Celestron NexStar 5SE Schmidt-Cassegrain Computerized Telescope

Why it's worth it

A computerized 5-inch Schmidt-Cassegrain that slews to any of 40,000-plus objects and then tracks them as the Earth turns. It's the most expensive scope here, and it's the one to get if you want a serious instrument you won't outgrow.

Tracking is the feature you don't appreciate until you have it. A manual scope needs a nudge every minute or two at high power. This one keeps the target centered on its own, which changes the experience completely. You can stare at Jupiter for ten unbroken minutes and let your eye pick out detail. At a star party, a line of people can each take a turn without anyone re-centering between them.

SkyAlign makes the setup approachable. Center any three bright stars or planets — you don't need to know their names — and the mount works out where it is. From there the NexStar+ hand control slews to anything in a 40,000-object database. It's a different philosophy than the StarSense scopes, which read the sky through your phone, but it lands in the same place: you spend the night observing instead of searching.

From our review of 5 telescopes for beginners, by Genevieve Dubois, Home & Living Expert

What we like

• +Tracking is the feature you don't appreciate until you have it
• +SkyAlign makes the setup approachable
• +The folded optics buy you reach in a short tube
• +It grows with you

What to know

• –It costs far more than anything else here, and buys less aperture
• –Alignment takes time on every new site
• –Power is a live concern