Welcome to the first comprehensive guide to using one of the world’s most popular telescopes: the ShortTube 80 refractor. With its ultra-portability, versatility, and relatively low cost, this telescope continues to delight generations of stargazers, offering crisp images of hundreds of star clusters, nebulae, galaxies, the Sun, the Moon and brighter planets. 
Starting in the field under a dark country sky, the author walks the reader through a typical evening of stargazing, where the ShortTube 80 brings many deep sky treasures into sharp focus. From there, he provides an in–depth account of the optical properties of the ShortTube 80 refractor and the accessories and mounting arrangements that maximize its potential both as a spotting ‘scope by day and an astronomical ‘scope by night.
The main body of the book discusses how the ShortTube 80 can be productively used to study deep sky objects, the Sun, the Moon, bright planets and even high-resolution projects, where the instrument’s features can be optimized for the observation of tight double and multiple stars. The book explores how the ShortTube 80 can image a variety of celestial objects and daytime targets using camera phones, DSLRs and dedicated astronomical CCD imagers. For each activity, the author takes a detailed look at what equipment is most compatible so that the reader can obtain the very best performance out of this versatile instrument.
The final chapters of the book discuss the evolution of the ShortTube 80 from simple, no-frills models to sophisticated variations of the same telescope, including the highly popular Meade ETX 80 computerized telescope. In addition, the author discusses various ongoing efforts to improve the optical performance of the telescope before finally reflecting upon why the ShortTube 80 has remained a firm favorite among amateur astronomers for over three decades and why it is likely to remain popular among this community for many years to come.

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