Reviews – Astronomy Now

Binoculars to boost your night-sky viewing

10 June 2025 Astronomy Now

These pocket-sized binoculars transport the observer into a sea of stars covering a wide expanse of space.

Omegon’s Advanced X N 152mm Dobsonian

13 February 2025 Steve Ringwood

A new series of Dobsonians are now available from Omegon. Steve Ringwood took the 152mm-aperture model for a spin, and found that as an all-rounder, it handled expertly.

Celestron RASA 8 astrograph: fast imaging with the RASA 8

22 February 2024 Astronomy Now

Olly Penrice has spent over a year imaging with a Celestron Rowe–Ackermann Schmidt Astrograph (RASA) and finds that, with some fiddling required, it excels at capturing high-quality data of deep-sky objects.

Vaonis Vespera. The observing station that’s an electronic marvel

4 January 2024 Ade Ashford

Four years after their debut product Stellina, Vaonis launches the world’s lightest fully computerised telescope-camera. Ade Ashford puts it through its paces.

Reviewed: Sky-Watcher Star Adventurer GTI

18 December 2023 Astronomy Now

Sky-Watcher’s range of star trackers, called Star Adventurer, have been popular. The original Star Adventurer was released in 2014, running off an external 5V supply or four AA batteries, motorised and guiding in RA only.

Celestron StarSense Explorer 254mm Dobsonian

6 December 2023 Steve Kelly

Ade Ashford evaluates the first Dobsonian telescope to use your smartphone for real-time star alignment and object location. How does it work? Brilliantly!

William Optics Redcat71

21 November 2023 Steve Ringwood

The RedCat71 from William Optics is the new kid on the block aiming to serve this need, and courtesy of First Light Optics, I looked forward to seeing if it delivered.

Buyers’ guide: The best equatorial mounts

6 November 2023 Astronomy Now

Before looking at a sample of equatorial (EQ) mounts on the market, we should answer three questions: what are they, why are they important and what makes some of them so astonishingly expensive?

Unistellar return with a sequel to the original eVscope

30 October 2023 Ade Ashford

Headquartered in the sun-drenched Mediterranean coastal city of Marseille in southern France, Unistellar manufactures technologically advanced telescopes that eschew conventional optical designs in favour of a hybrid opto-electronic approach.

Antlia ALP-T 5nm dual-band filter

27 October 2023 Astronomy Now

Nik Szymanek tests a new dual-passband filter from Antlia that allows imagers to simultaneously capture narrowband data in hydrogen-alpha and oxygen-III light.