Bresser Messier AR-80/640 Nano refractor

Portable and easy to use, the Nano offers everything a new stargazer needs

The Bresser Messier AR-80/640 Nano is a complete beginner’s telescope. It’s a 3-inch achromatic refractor that’s bundled with everything a newcomer needs to get started: a manual altaz mount, a red dot finder, a star diagonal and a 26mm Plössl eyepiece. Its 3-inch aperture is more than adequate to allow observations of a wide range of celestial objects, its altaz mount is intuitive to use and the whole thing is a doddle to set up.

Achromatic doublet lenses, like the ones in this scope, are made from two types of glass that work together to minimise chromatic aberrations – an unwanted effect that produces coloured halos around bright objects. More expensive optics have a number of special coatings applied to reduce reflections and increase light throughput, but this lens assembly has only one coating of magnesium fluoride (MgF2) – the minimum required.

The inside of the seamless aluminium optical tube is nicely blackened, though and has a single baffle to help reduce unwanted internal reflections. A substantial, non-retracting, aluminium dew shield (also with a nicely blackened interior) cuts down on unwanted light entering the telescope, as well as doing an excellent job of keeping dew at bay.

Externally, the optical tube is finished in high-gloss white with Bresser’s trademark red pinstripe around the base of the dew shield. The optical tube is clamped in a plastic clamshell mounting ring, which attaches to an aluminium Vixen-style dovetail bar. The dovetail bar has been drilled and tapped to take both 1/4-20 and 3/8-16 tripod mounting bolts, so it can be used with other mounts, while the scope’s aluminium construction keeps the weight down, making it highly portable.

A complete package

The left side of the plastic focuser housing has an inverted T-slot for mounting the supplied red dot finder. The finder has adjustable brightness and makes locating bright celestial objects very easy.

The complete system comes almost fully assembled and, to further assist in any beginner’s first forays into observing, it’s supplied with Stellarium planetarium software on a CD and a waterproof planisphere to help locate suitable