Celestron Astromaster 70AZ R - 70/900 mm Refractor on alt-azimuth Mount

Celestron Astromaster 70AZ R - 70/900 mm Refractor on alt-azimuth Mount

Even this small refractor shows you impressive images of moon and planets. Thanks to the long focal length, not only high magnifications are possible, but also no disturbing chromatic aberration shows up. Also double stars and star clusters are nice targets for this telescope. Thanks to the StarPointer illuminated dot finder, you only need to aim at your object and you will see it in the eyepiece.

The altazimuth mount is actually ideal for nature observation, but thanks to the long handle you can track the telescope accurately even at high magnifications - almost like when you slew a pair of binoculars. Thanks to the Amici prism, which provides upright, laterally correct images, this also works quite intuitively. Best of all, the telescope is ready to use in minutes - the mount and tripod each form a single unit, so all you have to do is set up the tripod and secure the telescope in the saddle plate with a clamping screw. The accessory plate simply snaps into place in the tripod. The eyepiece rest plate simply snaps into place in the tripod. Then all you have to do is decide on an eyepiece and you´re ready to go. Disassembly is just as quick.

The telescope´s ease of use and all-around features also make it a recommended for children ages six and up, while adults with a DSLR (maximum APS-C) or mirrorless system camera can use it as a 900 mm telephoto lens via an adapter.

This version has an additional adapter to connect smartphones to the eyepiece, so photographing the moon and planets is quite easy.]

Practical Details

[*The Finder:
It´s a real "finder" - turn on the Starpointer, as the device is called, and what appears to be an illuminated dot in the sky simply shows you the position among the stars.

Innovative Quick Coupling:
The telescope is attached to the mount via a quick coupling. Within seconds you have attached the telescope to the mount. Just as fast it is removed again. With the PSFotoDel (optional accessory) you can turn the alt-azimuth mount into a solid photo tripod thanks to the 1/4" tripod thread.

The Accessories

The scope of delivery includes two eyepieces with 20 and 10 mm focal lengths, an image-erecting prism a moon filter, a smartphone adapter and a StarPointer red dot finder. The two eyepieces provide different magnifications: a low one for overview and a high one for details.

The Smartphone Adapter

Easily capture the sight of celestial objects or terrestrial targets in the eyepiece with your smartphone camera. With the lightweight, sturdy adapter, you can connect any smartphone to any eyepiece with 34 mm outer diameter. Thanks to the magnification of the eyepiece, you can photograph the moon and planets with your smartphone. The adapter positions your smartphone´s camera exactly over the eyepiece, and the clamping screws hold it securely in place. The adapter also works with most smartphone cases; for some very large or bulky cases (incl. flip cases/wallet cases), the case has to be removed.

The AstroMaster Telescopes

If you´re looking for a versatile telescope for both sky and terrestrial viewing, then the AstroMaster Series is for you. The Amici prism included with the refracting telescopes provides upright, laterally correct images with any eyepiece.

An AstroMaster not only provides breathtaking views of the moon, Saturn with its ring, Jupiter with its bands and moons, nebulae and star clusters. You can also observe solar activity with an optional solar filter. If you are less interested in the members of the solar system and more interested in the brighter deep-sky objects like galaxies and nebulae, we recommend one of the Newtonian reflectors with larger light gathering aperture.