FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
At night? Our moon, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. That's about it.
The light gathering performance of a 3.5" telescope is about 165x the naked eye. Under pristine "dark sky" conditions, it is actually possible to see all 110 Messier objects with a Questar 3.5" telescope. The unfortunately reality is that most people in the US today live under severe light pollution and it's often quite easy to count all of the stars in the sky if you live in an urban or suburban area.
The moon, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn are all bright enough to power through even severe light pollution. You can observe these celestial bodies even from the center of most bustling metropolis. The darker and less light polluted your skies, the better the Questar 3.5" performs for revealing deep sky objects like star clusters and nebulae.
One of the misconceptions about viewing the planets is that after seeing 4 items in the sky, there's no longer any value. It's easy to forget that the planets have their own rotation and their own weather, so it'll look a little different each time you view a planet like Jupiter.
Last, the Questar 3.5 also serves as a spotting scope for daylight birding as well.
Compared to what you may see with a Google search? Not really.
The Questar 3.5" is limited by several issues. The first, is atmospheric distortion or "astronomical seeing." On a hot day, it's easy to see "heat waves" above an asphalt road. Those waves are caused by the turbulence of moving air of different temperatures. Cold creamer in hot coffee is a nice analogy. This issue of turbulence is also a problem with every telescope -- you're now viewing objects through miles of atmosphere and not just on the road ahead of you.
Atmospheric distortion is one of the main reasons scientific astronomy is done with space-based telescopes, like Hubble, or advanced telescopes on the mountain peaks of Hawaii or the stable skies over certain deserts such as in New Mexico or Chile.
Second, magnification and resolution is limited by the front aperture of a telescope, in this case 3.5". This a physical limit that is due to the diffraction that occurs as photons behave both as particles and waves. The paradox is that the larger the instrument, the higher the theoretical resolution but the larger the instrument, the more sensitive it is to atmospheric seeing/turbulence. The analogy here is to imagine a large pond. On the other side of the pond, I now have a friend drop a pebble into the water. Waves are generated by that pebble and eventually reach me at the other edge of the pond. Images also travel as wavefronts. A larger aperture telescope would be like collecting the data on the waves from a larger portion of the edge of the pond. A smaller aperture telescope gathers less information and is like looking at only a small portion of the waves as they reach the other side of the pond edge. In a perfectly still pond, all of the waves generated come from that single rock. In a pond with swimming ducks, the larger area that I am sampling, the more likely a duck may be distorting the waves originally generated by the pebble.
Third, most of the images you see of the planets in coffee table books and the internet, including those from "backyard hobbyist astronomers" are photosgraphs that have undergone complex mathematical processing on a computer to further enhance the image. While it's not quite the same as what you might see on a show like CSI on TV, modern imaging techniques and post-processing techniques actually do generate what seems like magical results.
Not necesarily.
The Questar 3.5 has been optimized for size, functionality and optical performance. It is the best in its class and feature set.
Many telescopes can offer excellent optical performance sacrificing size, functionality, and/or convenience. The Questar 7" model, for example, offers better resolution and light gathering performance than the 3.5" but is much heavier despite the use of titanium. There are production telescopes that exceed $200,000 that can be purchased by affluent amateurs or lottery winners. Such a telescope would offer a better view than the Questar 3.5" when the atmospheric conditions are right, but come with a considerable size and practicality penalty, let alone the cost penalty.
Within its size or aperture, the added optical performance of a Questar 3.5 is still subject to weather and atmospheric conditions. The 3.5" offers performance rivaling larger telescopes in part because typical atmospheric conditions are often the limiting factor rather than the instrument for most people. Taking that perspective to other extreme, if you have very turbulent skies or cloudy nights, the increased optical precision of the Questar 3.5" telescope may not translate into an improvement in the view at the eyepiece in comparison to a still premium but otherwise mass-produced, lower-tier telescope.
You also have to consider your own eyesight. Astigmatism, macular degeneration, cataracts, and other physiologic limitations may affect the difference that you see at the eyepiece despite objectively measured superior performance.
There is the most debate when considering the price/performance ratio of a Questar 3.5.
With Questar, you are paying for reliability. While Questar "recommends" servicing the scope every 5 to 7 years, there are plenty of telescopes from the 1960's that have never been serviced and still work just as well as they did from the factory. Repairability and servicability adds cost in manufacturing and does not translate into present-day performance. This hurts the short-term perspective of price-per-performance but helps when taking a long-term view. Perhaps more impressive than reliability alone is that the Questar 3.5 remains extremely portable. Other so-called grab-and-go telescopes are no longer portable when factoring in the mount or accessories. Portability adds cost in engineering and also can be challenging to quantify. Everything you need with a Questar can be carried with one hand and in one trip from your home to the backyard.
When considering price/performance ratios, it's important to recognize that there are also diminishing returns with each incremental step up in performance as it requires larger and larger investments in manufacturing precision and cost. The lowest-cost Questar 3.5" Field without a mount is $3,500 and has 1/8th wave precision optics, which is already superior to most competitors. Upgrading to 1/10th wave optics adds another $1,700 ... a 50% jump in price for perhaps a 10% improvement in visual performance during the 10% of the time when the weather is cooperating.
Questar optics are fully manufactured in carefully controlled, small batches in the United States. In the US, the cost of living necessarily translates into higher production costs than telescopes that may be manufactured in countries such as Mexico or China. Optics from Germany and Japan, where the cost of living is more similar to the USA, can be very expensive as well. Since each telescope is individually commissioned and made-to-order rather than stocked, the economies of scale are not the same as a mass-produced telescope.
We travel to national parks and historic cities for an experience. For most people, it's still more rewarding to see the Eiffel Tower or Grand Canyon in person than it is to simply look it up on the Internet. Viewing the night sky with your own eyes is a different experience than merely looking it up on a computer screen. That said, there's nothing wrong with enjoying astronomy through a computer screen -- even the scientists using the Hubble Space Telescope are "simply looking at a screen."
The Questar 3.5" telescope is a connoisseur's instrument and offers a rewarding experience. Given the price, most owners have spent years saving up for the purchase and have developed an appreciation of backyard astronomy with other telescopes first. While a Questar would be an amazing first instrument, buying a Questar 3.5 would be a waste of money if your expectations are to see the kinds of pictures that the Hubble Space Telescope produces.
The best telescope is the one you will actually use. Some enthusiasts, particularly in areas of the country with access to land and clear skies, set up dedicated home observatories with permanently installed mounts and telescopes. For the rest of us, we have to take out the telescope out of storage each time we want to view the night sky and then pack everything up and bring it back in at the end of the night.
Premium refractor telescopes with 160mm of aperture that can offer superior images to the Questar 3.5" but are so large and heavy that the scope is typically carried over the shoulder like a bazoooka, and large catadioptric telescopes may need hours to reach thermal acclimation. That's not even counting the tripod and mount needed to support those telescopes without vibrations.
The Questar 3.5" is an investment in reliability, convenience, and consistency. The 3.5" is a sweet spot for getting you close to the maxmium limits of atmospheric seeing in most urban/suburban skies and the easy-to-use mount and lightweight design means that you can get out and see the night sky even if it's only for 15 minutes. The Questar 3.5" encourages you enjoy the evening rather than struggle to setup and later bring in your equipment.
Last, the Questar is also an investment in peace of mind. You know that you have bought a telescope that has been in continuous production for more than a half-century that continues to offer performance suitable for scientific and professional use. You know that repairs, spare parts and retrofitted parts have been made available for more than a half century of production. You know that you've bought a telescope that has been made by craftsmen and craftswomen in the USA.
With careful caution taken, yes. A telescope in daylight should be considered as dangerous as a firearm. Carelessness can lead to injury including permanent blindness.
The Questar 3.5" Standard and Duplex come with a specialized solar filter that allows white light viewing of the sun and sunspots which is used in parallel with a supplemental finder filter. Various upgrades exist to enhance the peformance of the Questar 3.5" for both white-light viewing and specialized narrowband viewing of Hydrogen-alpha.
Please speak to your retailer before embarking on a solar observation program and if you acquire a Questar second-hand, please have the solar filters and capabilities inspected by a qualified professional before use.
Buying used can be a great option, but caveat emptor (let the buyer beware).
Vintage or used Questars can be a remarkable easy way to own a Questar 3.5" telescope at a fraction of the price of new. Older designs may have slightly different optics, different focusing performance, different compatibility with accessories, or unique or desireable cosmetics (such as a beautiful purple anodization of the dew shield and telescope). There are even collectors of Questar telescopes that choose to have different generations/variations of the Questar 3.5" telescope that have been produced over time.
Properly cared for, a Questar 3.5" is an incredibly reliable instrument. Mechanical abuse from dropping the instrument, exposure to water (both fresh and saltwater), or fungus/mold on the optical elements are a handful of the few examples of ways that a Questar 3.5" can be damaged. Broadband coatings can deterioriate depending on the conditions the telescope was kept in, with repair being expensive as the optics must be replaced instead.
Although replacement parts for some of the oldest telescopes are no longer available, Questar continues to repair and service all of their products made from the very beginning in 1954. Modernization or retrofitting older telescopes with modern production parts can be done, potentially losing period-appropriate design elements. Optical performance has been reported as excellent thanks to the consistency of production particularly for instruments made in post-Gemini 5 era (after 1965).
Used or vintage solar filters should never be used without proper inspection and potential repair by a qualified professional. A telescope in daylight must be treated with the same respected as a loaded firearm. A damaged or counterfeit solar filter can lead to permanent blindness.
The most valuable Questar telescopes are the very first generation models from 1954 by virtue of their rarity. These have an Amici prism that corrects the image orientation when viewed through the eyepiece and a red/white/blue logo on the sides.
Next are the 25th and 50th Anniversary telescopes. The 25th anniversary telescope is very rare and less than 25 were made. For the 50th anniversary, 250 units were made and a used one sold on eBay on October 31, 2020 for $8010 not including shipping!
Following that, there's no perfect design. Quartz optics are generally the most desireable on the used market given the durability, consistent optical performance, and favorable thermal characteristics. MgF2 coatings are also generally preferred over Broadband coatings when buying used due to durability.
Newer scopes are generally preferred to older scopes since the oldest designs may not be fully repairable without costly retrofitting and newer scopes have improved focus-feel and less wobble. In contrast, the older eyepieces are just as desireable as the current generation eyepieces. The original Made-in-Japan eyepieces offer a wide field of view, competitive performance and integrated diopter capability. While these eyepieces were available for 18 years, these are still rare eyepieces and are no longer in current production. The present-day Brandon eyepieces are made in the USA and slightly sharper but with less field of view. Questar collectors are known to have both versions of the Questar eyepieces to match their intended views and atmospheric conditions for the night. Larger field of views are generally desired for moon viewing and any nebulae that might be seen from a very dark site while sharpness and contrast are generally desired for viewing the planets. It is a luxury to own both sets of eyepieces and certainly you will still get excellent views with either design. Third party eyepieces are also options, with Televue being a popular choice.
Astronomy Shoppe in New Hampshire does offer "Certified Pre-Owned" Questar instruments along with new Questar instruments. The certification is done by the store itself (not Questar) but they have a good reputation. It is a much safer bet to get a used Questar from them as opposed to eBay, but their inventory can fluctuate.
The best telescope is the one you will use and can afford. If size is not a concern, there are a lot of great options on the market today that will provide excellent performance in every price point. Even the most ardent Questar fan would never suggest that it's the only telescope worth buying.
Astronomy is a hobby that requires patience. It can take time to find the target you want to view (even with advanced Go-To telescopes) and you are always subject to the whims of weather. The Questar 3.5" is a reward for a patient astronomer. When it launched in 1954, it sold for $795-- which is about $8,000 in 2020 dollars when accounting for inflation/buying power. It was never been a low-cost telescope that somehow has gained fame with age and nostalgia. It's always been an aspirational product. For many astronomers with modest means, their Questar is the most expensive single recreational item they own. For many, ownership of a Questar came only after years of hard work and career success and also selling other telescopes or hobby items.
Remember that astronomy is a hobby of exploration and wonder. The lowest cost option to enjoy astronomy is to do it virtually, by utilizing the resources of the NASA website. You can revel in the images made by the Hubble Space Telescope and countless other professional instruments. Most NASA websites are written for a mainstream audience and if you're a US taxpayer, remember that you helped fund NASA's scientists and instruments.
Questar Corporation stays busy enough with their scientific and surveillance business that they don't spend much time advertising to astronomers anymore. As a consequence, the official Questar website is outdated and doesn't even include the current price list or describe some of the newer options that are available.
One of the more popular retailers for Questar telescopes (and surveillance and scientific instruments) is Company Seven. Like Questar, Company Seven stays busy enough with their optical services division that they too do not need to spend time advertising. Their incredibly detailed website has been plagarized, and they made the decision to stop updating their website. As a consequence, the Company Seven doesn't include a current price list or discuss some of the current options available, either!
I created this website to offer a modern overview at the Questar 3.5" and consolidate everything that I learned in the process of doing my research on whether or not I thought a Questar 3.5 made sense and what options I would choose when commissioning my own instrument. I get no referral bonuses nor commissions and have created this website to share what I've learned about Questar with a 2020 perspective. That said, if this website ends up being the reason you commission a new Questar 3.5", please let your retailer know that you used this website.