Schmitd Cassegrain Telescopes - SCT

Schmidt-Cassegrain Telescopes (SCTs) are wildly popular telescopes for sale among both beginner and advanced amateurs thanks to their versatility. Offering some of the longest focal lengths available in telescopes, SCTs are a fantastic choice for those looking to view — and especially to image — solar system objects like planets and the moon. The long focal length is a double-edged sword, though, as it can make locating objects in the night sky like trying to look at space through a straw. Many beginner SCTs come packaged with a motorized go-to mount that can automatically point and track objects after a simple alignment process, which is basically a requirement to make sure you don't get lost in space looking for an object.

SCTs are also arguably the most versatile telescope for sale today. Though their native focal length is very long, a variety of focal reducers made for SCTs can allow them to be used at medium and ultra-short focal lengths, which transform them into excellent performers for deep sky astrophotography. These focal reducers add a significant extra cost to SCTs, though, and will need to be paired with a go-to equatorial mount for best imaging results.