At the North Lincolnshire Astronomy Society on the 5th December 2011, we had the chance to test a members Celestron Ultima 20-60×80/45 spotting scope on some astronomical targets.
We were not disappointed. At 60x Jupiter showed the main cloud belts clearly. There was no false colour evident. The image was steady, and the 4 Moons showed up well. This was well on par with many dedicated astronomical scopes of a similar size.
The Orion Nebula was the biggest surprise. Again at 60x the shape of M42 was very bright and clear at 60x. This despite a bright Moon nearby. Averted vision was needed to get the best out of this target, but was by no means faint when looking direct.
Summing up. It is now quite clear why this spotting scope won best in class in the BBC Sky at Night Magazine. I was fearing that using at full zoom (60x) we would be let down by a narrow and dim view. How wrong I was. This is a superb all rounder.