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The Mercury 60mm telescope is now only £61.49 inculuding UK delivery!.

Classic 60mm refractor The Mercury 60 is one of our best selling astronomical telescopes. Classical refractor design and affordable pricing make this telescope the ideal entry-level instrument. Its simple, intuitive operation makes it a winner with even the youngest observers. The alt-azimuth mount allows the observer to point the optical tube simply and without fuss.

The whole telescope, tripod and accessories are supplied packed into a hard plastic case which is ideal for storage and to transport the instrument. The Mercury 60x700 is supplied complete with full-sized aluminium tripod, 1.5x erecting lens, optical finder, three eyepieces (6mm, H-12.5mm and H-20mm), accessory tray and hard storage case.

Free: two great astronomy guides To make sure you get the most from the Mercury we have included a copy of TV astronomer Robin Scagell's popular guided tour of the stars and the classic Philip's Planisphere star-finder FREE of charge (publisher's price Ģ10.49). Between them these two guides provide expert, easy-to-understand guidance on what to see in the night sky for all the seasons of the year. Fully illustrated with colour diagrams and easy-to-use star maps; the guides, together with the telescope's finder, will allow you to discover the extraordinary wonders to be found on any clear night in the skies above Britain the very first night you use the telescope!

The guides offer A month-by-month guidance for stargazers in the UK. The charts show the position of stars and other celestial objects in both northerly and southerly directions for each month of the year.

This well-written introduction explains the basic facts of astronomy.

The maps show easily recognisable naked-eye stars and hops from bright stars to simple star patterns and onto recognising major constellations.

The included guide book and Planisphere educate and inspire and round out this kit, making it an ideal introduction to the wonders of astronomy.

For more information about the included guides click on the special offer banner above.

Specification

Refracting telescope

Focal Length: 700mm

Aperture: 60mm (Primary lens diameter in mm)

Weight: 3.80kg

Brightness 93 (Light transmission factor)

Mount: Alt-azimuth type

Resolving power in arc-seconds: 2.01

Focal Ratio: f11

Stars visible up to magnitude: 9

Viewfinder: optical with cross-hair

Magnification: 35x-232x (Range of magnifications with eyepieces supplied)

Tripod: Yes - full sized aluminium field tripod

The Mercury may seem small and budget-priced but itīs power-packed and is, in our opinion, one of the the best small astronomy telescopes around for under 70 quid.

Despite the up-to-date design this telescope is a classic refractor. The heart of the Mercury is a top-quality 2.5 inch (60mm) modern achromatic two-element lens that produces pin-sharp, high-contrast images.

We realise you may be buying this as a gift, but allow us to get slightly technical for a moment.

The telescope is ready to go virtually out of the box - simply erect the garden tripod and install the optical tube. Insert an eyepiece and you are ready to explore - itīs that simple!

The Mercury 60 comes with a special erect image lens for comfortable terrestrial viewing.

Whatīs so great about the Mercury 60?

This is a great little telescope to awaken a first interest and the fantastic hobby of astronomy. Itīs lightweight and easy to set-up and use (great for kids, to be sure - but OK for adults too!). It can be employed rather like binoculars. But remember, this little scope has a 60mm diameter lens, delivering much higher magnification images than binoculars.

What can you see with the Mercury 60

At low power the "seas" and highland craters of the Moon will be seen (too many to count) as will the four large moons of the giant planet Jupiter. The phases of Venus (much like the moon) can be observed. At higher powers and at favorable observing times, Jupiter will appear as large in the eyepiece as half the diameter the full Moon does to the unaided eye, and the main bands in its dense gaseous atmosphere will be discerned. The rings of Saturn can be seen with this scope, and the Moon becomes an incredible ancient landscape of impact craters and intricate rills and valleys with views of the most spectacular mountains in the solar system (and all from your back garden and for less than Ģ70!). Deep-sky targets like the Great Orion nebula and the giant M31 galaxy in Andromeda (over 2 million lightyears away from Earth!) are unforgettable views in the Mercury 60