We are official suppliers for

Welcome to the telescope shop at the Galloway Astronomy Centre Galloway Astronomy Centre have been a supplier of Skywatcher telescopes for over 16 years. We also offer Optical Hardware binoculars and telescope accessories. New for 2026 We are suppliers for the full range of Dwarflab and ZWO Seestar Smart Telescopes. If you don’t know about Smart Telescopes they are well worth looking at especially if you have light polluted skies. These telescopes are not for looking through rather they take images of the night sky to view on your phone. You will see so much more (including colours) with a Smart Telescope than is possible even with a large telescope. They can also take images of the Sun and Moon. Smart telescopes only give tiny images of the planets - a Maksutov telescope is much better for viewing these objects. Our promise: We will not sell you a poor quality telescope All manufacturers make some poor telescopes that are not worth the money. You can’t always go on price as some quite expensive telescopes can be rubbish. You can find cheap and expensive bad telescopes on Amazon and on several reputable telescope shop websites - but NOT here. I will always give you the bad points as well as the good ones of any telescope so you are aware of any potential problems, before you spend your cash. Here are some examples: The Skywatcher Star Discovery 150P telescope - was a great telescope, but now fitted with WiFi (model 150i), so it can only be controller by a phone. This is purely to keep the price lower. Yes, you love your phone, but the screen needs to dimmed down and changed to a red background so it doesn’t effect your night vision. However, the Skywatcher Synscan app while automatically going red uses bright white text reducing the night vision you need to see faint objects such a telescope potentially will show you.. It is still a great telescope, but the price of the optional handset (£169) in my opinion takes it beyond its worth. Look for secondhand 150P telescopes including handset for about £250. The Celestron Astromaster (114 and 130) - very popular beginner telescopes on Amazon, but it is shamefully horrible. The mirrors are always miles out of alignment (I have had to do major re-collimated on every one I have seen and I’ve seen a lot!). This means that either not all the light entering gets to your eye or the stars are distorted. The older models with the inbuilt red dot finder loop is impossible to use so you can’t find anything. Later models of the Astromaster telescope use a proper red dot finder which is much better, but Celestron has not improved quality control on the mirror alignment issue nor have they made made changes to the equatorial mount where the axis lock knobs don’t catch the RA scale disc. Definitely avoid! Phone Adaptor for Imaging - please read Almost all Skywatcher telescopes now include a adaptor which attaches your phone to an eyepiece so you can image objects with your phone’s camera. If only it was that simple. The Moon is big and bright and a good image is possible provided you align the adaptor and eyepiece correctly. However, first you need to find the Moon through the eyepiece, then fitting the adapter without moving the telescope and if the telescope doesn’t have motor drives then all the while the Moon is moving out of the field of view. Further care is needed if using a mount with GOTO capability as moving the telescope even the slightest will mean realigning the mount again. To image a planet needs a lot of magnification (2000x) which is NOT achievable with smaller telescopes. The smallest telescope that is really capable of imaging planets is the Skymax 127 Maksutov with EQ3-2 mount plus motor drivers. Including these extras takes this above my £600 limit. To image fainter objects like galaxies and nebula requires long exposure images, so a motor drive to track the object is essential. For an Equatorial Mount it has to be accurately align to the North Celestial Pole (see sky map). Most smaller mounts don’t include a polar scope needed to do the alignment - for the EQ3-2 it is an optional extra.(£39). Finally, you need to be able to focus the object. To make things even harder the focus point for your eye is not the same as the phone so you need to refocus the telescope. Most beginner telescopes have quite coarse focuser which makes getting precise focus difficult. Telescope designed for imaging usually have a dual speed focuser - Skywatcher use DS in the name to indicate those telescopes that have this. An AZ GOTO mount would work imaging for short exposures only. however, phone alignment and focusing still apply. If you want to image the night sky take a look at Smart Telescopes which are designed to find and track an object and will do a far better job than your phone and with a lot less effort. Highest Practical Power (Potential) - the highest possible magnification Most website selling Skywatcher telescopes just copy and paste the text directly from the OVL website - click the link to look for yourself. For example of why they should NOT do this the Explorer 130P (any version) - they all blindly quote OVL’s ridiculous figure of x260!! for highest magnification. To reach this needs a 2.5mm eyepiece or 7.5mm eyepiece and 3 x barlow lens. Also the telescope will be so difficult to focus. I give a far more realistic figure of x160 which I have achieved through actually USING the telescope. The atmosphere has a huge effect on how objects look. Unstable air that makes stars twinkle makes the planets and nebula blurred. It is not often you can exceed x240 in larger telescope so this is the highest magnification I have quoted. If you don’t know about these thing please read Beginner’s Guide to Telescopes - Basics page I know of no other seller who will tell you things like this. Why do I do it? Because I want you to have a telescope you cannot wait to use not one you wish you had never bought. If you see a new or secondhand telescope and would like my opinion please phone or email - it is free. Your next telescope purchase is just a phone call away.

Email - enquiries@gallowayastro.com

Phone - 01988 500594

Galloway Astronomy Centre Craiglemine Cottage Glasserton, Dumfries & Galloway DG8 8NE

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We are official suppliers for

Welcome to the telescope shop at the Galloway Astronomy Centre Galloway Astronomy Centre have been a supplier of Skywatcher telescopes for over 16 years. We also offer Optical Hardware binoculars and telescope accessories. New for 2026 We are suppliers for the full range of Dwarflab and ZWO Seestar Smart Telescopes. If you don’t know about Smart Telescopes they are well worth looking at especially if you have light polluted skies. These telescopes are not for looking through rather they take images of the night sky to view on your phone. You will see so much more (including colours) with a Smart Telescope than is possible even with a large telescope. They can also take images of the Sun and Moon. Smart telescopes only give tiny images of the planets - a Maksutov telescope is much better for viewing these objects. Our promise: We will not sell you a poor quality telescope All manufacturers make some poor telescopes that are not worth the money. You can’t always go on price as some quite expensive telescopes can be rubbish. You can find cheap and expensive bad telescopes on Amazon and on several reputable telescope shop websites - but NOT here. I will always give you the bad points as well as the good ones of any telescope so you are aware of any potential problems, before you spend your cash. Here are some examples: The Skywatcher Star Discovery 150P telescope - was a great telescope, but now fitted with WiFi (model 150i), so it can only be controller by a phone. This is purely to keep the price lower. Yes, you love your phone, but the screen needs to dimmed down and changed to a red background so it doesn’t effect your night vision. However, the Skywatcher Synscan app while automatically going red uses bright white text reducing the night vision you need to see faint objects such a telescope potentially will show you.. It is still a great telescope, but the price of the optional handset (£169) in my opinion takes it beyond its worth. Look for secondhand 150P telescopes including handset for about £250. The Celestron Astromaster (114 and 130) - very popular beginner telescopes on Amazon, but it is shamefully horrible. The mirrors are always miles out of alignment (I have had to do major re-collimated on every one I have seen and I’ve seen a lot!). This means that either not all the light entering gets to your eye or the stars are distorted. The older models with the inbuilt red dot finder loop is impossible to use so you can’t find anything. Later models of the Astromaster telescope use a proper red dot finder which is much better, but Celestron has not improved quality control on the mirror alignment issue nor have they made made changes to the equatorial mount where the axis lock knobs don’t catch the RA scale disc. Definitely avoid! Phone Adaptor for Imaging - please read Almost all Skywatcher telescopes now include a adaptor which attaches your phone to an eyepiece so you can image objects with your phone’s camera. If only it was that simple. The Moon is big and bright and a good image is possible provided you align the adaptor and eyepiece correctly. However, first you need to find the Moon through the eyepiece, then fitting the adapter without moving the telescope and if the telescope doesn’t have motor drives then all the while the Moon is moving out of the field of view. Further care is needed if using a mount with GOTO capability as moving the telescope even the slightest will mean realigning the mount again. To image a planet needs a lot of magnification (2000x) which is NOT achievable with smaller telescopes. The smallest telescope that is really capable of imaging planets is the Skymax 127 Maksutov with EQ3-2 mount plus motor drivers. Including these extras takes this above my £600 limit. To image fainter objects like galaxies and nebula requires long exposure images, so a motor drive to track the object is essential. For an Equatorial Mount it has to be accurately align to the North Celestial Pole (see sky map). Most smaller mounts don’t include a polar scope needed to do the alignment - for the EQ3-2 it is an optional extra.(£39). Finally, you need to be able to focus the object. To make things even harder the focus point for your eye is not the same as the phone so you need to refocus the telescope. Most beginner telescopes have quite coarse focuser which makes getting precise focus difficult. Telescope designed for imaging usually have a dual speed focuser - Skywatcher use DS in the name to indicate those telescopes that have this. An AZ GOTO mount would work imaging for short exposures only. however, phone alignment and focusing still apply. If you want to image the night sky take a look at Smart Telescopes which are designed to find and track an object and will do a far better job than your phone and with a lot less effort. Highest Practical Power (Potential) - the highest possible magnification Most website selling Skywatcher telescopes just copy and paste the text directly from the OVL website - click the link to look for yourself. For example of why they should NOT do this the Explorer 130P (any version) - they all blindly quote OVL’s ridiculous figure of x260!! for highest magnification. To reach this needs a 2.5mm eyepiece or 7.5mm eyepiece and 3 x barlow lens. Also the telescope will be so difficult to focus. I give a far more realistic figure of x160 which I have achieved through actually USING the telescope. The atmosphere has a huge effect on how objects look. Unstable air that makes stars twinkle makes the planets and nebula blurred. It is not often you can exceed x240 in larger telescope so this is the highest magnification I have quoted. If you don’t know about these thing please read Beginner’s Guide to Telescopes - Basics page I know of no other seller who will tell you things like this. Why do I do it? Because I want you to have a telescope you cannot wait to use not one you wish you had never bought. If you see a new or secondhand telescope and would like my opinion please phone or email - it is free. Your next telescope purchase is just a phone call away.