Fabulous complete astronomy starter kit featuring the Novosibirsk Leonid LS110 110mm (4.5") Classic Newtonian reflecting telescope and a host of accessories to get anyone, young or old, started in the truly fascinating hobby of astronomy!

This classic Russian made telescope has led literally thousands of users young and old to astronomy. Some have later turned a hobby in to a career and many have a Novosibirsk telescope to thank for the inspiration. It's hardly surprising when you see the quality of the instrument. Speak to a gathering of astronomers almost anywhere in the world and the odds are well over a quarter of them will have owned a Novosibirsk telescope at one time or another - and even the astronomers who have advanced beyond the basic models remember the telescopes affectionately as one of the finest instruments they ever owned.

Scopes'n'Skies are proud to offer this exclusive Russian made telescope celebrating over 25 years of telescope production at the Novasibirsk factory. The the Leonid LS110 is exclusive to us and is not available elsewhere and features great accessories not found on standard (TAL) models.

The Leonid LS110 (named in recognition of the man behind its design, Leonid Sikoruk) is a superbly appointed instrument to get started in astronomy.

The LS110 has a superb 110mm large aperture primary mirror and comes supplied with a superbly well-engineered German equatorial mounting (see photo)with super smooth manual slow-motion hand controls on each axis and a rigid steel field pedestal with anti-vibration pads on the feet(just the mount and pedestal is amazing and looks like it would cost £200 on its own!).

The LS110's equatorial mount is suburb and we can't praise it enough. Equatorial mounting is the best way to mount this type of telescope, for high powered viewing the facility to compensate for the rotation of the Earth by turning just one knob is truly invaluable. The mount features two ball-bearings on each shaft and a unique latching system to attach the main tube to the mount - making the telescope easy to set up for an observing session.

Supplied with the unique LS110 kit are two excellent eyepieces - 10mm, and 25mm (see photo and below for full specification) giving a useful range of magnifications from high to medium and lower power. A useful and convenient eyepiece and accessory storage tray. The equipment tray fits under the mounting head and offers safe storage for the eyepieces and other accessories and keeps them within reach for easy selection in the dark.

The instruction manual is illustrated, and if this is not enough guidance we have included TV astronomer Robin Scagell's Stargazing with a Telescope FREE. This 192-page fully illustrated book is a great read and will guide the new telescope user in the methods of telescopic observation. It also introduces many of the fantastic targets that can be seen from UK back gardens. We've also included (see FREE offer above) a wall map, a year-round star finder guide.

To help find your way among the stars and constellations there's a 6x30 optical finder! 6x30 finder - it's a well made mini-telescope with what looks like a snipers sight in the eyepiece - simply place cross hairs on the target you wish to look at! To help get your directions right there's even a magnetic compass included.

To make the best use of the 6x30 finder the kit also includes a fantastic 290mm (11.5") FREE Philip's Planisphere (to identify the stars and constellations from your back-garden any hour of the night. The Planisphere is made of flexible plastic to make it water-proof and hard wearing. It's probably the most popular sky and star guide in the world and most astronomers discover it after they get a telescope - we are making sure you get one of these excellent companions with your new scope. (the Planisphere normally sells for £7.99!)

Also included: a useful 2x Barlow lens (see photo) to allow you to double the magnification of any eyepiece used. Simply pop the eyepiece into the Barlow lens and put the combined unit into the scope as you would the eyepiece and the Barlow will increase the magnification of that eyepiece by a factor of two - it's like getting four eyepieces with the scope instead of three!

This outfit is a great astronomy starter kit - in fact, all you will need to supply is a clear night!

Telescope specifications

Primary Mirror: Glass, aluminised with silicone overcoat 110mm

Focal length: 803mm

Aperture: 110mm (f7.3)

Magnification with supplied eyepieces:

32x,64x,80x,160x.

This is achieved with the following combinations:

25mm = 32x plus Barlow = 64x, 10mm = 80x plus Barlow = 160x,

Mounting: German equatorial with dual-axis manual slow motions

So what's so great about the Novosibirsk 110 telescope kit?

Well, overlooking the fact that it has everything you need to get going (apart from a clear night that is!) The LS110 is a "classic" Newtonian telescope (Named after Sir Issac Newton it's inventor in the 17th century). It has a large-sized aperture, 110mm (four and a half inches in old money!) to achieve high resolution and very bright images, and has a useful long focal length to achieve high power magnifications without making the telescope too difficult to use.

At two or three times the price, the LS110 is a well-made scope - at our price it's extraordinary value for money. The telescope is well equipped with an optical 6x30 finder to make pointing and target finding easy) and the anti-scratch collimation rings on the finder barrel shows a nice attention to detail and user convenience.

Over and above the top specification the thing that impresses us most is the nice 'touches' that although not that important in themselves, display the attitude of the manufacturer. The clever and well made hinged bolts that hold the telescope in place are so easy to use - even in the dark. All the important screws are retained (that is they can be fully loosened but will not become detached) so the user can never lose them in the grass at night! It's a real surprise to find features like this on a scope of this low-price. The manufacturer really has spent time and money making sure this serious scope is one of the top of it's class.

Fully upgradable! One of Scopes'n'Skies strengths is supplying astronomy telescope accessories and the LS110 can be upgraded and added to in many different ways. For example, it has a standard 1.25" eyepiece holder (regarded as the hallmark of a serious telescope, by the way) allowing a wide range of additional accessories to be attached. These accessories include camera adaptors (to try your hand at astro-photography), Barlow and amplification lenses (like the one included, to increase the magnification without using short, difficult to use, eyepieces), as well as wide-angle and higher-powered specialist eyepieces and other accessories to make the telescope easier to use on terrestrial targets. But the great thing about the LS110 is that it comes with everything you need. It comes complete with a camera attachment platform that fits on to the counterbalance shaft and allows guided deep-sky photography of stars and constellations. Even safe Solar observation is made possible by a special sun-projection screen that is included in the price (see lowermost photo).

What can you see with the Leonid LS110 telescope?

One of the great advantages of the LS110 is it's sheer light-gathering power - it will deliver stunning views of even very remote galaxies and nebulea.

At low to medium power the ancient landscape of the Moon becomes a fabulously intricate panorama of craters, rays and rills. At higher powers individual crater systems can be explored in fantastic detail. The planet Mars will show many details on its surface and the polar cap can be seen during ideal observing conditions. At good observing times, when observed at just 50x or higher magnification, the planet Jupiter will appear as a banded disc, and at just 60x magnification, larger in size than you normally see the full Moon with the unaided eye! The cloud belts of Jupiter will show ever changing detail that will show drift across the planet's face in just a few minutes. The four main moons of Jupiter will be seen orbiting the giant planet, sometimes casting shadows onto Jupiter's dense cloudy atmosphere. The planet Saturn will show its magnificent ring system and its bright famous moon Titan. These are just a few of the things that can be seen in our own solar system with the 114 telescope. Outside of the solar system hundreds of gas nebulea and galaxies come within the reach of this powerful instrument.