One of the biggest barriers to rewarding amateur astronomy is the challenge of actually finding objects of interest, and keeping them in view. The heavens are far from static, with the Earth's own rotation as well as the movents of other celestial bodies confounding the efforts of even the steadiest hands. Without accurate control, objects wobble, blur and disappear.

This problem is a thing of the past with the Meade ETX-90AT. For less than a thousand dollars, you get an advanced reflective Maksutov-Cassegrain telescope mounted to a motorised base atop its tripod. Its computer can zone in on over 30,000 stellar objects. If that number leaves you paralysed with choice, just tell the ETX-90AT to give you a tour of the night's best.

A computer-controlled telescope is only useful if it has a point of reference to guide its motions. To manage this the ETX-90AT Premier Edition (which costs a bit more) uses a clever piece of technology that is cheaper than a full-blown GPS device. You just enter your general location, it then automatically detects true north, and correspondingly orients the computer.

For less than a$1,000 the ETX-90AT brings enthusiast level astronomy into the 21st century.