Celestron 31051 Astromaster 130eq-md Motor Drive Reflector Telescope Review

Our Verdict

A telescope and mountain combo made with the novice astronomer in listen. Although serious long-exposure planetary or deep-heaven astrophotography isn't viable with the AstroMaster 130 EQ, snapshots of the Moon and planets through the optical organization is pleasing for a budget instrument. All in all, this offering from Celestron will spark a lifetime of interest in photographing the night sky. However, you will virtually certainly want to upgrade on the eyepieces to brand the most of the optical organization.

For

• Practiced sized aperture
• Suitable for beginners
• Neat views of the Moon and planets
• Portable and lightweight
• Affordable

Confronting

• Included eyepieces only offer low-power views
• Just actually suitable for basic astrophotography
• Some beginners may discover the gear up confusing

Digital Camera World Verdict

A telescope and mountain combo made with the novice astronomer in mind. Although serious long-exposure planetary or deep-sky astrophotography isn't feasible with the AstroMaster 130 EQ, snapshots of the Moon and planets through the optical system is pleasing for a budget instrument. All in all, this offering from Celestron volition spark a lifetime of interest in photographing the night heaven. However, you volition almost certainly want to upgrade on the eyepieces to brand the well-nigh of the optical system.

Pros

• +

  Good sized aperture

• +

  Suitable for beginners

• +

  Great views of the Moon and planets

• +

  Portable and lightweight

• +

  Affordable

Cons

• -

  Included eyepieces just offering low-power views

• -

  Just really suitable for basic astrophotography

• -

  Some beginners may find the set upward disruptive

The Celestron AstroMaster 130EQ is powerful plenty to give proficient views that will both satisfy and get out the skywatcher wanting more, making information technology an platonic telescope for beginners looking to mix betwixt observing and bones imaging. It's also an affordable piece of kit that boasts a complete package – supplying the observer with everything they need for a successful nighttime of stargazing.

What'south more, it doesn't have a fancy GoTo, nor any complicated electronics, making it like shooting fish in a barrel to utilize. The Celestron AstroMaster 130EQ can be purchased with or without a motor bulldoze, simply every bit we'll encounter, neither are entirely suitable for serious long exposure imaging.

Still, given that beginners won't be launching into such intensive imaging straight away, we're sure that they will be content with taking images of the Moon and brilliant planets, such as Venus, Jupiter and Saturn. The AstroMaster 130EQ offers an introduction to the hobby, a stepping rock towards more complicated observing and imaging.

The AstroMaster 130EQ is supplied in a single box, which includes the optical tube assembly (OTA), a CG-iii equatorial mountain, two eyepieces – a 20mm and 10mm – which work with the optical system to provide magnifications and 33x and 65x, red-dot finderscope and a sturdy stainless steel tripod. A manual is also supplied, ensuring that the skywatcher can set up and collimate the instrument with ease and associates takes no more than about 20 minutes.

The telescope comes with plenty accessories for a successful night of observations, including 20mm and 10mm eyepieces. (Image credit: Celestron)

Celestron AstroMaster 130EQ: Specifications

Optical pattern: Newtonian reflector
Aperture: 130mm
Focal length: 650mm
Focal ratio: f/v
Optical tube length: 610mm
Mount weight: 3.44kg
Full kit weight: 12.02 kg
Includes: 20mm (33x) and 10mm (65x) eyepieces, red-dot finderscope, CG-3 equatorial mount

Celestron AstroMaster 130EQ: Pattern & key specs

The five-inch aperture is a decent size for a beginner'due south telescope, giving the user sufficient light grasp and resolving power at their disposal to get good views of the pop targets – the Moon'southward craters, Jupiter'due south atmospheric belts, Saturn'due south rings, the brilliant wisps of the Orion Nebula (Messier 42) or the fuzzy shape of the Andromeda Galaxy (Messier 31).

The AstroMaster 130EQ'due south GC-3 mount is fairly lightweight. It'due south suitable for supporting the OTA, but will struggle if y'all add further weighty accessories to your ready, such as a especially hefty DSLR camera that can piggyback on the telescope via a threaded screw. This in itself limits its utilize for astrophotography, so users need to choose their additional accessories with care. The AstroMaster 130EQ tin carry a smartphone at the eyepiece through the help of an adaptor with no problem.

Unlike a simple up-down, left-right alt-azimuth mount, the CG-three is an equatorial mount, significant that information technology has to be aligned with the Pole Star, Polaris. Polar alignment is important considering without it, you'll get field rotation – the apparent rotation of objects in the field of view during your viewing session. Once aligned, the telescope then tracks stellar motions in right ascension and declination (the coordinate arrangement used on the angelic sphere) equally the sky turns.

Beginners may initially find manually moving the mount to go on tracking objects, twisting and turning information technology off-axis, every bit somewhat counter-intuitive, but newcomers will soon get the knack of it. A niggle is that the mount doesn't come with a polarscope, meaning yous besides accept to know where Polaris is and manually align the telescope to it. However, nosotros found that the supplied manual guided us through the process with ease.

Once you've managed that, there's a pair of slow-motion control for fine-tuning where the telescope is pointing, to keep your target in view as it drifts through the heaven. This in itself makes serious long-exposure astrophotography quite tricky with the AstroMaster 130EQ – you need the image to remain fixed, and even slow-motion controls will incur jerky shifts that will blur your image.

If y'all choose the version of the AstroMaster with the motorized right-ascension drive, and then this will help as information technology tracks your target in correct ascent beyond the sky. Yet, it doesn't track along the declination axis – you will still take to manually adjust the positioning of the telescope, once again hampering long-exposure astrophotography. Nonetheless, for brusque exposures, say of the Moon or Jupiter, the motor drive suffices, at least at a beginner'south level.

The CG-3 is an equatorial mount, which needs to be aligned with the Pole Star, Polaris. (Prototype credit: Celestron)

Celestron AstroMaster 130EQ: Functioning

The views are decent for a five-inch telescope at this price indicate, but reports are that the quality control is a lilliputian sketchy on the AstroMaster, with some buyers getting telescopes with poorer optics, so there seems to be a degree of random luck in which you get. Our unit of measurement boasted well-corrected optics at high powers, with stars hands focussed into tiny airy disks.

The eyepieces are average and are to be expected at this cost indicate. The 20mm eyepiece did seem to create internal reflections, marring the narrow true field of view of simply 0.9 degrees (the Full Moon's angular bore is just 0.5 degrees, for comparison). The 10mm eyepiece is peradventure the best of the two, but the heart relief on both is quite poor - you accept to push your eyes right upwards into the eyepiece cup to see annihilation, making for uncomfortable viewing, and almost impossible viewing for spectacle wearers.

The CG-iii suffers from vibrations in the tripod legs, symptomatic of beingness such a lightweight mount, which has the terminate result of creating shaky images, again no good for serious imaging. Still, for basic images of the Moon or even a brilliant deep-sky object such as the Orion Nebula (Messier 42), the telescope and mount permit for good results a beginner is sure to exist pleased with.

Saturn through the Celestron AstroMaster 130EQ. (Image credit: Nutchapon Sukprasitpredee)

Saturn is within grasp through the five-inch aperture, and the gas giant'southward rings are hands visible in the field of view. Using our own equipment to increase the magnification to roughly 120x, the Cassini Division – the dark gap in Saturn's rings – tin exist picked out forth with atmospheric detailing in the globe'due south temper. An impressive feat with a low-cost telescope. We took simple afocal shots of the planet, achieving a result that'due south certain to delight beginners.

Nosotros also slewed to Jupiter, which dazzled at magnitude -ii.34 in the south. We pushed the AstroMaster 130EQ toward our target with ease, and are pleased to detect that   the mount moves quite smoothly, with no drooping or huge amounts of resistance. At a magnification of 33x, a white disk and Galilean moons – Io, Ganymede, Europa and Callisto – is visible, but upping the magnification to 66x brings the storm systems into view.

Sights of fainter targets, particularly of the Dumbbell Nebula (Messier 27), are pleasing plenty through the AstroMaster 130EQ, offer a articulate and brilliant view that resembles a double-lobed shape. Globular star cluster Messier 13, also known equally the Hercules Globular Cluster, is a particularly stunning sight – myriad stars with beautiful contrast and clarity is a standout moment during our observations.

Celestron AstroMaster 130EQ: Verdict

The Celestron AstroMaster 130EQ offers a unproblematic experience of setting up and using a telescope, while getting a taster for what could be achieved with more complex, more than expensive telescopes. However, you lot volition almost certainly want to upgrade on the eyepieces to make the most of the optical system.

Out of the box, this reflector comes with everything the observer needs to shoot pleasing images of the Moon, brilliant planets and more luminous deep-heaven targets. It'due south not possible to partake in long-exposure images, but as an introduction to astrophotography the AstroMaster 130EQ is certainly worth a await – especially given the very reasonable toll tag, clear and well-baked views and excellent overall build.

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Gemma is content managing director of scientific discipline and space magazines How It Works and All Nigh Space, history magazines All About History and History of War as well as Science, Technology, Applied science, Arts and Mathematics (STEAM) kids didactics brand Future Genius. She is the author of several books including "Quantum Physics in Minutes", "Haynes Owners' Workshop Manual to the Large Hadron Collider" and "Haynes Owners' Workshop Transmission to the Milky way". She holds a degree in physical sciences, a Master'southward in astrophysics and a PhD in computational astrophysics. She was elected as a beau of the Royal Astronomical Society in 2011. Previously, she worked for Nature's journal, Scientific Reports, and created scientific manufacture reports for the Found of Physics and the British Antarctic Survey. She has covered stories and features for publications such as Physics Earth, Astronomy Now and Astrobiology Magazine.

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