Fantastic complete astronomy starter kit - now only 1 800 kr inc UK mainland delivery featuring the Skyhawk 1145PM high power parabolic motorised Newtonian (114mm diameter mirror x 500mm focal length) reflecting telescope and a host of accessories and top quility guidence to get anyone, young or old, off to a flying start in the fascinating hobby of astronomy!

Generations of amateur astronomers have started and advanced their hobby with a classical Newtonian reflector like the Skyhawk 1145 - the -114 is a classic scope with a modern makeover - the updated shorter tube, makes it easier to handle and transport - and offers great wide angle views of the sky when needed. The normally basic spherical primary optics have been upgraded to full parabolic figure. Here�s what a reviewer said about this scope:

"The optics were so good... the review instrument certainly delivered in every important respect." BBC Sky at Night Magazine.

Incidentally, the predecessor to this model, the Skyhawk 1145, received two "Best Buy" awards from the above magazine. Our model is identical to the Skyhawk 1145 but now includes a 2x Barlow lens and an RA motor drive!

The Independent�s "Best ten telescopes" feature written by Robin Scagell, Vice President of the Society for Popular Astronomy - declared the Skyhawk to be the "Best Budget Buy" available.

The Sky Watcher Skyhawk 1145PM is a superb scope to get started in astronomy and progress onward to more ambitious views and projects (astro-photography etc). The specification of the this instrument is a big jump up from the basic starter scopes offered here and elsewhere.

High performance parabolic primary mirror

The primary mirror is the engine of the Newtonian telescope and the Skyhawk 1145 has a superb 114mm large aperture parabolic figure primary mirror. This type of telescope is normally supplied with a mirror employing a technically simpler figure. The simpler mirror is still very good but not in the class of the more sophisticated primary mirror created for the 1145PM.

German equatorial mount with electric RA drive

The Skyhawk 1145PM is equipped with a well-engineered German Equatorial Mounting (or GEM) with fully geared manual slow-motion hand controls and a brilliant electric motor drive on the RA axis and a rigid aluminium full height field tripod (just the tripod and mount is amazing enough and looks like it would cost �150 to �200 on its own!). The RA clock drive is another refinement that sets this scope apart from the competition. The advantage gained with a drive motor can not be overstated. Once a target is found the motor runs effortlessly keeping the target in the eyepiece - you can experiment with various magnification changes moving to very high powers and the target will remain in the eyepiece with little or no effort from the observer. High magnification observing is virtually impossible without an equatorial mounting because the challenge of counteracting the rotation of the Earth. The motorised GEM supplied with the 1145PM (the PM stands for Parabolic and Motorised by the way) provides effortless target tracking allowing the highest magnifications to be used with ease.

We can't praise the Skyhawk 1145PM equatorial mount enough. Equatorial mounting is the best way to mount this type of telescope, for high powered viewing the electric clock drive compensates for the rotation of the Earth and is indispensable for detailed views and stands this telescope a clear head above it's competitors. We've been selling good quality starter telescopes like this for years and the Skyhawk 1145PM and is one of the best we've seen and used!

Supplied with the unique Skyhawk 1145PM kit are two excellent eyepieces - 10mm, and 25mm and a 2x image amplification Barlow lens (see photo no 3 and below for full specification) giving a useful range of magnifications from medium to high power.

Even the instruction manual (in well-written English!) is fully illustrated and easy to follow.

Also includes a useful 2x Barlow lens (item 2 in 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 two!

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 114mm

Focal length: 500mm

Aperture: 114mm (f4)

Magnification with supplied eyepieces:

20x,40x,50x and 100x

This is achieved with the following combinations:

25mm = 20x plus Barlow = 40x, 10mm = 50x plus Barlow = 100x (the telescope is easily capable of delivering magnifications of 50x per inch of aperture (ie 225x) and even beyond on nights of exemplary seeing conditions).

Mounting: German equatorial with dec-axis manual slow motions and electric RA drive with manual override function.

So what's so great about the Skyhawk 1145PM telescope kit?

Well, overlooking the fact that it has much more than you need compared to most other starter scopes (apart from a clear night that is!) - the Skyhawk is essentially the same as the standard 114 "classic" long focus Newtonian telescope (Named after Sir Issac Newton it's inventor in the 17th century) but with a specially shortened tube to make the instrument easier to handle and give a much wider field of view using lower magnification eyepieces . It has a large-sized aperture, 114mm (four and a half inches in old money!) primary mirror with parabolic figure 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 Skyhawk is a well-made scope - at our package price it's extraordinary value for money. The telescope is well equipped with an ultra modern red-dot finder scope (to make pointing and target finding easy) and the simple two-screw collimation system 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 display the attitude of the manufacturer. Virtually everything is made of metal - plastic has been kept to the absolute minimum - this is a solid instrument built to give years of service. The manufacturer really has spent time and money making sure this serious scope is top of it's class.

Fully RA motorised! The 1145PM equatorial mount is equipped with an RA motor to track the stars - far too many lower-cost scopes can�t even be upgraded to an RA motor - the 1145PM comes with one right out of the box. Upgradable performance Too many starter scopes today have eyepiece and mount designs that are built for a price and offer no useful upgrade path. The Skyhawk uses 1.25" eyepiece fitting (the industry standard for serious telescopes) and there are literally 1000�s of accessories to choose from. In fact, Scopes'n'Skies main forte is supplying astronomy telescope accessories and the Skyhawk can be upgraded and added to in many different ways. 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 filters and accessories to make the telescope easier to use on terrestrial targets. Even a safe Solar observation filter is also available for this telescope.

What can you see with the Skyhawk 1145PM telescope?

One of the great advantages of a 114mm mirror is its sheer light-gathering power - it will deliver stunning views of even very remote and dim galaxies and nebulae.

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 50x 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 Skyhawk-1145PM telescope. Outside of the solar system hundreds of gas nebulae and galaxies come within the reach of this powerful instrument.