Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Celestron Astromaster 130 EQ Review


Around a month has passed since I got my scope and I have used to for about 10-12 short and long sessions. I’m now in a position to write a review of Celestron 31045 AstroMaster 130 EQ Reflector Telescope. I will try to make it as detailed as possible.


Many of the reviews i have found on the internet of this telescope are the one's written by experts having 10" and higher scopes, 
Here are some of them:


Review at Astronomy Forum
Cloudy Nights Review and comments.


Some other reviews:
At telescope reviews
Costco review


Very obviously they will not like this scope much. They forget the fact that no one who is an expert is going to buy this telescope, its not meant for the one very experienced with telescopes, then why review it as an expert. The person who is looking for this scope is the amateur first buyer, just like me.

I purchased a Celestron 31045 AstroMaster 130 EQ Reflector Telescope.The telescope arrived home in a heavy package, heavier than I had expected, around 15 Kilograms.  These were the included parts as I remember:

1. Optical Tube Assembly (OTA) (dark green metallic)
2. OTA Lid (Plastic, light black)
3. Eyepiece cover (plastic, black)
4. Dovetail bar (metallic orange color).
5. OTA holders (rings) (light black)
6. German Equatorial CG3 Mount. (heavy, same color as rings, with RA setting circles and slow motion gear of metallic orange color which looks great)
7. Tripod (Steel)
8. Mount to tripod locking knob
9. Latitude adjustment screw.
10. Counterweight bar (steel).
11. Counterweight safety screw (metallic orange color).
12. Two wedge shaped counterweights with locking screws.(approx 1.2 kg in weight, not sure)
13. Accessory tray.
14. Two slow motion cables/knobs.
15. One 20 mm erecting eyepiece (plastic casing).
16. One 10 mm eyepiece (Metal casing).



Recieved parts of Celestron Astromaster 130 EQ


I guess I am not missing out anything but will check once more and update if that’s the case.
So I received these parts and started assembling the equipment. First I expanded the tripod and extended the legs to full length and tightened the knobs in all three. Tripod is lighter than it looks in the images or videos, but sufficiently strong. I placed the mount on the tripod next, attached the latitude adjustment screw, then the dovetail bar, and attached the counterweight bar next, then the weights and the safety screw. Next I placed the OTA and tightened the screws. Balanced the assembly on declination and right ascension and it was ready. This whole process took me around 15-20 minutes, and it was easy. For the first time I got stuck once when I forgot to attach the latitude adjustment screw but the official celestron video of how to assemble helped me out and I was back on track. I would advise all first timers to have a look at the video and then go ahead assembling the scope; it makes the process easier and flawless.

In the first observing session I did not know how to polar align the equatorial mount, and I did not bother about it either, was just too excited to have view from the scope first. I removed the eyepiece cover and inserted the 20mm Eyepiece, then aimed at the moon and with some difficulty was able to point it in right direction. It took some time and I cursed the red dot finder as it was’nt so helpful. This red dot finder is perhaps the most criticized part of this particular make telescope, but it’s not that bad once you get used to it and use it correctly. Please read how to configure and point a red dot finder correctly in the next post.

The moon appeared majestic and in extraordinary detail, even with my camera at 40x zoom I had not been able to view such immense detailed view of moon at just 33x with the 20 mm eyepiece. At first view itself the telescope boasts its power well. I was impressed and ready to insert the next 10mm eyepiece with 65x magnification. The view became even better. It was impressive. I tried viewing terrestrial objects too after that and actually I could not locate what I saw through the scope from the naked eye. This was amazing too.

The first day itself I aimed it at Jupiter; it was difficult as the star pointer was mis-aligned but I had no idea, scope that it could be mis-aligned and can be aligned to point correctly. More about using the red dot finder here. 


So finding Jupiter was tough but I did not give up and finally viewed it in the ocular. With the 20 mm eyepiece I could see the four Galilean moons and Jupiter clearly. On the first day I forgot to change the eyepiece to 10mm, as a result of over excitement. But later I have observed Jupiter, and you can make out the upper band of Jupiter (after the lower band and the great red spot vanished last year) and the four satellites clearly Io, Europa, Ganymede, Callisto. I should also mention that the focusing knob moves very smoothly and it’s very easy to focus.


In the next few sessions I learnt how to polar align the telescope, which, opposed to the common conception is quite an easy process. The Celestron Manual which accompanied the telescope describes 3 methods of aligning the telescope to Polaris, after polar alignment it is easier to view and track objects, without the knobs and mount coming in the way, or leading to some direction of motion which is not possible. That used to happen with me when I used it without polar aligning it first. I really thank the equatorial mount for the ability to view objects and I am glad I did not choose a alt az mount telescope, for I can now figure out how difficult it will be to follow an object with such a mount. At high zoom the object moves out of scopes view in 8-10 seconds. You have to keep rotating the RA knob to follow it. An alt az mount must be very difficult to use.

The CG3 German Equatorial Mount of Celestron Astromaster 130 EQ

Counterweights Celestron Astromaster 130 EQ


The counterweights are so beautifully shaped it adds to the looks of the telescope. None of the telescopes have so good looking counterweights. Along with the metallic orange gears, screws and dovetail the telescope is a beauty.

The piggyback camera mount is also helpful and I have taken few nice pictures of constellations using it. The front lid has a small aperture covered with a cap which can be opened and helps in reducing brightness of very bright objects such as the moon.

Piggy back mount on Celestron Astromaster 130 EQ

Celestron Astromaster 130 EQ Lid


Till now I have had about 10-12 observing sessions. Some of them lasting all night, and I am very satisfied with the telescope. I have seen the Orion Nebula M42, Saturn and its rings, Venus in its phase and various star clusters such as the Pleiades. All this with only the supplied eyepieces. Celestron specifies maximum usable power of this scope as 307x. Which is a lot compared to the maximum I have seen with it at 65x (with the supplied eyepiece). I have ordered a solar filter and Celestron accessory kit with various eyepieces, filters and Barlow to extract the maximum out of this scope. Definitely expecting a lot more to explore with the upgraded eyepieces.


The supplied eyepieces of Celestron Astromaster 130 EQ

Nothing can be made perfect, so it is with the Astromaster 130. The tripod could have been stronger and sturdier, every time you rotate the knobs it shakes for about 3-4 seconds before stabilizing which gives eye strain. The extension of the legs slightly bends out away from their axial line, which was not what I had expected, but it might be the case with all such tripods. The focuser is not very firm and moves sideways slightly. Yes, I will also mention that the red dot finder is not as good as a finderscope could have been, but not as bad as the degree of criticism it has received. The setting circles could have had vernier scales, as in some skywatcher telescopes for more accurate pointing and lastly the telescope supplied accessories are highly insufficient, one has to buy better eyepieces and a Barlow lens compulsorily to enjoy the scope fully.

 Red dot finder Celestron Astromaster 130 EQ


Overall, for a beginner I think it is one of the best scopes available and huge value for money considering that certain nexstar series scopes and certain meade telescope of the same aperture have very high price for very few added features. I would rate this scope 7 out of 10.

More images at : This page

61 comments:

  1. Thank you very much for taking the time to make this review.

    I'm looking forward to get one of this telescopes. Where I live the telescope is at $196 with a 20% discount, so I believe it as nice purchase for the price, since I would think that just the mount will be around $120.
    I have a 4.5" reflector already and I don't expect to see too much of a difference with this telescope, but, I really like the mount, since I got a Dobson mount on mine and many, many times I haven't been able to find my objectives, quite frustating considering that I have some very dark nights where I go, as you mention, whitout having a EQ mount or a GE mount is so hard to find things in the sky.
    Once again, thank you for you review and now you gave me all the information that I was planning to get before getting the Telescope. Best Regards.

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  2. First of all, great review. I also own an Astromaster, so here are my thoughts and some tips:

    1)This is a awesome telescope especially for beginners. Most of the bad reviews it receives I have noted come from people not using it correctly. It comes with detailed instructions on how to align it and how to align the view finder(which people are also not doing or aligning correctly, claiming it doesn't work). My guess is people are setting it up without reading the instructions aligning it right, or they read the material and misunderstand how to do so correctly.

    2)The ONLY bad thing about the telescope is the tripod. The legs and butterfly screw are very durable but, the mid-piece that holds the collection tray and keeps the legs together are plastic, you have to be careful with it. The telescope and German Equatorial mount combined are heavy and put a lot of stress on the tripod. Mine broke after two days but Celestron, being the awesome company that they are, sent me a new piece. I recommend buying a non-plastic heavy duty tripod.

    3)The tripod needs to be set up on a solid surface, like concrete or plywood. The collecting mirror inside will vibrate when bumped if set up on softer surfaces, like grass or dirt.

    4)Astromaster makes a motorized tracker specifically for this telescope and I highly recommend it. It takes practice getting the speeds adjusted right but much, much nicer than having to constantly adjust the fine tuning knobs.

    5)Celestron, who make these telescopes, also has a great package that comes with 6 different lenses(my favorites are the 2X Barlow and 32mm lens combined) and 7 color filters(has instructions on which filters are best for what you are looking at). It comes in a nice case and with foam cutouts to hold the materials. I got mine for under $100 and highly recommend it.

    6)The scope also comes with a piggy back mount to place a camera on it for astrophotography photos. If you like star gazing I recommend getting into astrophotography, it's very cool.

    Good luck with your observations!

    - C.A.S.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks BiggerThanClouds for mentioning the points i missed. As mentioned in 5 i purchased the accessory kit too and found it very very useful. Will be posting a review of that too shortly. It has made the scope so much more useful. I too love the 32mm, it's the best.

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  3. Great post, thank you for sharing your views.

    I really want a telescope as I'm interested in the astrophotography side of things and this is one I've been looking into. Do you get good piggybacked images from the AstroMaster 130EQ, do you think its worth looking into the 130EQ with Motor Drive?

    Thank you,

    Rachel

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    Replies
    1. Hi Rachel,

      I have taken a lot of piggybacked images, you can view them in the images section or on my facebook album :
      https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.193340387348800.56531.100000185190354&type=3&l=6e9ea8fd2a

      Motor drive is a must if you want to try astrophotography, but it needs precise equatorial alignment. You should master that before opting for the motor drive.

      Hope i answered your question, you can tweet to me @coderversion1 on twitter, or just leave a comment here, i will be happy to respond.

      Thanks.
      VIshal.

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  4. Thank you for the review.
    I read a lot reviews and yours I enjoy a lot a for me very useful.
    I hope the next Christmas I will get one. I´m a frustrated astonomer along my life, I read a lot but never I have had a telescope.
    As you told I only find review of expert people and I would like one of some who used the telescope regularly.
    Thanks
    Javier

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  5. Thanks for a great review, I'm just getting into astronomy and of course I don't want to spend a fortune on a piece of equipment that isn't suitable. It sounds like this could be the right telescope for my first step.

    Thanks again

    Dennis

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  6. Am having trouble with the starfinder scope. The lowest eyepiece I have is the 20mm it came with. I am thinking about getting a 32mm or 40mm, to make finding objects easier. Does anyone have any thoughts or experience with these.

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    Replies
    1. 32 mm is a great eyepiece and my favorite. Gives very clear high FOV. A 40mm one would be less useful with a 130mm aperture scope.

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  7. how do you attach a dslr with it??

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    Replies
    1. Dear Abhay, you need to buy a T Adapter to attach a DSLR with the scope

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    2. Can anyone tell me why my dslr won't come into focus when attached to the camera

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    3. Dear Andy,

      To connect and focus a DSLR to the telescope, you need a T-adapter. You can find it online on ebay, amazon and similar websites.

      Have a look at how it operates and whether it fits your needs before making the purchase.

      Best,
      Vishal

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    4. A t adapter by itself will not work. The focal length is wrong. It'll just focus a few meters away; not to infinity. You need to screw a Barlow lens on to the front of the t adapter.

      Delete
  8. Thank you for a detailed review and great advice.
    Honestly I was getting bored of reading reviews by some people who trashed anything that did not fit their "Hubble" size "positronic" million dollar telescopes.
    Wasn't Astronomy supposed to be one of the few remaining sciences in which amateurs had something to say?

    ReplyDelete
  9. As you remark, the Astromaster finderscope is not a good finderscope, but it can be easily improved:
    This finderscope has two small LEDs under both end transparent windows, the rear LED poitns up and the rear dot has acceptable luminosity, but the front LED is pointing to the front and the front dot doesn't an acceptable luminosity. The solution is: dissasemble the finderscope (it is easy), remove the front led (it is glued with soft thermal glue), bend the Led 90º and place it outside of the original mounting hole (it can be glued) and reinstall all the parts.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks Aitzol. I tried this and it works really well. Both dots light up nicely now.

      Delete
  10. Hi,

    I am new to astronomy and i bought astromaster 130 EQ MD.The moon was superb,but i could not see planets like jupiter saturn, mars.In my area,the sky is always cloudy.I have 10mm and 20mm eye peice,Recently ,I bought a 4mm eyepeice,but still the same.Please advice how to use the telescope effectively.I am planning to buy Celestron AstroMaster Accessory Kit.

    Hoping for a reasonamble reply

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Jijo,

      First of all sorry for the late response.

      I have the following recommendations for you::

      1. Know the location of objects in the sky. The best and easiest method to do so is to use dynamic softwares such as Stellarium: http://www.stellarium.org/ when using Stallarium make sure the location is set to your current observation location

      OR

      Google Sky Map for android phones - https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.stardroid&hl=en

      OR

      Google Earth by switching it to sky mode.

      OR other planetarium softwares.

      you may also try learning star charts.

      2. Get used to your telescope. A method that works for me is using the 32mm eyepiece first to have high field of view and locating the object I want to spot. Once I have the object in the center using the 32mm I switch to a lower mm eyepiece. The object is there.

      I hope this helps. Let me know if you have other queries

      Delete
  11. First trick is to even find the planets with the telescope. The lower the number on the eyepiece, (ie 4), the more magnification. This restricts your field of view and makes it harder to find objects. Use a larger mm eyepiece to expand your field of (at the expense of magnification) to find planets easier, then switch lens when you have the planet captured. Cloudy skys cannot be overcome with this telescope.

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    Replies
    1. Thats a GREAT tip. I use it all the time. Happy Stargazing!!

      Delete
  12. First review I managed to understand, got the telescope for my 'Self present' this Christmas, assembled it looks great but local weather conditions have made viewing impossible so far, this review and comments give me great guidance for the future, thanks

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  13. Hi,
    Thank you for the review, really useful. Can you tell from where you purchased the telescope and the accessory kit, I stay in bangalore and was planning to buy the same from amazon.in. It's costing around 16k+16k for the set? Please suggest a good and cheap place to buy it from?

    Regards,
    Nirup

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. FULL UNBOXING AND EXPERT REVIEW @

      http://youtu.be/75aWDTLJlOQ

      I bought this and enjoyed the beauty of nature.

      Delete
  14. Thank you for the review. I just bought a new Celestron 130EQ with eyepieces 10mm & 20mm. So I want to upgrade it to maximum. I intend to buy new eyepiece 2.3mm but I don't know it can work with Celestron 130EQ or not. Anyone can give me recommendation.
    Thanks alot.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. @Vina84 - Did you ever find out if the 2.3mm would work with this telescope? I have the same telescope and ordered the 2.3mm and am unable to focus, but the eyepiece appears to have a crack in it. I've heard that most smaller telescopes only go up to 250x magnification, and am trying to decide if I need to replace this eyepiece or get a different one.

      Delete
  15. Hi! Great review! Two questions:
    1. Did you tried the setting circles? It seems to me that the Dec setting circle is of by about 10°. That is important because in otder to polar align you need to set the Dec axis to 90°. On my mount it just not wotk...
    2. Is the 32 mm ep erected like the 20 mm one?
    Thank you for your time!

    ReplyDelete
  16. Great review. I'm out tonight with my son and about to give up on this lol! I can see stars, but nothing really pops out as different than the naked eye. The moon is not visible right now, but we are going to stay up a little later now to see what we can see! I've been browsing Amazon for some accessories for this. I'm glad to see that someone is enjoying this telescope from an unbiased opinion. Thanks for taking the time to review.

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    Replies
    1. Thank you FIOS. I hope you have a great time stargazing with your son and family.

      Delete
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  18. Thanks for time spent doing the reviews to everyone. We bought the telescope over a year ago and we have not mastered it atall. It sits in our lounge looking like a beautiful artwork, but I will try now to use it. I understand , as a complete novcie, that we can see planets as well as the moon, also can take pictures via a DSLR which we have already, of these views. If I make progress I will post again.

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  19. Thank for the great review from a laymans point of view.I bought my 11yr old son a very cheap telescope for Xmas which he has not put down so that was obviously a good investment.So much so after reading your review I am going to purchase this telescope as a surprise so he can now enjoy the sky with a whole lot more clarity,thank you for not being a millionaire astronomer,Gaz

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  20. Great review!!! I got one of these for me and it's working perfectly.

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  21. Great review!!! I got one of these for me and it's working perfectly.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you for your kind comments Sourabh. Happy Stargazing!!

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  22. I'm looking at getting an Astromaster 114 or 130.

    The specs of the 114 say it has a focal length or 1000mm

    The specs of the 130 say it has a focal length of 650mm

    The problem I have is that the 114 looks shorter than the 130 when it should look almost twice as long.

    Are photos online misleading or are the specs reversed.
    Is the 114 really a 114/650 which it looks and is the 130 really a 130/1000. If the 130 is really a 130/1000 then it's a no brainer for me to get that one.

    Can't wait to here from you.

    TonySize

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    Replies
    1. The 114 is a Bird Jones design. Avoid it if possible. In short words, it has a Spherical (not parabolic) mirror and to overcome the optical problems it delivers, there is placed a "corrector" in the focuser that works like a barlow (that explains the 1000mm focal lenght)

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  23. Thank you Soo Sooo much, you've just saved me. As you can imaging i was just trying to remove glass from the light path, but the 114 brings it's own along for the ride. So a 130 with a good Barlow it is then.

    Thank you for the review and to Gabriel for the heads up on the 114

    TonySize

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  24. what telescope would you recommend for saturn

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  25. Hi thanks for this review, it's very encouraging. My husband bought the same model together with the eyepiece accessory kit as a gift for me for Christmas. I left the setting up to him but watched. We managed to centre on Polaris and studied what we could see in the night sky, the nearest object at the moment being Venus. After two short sessions because the weather is cold we've been very dissapointed so far. The view of Venus , through different eye pieces was very poor, I could actually get a better view through my camera! So what might we be doing wrong? Mars was also available but we couldn't even find that in the viewer. So we gave up and are wondering whether to rebid it and wait till spring. I know we have much to learn, but you said in your post that you could see Jupiters moons astounds me as our view of Venus (quite close in the sky) was poor. We would welcome any comments.

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    Replies
    1. Hello Jaybee,

      My initial thoughts would be to give the scope more time and preferably stargaze during the spring when you can spend some good time with the scope outside. Stargazing through a telescope definitely requires some learning and I am sure you will get there with some more viewing.

      Let me know if I can help.

      Happy Stargazing!!

      Delete
  26. Sorry the word rebid should read re box .

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  27. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  28. Thank you so much for the review. I bought the same telescope for my 8 yr old because he loves planets, but I was worried that I made a mistake after reading some reviews. Your review and explanations help reduce many fears. Thanks again for such a detailed and honest review. I'm going to take it out the first clear night we have and patiently explore and learn.

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    Replies
    1. Thank you Sritha. I am glad it was of help. Happy Stargazing!!

      Delete
  29. excellent review well done. we hear too much from Jeremy Clarkson type snobs who think everybody has a ferrari and a race track. I think this scope is aimed at experimenting with different lenses and the rest of the universe.It means you can spread the cost out and buy lenses that suit your personal needs; like a ferrari with or without a sun roof instead of an air con Jerramy.

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    Replies
    1. Thank you for your kind comments Newmoon. Happy Stargazing

      Delete
  30. Should I go for the PowerSeeker 114eq or the Astromaster 130eq?
    I'm getting both of them for the same price.
    The 114eq offers higher magnification with 900mm focal length and 3x Barlow lens than the Astromaster 130eq with 650mm focal length.
    But the aperture of 130eq is greater than 114eq.
    So should I go with better magnification (114eq) or with better aperture (130eq) and purchase a Barlow later for magnification?
    Please suggest.
    Thank you.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I would definitely go for the higher aperture. The key is that it will collect more light and will have much betters views, as a result. Magnification. beyond a certain point, only helps so much.

      Delete
  31. I am plannign to buy Celestron Astromaster 130 AZ Telescope from this website https://goo.gl/Aw47fn
    here is the specs suggest me good one
    Newtonian Reflector
    130 mm (5.12 in)
    650 mm (26 in)
    f/5
    20 mm (0.79 in)
    33 x
    10 mm (0.39 in)
    2 65 x
    Built-on StarPointer
    307 x
    19 x
    13.1
    1.07 arc seconds
    0.89 arc seconds
    (Compared to human eye) 345 x
    Celestron Astro Master 130.

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  32. Very enjoyable review especially for a lay person such as myself. I have just purchased this from a friend of mine for all my family to enjoy as we live in spain and have some fabulous clear skies at night. Your review has encouraged me and I am now really looking forward to learning how to use this telescope to it’s full capacity thanks to your great review. Thank you. Ps one of my sons is currently studying astrophysics and I know he will love this as our first telescope at home.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks for your kind comments. I hope you have a lot of fun and exploration with the scope.

      Delete