Explore Scientific Sidara Pro 80 80mm GoTo Refractor Telescope System

Product Overview

The Explore Scientific Sidara Pro 80 is a complete telescope system: an 80mm refractor supplied on a computerized GoTo mount that runs Explore Scientific's SkyAssist interface, together with a tripod and a set of eyepieces and accessories. It carries item number ES-AR80900-SAGT-ST10.

Explore Scientific describes the optics as delivering sharp, high-contrast views that suit the Moon and the planets particularly well — which is what an 80mm refractor is good at. A refractor has no central obstruction in the light path, so contrast on fine low-contrast detail such as the Jovian belts or the ridges along a lunar terminator holds up better than in a reflector of similar aperture. Eighty millimetres of aperture gathers roughly 130 times the light of a dark-adapted 7mm eye pupil, and Dawes' criterion for an 80mm objective works out to about 1.45 arcseconds. Those two figures are calculated from the published aperture, and they define what the instrument can show before any question of mounting or software comes into it.

The GoTo mount is the other half of the system. SkyAssist is Explore Scientific's software interface for driving the mount to a chosen object, which shifts the work of an observing session away from chart-reading and toward looking through the eyepiece. Explore Scientific has not published a specification table for the Sidara Pro 80, so focal length, focal ratio, tripod height, mount payload and the focal lengths of the supplied eyepieces are absent from the specifications below rather than estimated.

Who It's For

• Observers who want one box that covers everything. This is a good match if you would rather have telescope, mount, tripod and eyepieces arrive matched to each other than assemble a system piece by piece.
• Lunar and planetary observers: an unobstructed 80mm objective is a contrast-friendly design, and the Moon and the bright planets are the targets it serves best from a suburban sky.
• Anyone observing from a light-polluted location: a GoTo mount finds objects that are invisible to the naked eye, which is exactly the situation where star-hopping from anchor stars stops working.
• Households sharing a telescope: a driven mount keeps the target centred while several people take turns at the eyepiece, instead of the object drifting out between looks.

Key Features & Design

• 80mm refractor objective: around 130x the light grasp of the unaided eye, with a theoretical resolution near 1.45 arcseconds.
• Unobstructed optical path: no secondary mirror sitting in the beam, which is the structural reason refractors hold contrast well at moderate aperture.
• Computerized GoTo mount: the mount drives to a selected object and then tracks it, keeping the target in the eyepiece rather than letting the Earth's rotation carry it out.
• SkyAssist interface: Explore Scientific's software front end for object selection and slewing.
• Tripod, eyepieces and accessories included: Explore Scientific list all three as part of the package, though the eyepiece focal lengths are not stated on their page.
• No collimation to maintain: a refractor objective is set at the factory and holds its alignment, so there is no optical adjustment to learn.

Optical Design

A refractor forms its image with a lens at the front of the tube rather than a mirror at the back. Light passes straight through the objective to a focus near the rear, with nothing intruding into the beam — no secondary mirror, no spider vanes, and therefore none of the diffraction effects those introduce. The practical consequence is that the contrast transfer at middle spatial frequencies, which is where planetary surface detail lives, stays higher in an unobstructed design than in an obstructed one of the same aperture.

The second consequence is mechanical. The objective sits in a cell at the front and never needs attention: no collimation routine, no mirror to clean, and a sealed tube that keeps dust off the optical surfaces. Cooldown is brief too, because a thin lens reaches ambient temperature far faster than a thick mirror blank.

Explore Scientific has not published the focal length or focal ratio for the Sidara Pro 80, so the true field of view, the magnification with the supplied eyepieces and the exit pupil at each of them all remain open. Those follow directly from the focal length, and we would rather obtain the figure from Explore Scientific than infer one.

Recommended Uses

• Lunar observing, from the whole disc at low power down to individual craters along the terminator.
• Planetary observing — the phases of Venus, the Galilean moons, the belts of Jupiter and the rings of Saturn.
• Bright deep-sky targets such as the Orion Nebula, the Pleiades and the brighter double stars.
• Guided observing sessions where the mount does the finding and the observer does the looking.

Compatibility and Accessory Notes

• Eyepieces: the package includes eyepieces, and the focal lengths are not stated by Explore Scientific. Once we know what ships in the box, we can advise which additional focal length would widen the useful range most.
• Magnification arithmetic: magnification is the telescope's focal length divided by the eyepiece focal length. The focal length for this model is unpublished, so example magnifications would be invented rather than calculated — we can get the figure from Explore Scientific if it is important to your choice of eyepieces.
• Filters: a lunar or neutral-density filter takes the glare off a bright Moon at higher powers. These thread into the eyepiece barrel, so the barrel size of the supplied eyepieces determines which filters fit.
• Power: a computerized mount needs a power source, and the supply arrangement is not detailed on the vendor page. A 12 V field battery is the usual answer for observing away from an outlet, and we stock them.
• Solar observing: possible only with a purpose-made front-mounted solar filter sized to the tube's outside diameter, which is a separate purchase.

Good to Know Before You Order

• Explore Scientific has not published a specification table for the Sidara Pro 80. Focal length, focal ratio, tripod height, mount payload rating, power requirement and the focal lengths of the supplied eyepieces are absent from their page, so those rows are blank here rather than filled with figures from a similar model. If one of them decides the purchase for you, we will get it from our Explore Scientific rep and pass on their answer.
• Explore Scientific currently lists this model as coming soon. Availability timing depends on their release schedule rather than ours, so a note to us before you order will get you the current status and an expected date.
• Eighty millimetres has a ceiling. Faint galaxies and small planetary nebulae are aperture-limited targets, and this system is built around the Moon, the planets and the brighter deep-sky objects. Within that range it does very well, and it stays a telescope that actually gets carried outside.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is it difficult to set up?

Not particularly. The tripod goes up, the mount head sits on it, the tube goes into the saddle, and the electronics are aligned on one or two bright stars before observing starts. A refractor holds its collimation, so there is no optical adjustment on top of that. The alignment routine is the one part that takes practice, and it becomes a two-minute habit after a couple of sessions.

Does it come with everything I need?

Explore Scientific lists the telescope, the GoTo mount with SkyAssist, the tripod, and eyepieces and accessories as part of the package. They do not itemise the accessories, so we will confirm the exact contents with the distributor before your order ships.

What can I expect to see?

Lunar craters and mountain ranges in detail, the phases of Venus, the four Galilean moons and the main belts of Jupiter, the rings of Saturn, the brighter open clusters and the Orion Nebula. Faint galaxies are beyond what 80mm of aperture will show from most locations.

What focal length is the telescope?

It is not published on the Explore Scientific page for this model. We can ask them for the figure and give you the answer they supply rather than an estimate.

Can I take photographs with it?

Short exposures of the Moon and the brighter planets are within reach, particularly with a smartphone adapter. Deep-sky imaging asks more of a mount than a visual GoTo head is usually designed to give, and the payload and tracking specifications here are unpublished, so we would look at that with you rather than promise it.

Bottom Line

In short: an 80mm refractor on a computerized GoTo mount with SkyAssist, supplied with tripod, eyepieces and accessories as a single system, aimed squarely at the Moon and the planets. Explore Scientific has not yet published a full specification sheet for it — so if there is a figure you need before deciding, ask us and we will get it from them and tell you exactly what they say.