Celestron FirstScope Remote Land Tests

Celestron FirstScope Remote Land Tests
Enter the fascinating realm of the lowly Celestron FirstScope - a tiny beginner Dobsonian telescope that has taken Toys'R'Us by storm. But wait, is it a toy or is it real?

by Mike Otis

Left: Shooting through patio glass with a 1.6x zoom Apple iPhone Xs Max camera and enlarged here 3x, the crane hanging attachment is almost not visible.

The test is to use the Celestron FirstScope Dobsonian telescope from the convenience of indoors and test with (2.99 inches aperture at f/3.95) three eyepieces (23mm, 10mm, 4mm), with the same iPhone camera and compare the results. All eyepieces used are Aspheric in design with 62 degree views, available at reasonable pricing from Svbony Optics Company located in Asia.

Enter the world of the author's FirstScope Tabletop Observatory and take a look at what can be accomplished with a remote land test and three eyepieces, looking through patio glass at a slight angle, and discover interesting effects along the way.

First up is the view through the 23mm eyepiece at 13x. Due to hand holding the camera above the ocular and the exit pupil, the shadow of the secondary is visible in the upper left. In the photo, at the top right, is the crane attachment nearly invisible in the regular iPhone photo.

Next, dial in the image with the 10mm focus eyepiece and compare the 30x view. Note, the camera is handheld and the distance to the eyepiece may slightly vary.

The final handheld camera image, below, is taken with a 4mm focus eyepiece at 75x.

Note, there is a variance when photos were imported to this page as seen in the diameter of the circular view.