If you are a backyard astronomer or like to go on stargazing whenever you travel or camp, you need to have the right telescope for your arsenal. It can help transform your nights of the naked eye and binocular viewing into a rich world of deep-sky objects. Aside from that, it can also give you a detailed and fresh perspective of the Moon and planets.
If you are searching for the best starter telescope that you can use to make your stargazing more enjoyable, one of the best ones that you can check out is the Meade Instruments Infinity 102mm AZ refractor telescope. It is a compact and high-quality telescope made by a trusted brand, making it easy even for young amateur astronomers to use.
Today, we’re are giving you some of the great details about the Meade Infinity 102mm AZ refractor telescope and its benefits. This way, you’ll be able to know what it has to offer.
Features and Specifications of Meade Infinity AZ Telescope
The Meade Infinity 102mm AZ Refractor Telescope has the largest aperture among the Meade Infinity Instruments’ line of refractor telescopes. It is perfect for beginners who are willing to spend a little extra on a great telescope. It is far superior compared to other telescopes for beginners and kids.
Here are some of the features and specifications that this telescope has to offer:
Optics
The Infinity 102mm telescope has a 4-inch aperture objective lens with a focal length of 600mm and a focal ratio of f/5.9. You will be surprised by its performance for an entry-level telescope.
It has a plastic dew shield on the front end of the optical tube, which prevents condensation and blocks stray light. You can also use this telescope for daytime terrestrial viewing.
Mount
This telescope comes with an altazimuth tripod, which is fully assembled and made of cast aluminum with stainless-steel tube legs. Its height can be adjusted from 33 to 51 inches. It has fairly sturdy legs that are also well-constructed.
It might slightly vibrate while focusing, but you can add a 10lb weight to the accessory tray to improve stability.
It comes with a thumbwheel screw that will secure the optical tube to the mount through a slotted piece with a rubber tread. It also has an angled panhandle used to make large up and down and side to side movements. The mount also has motion control knobs used to make fine adjustments for both axes to enable precision tracking of celestial objects.
Finder
The finder of the Infinity 102mm telescope is a battery-powered reflex sight that does not provide magnification. It features a large viewing window and an adjustable brightness knob. You can use the red dot as a guide to position the telescope in the direction of your target celestial object.
Eyepieces
This telescope comes with three quality and fully-coated 1.25″ Modified Achromat eyepieces and 2x Barlow lens. These include 26mm, 9mm, and 6.3 mm eyepieces.
The 2x Barlow lens doubles the magnification of each eyepiece to 46x, 133x, and 190x respectively. In total, you will get six different powers, which can cover a wide range from low to high magnification, which is great for beginners.
Star Diagonal
The Infinity 102mm telescope also has a 90-degree Erect-Prism Diagonal. It is an Amici prism design that corrects the image seen in the eyepiece both vertically and horizontally. This will help you use star charts easier because the image on the chart will match the image in the eyepiece.
Aside from that, it also provides a more comfortable viewing angle, specifically when the telescope is pointed towards the zenith.
Focuser
The rack and pinion focuser of this telescope is made from metal. It is well-built for an entry-level telescope. It also performs well with smooth focusing. It can fit a 2″ diagonal, which would enable the use of 2″ eyepieces.
However, keep in mind that heavier eyepieces could affect the balance of the optical tube.
Carrying Bag
The Meade Instruments Infinity AZ telescope also comes with a padded carrying bag. It can hold the optical tube and tripod mount, and other accessories with its drawstring pouch.
This is perfect if you want to observe the night sky somewhere else. You can carry it using the hand strap or shoulder strap.
Benefits of Using the Meade Infinity AZ Telescope
Here are some of the advantages that you can get from using the Meade Infinity AZ telescope:
Affordable: It is an affordable entry-level telescope that will not hurt your wallet. It is a great choice if you are looking for a gift for your child or a beginner who wants to learn how to use a telescope and observe celestial objects.
Easy to Assemble: The Meade Infinity AZ telescope is very easy to assemble. You can set it up in just 10 minutes or less without the use of any tools.
No Collimating Needed: Since it is a refracting telescope, it uses lenses and does not need collimating.
Comes with Quality Optics: This telescope has quality optics, which is great for basic viewing of celestial objects in the night sky. Aside from that, you can also utilize it for terrestrial observations.
Cons
- It includes an altazimuth mount that isn’t suitable for astrophotography. The range of motion of the mount is limited. There appear to be tiny vibrations and jerky motions if the mount is not locked or if too much pressure is exerted while nudging it.
- The Barlow lens isn’t the best in the world. It is preferable to get one or two additional eyepieces.
- This telescope can see a lot, but it pales in contrast to what can be seen with telescopes an inch or two larger. With this scope, you won’t be able to see some deep sky objects such as fainter nebulae or galaxies, but the multitude of objects you can sight will never let you down.
- The telescope, like all refractors, has chromatic aberrations.
Conclusion
We can say that the Meade Instruments Infinity 102mm AZ Telescope is a solid telescope made with durable materials. It comes with good optics, and you can use it a lot because it is simple to set up and move around.
Any astronomy enthusiast will appreciate this Meade telescope. It’s a fantastic starter scope, and aside from the mount and common eyepieces, it’s free of flaws. Plus, the set can always be updated by swapping the mount with a more durable option and attaching one or two more high-end eyepieces.
With a few planetary and lunar filters, the Infinity will provide breathtaking vistas for many nights to come.