This instrument is a very nice, extremely well made beginner's telescope. The high quality of the optical elements employed offers an unusually sharp, high-contrast image for this class of telescope. The permanently mounted red dot finder allows you to quickly and easily find object you wish to observe. The 1.25" rack and pinion focuser lets you smoothly adjust the focus. The telescope is ideal for the natural watching and terrestrial observing as well as for astronomical applications such as lunar and planetary observing. The OTA fixes onto the mount using the usual dovetail rail. The instrument can be completely assembled within a few minutes, without any specialist knowledge and without needing any tools.
Included in delivery with the telescope:
- Celestron N 130/650 OTA with 130mm aperture and 650mm focal length
- 1.25", 20mm and 10mm eyepieces
- red dot finder
- dovetail mounting rail
- 'The Sky level 1' software CD
The Celestron CG-3 mount:
This parallactic mount is sufficient for telescopes of up to approx. 5 kg total weight. Setting-circles on both axes allow the manual fine adjustment via sensitive flexible slow motion controls. In contrast to the slightly smaller CG-2 mount, both axes here equally robust and equipped with the same high-quality fine adjustment. The height-adjustable and completely preassembled tripod has tubular steel legs of 1.25" diameter and supports the mount and telescope stably and vibration-free. You can keep all your important accessories on the tray provided and so always have them close at hand. A motor for automatic tracking can be retrofitted to the right ascension axis, and is already included with the Astromaster MD models.
Included with the mount:
- CG-3 parallactic mount
- height-adjustable tubular steel tripod
- accessory tray
It is not only important which telescope you buy, but also where you buy it.
We provide extra help:
- We are a leading telescope dealer and know these instruments like the back of our hands.
- We are always very happy to offer our assistance after your purchase, should you encounter any problems with your telescope’s setup or operation.
- Our ‘Telescope Basics’ booklet - an 80-page beginner's guide for our telescopes – is provided free of charge with every telescope we sell.
The instrument has decent optics. But, for an instrument of this size, the mount is only suitable for limited astrophotography. Short webcam exposures using motorized tracking on the hour axis are possible however. It is really worth investing a little more money if you want more performance. If you want something you will also be able to use for astrohotography in the future, we recommend the Skywatcher N 150/750 BlackDiamond NEQ-3
(Bernd Gährken/Achim Mros)
The Astromaster Celestron AC 90/1000 EQ model and Celestron N 130/650 are both available as packages which include motor control for tracking in the right ascension axis. These particular variants can be recognized by the abbreviation 'MD' in the product name. Versions without motor control can be optionally fitted with a Celestron motor drive upgrade kit.
Variants without motors:
- [cms: //shop/p_id 7891 = "AC 90/1000 EQ"]
- [cms: //shop/p_id 7895 = "N 130 / 650 EQ"]
- Variants including motors:
- [cms: //shop/p_id 15036 = "N 130 / 650 EQ-MD"]
(Eric Benesch)
The AstroMaster series is good value for money.
The built-in finder can be replaced by a better model at a later date: Sky Surfer
(Bernd Gährken)
