Father's Day 2025 Gift Ideas

For Father's Day 2025 here's some gift ideas for the astro and nature loving Dad in your life.

Two Telescope suggestions for beginners and beyond

Here's two Celestron StarSense Explorer telescopes that are ideal for Dads starting out in Astronomy, but also have enough power to help you keep exploring the Universe as your observing skill grow.

Both of these telescopes will let you see:

• The rings of Saturn
• Moons of Jupiter
• Craters and mountains on the Moon
• Countless deep-sky delights such as nebulae (interstellar gas clouds), star clusters and other galaxies

Both are also light enough to be easily moved around. 

Celestron StarSense Explore LT80 AZ

For less than $400 Dad will have a Celestron astronomical telescope complete with mount and tripod, two eyepieces for wide field and close up views and the Celestron StarSense Explorer system.

We measure telescopes by the width of their main lens or mirror. The larger this is, the more light it collects and the brighter and more detailed what you observe will be. A popular size for beginner's telescopes is 70mm. These sorts of telescopes collects around 100x as much light as your eye does. The larger 80mm lens in the StarSense LT80 AZ collects about 130x, or about 30% more powerful than a 70mm telescope. 

Find out more here

Celestron StarSense Explorer LT127 AZ

Moving up to just under $500, the Celestron LT127 AZ telescope also includes all the same accessories as the LT80 AZ model but with a larger main mirror. 

It's a type of telescope called a reflector and collects a smidge over 2.5 times as much light as the LT80 AZ.  If it's within your budget, this a very handy upgrade to the smaller telescope. 

Find out more here.

The Celestron StarSense Explorer system

Introduced by Celestron a few years ago, the strange looking StarSense Explorer gizmo combines with a dedicated app for both iPhone and Android phones to make the sometimes tricky task of finding objects in the night sky simple and easy to manage. 

Much like maps on phone or in cars, just put in what you'd like to observe and the StarSense Explorer app will show you where to point your telescope to find it. If you're not sure what you'd like to see, the app will even take you on a guided tour of the night sky, personalised for your time and location. An informative and easy way to learn about the Universe!

Quickly start observing planets such as Saturn, Jupiter or Mars. Travelling beyond the Solar System, there's a lifetime of observing star clusters, nebulae, binary stars and more in the Milky Way. You'll even be able to spot other galaxies, millions of light years. 

All the data needed by the StarSense Explorer is installed along with the app. This means that you can take your LT80 AZ or LT127 AZ into the bush for dark sky viewing where there's no mobile signal and they'll continue to work just fine. 

Nikon Aculon Binoculars under $200

Here's some Nikon Aculon binoculars that are spot on for taking to cricket this summer, general scenery and nature watch and ideal if you're getting into bird watching.

The Nikon Aculon 7x50 are a classic sized pair of binos that offer a bright, wide field views and are large enough to keep observing when conditions are poor due to low light or less than ideal weather condition. 

Find out more here

Moving up to a higher magnification, the Nikon Aculon 12x50 is the same physical size, with the same optical quality. It offers higher magnification compared to the 7x50 model. If you were mainly into long distance viewing such as ocean views or whale watching, these might be a better option.

Nikon Aculon 12x50 Binoculars - full details here.

(In the optical world, the first number is the magnification and second the size of the front lens.  We have guide that touches on choosing binocular sizes here.)

You can use both of these Nikon binos if you need to wear glasses. There's a BINTEL article about eyeglasses and binoculars that you can read here.

All Nikon Aculon binoculars include a carry bag and neck strap.

Stay tuned for more BINTEL Father's Day 2025 gift ideas this week!