Product Description

Whether you’re an amateur astronomer or becoming more comfortable with using a telescope, you’ll love the technology and user-friendly features packed into Celestron’s PowerSeeker refractor telescope. The Celestron PowerSeeker 70AZ is a powerful yet easy-to-use telescope. Our PowerSeeker Series telescopes for astronomy beginners have been designed with a combination of value, quality, power, and user-friendly features. They are built to enhance the experience for beginners but are also exceptional for mid-level experienced astronomers. This 70AZ telescope features powerful magnification and easy-to-use controls that allow users to obtain crisp views of the Moon, the rings of Saturn, and Jupiter’s Galilean moons.

The telescope’s sturdy and durable yoke mount and slow-motion rod deliver smooth and accurate pointing. Move the slow-motion altitude rod in an up/down fashion to pinpoint and track your object. The 3x Barlow lens is added to triple the magnification power of the included 20mm and 4mm eyepieces. We’ve included an accessory tray to store accessories conveniently and a free download of our BONUS Starry Night Basic Edition astronomy software with information on 36,000 celestial objects, printable sky maps, and more. The software can be used on your Mac, PC or laptop. It’s the best way to learn about the night sky and plan your next observing session. Additional accessories include a tripod.

You can purchase this Celestron telescope with confidence from the world’s #1 telescope brand, based in California since 1960. You’ll also receive a 2-year warranty and unlimited access to technical support from our team of US-based experts.

Tom Johnson founded Celestron in 1960 after building a telescope to share the night sky with his sons. Since then, Celestron has established itself as the world’s #1 telescope brand. Celestron telescopes are used by scientists in world-class research observatories and even aboard the International Space Station.

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Celestron's value priced PowerSeeker 70AZ is an affordable entry level telescope with some nice extras like a correct image prism and "The Sky" astronomy software included. The package also includes an Alt-Azimuth mount with adjustable aluminum tripod, high and low power eyepieces, a 3X barlow lens, and a 5 power cross hair finder scope.

The PowerSeeker 70AZ comes disassembled in a compact box, but the fully illustrated quick set-up guide makes it easy to assemble. Go ahead and try it out in the daytime, that's the best time to align the finder scope while looking at a distant tree or telephone pole.

The optics of the PowerSeeker 70AZ are surprisingly good, especially when I use the low power 20mm eyepiece. The correct image prism and the 20mm eyepiece give me a magnification of 35X, so backyard birds seem five times closer than with my seven power binoculars. The PowerSeeker 70 can be upgraded with standard 1.25 inch telescope eyepieces. A 25mm plossl eyepiece for example gives a true field of view of almost 2 degrees for delightful views of star clusters like the Pleiades, while a 6mm eyepiece provides a magnification of 117X, just right to see the rings of Saturn or the cloud bands on Jupiter. The included 4mm eyepiece (175X magnification) might be too much power: I can see Saturn's rings but at 175X it's not easy to focus and it's not easy to keep planets centered in the field of view.

The Alt-Azimuth mount included with the PowerSeeker 70AZ is lighter and easier to use than an Equatorial mount, but it does not track stars and planets. As soon as you get the Moon centered in the eyepiece it starts drifting toward the edge, this is caused by rotation of the Earth. The Moon may stay in the low power eyepiece for two or three minutes, but with the high power 4mm eyepiece (175X magnification) a star will disappear in only twenty or thirty seconds.

Celestron's PowerSeeker 70AZ is a real value because it has very good achromatic optics in a package that's light, portable and affordable. The drawback is that it has a lot of plastic parts, including the finder scope and the 3X barlow. For a more rugged alternative, take a look at Celestron‘s AstroMaster 70 AZ which comes with better eyepieces and includes a sturdier Alt-Azimuth mount. --Jeff Phillips

Pros:

• Very good optics
• Correct image prism
• Easy no tool set-up
• Light, portable, and affordable

• Light weight tripod
• Does not track stars and planets
• Plastic finder and barlow lens