Celestron Astromaster 130EQ Telescope

The Celestron Astromaster 130EQ can not only show you beautiful details of objects in our solar system, it also opens up the world of deep space viewing and astrophotography. The 130EQ can be used to watch objects on land, view craters on the moon, the rings of Saturn, cloud belts on Jupiter and even for viewing star clusters and nebulae.

The quick and easy no-tool set up and the rugged pre-assembled tripod makes it easy to transport the telescope to the perfect viewing location. With the German equatorial mount with setting circles you can accurately locate and track sky objects making this telescope a great starter scope for astrophotography as well.

What will I be able to see with the AstroMaster 130EQ?

• The phases of Venus and Mercury
• Lunar craters as little as 3.5km in diameter
• Dark surface features on Mars
• Detailed cloud belts of Jupiter
• The rings of Saturn and subtle cloud belts
• Double stars and stars to 13.1 magnitude
• Star clusters, nebulae and galaxies with spiral structures
• Many faint comets and brighter asteroids

General Features:

• 130mm Newtonian Reflector
• Quick and easy no-tool setup
• Permanently mounted Star Pointer
• Erect image optics – ideal for terrestrial and astronomical use
• German equatorial mount with setting circles – to accurately locate and track sky objects
• Rugged pre-assembled tripod with 1.25” steel tube legs – provides a rigid and stable platform
• All coated glass optics for clear, crisp images
• Deluxe accessory tray for convenient storage of accessories
• Includes CD ROM ‘The Sky’ astronomy software which provides education about the sky and printable sky maps

• Optical Design: Newtonian Reflector
• Aperture: 130mm
• Focal Length: 650mm
• Focal Ratio: 5
• Finderscope: StarPointer
• Mount: CG-3 Equatorial
• Eyepiece 1: 20mm
• Magnification 1: 33x
• Eyepiece 2: 10mm
• Magnification 2: 65x
• CD ROM: The Sky™ Level 1
• Tripod: 1.25” steel tube legs
• Weight: 13kg
• Highest useful magnification: 307x
• Lowest useful magnification: 19x
• Limiting stellar magnitude: 13.1
• Light gathering power: 345x
• Angular field of view: 1.5°
• Linear field of view (at 1000 yards): 24m
• Optical coatings: Aluminium
• Optical tube length: 610mm


GLOSSARY OF TERMS

Newtonian reflector: a type of telescope that uses a mirror at the back to collect and focus light onto a smaller secondary mirror which then diverts the light into an eyepiece.

Aperture: the size of the main mirror that collects light.

Focal length: the distance between the centre of the mirror and the point of it being focused by the eyepiece – the higher the focal length, the greater the magnification.

Focal ratio: focal length divided by aperture.

Magnification: a calculation of the focal length of the telescope over the focal length of the eyepiece.

Eyepiece: a removable lens that is used to look through a telescope. The focal length of the eyepiece is used to determine the magnification. An eyepiece with a long focal length (for example, 32mm) will give you lower magnification; an eyepiece with a short focal length (4mm) will give you higher magnification

Equatorial mount: a mount with an axis parallel to the axis of the Earth, resulting in smoother movements and easier tracking of stars.

Optical coating: a thin layer of material on an optical component such as a lens or mirror which alters the way in which light is reflected or transmitted.

Finderscope: a low-power scope attached parallel to the main telescope, which provides easy telescope aiming.

Highest useful magnification: the highest visual power a telescope can achieve before the image becomes too dim for useful observing.

Lowest useful magnification: the lowest power usable from a dark sky observing site. An eyepiece with still lower power has an exit pupil (the beam of light coming out of the eyepiece) larger than the pupil of your eye.

Limiting stellar magnitude: the faintest star you can see with a telescope (under excellent seeing conditions). The limiting magnitude is directly related to aperture, where larger apertures allow you to see fainter stars.

Angular field of view: the extent of the observable world that is seen at any given moment. The angular field of view is that viewed by the instrument in square degrees.

Linear field of view: a ratio of lengths and refers to the area that can be observed at 1,000 yards.