Bresser Polaris I 102/460 EQ3 Refractor Telescope

Get an easy start in astronomy – with the fast beginner's telescope, which comes with extensive accessories and makes a good travel telescope

Complete set of telescope, tripod, mount & accessories.
Easy-to-use lens telescope for beginners
Telescope aperture: 102 mm / Focal length: 460 mm
Ideal for ''walks'' through the Milky Way
Easy to transport and good as a travel telescope
Astrophotos with smartphone possible
Plenty of accessories to get started right away
With safe aperture solar filter

The view of the night sky holds countless fascinating sights in store for us. The BRESSER Polaris-I 102/460 EQ3 lens telescope comes with everything you need for a quick and easy start in astronomy: an astronomical lens telescope with 102 mm aperture and 460 mm focal length, an equatorial mount, a tripod and a wide range of accessories. The system is extremely easy to handle - perfect for newcomers to the exciting hobby of astronomy. Moreover, due to its compact dimensions, the entry-level telescope is ideally suited as a travel telescope. So find the perfect observation site and enjoy an exciting ''walk'' through the Milky Way.

Classic telescope for a new generation of stargazers – the telescope
Children and beginners in particular benefit from the classic design of this lens telescope, which is also called an achromatic refractor according to Fraunhofer. This is mainly due to its easy handling – ideal for your fist steps in celestial observation. The entry-level telescope owes its good imaging properties to the optics’ modern, precise coating.

The 102 mm aperture already collects a lot of light from the celestial objects. But it is due to the very short focal ratio (ratio of 102 mm aperture and 460 mm focal length) of about 1 to 4.5 (F/4.5) that you can enjoy an extra-bright image. Another advantage of the combination of short focal length and fast focal ratio: the beginner's telescope shows you the details in the Milky Way and extended gas nebulae such as the North America Nebula NGC 7000 particularly impressively. This makes a ''trip'' through the Milky Way with low magnification so much fun. However, the telescope will also give you a lot of pleasure while travelling on Earth, because it is very compact and thus perfect as a travel telescope.

And what about the magnification? Here, too, the aperture of 102 mm shows its effect: It gives the telescope a resolving power that easily allows magnifications of up to about 200x with sharp images. From a purely technical point of view, this is by no means the limit – with the included accessories, you can theoretically magnify up to 345x. The image sharpness can slowly decrease with increasing magnification, though. However, the degree of magnification achievable does not only depend on your telescope. The air turbulence in the atmosphere (seeing conditions) also influences your astronomical observations.

Set up, align, start marvelling – mount and tripod
Found the perfect location for your observations? Then attach the telescope tube to the eight-adjustable aluminium tripod with equatorial mount and off you go. The special advantage of equatorial mounts: Unlike with an azimuthal mount, you don't need to move both axes at the same time. Instead, you align one axis parallel to the Earth's axis by pointing it approximately at the polar star. Then you simply track the movement of the celestial bodies just on this one axis.

Because you move the axes via two flexible shafts with fine adjustment, you can adjust and track the beginner's telescope very precisely and comfortably. And for quick access to all your accessories, simply place them on the tray between the tripod legs.

Keep track of things automatically: For this telescope’s equatorial EQ-3 mount, the tracking motor with item number 4951400 is available as an optional accessory. This eliminates the need to manually track a celestial object set in the telescope. When this motor is installed at the mount, it automatically tracks the celestial object, keeping it in the field of view of the eyepiece. This makes observing the night sky even more comfortable!

Must-haves for star observation – the accessories
In order for you to start stargazing right away, the astronomy set comes with many accessories. With the LED viewfinder, you can easily keep track of the sky. Just install the viewfinder parallel to the actual telescope and it projects a red dot onto a small ground-glass screen. When you look through it, this dot appears to be floating in front of the sky. Not just anywhere, but exactly at the point at which your telescope aperture is currently pointing. This allows you to align your telescope more precisely and find the celestial objects you have chosen for your night-time exploration much more easily.

As with everything else, a change of perspective is always fun. Therefore, the two eyepieces (4 mm and 20 mm) allow you to view the objects in different magnifications – and thus enjoy completely different views. You want to see even more details? Then triple the magnification of the eyepieces with the 3x Barlow lens. The telescope for beginners is also flexible when it comes to upgrades: the diameter of the sockets is 31.7 mm (1.25 inches), which is an international standard that applies to all manufacturers. So you can choose from a large variety of additionally available eyepieces.

In order for you to explore the universe with ease, the 90-degree star diagonal mirror always offers a comfortable view into the beginner’s telescope. Even if the telescope is pointed vertically upwards into the sky, you simply look in from the side – and just enjoy the view.

But it is not only at night that the sky attracts our attention with spectacular highlights. In the daytime sky, our nearest star is particularly worth seeing. You can observe it completely safely using the solar filter. You will be amazed once you take a closer look at the sunspots and the granulation on the Sun.
CAUTION: Never point the telescope at the Sun without the solar filter!

Capture your favourite moments of sky observation. You can easily take your first steps in astrophotography by using the smartphone camera adapter – for impressive snapshots of the Sun and Moon, for example.

Set off on your very own voyage of discovery to the Sun, Moon and through the Milky Way – with the BRESSER Polaris-I 102/460 EQ3 refractor telescope.

FEATURES
Telescope for beginners with 102 mm aperture and 460 mm focal length
Achromatic refractor type Fraunhofer
Ideal for observing the Milky Way and extended gas nebulae at low magnifications
Height-adjustable tripod with equatorial EQ3 mount
Easy to use, very good for beginners
Focal ratio F/4.5, therefore very fast and bright image
Very compact, therefore good as a travel telescope
50.8 mm (2 inch) focuser with adapter to 31.7 mm (1.25 inch)
Two eyepieces and one Barlow lens with 31.7 mm (1.25 inch) sockets for different magnifications
Safe solar observation with the included solar filter
Entry into astrophotography with smartphone camera adapter

SCOPE OF DELIVERY
Lens telescope
Aluminium tripod
Equatorial EQ3 mount
Eyepieces: 4 mm and 20 mm (1.25 inch sockets)
Barlow lens 3x (1.25 inch socket)
Star diagonal mirror
LED illuminated dot finder
Solar filter
Smartphone camera adapter
Accessory tray
Astronomy software download
Instruction manual

Some items that are showing as in stock are in stock at our holding warehouses, not at the shop. To double check the stock levels at the shop, please contact us on 01909774369 or sales@rothervalleyoptics.co.uk.

The delivery times for most items is 1 - 2 days but again, please double check stock levels on important orders before placing an order via the website.

The delivery costs for courier next day are for mainland UK only. If you live in the Scottish Highlands/Islands, Channel Islands or Northern Ireland, then a shipping surchage will apply. please contact us for prices. Smaller items can still go 1st class via Royal Mail.

Please note that if you are wanting to take advantage of our Saturday and Sunday timed services or next day pre 12 or pre 10:30 services, you MUST check that the stock is here at the shop before placing orders. Also, orders using the Saturday and Sunday services must be placed before 1pm the previous working day. Also, please remember to check that the stock is here at the shop before placing orders. If the stock is not at the shop, we won't be able to ship on any of the timed services. 

Please note International customers will need to contact us for a shipping price prior to ordering via the website. We don't ship all items internationally. It is at our discretion what we ship outside of the UK. This all depends on the size and weight of the items. Please get in touch with us for any postage costs. Please note we do NOT ship telescopes or heavy items outside of the UK. This is due to massive postage costs and problems regarding returns.

If you have any questions regarding stock levels or delivery, please get in touch.

Zygo Interferometer Testing For ED Refractor Telescopes!

We are extremely pleased to announce our Zygo Interferometer is now installed and ready for use! Our experienced staff can test refractor lenses up to 120mm aperture and provide a comprehensive 2 page report showing the optical quality and Strehl ratio, plus much more information. We are using the very latest Zygo MX software to provide a more detailed report compared to other standard reports.

The interferometer is essentially a measuring instrument. Within the interferometer is a calibrated laser that is pointed through the optical test surface, then onto a high quality reference sphere, then back through the test subject then to an internal camera which gives us the measurement on the screen. From this, we can adjust the position of the test optic and the reference sphere to obtain a perfectly calibrated system. The more central the laser to the test optic and then on return, the better and more accurate reading and measurement we can take. This takes a lot of adjustment to get the best results from the optical surface. Once the measurement has been taken, we are provided with a series of results that show the optical quality of the surface plus other information. Continue reading for an explanation of the individual values and you can also see a test report that was done on one of our RVO Horizon 60 OTAs. 

We are offering certain telescopes with a Zygo test at an extra cost. Mainly ED doublets and triplets. All available telescopes with a Zygo test report are listed here. Just select Zygo Test Report from the drop down box at the top of the listing and we will test the optics in house and provide a full 2 page report with your scope. This will show you the optical quality of your telescope optics. We can also offer this service on your refractor telescope. Please get in touch for more details about this. 

At Rother Valley Optics, one thing we pride ourselves on is customer service and quality of our equipment. When we test your telescope, we will ensure that it is of the highest quality otherwise, we will reject the scope under our strict quality control and test another model for your peace of mind. One of the main values to look at when testing a refractor is the Strehl ratio. The higher this number, the higher quality lens you have. At Rother Valley Optics, we will guarantee the highest possible Strehl ratio for your telescope.  We will aim to provide 0.95 Strehl or higher on Takahashi, RVO Horizon, William Optics and many more! Generally, the higher the Strehl ratio, the lower the Astigmatism and Coma meaning a better image quality from your instrument. 

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.

We also measure the Power with our systems which is essentially the error from the reference sphere to the test optic. The reference sphere we use on our system is a very high quality sphere so the closer to zero the Power, the less error between the 2 elements thus ensuring a higher quality optical surface. 

You will also see some more values such as Astigmatism and Coma. Again, these are measured by the interferometer when we take measurements of the optical surface after adjustment. These are values which ideally would be at 0 but as our test optics are all curved lenses, there will always be astigmatism and coma present. The lower the number, the less of these aberations you will effectively see but with most refractors, you can buy field flatteners which will compensate for the coma anyway. The astigmatisms value is explaining the error between the symmetrical curvature of the lens. Basically, no lens will be perfectly symmetrical, the lower the astigmatism, the more symmetrical the lens surface is. 

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. 

All available telescopes are on the website at the link below and ones we've tested already that are available straight away are also listed.

https://www.rothervalleyoptics.co.uk/zygo-tested-refractors.html

Here is an example of the test what we provide. This was a test on one of our Horizon 60 ED OTA's.

For any questions about this amazing new service, please either call 01909774369 or email sales@rothervalleyoptics.co.uk.

Are you interested in this product but would like to speak to someone with some more information? Simply fill in the form below and we will get back to you as soon as we can!

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