Celestron EclipSmart Travel Solar Scope 50 telescope review

The Celestron EclipSmart Travel Solar Scope 50 has never been more relevant. With North America on the verge of two solar eclipses a 'ring of fire' annular on Oct. 14, 2023, and a total on Apr. 8, 2024 sales of solar eclipse equipment are on the uptick. However, for those after some magnification, there’s a choice — a pair of solar binoculars or a solar telescope.

Firmly in the latter category, the Celestron EclipSmart Travel Solar Scope 50 also ships with a backpack, which will appeal to eclipse-chasers heading off on a road trip for either (or both) eclipses. Even without the eclipses, the Celestron EclipSmart Travel Solar Scope 50 arrives when the sun is reaching solar maximum, with sunspots visible across its surface on a daily basis.

A travel-friendly solar telescope that offers up to 18x magnification, very useful when observing sunspots, the Celestron EclipSmart Travel Solar Scope 50 has a permanent solar filter across its optics.

That ensures that there can’t be any mistakes made in leaving solar filters on or off, making this a good choice for children (as well as forgetful adults). However, it’s also best seen as a handy all-in-one that doesn’t require any other accessories. Here’s everything you need to know about the Celestron EclipSmart Travel Solar Scope 50 solar telescope.

Celestron EclipSmart Travel Solar Scope 50 review

Celestron EclipSmart Travel Solar Scope 50: Design

• Shaky tripod and fragile build quality
• Alt-azimuth mount
• Meets safety standard ISO 12312-2

The Celestron EclipSmart Travel Solar Scope 50 is aimed at those who want an all-in-one solar telescope only for occasional and casual use. After all, this refractor's optics are permanently covered by a glass solar filter that cannot be removed. That makes it safe, but hugely restricts this product in terms of what it can used for.

The Celestron EclipSmart Travel Solar Scope 50 can be set up in minutes. Half the backpack it ships in is taken up by a tripod, a lightweight aluminum affair that weighs just 1.1 lbs/500g. It feels flimsy and fragile. It connects to the telescope using a standard 1/4-inch-20 thread tripod thread, so can be very easily swapped out.

The star attraction, of course, is the non-removable glass solar filter that fits across the front of the achromatic doublet objective lens at the end of the telescope tube. It meets the ISO 12312-2 standard, blocking infrared (IR), ultraviolet (UV and 99.99% of visible sunlight.

Also in the box is a 20mm Kellner eyepiece that gives 18x magnification as well as a star diagonal. The latter means you don’t have to stoop at the end of the telescope tube and can essentially look at the sun while sitting down behind it.

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Since the Celestron EclipSmart Travel Solar Scope 50 has been designed to travel well, the small fabric backpack also included is crucial. It includes hook and loop straps to hold down the telescope tube and tripod, with a zipped pocket for the eyepiece and star diagonal.

Celestron EclipSmart Travel Solar Scope 50: Performance

• Blue-ish-white views of the solar disk
• Crisp images
• Very minor color fringing

Although it's low-priced, small and designed primarily for occasional use and portability, we had high hopes for the Celestron EclipSmart Travel Solar Scope 50. That’s because it’s a refractor telescope known for slightly sharper views of the sun’s disk than reflector telescopes.

With the sun’s disk firmly in its crosshairs the solar surface takes on a crisp blueish-white appearance. During my observing sessions, we watched a cluster of sunspots including AR 3418, AR 3421 and AR 3422 and were able to see detail within and around them. 

The 18x magnification proved to be just fine for observing prominent sunspots and for following an eclipse, though only if you can the Celestron EclipSmart Travel Solar Scope 50 perfectly still. On a still day and with it on a hard surface that was no problem at all, though any kind of wind brings trouble. I did notice a very slight blue line around the top of the sun and a yellow line below, but the issue was trivial.

Celestron EclipSmart Travel Solar Scope 50: Functionality

• Easy to find the sun
• Bullseye-style finderscope
• Tripod can struggle

Celestron EclipSmart Travel Solar Scope 50

Keeping it trained on the sun is a little harder. The main problem is that the sun appears to move as the Earth rotates, of course, but contributing to it is the Celestron EclipSmart Travel Solar Scope 50’s alt-azimuth mount and poor-quality tripod.

Keeping the sun in the telescope’s crosshairs is down to its basic pan-and-tilt fine control — one knob and one twisting lever, but there’s a lot of droop involved that makes it difficult to lock in position. It demands constant attention. A basic photographic product, the tripod is wobbly in any kind of wind. So much so that it would be wise to instead pair it with one of the best tripods to get a much steadier view. Since the telescope is so lightweight you could even use just a small tabletop tripod.

Should you buy the Celestron EclipSmart Travel Solar Scope 50?

The Celestron EclipSmart Travel Solar Scope 50 solar telescope is for a very particular kind of eclipse-chaser. Go see an eclipse with experienced observers and you’ll see a mix of people with expensive telescopes — many for photographic purposes and others happy to watch through solar eclipse glasses.

The Celestron EclipSmart Travel Solar Scope 50, isn’t good for images (we tried to use a smartphone across the eyepiece, but the results were poor). It’s also obviously a lot bulkier than a pair of cardboard solar eclipse glasses, but compared to any other telescope is exceedingly lightweight. 

You could instead just use any refractor telescope and make your own solar filter using Baader AstroSolar safety film, but we think the Celestron EclipSmart Travel Solar Scope 50 solar telescope has a place.

Appealing to the casual user wanting a fuss-free (and safe) close-up during a solar eclipse and perhaps an occasional view of sunspots on the sun, the low-priced Celestron EclipSmart Travel Solar Scope 50 solar telescope has weak points but overall is good value. If nothing more it’s a travel-friendly way of getting more from our star than just sunshine.

If the Celestron EclipSmart Travel Solar Scope 50 isn't for you

Although the Celestron EclipSmart Travel Solar Scope 50 solar telescope is the only such product in Celestron’s EclipSmart range, it also includes 10x25, 10x42, 12x50 and 20x50 solar eclipse binoculars. An obvious rival to the Celestron EclipSmart Travel Solar Scope 50 solar telescope is the much pricier Lunt LS50THa/B600PT hydrogen-alpha solar telescope, which lets you see only a very narrow bandwidth of light. This allows views of the sun’s chromosphere where solar prominences occur. It also has a 2-inch/50mm aperture and travels easily.