Celestron Firstscope 76 EQ 76mm (3") Newtonian Reflector Telescope.

Newtonian reflector telescopes offer a number of excellent features including
• Freedom from most optical aberrations and delivery of very bright images.
• Reasonably compact and portable to focal lengths of 1000mm
• Excellent performance observing faint deep-sky objects such as nebulae, remote galaxies and star clusters.
• Lowest cost per square inch of aperture due to use of mirrors rather than lenses.

The FirstScope 76 is a fine instrument for the beginning observer. It offers many of the advantages of the Newtonian design at a 3" aperture.

The superb optics of this telescope offer dazzling images of the moon; Saturn and its rings; Jupiter, with its belts and moons; and hundreds of deep-sky objects, including galaxies, nebulae and star clusters. The optical tube is glossy black.

This model uses the German equatorial mount with setting circles and slow motion controls on both the right ascension (R.A.) and declination (DEC.) axes. These features make it easier to locate and track objects.

While observing, you'll notice that as the earth rotates on its axis, stationary stars appear to move across the sky. Thus, due to the earth's rotation, the object you're viewing will drift out of view in both axes, over time. A telescope on an equatorial mount can be aimed at a celestial object and guided with the slow motion controls to follow the object across the sky and keep it in the field of view of your telescope.