Jack wrote:

On Celestron's website, I came across the C-65 Spotting Scope which
was cheap to say the least ( less than £100 ) but with the capability
of 30, 60 and 90 power.

I always thought that the more power you wanted, the more you have to
pay ( understandable, considering some of the rubbish on the market ).

Magnifying power is really dependant on the aperture of the scope. As a
general rule, you can use 50x magnification per inch of aperture - to
keep the imaging at a useful level. However, this is really a
terrestrial scope, and not so well suited for astronomy. For a styart
it'll have a correcting prism to make the image upright, this in itself
loses a little light transmission.

So, is this item deliberately aimed at the uninitiated or are the
claims of such a high power genuine?

On this scope, I would say Celestron are probably being quite accurate
at 90x, being within the performance limits of such a scope.
Theoretically it could go to about 140x at its limit, but you probably
wouldn't see much at that power on a small scope. It's also very small
for a Maksutov. I have a 105mm one here, and that is about as small as
I'd want for some reasonable sky watching.

At the moment, I have a huge pair of binoculars I purchased from
Strathspey - they are extremely good at viewing the heavens but being
impossibly heavy, they are not portable and so I can't really take
them where I can get a decent shufty at the night sky ( Death Valley,
California ).

The larger binoculars are better mounted on a tripod. I have the
Celestron 15x70s (the same basic bins as the Strathspey), which are also
heavy, although I can hold them by hand for a short time, you can start
to wobble after a while.

So, is the C-65 any good or do I buy some very good but lightweight
binoculars?

Personally I'd forget the C65, it's not really designed for astronomy -
you *can* use it for sure, but you'll see more with a dedicated astro
scope. If you shop around you can get some bargains - I recently got a
6" Dobsonian for only a little over £100.

Otherwise, stick with the bins - if you want something a little light,
on a budget, then the Bressers that often come up at Lidls are worth a
shot.

--
Andy Hewitt
http://web.mac.com/andrewhewitt1/