Astronomy 101 - Part 2 - Beware

• "Images that rival the Hubble Space Telescope!"
• "Find Pluto; ...see stars, comets, meteors, asteroids..."
• "See literally hundreds of planets!"
• "See the Space Shuttle; ...see far away galaxies!"
• "... will enable you to see the entire Universe close-up!"
• "... you can see all these things with this little telescope, because we're including eyepieces that will boost the magnification all the way up to 750 power!"
• "This nifty telescope my friends, is endorsed by noted astronomer Sir Arthur Hilton!"

   Unfortunately, it's a hoax. Actually we'll go a step farther – these are nothing but unbelievably dumb statements and lies. Stay away from department store telescopes, and DO NOT shop for telescopes or accessories on a TV Shopping Network! They are mostly just toys, with plastic lenses and optics. On TV they may appear to look like brand-name instruments, but they are merely cheap copies, with no built-in quality whatsoever. They amount to nothing more than junk. And we have no idea who Sir Arthur Hilton is.*

*Update - Sir Arthur Hilton Poynton, a British Civil Servant (1905 - 1996). We suppose that he could have been a popular guy, and that he might have actually owned one of these rip-offs.

"Here's a photograph taken with the Hubble Space Telescope. And here's a photo taken through this marvelous inexpensive instrument. You can hardly tell the difference!"

   Almost anyone who's ever browsed the aisles of a department store has noticed the omnipresence of cheap Tasco-type telescopes, those flimsy, hobbyist toys, with no real built-in quality. They are usually distinguished by flimsy construction, fragile wobbly tripods, plastic optics, and outrageous promotional claims. And now a company called Cstar has popped up in the same field of view.

   Cstar is a USA-based company that manufactures cheap telescopes aimed at the vastly "unsuspecting" market of uninitiated hobbyists. They are mostly notable as a series of 60mm refractors with outrageously deceptive power-claims.

   Many major retailers offer Cstar telescopes, which they advertise will get up to 675-power with an included plastic 3x Barlow (some of their ads list it as a 45x Barlow, which is likely a misplaced reference to a 45 degree diagonal). They claim this telescope... "is intended for both amateurs and experienced viewers". Duh?

   "The quality, multi-coated, color-corrected objective lenses allow you to explore bright deep-space objects like the moon's craters, Jupiter's cloud belt and the rings of Saturn".

   Oh really! Since when do objects in our own solar system count as "deep-space"? Anyway, these telescopes will only set you back a hundred bucks or so, but don't count on quality images, especially at 675-power in a 60mm aperture! In fact, we challenge ANYONE to even FIND most things at that level — including the moon! And as far as "seeing" the rings of Saturn (the term "exploring" is laughable) good binoculars will get you the same result, maybe even better. Oh, and "Jupiter's cloud belt"? There are quite a few you WON'T see with this toy. Save the hundred dollars, and put it towards something REAL, even if only a 60mm telescope from a reputable manufacturer who makes real telescopes with real glass optics. [NOTE]: Cheap telescopes such as this are what we sarcastically refer to as "Pluto finders".

Remember: it's bigger apperture that gives bigger images — not "bigger power".

   You'll find them in drugstores and major retailers. They're like Bose speakers. They're everywhere. Those ubiquitous bargain telescopes with colorful displays of the Universe that they claim will dazzle you at the eyepiece under magnifications of 650 power. Some of these telescopes look curiously similar to what Meade manufactures. There's a good reason for that — they're 'phony clones'. 

   For instance, there's a 3-inch telescope selling for about $58 at one well-known major retailer that you'd swear was a Meade. It isn't, but it looks identical. However, everything is cheap plastic (even the objective lens and eyepieces). They sell tons of them, especially at Christmas time. Most of the buyers are parents, possibly thinking they're getting a bargain. Usually, the telescope is relegated to the basement junk pile by mid January. Actually, that's just about where it belongs.

   It's unfortunate that folks don't realize what a hoax this is. Selling plastic telescopes for $58 is fine with us. But to advertise that you'll be able to see all the planets out to Pluto with it, and claim that it will yield images that rival the Hubble Space Telescope is so blatantly deceptive and dishonest that we think there should be a law against it. Maybe there is.

   Meade used to license off shore manufacturers to make copies of their smaller telescopes under the brandname "Saturn". Another manufacturer got on the same bandwagon and called it "Jupiter". Both looked identical. They were likely made by the same company in the same building, and just got different decals on their way to the shipping dock. They were both high sellers at Christmas time.

   About a year ago, one of us coined the term "Pluto finder" as a sarcastically suitable name for this garbage. Since then, whenever we come across a "genuine fake" or a hoax, we refer to it by that name as an inside joke. If we want to run down a product as a piece of junk, one of us will invariably mumble "Pluto finder" in order to keep it esoterically within our circle of "professionalism", and to at least maintain a socially acceptable veneer. It is usually done in good humor, but in the final analysis it stinks.

   There are weapons and countermeasures to use against deception, but knowledge and common sense are apparently not among them. Anyone who could believe that a 3-inch plastic telescope could rival the capabilities of the Hubble is doomed to be winked to death by the ghost of P.T. Barnum. And the millions of dollars spent annually at Christmas time on bald faced lies and hoaxes will forever line the pockets of slick Madison Avenue groupies. It's nuts. And it makes us angry because it's so darned easy to do. People are just too gullible at Christmas time. It's the season of believing and trust. We think it's strange though, that deception is only perceived when it's obvious, and it's usually only obvious when it's too late.

   False advertising and product deception can be so hypnotic that it overrides even the very basis of human intuition. We've seen how it works on people. It's very effective, and it attacks the nervous system faster than rattlesnake venom. We've seen them fight over the boxes in drug stores and at major retailers. We've witnessed it in living rooms in front of the TV Shopping Networks. The Hubble Telescope for fifty-eight dollars.

   It's unfortunate that parents are the most common victims. It's sad that instead of buying a piece of junk for a budding young astronomer, they didn't purchase a subscription to Sky & Telescope or Astronomy magazine. Or go on line, and look for genuine stuff that would actually work. It isn't legal to stand in front of these displays and shout warnings to onlookers and shoppers. So we suffer in the knowledge that every few minutes someone becomes a victim and buys a 3-inch plastic telescope that they believe will give them color images of M42, and the clearly defined disk of Pluto.