The Galileoscope Is Back!

The Galileoscope educational telescope kit has a new home: Explore Scientific. By assuming responsibility for the production and distribution of Galileoscopes, the Arkansas-based maker of telescopes, mounts, eyepieces, and other astronomical gear has rescued the kit from oblivion after we who launched the project and managed it for more than a decade as volunteers exhausted our inventory.

Attention science educators, outreach specialists, and resellers: If you are interested in placing a bulk order (minimum 10 kits) at discount pricing ($36/kit plus shipping), please fill out our Galileoscope Expression of Interest form. We’ll respond to confirm your interest and to provide instructions for placing your order with Explore Scientific.

We created the Galileoscope under the auspices of the International Astronomical Union (IAU) as a global cornerstone project for the 2009 International Year of Astronomy (IYA). It solved a long-standing problem: the lack of a high-quality, low-cost telescope kit suitable for both optics education and celestial observation. The Galileoscope program was expected to last only through the IYA, but the global astronomy education-and-outreach community loved the kit and asked us to keep it in production, which we managed to do for an additional nine years, thanks in part to the kit also being named a cornerstone project of the 2015 International Year of Light. Over the past 10 years, we have distributed more than a quarter million Galileoscope kits to teachers, students, and other enthusiasts in more than 110 countries!

Explore Scientific started out making products exclusively for backyard stargazers, with the mission to make astronomy accessible and provide a truly transformative experience by giving enthusiasts of all skill levels the tools and guidance they need to explore the skies. Through a strategic partnership with Bresser, a leading European optics manufacturer based in Germany, Explore has expanded its offerings to include a wide range of optical instruments and other gear for outdoor sports and science enthusiasts. And now they are expanding into the science-education market.

Explore Scientific sells individual kits to retail customers at a price of $69.99 per kit plus shipping (April 2020 sale price: $49.99 plus shipping). As noted above, if you’re interested in a bulk order at discount pricing, please fill out our Galileoscope Expression of Interest form.

— Doug Arion (Carthage Institute of Astronomy) &

Rick Fienberg (American Astronomical Society)

Co-Founders of Galileoscope, LLC