The Celestron EclipSmart Travel Solar Scope 50 has never been more relevant. With North America on the verge of two solar eclipses a ‘ring of fireside’ annular on Oct. 14, 2023, and a complete on Apr. 8, 2024 sales of solar eclipse equipment are on the uptick. Nevertheless, for those after some magnification, there’s a selection — a pair of solar binoculars or a solar telescope.
Firmly within the latter category, the Celestron EclipSmart Travel Solar Scope 50 also ships with a backpack, which is able to appeal to eclipse-chasers heading off on a road trip for either (or each) eclipses. Even without the eclipses, the Celestron EclipSmart Travel Solar Scope 50 arrives when the sun is reaching solar maximum, with sunspots visible across its surface every day.
A travel-friendly solar telescope that provides as much as 18x magnification, very useful when observing sunspots, the Celestron EclipSmart Travel Solar Scope 50 has a everlasting solar filter across its optics.
That ensures that there can’t be any mistakes made in leaving solar filters on or off, making this selection for kids (in addition to forgetful adults). Nevertheless, it’s also best seen as a handy all-in-one that doesn’t require another accessories. Here’s all the things that you must know concerning the Celestron EclipSmart Travel Solar Scope 50 solar telescope.
Celestron EclipSmart Travel Solar Scope 50 review
Celestron EclipSmart Travel Solar Scope 50: Design
- Shaky tripod and fragile construct quality
- Alt-azimuth mount
- Meets safety standard ISO 12312-2
The Celestron EclipSmart Travel Solar Scope 50 is geared toward those that want an all-in-one solar telescope only for infrequent and casual use. In any case, this refractor’s optics are permanently covered by a glass solar filter that can not be removed. That makes it secure, but hugely restricts this product by way of what it will probably used for.
The Celestron EclipSmart Travel Solar Scope 50 will be arrange in minutes. Half the backpack it ships in is taken up by a tripod, a light-weight aluminum affair that weighs just 1.1 lbs/500g. It feels flimsy and fragile. It connects to the telescope using a typical 1/4-inch-20 thread tripod thread, so will be very easily swapped out.
Specifications
Optical design: Refractor
Aperture: 2-inch/50mm
Focal length: 4-inch/360mm
Focal ratio: f/7.2
Eyepiece focal length: 0.8 inch/20mm (18x)
Total kit weight: 2 lbs/918g
Mount type: Manual alt-azimuth
The star attraction, in fact, is the non-removable glass solar filter that matches across the front of the achromatic doublet objective lens at the tip of the telescope tube. It meets the ISO 12312-2 standard, blocking infrared (IR), ultraviolet (UV and 99.99% of visible sunlight.
Also within the box is a 20mm Kellner eyepiece that offers 18x magnification in addition to a star diagonal. The latter means you don’t need to stoop at the tip of the telescope tube and may essentially take a look at the sun while sitting down behind it.
Because the Celestron EclipSmart Travel Solar Scope 50 has been designed to travel well, the small fabric backpack also included is crucial. It includes hook and loop straps to carry down the telescope tube and tripod, with a zipped pocket for the eyepiece and star diagonal.
Celestron EclipSmart Travel Solar Scope 50: Performance
- Blue-ish-white views of the solar disk
- Crisp images
- Very minor color fringing
Even though it’s low-priced, small and designed primarily for infrequent use and portability, we had high hopes for the Celestron EclipSmart Travel Solar Scope 50. That’s since it’s a refractor telescope known for barely sharper views of the sun’s disk than reflector telescopes.
With the sun’s disk firmly in its crosshairs the solar surface takes on a crisp blueish-white appearance. During my observing sessions, we watched a cluster of sunspots including AR 3418, AR 3421 and AR 3422 and were capable of see detail inside and around them.
The 18x magnification proved to be just high-quality for observing outstanding sunspots and for following an eclipse, though only in the event you can the Celestron EclipSmart Travel Solar Scope 50 perfectly still. On a still day and with it on a tough surface that was no problem in any respect, though any form of wind brings trouble. I did notice a really slight blue line across the top of the sun and a yellow line below, but the difficulty was trivial.
Celestron EclipSmart Travel Solar Scope 50: Functionality
- Easy to seek out the sun
- Bullseye-style finderscope
- Tripod can struggle
Celestron EclipSmart Travel Solar Scope 50
Keeping it trained on the sun is a bit of harder. The primary problem is that the sun appears to maneuver because the Earth rotates, in fact, but contributing to it’s the Celestron EclipSmart Travel Solar Scope 50’s alt-azimuth mount and poor-quality tripod.
Keeping the sun within the telescope’s crosshairs is all the way down to its basic pan-and-tilt high-quality control — one knob and one twisting lever, but there’s lots of droop involved that makes it difficult to lock in position. It demands constant attention. A basic photographic product, the tripod is wobbly in any form of wind. A lot in order that it might be smart to as an alternative pair it with one in every of the best tripods to get a much steadier view. Because the telescope is so lightweight you would even use only a small tabletop tripod.
Do you have to buy the Celestron EclipSmart Travel Solar Scope 50?
The Celestron EclipSmart Travel Solar Scope 50 solar telescope is for a really particular form of eclipse-chaser. Go see an eclipse with experienced observers and also you’ll see a combination of individuals with expensive telescopes — many for photographic purposes and others completely happy to look at through solar eclipse glasses.
The Celestron EclipSmart Travel Solar Scope 50, isn’t good for images (we tried to make use of a smartphone across the eyepiece, but the outcomes were poor). It’s also obviously loads bulkier than a pair of cardboard solar eclipse glasses, but in comparison with another telescope is exceedingly lightweight.
You could possibly as an alternative just use any refractor telescope and make your individual solar filter using Baader AstroSolar safety film, but we predict the Celestron EclipSmart Travel Solar Scope 50 solar telescope has a spot.
Appealing to the casual user wanting a fuss-free (and secure) close-up during a solar eclipse and maybe an occasional view of sunspots on the sun, the low-priced Celestron EclipSmart Travel Solar Scope 50 solar telescope has weak points but overall is nice value. If nothing more it’s a travel-friendly way of getting more from our star than simply sunshine.
If the Celestron EclipSmart Travel Solar Scope 50 is not for you
Although the Celestron EclipSmart Travel Solar Scope 50 solar telescope is the one such product in Celestron’s EclipSmart range, it also includes 10×25, 10×42, 12×50 and 20×50 solar eclipse binoculars. An obvious rival to the Celestron EclipSmart Travel Solar Scope 50 solar telescope is the much pricier Lunt LS50THa/B600PT hydrogen-alpha solar telescope, which allows you to see only a really narrow bandwidth of sunshine. This enables views of the sun’s chromosphere where solar prominences occur. It also has a 2-inch/50mm aperture and travels easily.