The Most Popular Telescopes for Astrophotography: Insights from 78645 AstroPictures!

I’ve conducted an in-depth analysis of 78,645 Astro-pictures taken by 8090 astrophotographers and the telescopes they use. My main findings are that the Celestron Edge HD and RASA telescope series are the most popular, followed closely by the Sky-Watcher Esprit 100 ED and the Astro-Tech AT72ED apochromatic refractors. When taking image ratio into account, the GSO 8” Newtonian telescope and the Takahashi TOA 130mm and Astro-Tech 130mm apochromatic refractors also show strong popularity. All in all, it’s clear that these amazing telescopes are the go-to tools for many dedicated astrophotographers.

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The Problem with Popular Telescope lists

As an enthusiastic astrophotographer, I’m often asked for advice on what telescopes are best for astrophotography. Astrophotography covers a wide range of subjects, from our Moon and Planets in our solar system to Deep-Sky Objects (DSOs) such as galaxies, globular clusters, and nebulae. I’ve been into astrophotography for many years now, sharing videos and blogs about my personal opinions and experiences on my YT channel and website. Of course, I’m not alone. The internet is full of telescope reviews, top 10 lists of telescopes, and intense debates among astrophotographers on different online astrophotography fora. In addition, with all the sponsored videos, promotions from vendors, and micro-marketing by influencers, it can be hard to know which telescopes are actually popular across the astrophotography community.

Recently, I read an incredibly inspiring statement made by two astrophotographers that really resonated with me: “The best telescope is the one you use most often.” What a great piece of advice! If you buy a telescope, but don’t end up using it, then it’s not the best telescope for you. I love how this statement speaks to behavior; there may be a lot to like about a telescope, but if it’s not used then something is wrong with it. It could be too bulky, difficult to collimate, or have poor optics – it could be anything. What I’m trying to say is that a telescope may look good on paper, or get a lot of hype in the astrophotography community, but if it’s not used often then it’s probably not a great telescope. I want to clarify that I’m talking specifically about telescopes for astrophotography, not those used for visual observation. All in all, this is an important reminder that the telescope that works best for you is the one you use!

Creating a more objective approach

Let’s take a closer look at the popular telescopes used among the amazing astrophotographers out there! It would be impossible to ask every single person out there for their personal opinion on the matter, so I decided to do some research on popular online forums and websites where astrophotographers post their photos and chat about the hobby. I was really interested in two things in particular; what type of telescope people own, and how many pictures they post online. I used three criteria to ensure reliability and accuracy in my research. Firstly, I included only people who had posted at least one picture. Secondly, I excluded guide scopes, as they are only used for guiding, and not for imaging, and photo lenses. Lastly, I only included telescopes when I could identify at least 30 astrophotographers who had the same one. This is similar to taking a picture of the night sky; if you take just one, you will get a lot of noise, but if you take 30 and stack them, you will get a much clearer image with a higher signal-to-noise ratio. I think the same applies to evaluating telescopes; if I can get data on the usage of a particular telescope from at least 30 people, maybe even hundreds or thousands, then that data is probably a lot more reliable than just one person’s opinion.

Creating a “behavioral” dataset

In November 2022, I was delighted to identify 8090 astrophotographers who had collectively shared an incredible 78,645 Astro pictures using 76 different types of telescopes across the most popular online astrophotography platforms, such as astrobin.com, cloudynights.com, and stargazerlounge.com. Importantly, the data was completely anonymous, and I did not store any personal data – only the types of telescopes and the number of pictures taken with these telescopes by astrophotographers. The number of people using a particular telescope ranged from 34 (e.g., the Takahashi FSQ·106N) to 996 (the William Optics Redcat 51), with an average of 105 users per telescope. The number of pictures shared per telescope ranged from 174 (with the Planewave CDK17) to 6930 (with the Celestron Edge HD 8”). Additionally, I calculated an “image ratio” for each telescope, which is the average number of pictures taken with the same telescope, divided by the total number of telescope users I could identify. The image ratio ranged from 4.4, with the Planewave CDK17, to 30.1, with the Celestron Edge HD 14”. To top it off, I also created an overall popularity score by averaging the ranking scores across three categories: the total number of users who bought a particular telescope, the total number of pictures taken with that telescope, and the image ratio of that telescope. Are you excited to see what telescopes are most loved among the astrophotography community? Let me show you my most important findings.

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Results

Telescopes with the highest number of users

As demonstrated in Table 1, the William Optics Redcat 51 is the most popular telescope with a whopping 996 users, followed by the Celestron Edge HD 8” with 631 users, and the Sky-Watcher Esprit 100 ED with 430 users! The top 10 is completed by the Celestron RASA 8”, the Celestron Edge HD 9.25”, three William Optics telescopes – two Zenithstars (61,73) and a Gran Turismo 81 – and the Astro-Tech AT72 ED. But looking at the number of users only tells half the story; the total number of images shared by users across online platforms provides an even more remarkable insight into the popularity of these telescopes, so let’s go!

Telescopes with the Highest Number of Shared Images

Looking at Table 2, we see that the Celestron Edge HD 8”, William Optics Redcat 51, and Sky-Watcher Esprit 100 ED have been the most popular telescopes for astrophotographers, with 6930, 5957, and 4886 images shared across online platforms, respectively. The entire Celestron Edge HD (11”, 14”, 9.25”) series, along with the Celestron Rowe-Ackermann Schmidt Astrograph (RASA) 8” (2733 pictures) and 11” telescopes (1859 pictures) have also made the top 10 list. Not surprisingly, the Celestron Nexstar 8SE and the Astro-Tech AT72 ED are also in the top 10. With this in mind, I created a graph illustrating the correlation between the number of users and the number of images taken per telescope, which confirms the expected relationship – the more people that own a specific telescope, the more images are shared. Thus, I believe a third indicator, the image ratio, is extremely beneficial. Let’s take a look at those figures now.

Telescopes with the highest Image Ratio

Table 3 clearly shows that the Celestron Edge HD 14” stands out as the most popular telescope among astrophotographers, based on the average image ratio per telescope. On average, the 93 users of this telescope shared an impressive 30.1 pictures online! The GSO 8” F/5 Newtonian telescope comes in second place, with an average of almost 20 pictures per user. The third place is taken by the Takashi TOA-130 APO refractor telescope, with 47 users sharing an average of 18.8 pictures. Further down the top 10 list, we can find two more Celestron Edge HD models, the 11” and the 9.25”, and the Nexstar 8SE, the RASA 11”, the TS-Optics Photoline 80mm F/6 APO refractor, the Astro-Tech AT130 APO/Tripet, and the AT8″ Richey Chrétien. It is very interesting to see that the top 3 most popular telescopes in terms of the number of users and shared images are not necessarily the ones with the highest image ratio!

Top 10 Most Popular Telescopes, indicated by #users, #images, and image ratio

After taking into consideration the number of astrophotographers who have purchased a particular telescope, the total amount of images shared online using a telescope, and the image ratio per telescope, I am proud to present my final Top 10 list of “most popular telescopes”! With this final score, I tried to reflect the sentiment expressed in the introduction of this blog: that “the best telescope is the one most often used”. The final popularity score is based on the (ranked) average of the above scores, being; (a) the number of astrophotographers who bought a particular telescope, (b) the total number of pictures shared online using a telescope, and (c) the image ratio per telescope. Here it is!

Celestron telescopes absolutely dominate the top 10 rankings in terms of overall popularity. Rest assured, I have no affiliation with the company whatsoever. You can easily verify these statistics yourself with a bit of research. Taking the top spot is the Celestron Edge HD 11” with 272 users, 4447 shared images, and an impressive average image ratio of 16.3 per user. Following closely behind in second place is the Edge HD 9.25” with 247 users, 3957 images, and 16 pictures per user. A three-way tie for third place sees the Sky-Watcher Esprit 100 ED, the Celestron Edge HD 8”, and the Celestron NexStar 8SE all scoring the same overall rating. The former has 430 users, 4886 shared images, and an average image ratio of 11.4 per user. The Edge HD 8” boasts ahigher number of users (631) and shared images (6930), but has a lower image ratio of 11. Surprisingly, the NexStar 8SE (which is mostly sold with an Alt-Az mount and optional wedge) also ties in third place with 148 users, 2229 shared images, and an imaging ratio of 15.1. Wrapping up the top 10 are the 14″ Celestron Edge HD telescope, the Celestron Rowe-Ackermann Schmidt Astrograph (RASA) 11” and 8”, the Astro-Tech AT72EDII apochromatic doublet refractor, and the Takahashi Epsilon 130D. It’s clear that Celestron has established itself as a leader in the telescope field!

Conclusion and Discussion

I’m thrilled to share my findings from my investigation into the phrase: “A good telescope is a telescope often used”. After gathering data from 8010 astrophotographers who uploaded a total of 78,645 images across online platforms, I was able to come to some interesting conclusions. The Celestron Edge HD and RASA series emerged as the most popular telescopes across metrics such as the total number of users, total number of images shared, and the average number of images shared per telescope. Other popular telescopes include the Sky-Watcher Esprit 100 ED, and the Astro-Tech AT72ED. Furthermore, the image ratio revealed that a good quality Newtonian (GSO 8”) telescope, as well as two 130mm aperture apochromatic refractors, were in the top 10, in addition to the popular Celestron Edge HD and RASA series. It’s clear that these telescopes are the most used and highly rated by astrophotographers. Check out the full Top50 rundown right here! Let’s dive deeper into these findings, let’s try to explain them!

Why are the Celestron Edge HD series telescopes so popular?

The Edge HD telescope series from Celestron are the premier telescopes on the market. Although they may not be inexpensive, the most advantageous feature is their versatility when it comes to astrophotography. Their catadioptric (modified Schmidt Cassegrain) design with a long focal length makes them an ideal choice for capturing detailed images of planets and close-up lunar photographs. Additionally, they can be equipped with a .7 reducer, allowing them to bring distant galaxies, globular clusters, and nebulae within our Milky Way into sharp focus. Unlike regular Schmidt-Cassegrain telescopes, whose stars appear elongated due to coma, the Edge HD telescope series produces a flat field with no optical aberrations. To top it off, the Edge HD telescopes can also be paired with a hyperstar, transforming them into F/2 telescopes similar to Celestron’s RASA telescopes, which are renowned for capturing wide-field deep-sky objects in short exposures. With its remarkable features, the Edge HD telescope series is truly a premier choice for any astrophotographer.

Discover my take on the Celestron Edge HD 8 – dive into my review here!

Why are the Celestron Rowe-Ackermann Schmidt Astrograph (RASA) telescopes so popular?

In 2019, Celestron unveiled its Rowe-Ackermann Schmidt Astrograph (RASA) telescope, a game-changing design for wide-field deep-sky astrophotography. These powerful telescopes boast a fast F/ratio and large aperture, making imaging at F/2 possible and dramatically reducing exposure time for deep-sky objects. Further, the 8” and 11” models offer more light collection than many apochromatic refractors. However, the 8” RASA has a relatively short focal length of 400mm and is designed more for widefield DSO’s than solar system imaging; while the moon can be captured at full disc, the planets require a telescope with a longer focal length.

What about that Sky-Watcher 100ED Triplet apochromatic refractor?

With 430 users and 4886 shared images online, the Skywatcher Professional ESPRIT 3-element ED APO refractor is a top-of-the-line telescope lots of astrophotographers have used to make stunning astrophotography pictures. With its 100 mm aperture, 550 mm focal length, and 1:5.5 focal ratio, it’s perfect for astrophotographers who want to capture the most detailed images possible. The triplet design ensures zero detectable color fringing, and the optional M48 field flattener is suitable for full-frame sensors. The 3″ CNC-machined 11:1 dual-speed Linear Power focuser is rotatable and has zero focus-shift during focusing. The knife-edge baffled optical system and high-quality multi-coating on every glass-air surface ensure the best possible image quality. The aluminum OTA material is superior to plain carbon fibre for this application, and the OTA weight is only 6.3 kg (without accessories). The fixed dew shield has a diameter of 150 mm, and the drawtube comes with 2″ and 1.25″ eyepiece adaptors and an indexed scale. The CNC tube rings have a Losmandy style dovetail, and the optional flattener is screwed, not clamped. With all these features, the Skywatcher Professional ESPRIT 3-element ED APO refractor is the perfect choice for the most demanding astrophotographers.

What if we take image ratio as the main indicator for popularity?

Parabolic Newtonian Telescopes

The Celestron Edge HD and RASA telescopes are popular choices for many astrophotographers, but what about the rest of the Top 10 when we look at the image ratio? The GSO 8” F/5 telescope is a standout, with an impressive image ratio of 19.9. This parabolic Newtonian telescope is an excellent choice for astrophotographers looking for an affordable option. With a focal length of 1000mm and 8” aperture, it’s perfect for a variety of activities, such as planetary imaging with a 2x or 3x Barlow lens, or imaging the moon. Additionally, due to its fast focal ratio of F/5, it’s great for deep sky objects and provides greater magnification than most apochromatic refractors. Plus, with a coma corrector, it’s even better suited for deep-sky astrophotography. Of course, parabolic Newtonians do create diffraction spikes due to the spider vane, but that’s a small compromise for the value and performance you get with this telescope. Ultimately, the best telescope is the one you use most often.

Large aperture apochromatic refractor telescopes

With an impressive image ratio in the top 10, the Takahashi TOA 130mm and the Astro-Tech AT130mm make for exceptional apochromatic telescope choices to engage in diverse astrophotography activities. The TAK TOA 130mm is a handmade, top-of-the-line 130mm apochromatic telescope, while the Astro-Tech 130mm is a high-quality, mass-produced APO refractor. Both models are highly rated and praised by users, as indicated by the high average number of shared online images per user. With its 910mm focal length and 1000mm TAK, you can capture stunning moon photography, and even surface details of planets with a 2x or 3x Barlow. Meanwhile, the longer focal length and high-quality optics allow for the imaging of even the smallest DSOs. With either of these impressive models, you can have confidence that your astrophotography activities will be taken to the next level!

Final thoughts: Pros and Cons

The astrophotography community is a vibrant and passionate one, and it is no surprise that we often feel strongly about our equipment. Quantitative research such as the one I conducted offers us a glimpse into the actual usage of telescopes by amateur astrophotographers, giving us an invaluable source of information to help inform our own buying decisions. Of course, there are limitations to this kind of research. For instance, I did not assess the quality of the images posted online, as this is a subjective measure that often depends on personal preference. In addition, mistakes can be made in coding the telescopes and the dataset may not include some of the newest telescopes on the market. Despite these limitations, I firmly believe that this dataset is an incredibly useful tool. By analyzing 78,645 pictures made by 8090 astrophotographers using 76 different telescopes, we can gain a better understanding of what telescopes are actually being used and bought by the community. This offers us insight beyond individual reviews, influencers, sponsors, vendors, and amateurs, and allows us to make more informed decisions about our own equipment. So, to conclude, this list provides us with an invaluable source of information to help us make more informed decisions about the equipment we use to capture our beautiful night sky. After all, a good telescope is a telescope often used!

Clear skies!

Wido.