Celestron 21036 PowerSeeker 70AZ Telescope

Product Information

You can see many large celestial objects within our solar system with the Celestron PowerSeeker 70az, but you won’t be able to view Neptune or Pluto. So now let’s switch to astronomy; you buy them a great book on astronomy and a cool map showing where some amazing objects are, then you give them a telescope that even when used by a professional could not identify a car across a football field much less the planet Jupiter in the night sky. It wobbles, it’s blurry, and it is extremely hard to navigate. What do you think their reaction would be? Don’t let the limitations of this entry-level telescope discourage you from exploring the night sky and discovering new celestial objects. The Celestron AstroMaster 70AZ Telescope is a great telescope for beginners who are interested in observing the solar system, including Jupiter and its moons. However, it may not be suitable for more advanced users who want to observe deep-space objects. It’s clear that the AstroMaster offers a little bit more for your viewing experience with this particular feature, and you may not get much out of the 4mm on the PowerSeeker.

Other measurements such as the PV and RMS are important too. With these measurements, the lower the number the better as it shows less curvature on the lens. The flatter an optical lens, the better it will perform. The PV rating (Peak To Valley) is a measurement from the highest point (Peak) to the lowest point (Valley). From this we get the RMS (Root, Mean, Square). This is a similar figure to the PV and measured exactly the same way. The RMS is basically an average height difference from the PV so again, the lower the better. As you can see form the example below, we measured an RMS of just 0.027 wave which is a very good value. Comparing the Celestron Powerseeker 70AZ to something like a Celestron Powerseeker 127eq reflector telescope it does not require near the cool down time (the 127eq has two mirrors which need to acclimate to the outside temperature before use or extremely blurry images could result) and requires no maintenance or adjustments such as the collimation required by the 127eq. The 127eq also requires learning how to use an equatorial telescope mount whereas the alt/az mount on the 70AZ is pretty much intuitive even to children with no experience. This makes the Celestron Powerseeker 70AZ a better choice for kids and first time telescope users. Using the scope It’s also important to note that due to this telescope’s shorter magnification range, you may not be able to see as much detail as you would with the PowerSeeker. A red dot finder, unlike an optical finder, has 1x magnification, displays a super wide field of view, and keeps the sky right side up and left-to-right correct, matching what you see with your unaided eyes. An LED creates a red dot, superimposed on a viewing screen, so you simply point the StarPointer to the area or object you wish to observe, look through your eyepiece, and if properly aligned, the area in and around place you pointed the red dot will be centered in the field of view. Once the Zygo test report has been completed, the optical alignment is thoroughly tested and tuned to ensure they are spot on before they leave us.A few users claim that the tripod is too lightweight to be stable, but others say that it is suitable if you can balance it properly. It’s important to understand the capabilities of a telescope’s focal length as it’ll tell you what you can expect when you look through the eyepiece. From the minute you unbox the Celestron Powerseeker 70AZ you can tell it is a much better telescope than those cheap department store models. Setup is pretty easy and straight forward consisting of a few thumb screws and requiring no tools. On top of that, the AstroMaster 70az also comes with a 10mm eyepiece, and the PowerSeeker 70az includes a 4mm eyepiece.

It always comes down to exactly what you’re looking for in the depths of outer space, and knowing this will help you hone in on the perfect telescope. Cost The differences between the Celestron AstroMaster 70az vs PowerSeeker 70az are mainly the focal length, magnificent and focal ratio. Thus, both telescopes will provide a different viewing experience and what you can hope to see. Focal Length Unless it’s extremely cheap and you’re willing to deal with its shortcomings, a used Celestron PowerSeeker 70AZ is probably a waste of your time and money. Aftermarket Accessory Recommendations I am not really a fan of the finder but it serves it’s purpose fairly well. Like all finders, be sure you set it up during the day using a far away object such as the top of a telephone pole, water tower antenna, etc. Once it is adjusted it is acceptable. Of course, no telescope in this price range has a good finder because that would take money away from making the actual telescope better and we do not want that. You can do without a finder, but a terrible quality main telescope will just make the whole thing a waste of money, and the Celestron Powerseeker 70AZ is certainly not a waste. Final thoughts While it may have some limitations when it comes to deep space observations, it’s easy assembly and natural-looking views make it worth considering for those starting out in astronomy.

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Great for beginners or anyone looking to shop on a budget, the telescopes have plenty to offer, considering the cost. The scope also touts itself as coming with astronomy/planetarium software. This software is outdated and can be easily dispensed with by the free software program Stellarium. The Mount with 70AZ

Assembling the telescope is very easy and takes around 5-10 minutes and anyone can do it, without the need of any additional tools.The included diagonal is an Amici design, shaped like a handle after Celestron noticed that people tend to grab the diagonal as such during product testing. It works fine and presents correct left-right and up-down images for terrestrial viewing. However, this is not really useful for astronomical viewing and the Amici prism absorbs light, making for a dimmer image at the eyepiece. The accessories are just disappointing. If the accessories were just decent, I would easily recommend this telescope. But they are not. They are complete garbage and useless.

The PowerSeeker can capture most objects in our solar system as well. Its main difference here is that it comes with better magnification.

Final Verdict

That first telescope is much more important that most parents realize as it can help foster an interest in astronomy and science in general, or completely destroy the child’s interest. You probably wonder how that could be, and that is an excellent question. You will be hard pressed to find a better first telescope for a beginning astronomer. I really like to recommend the Celestron Powerseeker 70AZ because it is inexpensive, light weight, breaks down and stores small, requires no maintenance and provides more than adequate views of the most popular objects in the night sky.