Meade Saturn NG-60 Achromatic Refractor Telescope

The Meade Saturn NG-60 telescope, which hails from Meade's Next Generation series, incorporates an advanced industrial design and high-quality instruments, making it a perfect fit for budding backyard astronomers and serious hobbyists. The scope's large, precision-bearing surfaces yield smooth manual motions as you track an object, while the ultra-modern appearance adds a cutting-edge touch to your sunroom or patio. The NG-60 is great for viewing the major planets--such as Saturn and its ring system, the moonlike phases of Mercury and Venus, and the primary cloud belts of Jupiter--or for such terrestrial tasks as bird watching, nature gazing, or neighborhood surveying. Other celestial bodies show up in vivid detail as well, including hundreds of nebulae, star clusters, variable stars, and distant galaxies.

Meade's topnotch optical design starts with a 60mm diameter objective lens, coated for pinpoint sharpness, and two 1.25-inch eyepieces (one MA9mm and one MA25mm) to ensure a wide field of view. The focal length of 700 mm (with an f/11.7 ratio), meanwhile, isn't as powerful as many high-end telescopes, but still keeps objects looking razor sharp. The instruments are housed in a durable aluminum tube assembly and balanced on a fully adjustable aluminum tripod (with an accessory tray) with an altazimuth single-tine mount. Other details include a rack-and-pinion focuser, a 5x24mm viewfinder with a rubber eyecup, and a 1.25-inch diagonal mirror.

The telescope also comes with Meade's StarNavigator PC software, which boasts a database of more than 10,000 celestial objects. The application offers an ideal way to virtually explore the heavens before looking through the telescope's eyepiece and finding the real planets, galaxies, nebulae, and star clusters. The software also includes detailed star charts for printing, along with easy-to-use Microsoft Windows pulldown menus and online help.

The Saturn NG-60 telescope is backed by a one-year warranty.

What's in the Box
Telescope with viewfinder, software CD-ROM, user's manual.