Orion SpaceProbe 3 Equatorial Reflector Telescope
by Orion
List Price:
Our Price: $129.99
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Category: Digital Camera
See more product details
Customers in the UK,
buy this product at amazon.co.uk
for British Pounds
Digital Photo Product Details
Manufacturer: OrionProduct features:
- Orion SpaceProbe 3 Equatorial Reflector Telescope
- Orion Shorty 1.25" 2x Barlow Lens
- Sky Atlas for Small Telescopes & Binoculars
- Orion DeepMap 600 Folding Star Chart
- 1.25" Orion 13% Transmission Moon Filter
- Orion LaserMate Deluxe Telescope Laser Collimator
Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Orion SpaceProbe 3 Equatorial Reflector Telescope
Customer Review: Great Telescope!
Summary: 5 Stars
I bought this telescope for my girlfriend for Christmas. She had been wanting a telescope for sometime so I decided this would be the perfect gift. I was looking for a scope that wouldn't break the bank but wouldn't be a piece of junk either. I looked at models from Meade and Celestron but ultimately decided on this one.
I chose this over the refractor telescopes mainly because it seemed that to look into the refractor scopes would require a lot of bending over whereas this one has the eyepiece closer to eye level which makes viewing easier. Also, go for the equatorial mount, it's much easier to track things in the sky using it as we quickly found out.
Ok, so how was it? Well it came in a big box (which made the g/f crazy with this HUGE gift under the tree!) and everything was nicely and neatly packed. Everything appeard to be of high quality and good build; which is typical of Orion products from what I've read. The instruction maunal on assemble was pretty scarce. Anyone who's pretty handy at building things will be able to figure it out; but it's not the easiest thing either. This is mainly because of a lack of pictures to go along with the assembly steps. Well we got it assembled and waited for dark.
It was pretty cold and we just did some viewing of the moon and a couple of stars from the front yard. A hazy night with tons of light from the street didn't provide the best viewing conditions. That being said the moon looked amazing!! The detail was outstanding. We were able to also see the Orion Nebula and looked at other stars. I can't even imagine what it will look like on a good clear night. We're looking foward to bringing it camping with us where there will be some great viewing. The included software is also extremely useful and fun to use. The software alone is easily worth more than half of the price of this scope. Even if you hate the scope; you can learn a lot of great information from the software.
Overall this is a great scope for the amateur astronomer. It's cheap enough that it won't break the bank (good especially if you're not sure if astronomy is for you) but still plenty good enough for some great viewing. The instruction manual could be better but the quality of the software and of the scope itself more than makes up for the poor manual. I would not hesitate to recommend this to anyone looking for a good budget scope!
*Update* We've had this scope for about 16 months now, and it's fantastic!! We have taken it with us several places camping and have gotten to see some really great stuff. It's fairly easy to find the planets and even a galaxy or two. The only downside is that it takes up a lot of room in the car when we camp; but this would be true for any decent telescope. So not so much a problem with this one specifically, but with telescopes in general. Even to this day, we're still amazed just looking at the moon. The details and "awesomeness" of it never get old. Really looking at everything never gets old. I'm so glad we have this scope!
*December 2010 Update* I thought I would give an additional update. We have had this telescope for 4 years now. It's fantastic. Absolutely fantastic. I cannot recommend it enough. Recently we were looking at Jupiter and could make out all of the Galilean moons as well as being able to make out red striping of the planet itself (still haven't been able to see the great spot!). All of this from the front of our yard in the city. A buddy of mine got a 7" reflector scope, and while his can see much deeper and give better resolution, this one is still tops in my book. It's easy to transport and move around and still provides great viewing. We just love taking it camping with us - get 50 miles out of the city and the "awe factor" grows exponentially. Try taking a huge super powerful scope camping, or seeing anything cool with one of the cheap toy-store ones. For price and features, you can't beat this one.
Description of Orion SpaceProbe 3 Equatorial Reflector Telescope
Buying a first telescope used to be risky business, with more cheap models on the market than affordable quality ones. Our SpaceProbe 3 changes all that. It's not only affordable, but its optical quality will make the night sky's treasures accessible right from your backyard. The 3"-diameter primary mirror gathers enough light to reveal the faint glows of many star clusters and nebulas, as well as Saturn's rings, Jupiter's moons, and the stark, cratered terrain of the Moon. The aluminum Newtonian optical tube features a 1.25" rack-and-pinion focuser and two Explorer II eyepieces - a 25mm (28x) and a 10mm (70x). The included EZ Finder II finder scope helps you locate objects with ease. The SpaceProbe 3 EQ's equatorial mount allows easy manual "tracking" of objects with the turn of a knob (or use an electronic drive, sold separately, for hands-free tracking). Includes aluminum tripod with accessory tray.Orion's surprising little Spaceprobe 3 has been picked by independent reviewers as one of the best telescopes in its price class. Unlike similar telescopes seen in discount stores, Orion has refined the Spaceprobe 3 by paying attention to the little details, and that make this telescope a great value.
The Spaceprobe 3 comes with an unusually complete set of accessories. The package includes two very good Explorer II eyepieces (25mm and 10mm), an equatorial mount with adjustable tripod, a good red-dot finder, a student edition of "The Sky" planetarium program, and a well written manual. The package even includes the tools you'll need to assemble the telescope and align the optics.
The Spaceprobe 3 is a Newtonian reflector. That means it uses mirrors instead of lenses. Newtonians are primarily used for astronomy because the images are upside-down. Orion includes a collimation tool and good directions for aligning the mirrors. The reward for aligning the mirrors is seen in images that snap into sharp focus. My Spaceprobe 3 arrived properly aligned right out of the box.
With its Explorer II eyepieces, this telescope consistently delivers fine views. Using the 25mm eyepiece (28x magnification) the Pleiades cluster is simply wonderful, showing dozens of stars. From a rural location with a dark sky, the Orion Nebula is a big ghostly glow, and when I zoom in with the 10mm eyepiece, the Trapezium resolves into four tiny pinpoints. The double star Gamma Andromeda becomes two beads of light, one gold, the other one pale blue. Moon and planet images are crisp, with none of the false color I see in low cost refractors. When I look at the Moon I see mountains and terraced walls inside the larger craters. With the 10mm eyepiece (about 70x), Saturn's rings are sharply separated from the planet, and I can even pick out the planet's shadow on the rings.
If you point the polar axis at the North Star, the EQ-1 equatorial mount will make it easier to track the stars and planets; an AstroTrack motor will even give you hands-free tracking. A similar telescope, Orion's Spaceprobe 3 Altaz comes with an intuitive (and lighter weight) altazimuth mount, and Celestron sells essentially the same optical system with the computerized NexStar 76GT. ?Jeff Phillips
Pros:
- Best in class optical performance
- Two good Explorer II eyepieces
- Complete accessory package
- Small 76mm aperture
- Upside-down terrestrial images
Reflectors
Digital Cameras and Photo Categories
Bestsellers in Reflectors
Orion 3.6 Clear-Aperture ReflectorOrion; Digital Camera
Price in other shops:
Orion SkyView Pro 3.6 Clear-Aperture EQ Reflector with Dual-Orion; Digital Camera
Price in other shops:
Konus 90 x 1200mm MotorMax Electronic Maksutov Reflector TelescopeKonus; Release date: 2004-05-01; Digital Camera
Price in other shops:
Galileo FS102DX 1100 x 102mm Catadioptric TelescopeGalileo Visions Inc; Digital Camera
Price in other shops:
Orion 4-Eyepiece Rack for Dobsonian Reflector TelescopesOrion; Digital Camera
Best price: $12.99
Tasco Luminova 420x76mm Reflector TelescopeBushnell; Digital Camera
Price in other shops:
Celestron Advanced Series C10 N-GT 600 x 254mm TelescopeCelestron; Release date: 2003-09-30; Digital Camera
Best price: $1,399.00
Price in other shops:
Bushnell North Star GoTo 525mm x 3" Motorized Reflector TelescopeBushnell; Digital Camera
Best price: $288.99
Meade 114-EQ-DH 4.5" Equatorial Starfinder Reflecting TelescopeMeade; Digital Camera
Price in other shops:
Tasco Galaxsee 375mm x 4 1/ 2" Mid Tube Reflector Telescope w/ EQ MountTasco; Digital Camera
Price in other shops:
Similar digital cameras and accessories
Sky & Telescope's Pocket Sky Atlasby Roger W. Sinnott
Sky Publishing; Published: 2006-03-30; Spiral-bound; Book
Best price: $10.95
Price in other shops:
1.25" Orion Variable Polarizing FilterOrion; Digital Camera
Best price: $39.99
Turn Left at Orion: Hundreds of Night Sky Objects to See in a Home Telescope - and How to Find Themby Guy Consolmagno, Dan M. Davis
Cambridge University Press; Published: 2011-11-14; Spiral-bound; Book
Best price: $17.45
Price in other shops:
The Everything Kids' Astronomy Book: Blast into outer space with steller facts, integalatic trivia, and out-of-this-world puzzles (Everything Kids Series)by Kathi Wagner, Sheryl Racine
Adams Media; Published: 2008-05-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.10
Price in other shops:
Night Sky Star WheelSky Publishing; Published: 2007-05-01; Misc. Supplies; Book
Best price: $6.92
Price in other shops:
Orion Shorty 1.25" 2x Barlow LensOrion; Digital Camera
Best price: $44.99
A Child's Introduction to the Night Sky: The Story of the Stars, Planets, and Constellations--and How You Can Find Them in the Skyby Michael Driscoll, Meredith Hamilton
Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers; Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers; Published: 2004-05-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $11.95
Price in other shops:
The Kids Book of the Night Skyby Ann Love, Jane Drake
Kids Can Press; Kids Can Press; Published: 2004-03-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.00
Price in other shops:
1.25" Orion 13% Transmission Moon FilterOrion; Digital Camera
Best price: $19.99
NightWatch: A Practical Guide to Viewing the Universeby Terence Dickinson
Firefly; Firefly Books; Published: 2006-09-12; Spiral-bound; Book
Best price: $17.99
Price in other shops: