Orion SkyQuest XT8 Classic Dobsonian Telescope

by Orion

• A large aperture Classic Dobsonian reflector telescope at a very affordable price!
• 8" diameter reflector optics lets you view the Moon and planets in close up detail, and has enough light grasp to pull in pleasing views of faint nebulas, galaxies and star clusters
• A perfect Dobsonian telescope that can last a lifetime for the beginning astronomy enthusiast or whole family
• The ultra-stable Dobsonian base keeps the reflector optical tube perfectly balanced for point-and-view ease of use
• Includes a 2" Crayford focuser that accepts 1.25" and 2" telescope eyepieces, a 25mm Sirius Plossl eyepiece, an EZ Finder II reflex sight, collimation cap, Starry Night software, and more!

Product Details

• Shipping Weight: 41 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• ASIN: B001DDW9V6
• Item model number: XT8
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (67 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #563 in Camera & Photo (See Top 100 in Camera & Photo)
  • #10 in Camera & Photo > Binoculars, Telescopes & Optics > Telescopes
• Date first available at Amazon.com: June 17, 2003

Product Description

A powerful and capable telescope, the Orion SkyQuest XT8 Classic Dobsonian is one of our most popular reflectors due to its elegant combination of precision optics, mechanical simplicity, and rock-solid stability. You and your whole family will appreciate the bright, clear views of the night sky provided by the XT8 Classic. The Moon and planets of our solar system like Jupiter, Saturn, and Mars shine brightly in the SkyQuest XT8 Classic, allowing you to inspect them in detail. The XT8's 8-inch aperture is also large enough to gather a significant amount of light from more distant celestial objects for great views of sparkling star clusters, cloudy nebulas, and faraway galaxies. The XT8 Classic Dob is a tremendous value considering the high quality views it provides on such a wide variety of celestial objects. The point-and-view simplicity of the Dobsonian design is not as complicated as an equatorial (EQ) mount and tripod, so with a little practice, your whole family can scan the heavens just like experienced hobbyists. For any astronomer seeking serious adventure, the XT8 Classic Dob has it all!

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

234 of 238 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars I Told You I Might Get the XT8 - I Did!!! October 12, 2009

By R. Kirkham VINE™ VOICE

If you look at my review for the XT6 I gave that instrument 5 stars but cautioned readers not to buy it. At that time I said that, given a chance, I might jump up to an XT8. I got the chance, and I grabbed it. Here is what I learned.

The 6 has a slightly longer focal length. This means that if your main purpose for viewing is to see object within our solar system, i.e. planets, moon, etc. It won't make much difference which scope you purchase. the 6" is cheaper and lighter. Solar system objects are bright and look good at about 200X, which either scope can deliver on a good night and neither can deliver on a bad night.

But I don't look mainly at solar system objects. I like to look at deep sky objects, like nebula, galaxies, double stars, etc. For these, the more aperture, the better. 8" is notably more aperture than 6". It is true that the 8" weighs more than the 6. I am 52 years old. I can lug either around my yard, but I added a cart for the 8". My yard is nearly an acre and I would rather pull it around than carry it. In my earlier review I said that I might keep my XT6 as a travel scope. That wasn't necessary. The 8" is easy take apart, place in its bag, and carry to other locations. The bag is necessary for travel. I did keep my 6". I began teaching seminars and now have 5 scopes. I regularly use reflectors, refractors, composites, EQ mounts, alt./az. mounts, and dobsonians. The XT8 is my favorite. I think I'll keep this one for awhile.

I've tried the goto scopes. They are handy, but given the choice of spending my money on electronics or aperture, I'll go with the aperture. I have some scopes with EQ mounts. Given the choice of spending my money on a fancy mount or aperture, I'll take aperture and the simple dobsonian mount. EQ mounts are only necessary for photography. This scope is about as big as an inexpensive portable scope gets and about as small as a serious visual scope gets. It is a great beginning and intermediate scope.

186 of 191 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars My 1st telescope...wow!!! March 3, 2009

By M. Pulaski

Amazon Verified Purchase

Ordered this, a 13% moon filter, and 3x barlow. Took longer to unpack and take inventory of the parts than it did to put it together. Easy instructions and certainly well protected for shipping. Mount is easy to swing but not easy enough to get free wheeling.

Main mirror needed slight adjustment which took about 2 minutes to fix. Alignment with spotting scope was equally as easy. Overall, did not have any problems or any issues that weren't easily addressed by the instructions.

Did my first test tonight. I live a few miles east of Philadelphia and within a 1/4 mile of a ridiculously lit up Super Walmart. And the only place I could do a test was in my drive way between houses on a busy suburb street. We got 10 inches of snow last night and this was the only place that was solid.

Given my crappy location full of light pollution, my only real expectation tonight was to verify that the spotting scope and the main scope were in alignment. So I pointed at Orion's Nebula (M43) with my spotting scope and then took a look through the factory supplied 25mm eye piece with no barlow.

WOW!!! Even with my crappy location, M43 was amazing!!! I could easily see the nebula and make out the hues and colors. Equally amazing, my spotting scope and main scope were dead on!!

I then wheeled the scope towards Saturn which was only a few degrees over my neighbor's roof, a real no-no when it comes to stargazing. Well, if this was crappy conditions, all I can say is WOW!!! It was just as amazing. Even though the rings are tough to make out since the rings are right on in terms of their plane, it was still easy to see as well as plenty of moons circling. WOW!!!

Then tried the 13% moon filter on the crescent moon. WOW!!! Wish I could describe it better, but the first peek at this stuff is just amazing!! I cannot wait to get out this weekend to rural area and look at this stuff. I'm giving it 5 stars now simply because the product's quality right of the box was top shelf and what you can view out of it is simply amazing even with my awful light polluted location.

And even though I was only out testing for a few minutes, my neighbors wondered what I was doing and when I gave them a peek at Saturn, the ooooohs and aaaahs were priceless!!!

If this thing somehow broke by tommorrow, I feel like I already got my money's worth.

84 of 87 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent and fairly portable telescope May 31, 2009

By P. Fowler

Amazon Verified Purchase

Just bought this as a gift for my high-school sophomore daughter. I spent a lot of time comparison shopping on-line. Ordered it via Amazon, and it arrived in just a few days. Two boxes. Took me a bit longer to set it up than others who have posted here, but screwing together the base pieces was fairly easy, and then mounting the tube to the base was a snap. I like the handle, as it makes it more portable, although it is still bulky and I am still working on the best method for carrying it outdoors each night for our family sky-watching. Anyway, I REALLY like it so far. We bought the 3x Barlow lens too. We started using it during the new moon phase, and Saturn was out. Very cool to see Saturn's rings so clearly. Then last night we used it to look at the half-moon, and all I can say is...WOW! I felt like I was orbiting the moon and looking down from 60 miles. You can see shadows of individual craters, and the clarity is amazing. Very crisp image. The 3x Barlow really enhances the view, and really magnifies well.

I also like the way you can rotate and pitch the tube. I didn't want to buy a 'scope with a tri-pod because of the extra weight and I didn't want to pay for the tri-pod. The base that comes with the xt8 is basic, but very functional. I think it works well, and I think it will be easy to carry it in our minivan out to the high country where the light pollution is reduced. So far we are very happy with this purchase.