Meade Infinity 70AZ Refractor Telescope

Yes, the 70mm aperture of the Meade Infinity 70AZ is sufficient to reveal Saturn's rings as a distinct shape and to show Jupiter's four Galilean moons as pinpoint points of light. Jupiter's main cloud belts may also be faintly visible under good viewing conditions. The Moon will show excellent crater detail, which is where this telescope really shines for beginners.

The Meade Infinity 70AZ is widely recommended as a beginner telescope for older children and adults because its 70mm refractor design requires essentially no maintenance or collimation compared to reflector telescopes. The included Alt-Azimuth mount is intuitive to operate—just push it where you want to look—which is simpler than equatorial mounts for novices. The main limitation is that young children may need help aiming it at smaller targets like planets.

The Meade Infinity 70AZ typically ships with three MA (modified achromat) eyepieces offering different magnifications, along with a 2x Barlow lens that doubles the magnification of each eyepiece. It also includes a red-dot finderscope for aiming and an accessory tray that attaches to the tripod. All eyepieces are 1.25-inch barrel size, which is the standard for entry-level astronomy.

Basic astrophotography is possible with the Meade Infinity 70AZ by holding a smartphone over the eyepiece (a technique called afocal photography) or by using a smartphone adapter clamp. The Alt-Azimuth mount does not track the sky's rotation, so long-exposure photography of deep-sky objects is not practical with this setup. However, you can capture satisfying images of the Moon and snapshots of planets with patience.