Celestron SkyProdigy™ 130 Computerised Telescope

Celestron SkyProdigy™ 130 Computerised Telescope

A truly revolutionary product with ground breaking technology, SkyProdigy™ is the product of a culmination of decades of telescope advancements. It combines electronic motors, an intelligent on-board computer, a digital camera and StarSense™ technology to create an automatic, instant alignment telescope that requires no input from the user. Simply turn it on, push a button and enjoy the view! It’s that easy.

What will I be able to see with the SkyProdigy 130?

• The phases of Venus and Mercury
• Lunar craters as little as 2 miles in diameter
• Dark surface features on Mars
• Detailed cloud belts of Jupiter
• The rings of Saturn and subtle cloud belts
• Many faint comets and brighter asteroids
• Double stars and stars to 12.3 magnitude
• Star clusters, nebulae and galaxies with spiral structures

PLEASE NOTE: Photos above are astro photography images.

The SkyProdigy’s automatic alignment process takes only a few minutes, then you will be ready to select from thousands of objects to view. Not sure what to look at? Select the Sky Tour option; this feature offers a customized list of the best objects in the sky to view for your exact time and location anywhere in the world!

No knowledge of the night sky is required. One touch innovation turns anyone into an instant astronomer!

Celestron’s SkyProdigy telescopes use an integrated imaging camera and patented StarSense Technology to automatically align with the night sky and determine where the telescope is currently pointing. The camera automatically captures an image of the sky, which is processed internally to positively identify the stars in the image. Once a positive match is found, SkyProdigy determines the coordinates of the center of the captured image. The process is automatically repeated two more times so that the system has three known alignment points that can be used to make an accurate model of the night sky. From this information the user can select any celestial object in the hand controller’s database, and SkyProdigy will automatically move itself to the correct position.

*The SkyProdigy’s internal camera does not have an external output allowing users to view or save the captured images. The captured images are used internally solely for the purpose of self-aligning the SkyProdigy telescope.

General Features:

• Fully automatic alignment procedure
• Fully computerised alt-azimuth mount
• Quick-release fork arm mount and optical tube for easy, quick, no-tool set up
• Sturdy stainless steel tripod and accessory tray
• CD-ROM: The SkyX First Light Edition astronomy software provides education about the sky
• Battery pack providing over 30 hours of power

Computerised Mount Features:

• Proven computer control technology
• Database allows telescope to automatically locate over 4,000 celestial objects
• Proprietary StarSense technology provides a completely automatic alignment process with no user intervention required
• Flash upgradeable hand control software for downloading product updates over the internet

DOWNLOADS:

SkyProdigy info sheet (PDF 2MB)

SkyProdigy Manual (PDF 3.7MB)

• Optical Design: Reflector
• Weight: 8.16 kg
• Aperture: 130 mm
• Focal Length: 650 mm
• Focal Ratio: 5
• Finderscope: StarPointer
• Mount: Motorised alt-azimuth
• Eyepiece 1: 25 mm
• Magnification 1: 26 x
• Eyepiece 2 : 9 mm
• Magnification 2 : 72 x
• Accessory Tray: No tool, quick release
• Tripod: Steel
• CD ROM: The SkyX First Light Edition astronomy software
• Highest Useful Magnification: 307 x
• Limiting Stellar Magnitude: 13.1
• Resolution (Rayleigh): 1.07 arcsec
• Resolution (Dawes): 0.89 arcsec
• Photographic Resolution: 400 line/mm
• Light Gathering Power: 345 x
• Angular Field of View: 1.9 °
• Linear Field of View (@900m): 31.39 m
• Optical Coatings: Aluminium with SiO2 overcoat
• Secondary Mirror Obstruction: 43.18 mm
• Secondary Mirror Obstruction by Area: 11 %
• Secondary Mirror Obstruction by Diameter : 33.2 %
• Computer Hand Control: Fully Computerised / Flash Upgradeable
• Slew Speeds: Nine slew speeds: 3°/sec, 2°/sec, 1°/sec, .5°/sec, 32x, 16x, 8x, 4x, 2x
• Tracking Rates: Sidereal, Solar and Lunar
• Tracking Modes: Alt-Az
• Alignment Procedures: StarSense Automatic Alignment, Solar System Align

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 diverts the light into the 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.

Alt-azimuth mount: a mount that allows movement in altitude (up and down) and azimuth (side to side).

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. Aluminium is the most common coating, and yields a reflectivity of around 88%-92% over the visible spectrum.

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.

Photographic resolution: how close dark and light lines can be to each other and still be visibly differentiated.

Secondary mirror obstruction: a secondary mirror is required to send the light from the main mirror to the correct position for viewing. This mirror and its holder obstructs some of the light entering the telescope.

Slew speeds: the speed that the controller moves the telescope. Speeds are calculated to accomplish specific functions.

Tracking rates: in addition to the Earth’s rotation, the computed tracking rates take many additional factors into account such as the Earth’s orbit around the Sun, the Moon’s orbit around the Earth, and an object’s position relative to the horizon.