Skywatcher Telescope MERCURY 60/700

The Skywatcher Mercury 607 is an approachable refractor telescope for getting started in astronomy. Its 60 mm objective gathers light for detailed views of the Moon and first looks at bright planets. The manual alt-azimuth mount moves intuitively up, down and sideways.

What you can observe

The Moon’s craters and mountain ranges are rewarding targets. Under steady conditions, Jupiter’s moons and Saturn’s rings can also be seen, though they appear small through this beginner telescope. Bright star clusters and double stars provide further observing targets. Very faint galaxies and nebulae show little structure with a 60 mm aperture and are best attempted from a dark observing site.

The achromatic refractor has a 700 mm focal length and a relatively long focal ratio of f/11.7. This makes it well suited to the Moon and planets. As is typical of achromatic refractors, a slight colour fringe may be visible around very bright objects.

Eyepieces and magnification

The two supplied 1.25-inch eyepieces provide approximately 28× with the 25 mm eyepiece and 70× with the 10 mm eyepiece. The included 2× Barlow lens approximately doubles these values to 56× and 140×. Higher magnification is not always useful: atmospheric steadiness, the target and image brightness determine how much detail can actually be seen.

Easy pointing with the alt-azimuth mount

The manual AZ2 mount moves horizontally and vertically, so it is straightforward to point at a target without electronic setup. It does not track objects automatically and has no GoTo control. Use the 5×24 finder to aim at the general area of the sky, then centre the target in the eyepiece.

Suitable for terrestrial viewing

The supplied 90° diagonal mirror produces an upright but laterally reversed image. For an upright and correctly oriented image during daytime nature observation, a suitable 1.25-inch Amici prism is available as an accessory.

Technical data

What is included

• Skywatcher Mercury 607 refractor, 60 mm aperture and 700 mm focal length
• Manual AZ mount
• Aluminium tripod with accessory tray
• 5×24 finder
• 1.25-inch diagonal mirror
• 25 mm and 10 mm 1.25-inch eyepieces
• 2× Barlow lens

Safety note: Never point the telescope at the Sun without proper protection. Solar observation requires a suitable solar filter securely fitted over the front aperture. A diagonal mirror or eyepiece accessory does not provide solar protection.