The 10 Best Telescope For Moon Photography Of 2024, Tested By Our Experts

Sara Ryan By, Sara Ryan
Updated
Best Telescope For Moon Photography
Best Telescope For Moon Photography

Our Top Picks

1. Best Overall: Celestron Portable Refractor Telescope

Featuring superior optics, powerful eyepieces and easy to set up design, this telescope provides brighter, more detailed views of the stars and planets. With a range of high-quality eyepieces, you can get low- and high-power views of the universe with ease. Get ready to explore the wonders of the night sky! Read Review

2. Best Bang For The Buck: Slokey Discover The World Telescope

With its flexible optical system, you can easily adjust the magnification for a superior observing experience. Its easy setup and enjoyment in every observing session make it perfect for both novice and experienced astronomers. Join us on this journey of discovery and unlock the mysteries of space! Read Review

3. Best Reliable: Celestron Compact and Portable Telescope

This telescope is designed for portability and convenience; its compact size and lightweight design make it easy to take along on your next camping trip, picnic, or hike. Enjoy bright, sharp views of the night sky with this powerful telescope. It has a stylish and durable design that will last through years of exploration. Read Review

4. Best Affordable: ToyerBee Portable Telescope

Featuring adjustable magnification and an adjustable tripod, you can view the planets and moon with a crystal clear image that is brighter and clearer than ever before. This telescope also comes with a wireless remote for easy operation. With its sleek design and durable construction, this telescope will last and provide hours of exploration for years to come! Read Review

5. Best Exactly: SARBLUE Cassegrain Telescope

This powerful telescope is designed to provide crisp, crystal-clear views and high-contrast images of distant objects, so you can explore the universe like a pro. Featuring a compact and portable design, this telescope helps you understand how it works and enables astronomical exploration from your own backyard. Read Review

Moon photography is one of the most popular and exciting forms of astrophotography. By capturing the beauty of the moon’s craters, mountains, and maria, you can create stunning photos of the night sky. But to get the best shots, you need the best telescope for moon photography.

The right telescope will provide you with a clear, sharp, and high-resolution image of the moon and its features. With the right telescope, you’ll be able to capture the beauty of the moon’s craters and other features in stunning detail. Whether you’re a beginner or an experienced astrophotographer, you’ll find the perfect telescope for moon photography that meets your needs.

After nearly 20 hours of research, we were able to come up with many top products from prominent brands like Celestron, Slokey discover the world, Toyerbee, Sarblue, Solomark, Esslnb, Hexeum, Lakwar, Emarth, Gskyer. Among them, We think the best telescope for moon photography is Celestron Portable Refractor Telescope. This powerful telescope features superior optics, powerful eyepieces, and a highly durable design that will last you for years to come. Enjoy brighter and more detailed views of the night sky with its high-quality eyepieces that provide low- and high-power views. Alternatively, if you're simply looking for another option, you may go with Slokey Discover The World Telescope.

Our article today focuses mainly on giving you guidelines and tips to be able to buy the right product that best suits your needs. Explore with us right here.

Our Top Picks

TOP Choice #1 Celestron Portable Refractor Telescope
Our Score:
9.9
Celestron

Superior optics: The Celestron 70mm Travel Scope features high-quality, fully-coated glass optics, a potent 70mm objective lens, a lightweight frame, and a custom backpack to carry it all. Its quality is unmatched in its class and against competitors.

Large 70mm objective lens: Our refractor telescope is equipped with a large 70mm aperture objective lens that provides enhanced, brighter views compared to the 50mm model while adding very little additional weight. Setting up and using the Travel Scope is quick and easy.

Powerful eyepieces for up-close viewing: Our telescope for astronomy beginners is equipped with two high-quality eyepieces (20mm and 10mm) that provide low- and high-power views of celestial objects at night and terrestrial objects during the day.

Bonus bag, tripod, and software: This Celestron telescope and full-height tripod can be taken anywhere in the included travel backpack. Accessories also include a FREE download of one of the top consumer rated astronomy software programs.

Unbeatable warranty and customer support: Buy with confidence from the 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.

TOP Choice #2 Slokey Discover The World Telescope
Our Score:
9.7
Slokey Discover The World

FLEXIBLE OPTICAL SYSTEM - Combine 3 eyepieces of 25mm, 10mm and 6mm with the included 3x Barlow lens to adapt the power of the Slokey 50080 to any situation. Choose from 20x, 50x, 83x, 150x and 250x magnifications to observe the Moon, planets or even the deep sky. With a dedicated focal length eyepiece, it will be easier to adjust the magnification to perfection for each type of observation. In addition, you can set the power and manage the brightness of the images in a pre-optimized way.

QUALITY MATERIAL FOR STABILITY AND DURABILITY - The perfect telescope for amateurs who don't want to spend a lot of time on maintenance. The 50080 is made of sturdy material, guaranteed for 2 years. The professional tripod is made of quality stainless steel, making it perfect for maintaining stability during all future sky observations.

EXCEPTIONAL OPTICAL QUALITY - 3.1'' aperture and 19'' focal length for precise, high-resolution images for deep sky exploration. The lenses of the Skyways 50080 are coated with FMC technology, making the image resolution higher, sharper and brighter than in other telescopes. See all the vivid details of Saturn's rings, Jupiter's moons, the Andromeda Galaxy, the Orion Nebula, the Pleiades and more.

SUPERIOR OBSERVING EXPERIENCE - The simple design of the Slokey 50080 makes it perfect for easy setup and enjoyment in every observing session. It is the recommended choice for many customers looking for stable professional viewing with its stainless steel tripod with three pre-assembled legs. It also features a red dot pointing system (Reflex technology) to help you set up your view and a business phone adapter, so you can zoom in even further and take unique pictures.

OUR EUROPEAN COMPANY HAS OVER 96% SATISFIED CUSTOMERS - High customer satisfaction with astronomical telescopes. Our telescopes are designed for children and adults, for beginners and professionals. Enjoy the sky at its best, only with the best astronomy telescope from Amazon catalog. If you are not satisfied, you will get your money back!

TOP Choice #3 Celestron Compact and Portable Telescope
Our Score:
9.5
Celestron
4 ToyerBee Portable Telescope
Our Score:
9.4
ToyerBee

Adjustable Tripod: With an adjustable tripod, our astronomical telescope’s height can adjust from 16’’ to 46’’, which can adapt to different view positions. It’s also convenient to be carried when you go out and travel.

Satisfaction Service: A 3-year customer service is offered by ToyerBee. Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions about our telescopes and service.

70mm Large Aperture: The telescope is equipped with a 70mm large aperture objective lens which makes the images brighter and clearer. The bigger the aperture is, the bigger the field of vision will be, so you can see clearer images. Professional telescope can help adults&kids view the planets and moon.

Wireless Remote: ToyerBee telescope set includes one smartphone adapter and one wireless camera remote to explore the nature of the world easily through the screen. You can take some amazing photos to share with your friends. The telescope is a great astronomy gift to send the astronomy enthusiasts and 8-12 kids.

15X-150X Magnification: Our refractor telescope is equipped with two eyepieces (H20mm and H6mm) and a 3X Barlow lens. The 3x Barlow lens trebles the magnifying power of each eyepiece. So you can get magnification from 15X to 150X. Whether watching stars and moon at night or observing planets, ToyerBee telescope is the best helper for kids & adults & astronomy beginners.

5 SARBLUE Cassegrain Telescope
Our Score:
9.2
SARBLUE

【Satisfaction】This Mak telescope that combines power and simplicity requires no-tool super easy setup. It's a perfect gift for kids or adults astronomy beginners. You will also receive one-year hassel-free warranty and 24-hour friendly customer service.

【See How It Works Inside】The ingenious design of the detachable lid reveals the internal construction of the telescope and helps you understand how it works. Make it an appealing educational kit for the young minds. But keep in mind not to touch the mirrors with your fingers and avoid making it dusty.

【Compact and Portable】Maksutov-Cassegrain mechanism makes this telescope much more compact than a equivalent refractor or Newtonian. With a long focal length of 750mm, the tube length is only 200mm. Easy to pack and go on a adventure anytime.

【Superior Eyepiece】The included high-quality 20mm eyepiece brings 37.5X magnification, providing high-power sharp views on distant objects. You can see any targets more than 8 meters away. Accessories also include a phone adapter, a tabletop tripod and an erect-image diagonal.

【Sharp Crystal-clear Views】This beginner telescope is much more powerful than it looks! Thanks to its Maksutov-Cassegrain design, high-precision fully multi-coated optical glass lens, both spherical and chromatic abberrations are minimized. It not only delivers vivid high-contrast images for daytime viewing such as birds and wildlife, but also enables astronomical exploration including Saturn, Jupiter, craters on the Moon, etc.

6 SOLOMARK Professional Telescope
Our Score:
9.0
SOLOMARK

Compact and Portable: This telescope for adults and kids to be used together is compact, lightweight, and portable. Take the telescope to your favorite campsite or dark sky observing site, or simply the backyard.

BeginnersTelescope: The SOLOMARK 80EQ telescope is an easy-to-use and powerful telescope. The telescope to give the first-time telescope user the good combination of quality, value, features, and power.It's good choice for telescopes for astronomy beginners.

Objects to Observe:Telescopes for adults with high quality, all-glass optics deliver crisp views of the moon, the rings around Saturn, and Jupiter’s Galilean moons. Or explore Nebula, Andromeda Galaxy, and more.

Manual German Equatorial Mount: Telescopes for adults navigate the sky with our refractor telescope. It features a German Equatorial mount with a slow-motion altitude rod for smooth and accurate pointing. Adjust rod to desired position, then easily secure by tightening cross knob. This study mount features large slow-motion control knobs so you can track objects smoothly and seamlessly as they drift across the nighttime sky.

Multiple Accessories: Professional telescope features 2 eyepieces (10mm and 20mm), erect image diagonal, finderscope, 13% moon filter, a smartphone adapter, and plus a Barlow lens to triple the power of each.

7 ESSLNB Portable Telescope
Our Score:
8.9
ESSLNB

【Satisfaction Service】: We provide unlimited technical support and friendly customer service for you. If you have any questions, please feel free to let us know, we will do our best to help you in 24 hours!

【Adjustable Tripod & Phone Adapter】: The refractor telescope is available with an adjustable aluminium tripod, which can adjust the height from 16.1" to 51.6". Astronomical telescopes with phone adapter enable you take videos and images.

【High Magnification】: With latest generation of two (K6mm,K25mm) 1.25" interchangeable Kellners eyepiece, the kids telescope is better than Huygens eyepieces. 3X Barlow lens trebles the magnifying power of each eyepiece, so you can get magnification of 15X to 180X.

【70mm Large Aperture】: Equipped with 70mm aperture and 360mm focal length, telescope for adult beginners increase light transmission and provide clearer images. Fully multi-coated optical glass with high transmission coatings creates crisp images with increased brightness and clarity.

【Easy Installation】: The telescope with the detailed installation manual is easy to assemble even for astronomy beginners and kids. And the beginner telescope is easy to focus, allowing kids to quickly find targets and see clear images. Great astronomy gifts to send the amateur astronomers, kids and beginners.

8 HEXEUM Portable Telescope
Our Score:
8.7
HEXEUM

Easy To Set Up: In order to save your time. Even for novices, no tools are required to set up the telescope. quick and easy to focus. Truly realize a no-tool-set telescope.

Satisfaction Quality: lifetime maintenance. If you have any questions about the product and service, please feel free to contact us, we will do our best to help you in 24 hours!

Optimum Magnification: Our telescope for kids and adults is quipped with two replaceable excellent-quality eyepieces (25mm and 10mm) for 24X and 60X magnification. 3x Barlow lens trebles the magnifying power of each eyepiece. magnificate moon up to 72 or 180 times. Also with 5x24 finder scope makes locating objects easy.

Excellent Quality Optics: This telescope is 600mm(f/6.7) focal length and 80mm aperture, 80mm aperture to capture more light picture and multi-fully high transmission coated all-optical lens enhance image brightness and clarity. 18

Portable And Convenient: Comes with a phone adapter and an adjustable aluminum tripod. Wireless remote control and carrying bag make it easier for you portable and capture amazing images.

9 SOLOMARK Telescope
Our Score:
8.4
SOLOMARK

【Stable Tripod】The telescope comes with a high-quality large diameter adjustable aluminum alloy tripod. Extra a tray is attached for storing small temporary attachment. The tripod stable structure stable enable you to Locate celestial objects smoothly and accurately.

【High Quality Optics】The telescope adopts a sturdy and light fram structure, the carbon fiber was covering on the telescope surface, sophisticated technology. Objective lens features fully-coated glass optics, it can improve the optical system performance of astronomical telescopes, help you observe brighter, more detailed planets.

【Multiple Accessories】Come with 2 High-quality Eyepieces, a 1.5X Erecting Barlow Lens, a 1.25" 13% Transmission Moon Filter, a Cellphone Adapter. The telescope contains all the accessories you need to observe. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us, we will do our best to help you in 24 hours.

【German Equatorial Mount】German Equatorial with dial and fine-turned control cables. Adjust rod to desired position, then easily secure by tightening knob. Precise positioning and fast tracking of celestial bodies make your observation more stable. You can enjoy the amazing process of manual tracking of the moon and planets.

【130mm Large Aperture】Large aperture 130mm telescope, high resolution, good light collecting ability, imaging brighter, more suitable for the observation of deep space celestial objective.

10 LAKWAR Telescope
Our Score:
8.3
LAKWAR

Lightweight and easy to assemble for a "grab and go" experience

Supplied with everything beginners need for great tours of the night sky, including three eyepieces, a smartphone adapter, a 5x finder and a 3x Barlow lens

Looking for a telescope for a young skywatcher? Here's the top budget-friendly picks for viewing the planets, galaxies and more

Comes with a 90-degree erect image diagonal with a 1.25-inch fitting that makes the telescope suitable for terrestrial and celestial views

The overall build is of a good quality, especially given the sturdy aluminum tripod

What Factors Should You Consider While Choosing best telescope for moon photography?

Getting to the best decision for a product purchase may take a bit of time. In a nutshell, we're available to serve you with your product problems at all hours of the day and night!

You can rest assured if you consider the following points before selecting best telescope for moon photography:

Aperture

This aperture is recognizable by photographers. It controls how much light enters the telescope, just like on a manual camera. The aperture is the diameter of either the primary or lens mirror. A telescope with a larger aperture will draw more light, which can result in deeper views. The most important spec to be aware of is F-ratio. For wide-field observation and photography, low f-ratios such as f/4 and f/5 are best. However, high f-ratios such as f/15 make deep-space objects and nebulae easier to capture and see. Both can be done with midpoint f-ratios.

Optical Design

There are many optical options for telescopes. These include reflectors and refractors as well as compound telescopes. Each telescope has its strengths and weaknesses. Refractors are my favorite type of telescope from an astrophotography standpoint, but they might not be the best choice for beginners.
Three types of optics are available for consumer telescopes. They will assist you in achieving three different goals. Refractor telescopes make it easy to focus celestial bodies such as the moon and nearby planets using a variety of glass lenses. Refractor telescopes, also known as Newtonian scopes after their inventor Sir Isaac Newton, swap lenses for mirrors. This allows stargazers to see further into space. The versatile compound telescope combines both of these methods with a compact, portable design that puts it right in the middle.

Portability And Weight

A telescope that is easy to transport and set up takes would be a good choice. You will be less motivated to use your telescope when it is set up and taking too much time.
You'll find it difficult to take a heavy, bulky telescope outside when the temperatures drop. Advanced amateur astronomers build observatories at home to keep their large telescopes up at all times.
Extra-large mounts and telescopes are not recommended for those with health problems or who cannot lift heavy objects. It is better to choose something smaller and lighter. It will be more useful.

Objective

The objective is the main light-collecting element of a telescope. A larger objective will allow for greater detail and reveal smaller targets. A reflector design makes it possible to have a larger telescope objective for a more affordable price. However, a refractor with the same size would be expensive.

Mount

There are many types of telescope mounts available. Some even have computerized models that track and follow the movement of the skies. A sturdy Dobsonian or altazimuth mount will make stargazing enjoyable. Telescopes not mounted on a computerized mount should not be moved or adjusted for focus.
An equatorial tracking mounting mount is necessary for astrophotography. The telescope will track objects in night sky when it is properly polar aligned. This will "freeze" an object in space, allowing for long exposure photographs.

Eyepieces

There are many telescope eyepieces on the market. There are many options for magnification and viewing angles. A set of telescope eyepieces allows you to see large areas of the night sky and high magnification views on planets. If taken care of properly, a quality telescope eyepiece will last a lifetime.

FAQs

What kind of telescope do I need to take photos of the moon?

A telescope with at least a 4-inch aperture is recommended for moon photography. A larger aperture will allow more light to enter the telescope, giving you a brighter and more detailed image. Additionally, a motorized mount or tracking system will help you keep the moon in the field of view while you take photos.

How do I focus my telescope for moon photography?

Focusing your telescope for moon photography is a two-step process. First, use the focuser knob on the telescope to bring the moon into focus. Then, use the eyepiece to fine-tune the focus until the moon appears sharp.

What settings should I use on my camera for moon photography?

When taking photos of the moon, it’s best to use a fast shutter speed (1/500th of a second or faster) and a low ISO setting (100 or lower). Additionally, you should use a long focal length and a wide aperture (f/5.6 or lower) to maximize the amount of light entering the telescope.

What type of adapter do I need to connect my camera to the telescope?

The type of adapter you need depends on the type of camera and telescope you are using. Generally, you will need a T-ring adapter for SLR cameras and a camera-specific adapter for mirrorless cameras.

In general, product information and news are now available to users. In addition, as previously said, the Internet is constantly updated with new technology. Thus, customers will need to be informed so please subscribe to our newsletter or visit our website frequently to check the latest information.

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About Sara Ryan

Sara Ryan

Sara Ryan is a freelance writer for CampFireHQ and avid diver. She first discovered her love for diving while on vacation in the Caribbean and has been hooked ever since. Sara loves exploring new dive sites and observing the fascinating creatures that live beneath the waves. As a native of Colorado, Sara enjoys spending her free time hiking and camping in the beautiful Rocky Mountains. She also enjoys writing about her adventures in diving and wildlife conservation.

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