, allowing for quick and accurate targeting of your desired objects.
SOLOMARK 130EQ Telescope with Accessories
The SOLOMARK 130EQ Telescope offers a large 130mm aperture, ensuring high resolution and enhanced light collection for observing deep space objects. Its high-quality optics, featuring fully-coated glass, allow you to see brighter and more detailed planets, improving your stargazing experience. The German Equatorial mount provides precise positioning and smooth tracking of celestial bodies, making it easier for you to follow the moon and planets as they move across the sky. Additionally, the stable tripod ensures that you can locate celestial objects accurately without any wobble.
Celestron AstroMaster 130EQ Telescope with Motor Drive
The Celestron AstroMaster 130EQ offers an impressive manual German equatorial mount, making it easy for you to accurately locate and track celestial objects. With its motor drive, you can enjoy automatic tracking of stars and planets as they move across the night sky, enhancing your stargazing experience. The telescope features a simple, no-tool setup with a full-height adjustable steel tripod, allowing you to start observing in no time. Additionally, you receive essential accessories, including two eyepieces and a finderscope, which help you get the most out of your observations.
Celestron StarSense Explore DX 130 Telescope
The Celestron StarSense Telescope offers high-quality optics with a 130mm Newtonian reflector, allowing you to view stunning celestial objects clearly. Its manual altazimuth mount features smooth dual-axis slow motion adjustments, making it easy for you to track targets in the sky. With innovative smartphone technology, the award-winning StarSense app guides you through the night sky, helping you find stars and constellations effortlessly. Additionally, the included accessories, such as two eyepieces and a red dot finderscope, enhance your stargazing experience, ensuring you have everything you need to explore the universe.
Celestron NexStar 130SLT Computerised Telescope
The NexStar 130SLT Telescope is a computerised marvel that allows you to explore the night sky with ease. With a database of over 40,000 celestial objects, you can locate stars, galaxies, and nebulae with pinpoint accuracy. Its compact design makes it perfect for weekend camping trips, ensuring you can enjoy stargazing anywhere. The Newtonian reflector optical design gathers ample light, revealing stunning details of planets and the Moon. Plus, Celestron's SkyAlign feature ensures a quick setup, so you can start observing in just minutes.
Celestron StarSense Explore LT127AZ Telescope with App
The Celestron StarSense Telescope is an impressive 127mm Newtonian reflector designed for stargazers of all levels. Its patented StarSense technology allows you to use your smartphone to identify star patterns overhead, making it easy for you to locate celestial objects. The accompanying StarSense Explorer app generates a list of visible objects, ensuring you never miss out on viewing planets and galaxies. With a stable manual mount featuring dual-axis slow-motion controls, you can effortlessly track your targets, enhancing your overall stargazing experience.
Celestron LCM 114 Series Computerised Newtonian Telescope
The Celestron LCM 114 Telescope is a computerised Newtonian reflector that automatically locates 4,000 celestial objects, making it easy for you to find stars, planets, and galaxies. If you’re unsure what to observe, simply press the Sky Tour button, and the telescope will suggest the best visible objects, saving you time and guesswork. It comes complete with an adjustable aluminium tripod, two quality eyepieces (25mm and 9mm), and a StarPointer red dot finderscope, ensuring you have all the essential tools for stargazing. Additionally, you can download the SkyPortal App for an enhanced astronomy experience.
SkyWatcher Quattro Imaging Newtonian 8-Inch Telescope
The SkyWatcher Quattro Telescope features fast f/4 optics, allowing you to capture stunning details in a shorter exposure time. Its 2-inch dual-speed Crayford-style focuser ensures you never miss focus, making your observations clearer and more enjoyable. The oversized secondary mirror illuminates both APS-C and full-frame DSLRs without vignetting, enhancing your imaging experiences. Additionally, multiple knife-edge baffles minimise stray light, ensuring that your viewing or imaging session remains uninterrupted. This combination of features makes the SkyWatcher Quattro Telescope an excellent choice for both beginners and experienced astronomers.
SKYOPTIKST 203mm Dobsonian Telescope with 40mm Mirror
The SKYOPTIKST Dobsonian Telescope offers impressive specifications for avid stargazers. With a 203mm calibre and a focal length of 1600mm, you can enjoy brighter and clearer images of celestial bodies. The surface accuracy of 1/10 λ ensures that your views are incredibly sharp, enhancing your overall observing experience. Additionally, the enhanced aluminium and protective coating not only boosts durability but also improves reflectance, reaching an impressive 92% across the 400-950nm spectrum. This means you can capture more light for better visibility on your astronomical adventures.
Sky-Watcher P150i Newtonian Reflector Telescope with Wi-Fi
The Sky-Watcher P150i Telescope offers magnifications of 30x and 75x with the supplied eyepieces, letting you explore the night sky in detail, while a maximum practical power of 300x is available for more advanced viewing. Its Sky-Watcher/Vixen 45mm dovetail saddle provides a secure and easy way to mount the telescope on various stands. You can control the telescope manually through the SynScan port, giving you precise adjustments. Plus, with connectivity via the ASCOM platform and mobile apps like SkySafari, you can conveniently navigate and track celestial objects using your PC or smartphone.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
1. What is the Newtonian telescope used for?
Newtonian telescopes are reflectors. They use a mirror, rather than a lens, to focus light from distant objects. Reflecting telescopes were first invented by Isaac Newton to avoid the problems of chromatic aberration found with refractors.
2. Is a Newtonian telescope good?
Newtonian reflectors are great all-around scopes, offering generous apertures at affordable prices. They excel for both planetary and deep-sky viewing. Of course, the larger the aperture, the more you'll see.
3. What is the disadvantage of a Newtonian telescope?
Disadvantages of the Newtonian design Newtonians, like other reflecting telescope designs using parabolic mirrors, suffer from coma, an off-axis aberration which causes imagery to flare inward and towards the optical axis (stars towards edge of the field of view take on a "comet-like" shape).
4. How does a Newtonian telescope work?
Instead of using a lens to gather light, Newton used a curved, metal mirror (primary mirror) to collect the light and reflect it to a focus. Mirrors do not have the chromatic aberration problems that lenses do. Newton placed the primary mirror in the back of the tube.
During our newtonian telescope research, we found 91 newtonian telescope products and shortlisted 10 quality products. We collected and analyzed 91,306 customer reviews through our big data system to write the newtonian telescopes list. We found that most customers choose newtonian telescopes with an average price of £281.29.
The newtonian telescopes are available for purchase. We have researched hundreds of brands and picked the top brands of newtonian telescopes, including Celestron, SOLOMARK, Sky-Watcher, Skyoptikst.
Kenneth Collin graduated from Imperial College, London, at 22. He is a UX/UI designer, a web developer, and a writer, amongst others. At age 14, Kenneth programmed his first app. Kenneth's app served as a remote control for censored devices. "When I was 8, I would pick up scraps from electronics and try to rebuild or at least fix them," Kenneth said in one of his recent articles on Home repairs for top gadgets.