A thick meniscus lens with its own built-in mirror
Like a Schmidt-Cassegrain, a Maksutov uses a spherical primary mirror and a front lens that corrects it. The lens here is a deep meniscus, curved on both sides, and the secondary mirror is usually just an aluminized spot on its inner surface. The design is easy to make well in small sizes, holds collimation for years, and keeps dust out of a sealed tube.
Narrow fields and high power suit planets more than nebulae
Maksutovs are slow, f/12 to f/15, and most take only 1.25-inch eyepieces, so their widest field is about 1°. The thick front lens takes a long time to cool: about 30 minutes for a 127 mm and an hour or more for a 180 mm.
| Telescope | Aperture | Focal length | Ratio | Obstruction | Resolves | Widest field | Max power |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Celestron NexStar 90SLT | 90 mm | 1,250 mm | f/13.9 | 30% | 1.3" | 1.2° | 180x |
| Skymax 102 | 102 mm | 1,300 mm | f/12.7 | 30% | 1.1" | 1.2° | 204x |
| NexStar 4SE | 102 mm | 1,325 mm | f/13.0 | 30% | 1.1" | 1.2° | 204x |
| Skymax 127 | 127 mm | 1,500 mm | f/11.8 | 30% | 0.9" | 1.0° | 254x |
| Skymax 150 | 150 mm | 1,800 mm | f/12.0 | 27% | 0.8" | 0.9° | 300x |
| Skymax 180 | 180 mm | 2,700 mm | f/15.0 | 25% | 0.6" | 0.6° | 350x |
Obstruction figures are approximate, as a share of the aperture's diameter. Widest true field uses the largest eyepiece the focuser takes: a 46 mm field stop for 2-inch focusers, 27 mm for 1.25-inch. Highest useful power is 2x per millimeter of aperture, capped at 350x by the air.
Current Maksutovs from Sky-Watcher and Celestron
Synta in China makes both Sky-Watcher's Skymax line and the optics in Celestron's Maksutovs.
| Model | Maker | Aperture | Ratio | US price | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Skymax 102 | Sky-Watcher | 102 mm | f/12.7 | $355 | Tube only |
| NexStar 90SLT | Celestron | 90 mm | f/13.9 | $540 | Go-to |
| Skymax 127 | Sky-Watcher | 127 mm | f/11.8 | $610 | Tube only |
| NexStar 4SE | Celestron | 102 mm | f/13 | $649 to $849 | Go-to; bundles with battery |
| Skymax 127 AZ-GTi | Sky-Watcher | 127 mm | f/11.8 | sold out | Wi-Fi go-to mount |
| Skymax 150 | Sky-Watcher | 150 mm | f/12 | $975 | Tube only |
| Skymax 180 | Sky-Watcher | 180 mm | f/15 | $1,675 | Tube only; heavy front lens |
Prices are from US dealers in November 2026; tariffs on Chinese-made optics raised most prices in 2025.
Best for the Moon, planets and double stars from small spaces
A 127 mm Maksutov on a small go-to mount is the classic apartment-balcony planetary telescope: it shows Jupiter's Great Red Spot, Saturn's Cassini Division and Mars's polar cap at 150x to 250x, and splits close double stars such as Epsilon Bootis. It is a poor deep-sky telescope beyond the bright Messier objects, because the field is narrow and the aperture small. Many birders also use small Maksutovs as compact spotting scopes.