Do you have an astronomer dad and are currently looking for the best gift to get him to satisfy his hunger for the stars? We’ve racked our brains to come up with what we think are the top 25 best astronomy gifts for dad.
So without further ado, let’s count down the list starting with #25:
Top 25 Astronomy Gifts for Dad
#25. Meade Instruments 608036 Telescope Cover
Unique features:
- Weather-resistant
- Blocks UV to prolong
- Effectively protects against heat, cold, light (including UV) and water (rain, dew)
This Meade Telescope cover is initially designed for the Meade’s 10” telescopes (LX600 and LX200) but can fit most other 10” telescopes just as well. It can protect telescopes from short-term outdoor usage, and suitable for daytime, heat, rain, dew, and cold. It can effectively block UV light to help protect the telescope when it is used outdoors in sunlight.
It is made from silver fabric material with a black interior, so it would also provide a stylish look when your dad is carrying the telescope outdoors. Keep in mind, however, that this cover is not intended to protect telescopes from long-term outdoor storage.
#24. Orion 15206 Cloak Cover for Large Mounted Telescopes
Unique features:
- Can protect assembled telescope outdoor before, during, and after observations
- Reflective material to avoid internal telescope heat build-up caused by exposure to sunlight and UV light
- Prevents dew buildup from external moisture and during dropping outdoor temperatures.
A telescope cloak from Orion—making it a great choice if your Dad owns an Orion telescope—, effective in protecting the telescope before, between, and after use. It can effectively protect your telescope from dirt, moisture, sunlight (UN light), and other outdoor elements.
A great choice to keep your telescope cooler if you keep it outdoor during the daytime so it can effectively reach thermal equilibrium faster during the observation time.
Made of reflective, tear-resistant fabric with waterproof lining and includes a nylon carrying pouch.
#23. Lens Heater Warmer Dew Heater with Temperature Regulator
Unique Features:
- Protects the lens of your camera, binocular, or telescope from freezing and fogging
- Great for heating the lens for night observations in locations with high humidity
- Made of high-quality neoprene material with CE and RoHs compliance certifications
- Adjustable temperature with an 80 cm temperature regulator (low, medium, and high modes).
- USB port: you can connect it to various power sources with a USB port including your power bank
A lens heater is a very important tool for any astronomers and is the perfect gift for your dad to assist his overnight observations. Super fast and will only take up 5 seconds to heat continuously and can reach 122°F (50℃). The average temperature is 86°F (30℃).
Effectively protects the telescope’s lens from freezing by chilling fog and dew, and we can easily connect it to any power source with a USB port.
#22. Thousand Oaks 1″x 15″ Heater Band
Unique Features:
- Effective for 5-4″ (60-102mm) Telescopes
- Consumes 94 amps @ 12 Volts DC
Another great lens heater to prevent condensation on optical surfaces, which is great if your dad often observes in cooler weather. To use this tool, you can simply wrap the heater band around the outside of the objective telescope (or other areas to be heated).
The heater band will attach itself with a built-in Velcro elastic strip, and feature standard RCA jacks for 12VDC power supply.
#21. SK68 Red Mini 7W 300LM Zoomable LED
Unique Features:
- 300 lumens maximum brightness
- 3 different modes: hight, low, strobe
- Red light color, perfect for use in the dark without affecting your night vision adaptability
- 1 AA battery powered (not included)
- Can zoom in and zoom out
- Water-resistant, skid-proof design with aluminum allow material
- 54in (Length) × 0.98in(Head diameter) × 0.78in(Tail diameter), compact and lightweight
The SK68 Red Mini is technically a red flashlight, an all-in-one observation solution for your astronomer dad. It can produce a maximum brightness of 300 lumens, more than enough for any astronomy observation needs.
It has three adjustment modes: hight, low, and strobe, versatile so you can reduce brightness when you want to read your star map, and increase brightness when you want to navigate in the wild. We can easily switch between these modes with a button at the back.
#20. Celestron 93588 Astro Night Vision Flashlight
Unique Features:
- Two red LEDs for even illumination
- Red light, allowing the Night Vision Flashlight to keep your night vision intact when observing
- Intuitive thumbwheel to adjust the brightness
- The square-shaped design keeps it from rolling away
- 9V battery included
As mentioned above, a red flashlight is one of the most important accessories for any astronomers, even if your dad only observes the night sky occasionally. It’s also a useful tool if your dad observes with other people.
During overnight astronomy, any white light is a detriment. Our eyes will react every time you use white light, contracting the pupils, and making the aperture smaller. So, your eyes won’t be able to catch as much light.
A red flashlight, on the other hand, can allow you to see your star chart, find objects and equipment in your bag, or anything else without affecting night vision.
19. Neewer 1.25 inches Telescope Moon Filter 5 Color Filters Set
Unique Features:
- Includes: (1)Moon and Skyglow Filter; (1)CPL Filter; (5)Color Filters: Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue
- It can reduce glare and light scattering while at the same time increasing the contrast though selective filtration. This can effectively increase the observed object’s definition and resolution and lessen eye fatigue
- Multi-band pass filter, transmitting a high percentage of light in the visual spectrum
- 25 inches/ 3.17 centimeters thread size, fits most telescopes
- 5 color filters included, including red, orange, blue, yellow, and green helps make mercury and venus stands out from the blue sky when viewed during the day
One of the best telescope filters out there, including a moon filter, a CPL filter, and 5 different color filters. The red one is useful in viewing Mercury, Venus, and Saturn, while the green filter helps in viewing Mars, for example.
A great filter set, making it one of the best astronomy gifts for dads.
#18. 10 x 10″ Solar Filter Sheet for Telescopes
Unique Features:
- Silver/black polymer material, the most common filtering material for observing granulation and sunspots.
- It can allow the sun to appear in its natural orange color when viewed through your telescope using this filter.
- We can use this filter on any telescope, binoculars, and camera
If the above filter set is effective for viewing the moon and planets, this solar filter is a great astronomy gift to help your dad in observing the sun. With this solar filter sheet, the sun would appear in its normal orange color. Also, one of the most affordable gift ideas on this list.
#17. Orion 05959 Deluxe Large Accessory Case
Unique Features:
- Tough ABS-clad hard case, can protect your telescope and store your accessories neatly
- Die-cut foam holes, bins, and slots with egg-crate foam-lined lid
- It can hold up to eight 1.25 telescope eyepieces, three 2 eyepieces plus nine other compartments for miscellaneous astronomy accessories
- Internal case dimensions: 17.2 x 12.3 x 5.0
Made from very durable ABS-clad exterior with a rugged aluminum frame, this accessory case is not only durable, but also features an attractively textured black finish. Great for protecting your dad’s telescopes and other accessories like eyepieces, filters, diagonals, and more.
#16. Orion 5825 Deluxe 6-Piece Optics Cleaning Kit
Unique Features:
- Essential cleaning supplies for telescope optics (and other eyepiece optics)
- Includes a retractable ultra brush can effectively remove dust particles with synthetic bristles
- Includes a can of compressed air to remove dust and particles without scratching the optics
- Lens-grade cleaning tissue and multi-coated optics cleaning fluid
- Includes optics-friendly cotton swabs to help clean hard-to-reach areas
Cleaning telescope optics is very important to ensure we’ll always get the clearest possible picture in our astronomy observation. Astronomy is a very time-sensitive activity and where there’s only a very limited window to observe the objects perfectly, so we have to always make sure that every little detail is perfect.
This package includes a cleaning paper, cleaning fluid, and canned compressed air, great value overall, and a great astronomy gift to help take care of those expensive optics.
#15. Orion 51464 20×80 Astronomy Binoculars
Unique Features:
- 20-power astronomy binoculars with large 80-mm aperture objective lenses, producing bright, high-contrast views with sharp resolution
- Fully multi-coated optics and BAK 4 Porro prisms. These will ensure maximum light throughput for bright, clear views
- Long 17-mm eye relief length, allowing comfortable views, even while wearing eyeglasses
- Includes a built-in tripod adapter, dust caps, and soft carry case.
The Orion 20×80 Astro-Binoculars features a huge 80-mm (3.14 inch) aperture objective lenses with totally multi-coated optics and is pretty affordable for what it offers. With its large objective lenses, it can capture bright views with very good sharpness and distinction.
Lightweight and compact for its aperture, and also includes an integrated heavy-duty stand adapter which helps you to simply attach the binocular to any mount or stand. Great value, and one of the best binoculars you can give for your astronomy dad.
#14. Celestron – SkyMaster Giant 15×70 Binoculars
Unique Features:
- Multi-coated optics
- Large 70 mm aperture with 4.7 mm exit pupils for low-light conditions and stargazing, offering maximum image brightness in low light and long-range conditions
- Included tripod adapter with 13-mm (0.51-inch) long eye relief ideal for eyeglass wearers.
- Linear field of view of 231 feet (per 1,000 yards) or 77 meters (per 1,000 meters)
- Diopter adjustment for fine focusing, with an Angular field of view of 4.4 degrees
The Celestron SkyMaster 15×70 binoculars offer large objective lenses of 70-mm diameter. These binoculars are not only great for stargazing, but also for terrestrial observation like bird watching or stargazing. Besides being large, the lenses have a magnifying power of 15x, and the binoculars are pretty affordable considering the set of features.
Also, the lenses can produce a relatively large field of view of 231 feet per 1000 yards. A great pair of binoculars for astronomy: sturdy, reliable, and very sharp in performance.
#13. SkyGenius 10 x 50 Powerful Binoculars
Unique Features:
- Designed with 10x magnification and 50 mm objective lens
- 367ft/1,000 yards field of view
- Aspherical lenses and multi-layer coating allowing better light transmission and improve image quality, contrast, and brightness in general.
- Durable build with odorless rubber armor, allowing shock-resistance and anti-slip grip. Wear-resistant and moisture-proof.
- Corrective optical coating, good for color fidelity and to minimize distortion.
- Diopter system to adjust the imbalance vision of both eyes.
- The rubber-covered eyepiece, adjustable for a proper eye relief
The SkyGenius 10×50 Powerful Binoculars offer a combination of aspherical and multi-coated lenses. Compact and lightweight, and also easy to use while producing optimal light reflection and minimal distortion.
#12. Mars: The Missions That Have Transformed Our Understanding of the Red Planet
This book by Rod Pyle is a thorough discussion of the Mars explorations throughout the years from the first missions of the 1960s through the ongoing explorations including the Mars 2020 Rover.
Each mission is described in just a few pages long, but all of them are beautifully illustrated with full-color photos. There’s a good balance between the technical discussions and the images and data returned back to earth.
While many of these Mars missions were successful, some of them end up in failures. This book describes each of these missions in varying details, but all of them are really well-covered.
If your dad also loves to read, this book is a great gift, especially considering the importance of Mars in astronomy.
#11. Universe Today Ultimate Guide to Viewing The Cosmos
Written by David Dickinson, the reputable Universe Today reporter, with additional material from Fraser Cain, publisher of Universe Today. The book also features over a hundred high-quality photos from contributing amateur astronomers.
This book contains various lessons from how to find your way in the night sky, discussions about various astronomy gears, how to follow the Moon and planets, how to find the deep-sky objects, and so on.
A perfect gift if your dad always wanted to get into the hobby of astronomy, but don’t know where to start. Various useful tips and tricks, and also discussing top astronomy events from 2019 to 2024.
Again, a great book for anyone looking to start a hobby in astronomy.
#10. The Moon: A History for the Future
Written by Oliver Morton, The Moon is a book about a proactive movement to motivate companies and even nations to visit the moon and begin a new round of human explorations. Morton wrote about how the moon was formed and an interesting angle about the history of lunar sciences.
The book began with a discussion about the moon and the moon’s formation, to the Apollo expeditions (and other explorations) and finally—as the title suggests—, an examination about the possible future for the moon and moon expedition.
Morton delivered this like an adventure story, which at times can indeed feel convoluted, but is still entertaining with the smooth transitions from one chapter to the next.
New technologies, new visions, and according to Morton, it is all but certain that humans (and robots) will return to the Moon pretty soon. A great read not only from the perspective of science but also for business and philosophy.
#9. MEADE Instruments 3x 1.25 inch Barlow Lens
Unique Features:
- The Barlow lens offers a 3x increase in magnification offering superior sharpness and color correction.
- Real 3x magnification (true optical components) without adding a long extension between the telescope and eyepiece
- Apochromatic Barlow lens
- T-adapter and Barlow lens, offering multi-coated optics design, allowing crisper and sharper images.
- Fully-coated eyepieces for higher magnification
- Blackened housing to maximize image contrast
- Full-black metal body for longevity and durability
The Meade Instruments Barlow lens with 3x magnification boost will expand your current eyepiece collection. In short, it turns a 15 mm eyepiece into a powerful 5 mm eyepiece: take the current magnification of your eyepiece, and multiple it by three.
A great astronomy gift for your dad to give him a better view of the moon’s craters or the Saturn’s ring.
#8. Orion 08711 Shorty 1.25-Inch 2x Barlow Lens
Unique Features:
- 2x the power of any telescope eyepiece, suitable for 1.25” eyepiece
- A great way to essentially double the eyepieces you have without having to buy twice as many eyepieces
- Very compact, just 3-inch long, which is half the length of a standard Barlow lens, easy to store in any accessory case
- Doublet lens system, multi-coated for better transmission. The internal housing is baffled to eliminate unwanted reflections and increase contrast
This exceptional Barlow lens is compact and light with just 3-inch length, consuming very little area allowing us to work easily with it. It has a 2x magnification ability, with a modern threaded design that helps it attach to other filters quite easily. It also features a firm multi-coating, allowing it to eliminate any useless reflections and to produce better contrast.
#7. Celestron 1.25″ Universal Barlow and T-Adapter
Unique Features:
- 2x Barlow lens, suitable for 1.25” eyepiece you own. Use during visual observation to double the magnification of your eyepiece.
- Use the T-adapter to transform the telescope into a giant telephoto lens.
- Tele-extended photography: use both the Barlow lens and T-adapter to double the magnification of prime focus mode
A high-quality Barlow lens from Celestron comes with multi-coated lenses for 2x magnification. Easy to use allowing double the versatility of your eyepiece collection. Alo comes with a T-adapter, so it’s actually three different accessories in one unit.
Not only it can double the magnification of any 1.25-inch eyepiece, but it can also be used for prime focus astrophotography (with the T-adapter) and tele-extended photography (by using both the Barlow and T-adapter).
#6. Celestron Omni Series 1-1/4 32MM Eyepiece
Unique Features:
- Omni eyepieces, quality 4-element Plossl optical design at a very affordable price
- Rubber eyecups provide comfort while also helps in contrast
- Beautiful matte aluminum barrels and blackened lens edges to prevent internal reflections
The Celestron Omni eyepiece comes with a 4-element Plossl optical design, this model comes with 32 mm lengths offering powerful high magnification to view the surfaces of the Moon, moving planets, and other deep space objects. Excellent, 52-degree ultra-wide field of view, enables you to view the planet surfaces and any other object.
#5. SVBONY Telescope Lens 23mm Telescopes Eyepieces Wide Angle
Unique Features:
- Fully coated glasses for excellent image contrast and light transmission.
- High brightness, large field of view, and very comfortable to wear
- 23mm large eyepiece diameter, won’t tire your eyes during prolonged use
- Special aspheric design, 62-degree aspheric 23 mm eyepiece, suitable for 1.25-inch eyepieces
Affordable wide-angle eyepieces from SVBONY, but offer a pretty wide 62-degree field of view. Using the 23 mm eyepiece and combined with the wide field of view, we can get view the stars and planets with extreme brightness and clarity.
The optical quality is very clear with no distortion and is fully multi-coated to further enhance the light transmission. Last but not least, an aspherical eyepiece design. One of the best wide-angle eyepieces available today, and certainly a great gift idea.
#4. Celestron – 1.25” Eyepiece and Filter Accessory Kit
Unique Features:
- 32mm, 17mm, 13mm, 8mm, and 6mm Plossl telescope eyepieces, each eyepiece features a four-element design with a 52-degree field of view
- 2x Barlow Lens included, can be paired with each of the five eyepieces in this kit or any 1.25” eyepiece
- Colored filters included for astronomical viewing. Great for bringing out various details on a planet’s surface
- Included hard-sided carrying case, foam-lined carrying lens filter case, perfect for organizing each piece and keeping
- Two-year warranty and unlimited access to technical support from U.S.- based experts
A great, all-in-one package where astronomers can get the versatility, functionality, and efficiency of your telescope. It includes five high-grade eyepieces, which are superior to many models in terms of efficiency and overall quality. They are all multi-coated to give better viewing edge, sharpness, resolution, and color.
It also includes six colored filters and 2x Barlow lens, making it a great overall value, and one of the best astronomy gifts for dad available today.
#3. Celestron 21024 FirstScope Telescope
Unique Features:
- Dobsonian style stand with a 76 mm reflector optical tube
- Portable and lightweight
- Very easy to use and observe with,
- Stylish and decorative design
- Maximum magnification of x 120
The Celestron 21024 is best described as an introductory telescope. It comes fully assembled, and is very easy to use even for a complete beginner. Sufficient to perform basic stargazing, but obviously it has its limitations.
Decent power and optical capability, and as a basic model, it is an excellent purchase if your dad is looking to start his astronomy hobby and is in need of his first-time telescope.
#2. Orion 09007 SpaceProbe 130ST Equatorial Reflector Telescope
Unique Features:
- A 5.1-inch (130 mm) aperture reflector telescope, the excellent light-gathering ability
- Short 24-inch long optical tube design for easier portability
- Fast f/5 focal ratio for better wide-field performance. Very versatile telescope the whole family can enjoy
- EQ-2 equatorial telescope mount and adjustable tripod, allowing manual slow-motion
- 8 inches counterweight bar length
- 27 lbs assembled weight for convenient transport
- Includes two 1.25-inch Sirius Plossl eyepieces (25mm and 10mm)
- 6×30 finder scope, 1.25inch rack, and pinion focuser
A great telescope if your dad is looking for an upgrade. As a reflector telescope, it has a large parabolic mirror inside it that produces clear and sharp images. It also features an EQ-2 equatorial mount, allowing an easier time to track the objects and keeping the image centered (useful during astrophotography).
With a large aperture of 130 mm (5.1”) and an optical tube of 24”, this is a powerful telescope that can capture detailed images of objects outside the solar system. It also includes 6 finder scopes, 2 eyepieces, and a pinion focuser.
A simple telescope with a set of high-quality features, our pick as the best astronomy gift for Dad.
#1. Meade Instruments 205004 ETX90 Observer
Unique Features:
- 90 mm aperture
- 1,250 mm focal length
- F/13.8 ratio
- Ultra-high transmission coatings
- Internal flip mirror system for dual viewing
- 25″ 9.7mm and 26mm Super Plossl Eyepieces / Red-dot viewfinder
- Vixen-style dovetail
- Dual DC servo motors
- Full-size aluminum tripod with accessory tray
- AudioStar Computer Hand Controller
- Hard carry case for the accessories, mount, and optical tub included
- Carrying bag for the tripod included
The Meade ETX90EC is a great telescope that can provide value for virtually all stargazers, professionals and amateurs alike. Very light at only 15 pounds, great 90mm and F/13.8 ratio optics offering enough power to view most celestial objects, and combined with an electronic viewfinder.
A great value, and if you want to give your dad a new telescope, he’d certainly appreciate this.
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