(Image credit: Nutchapon Sukprasitpredee) Saturn through the Celestron AstroMaster 130EQ. However, for basic images of the Moon or even a bright deep-sky object such as the Orion Nebula (Messier 42), the telescope and mount allow for good results a beginner is sure to be pleased with. The CG-3 suffers from vibrations in the tripod legs, symptomatic of being such a lightweight mount, which has the end result of creating shaky images, again no good for serious imaging. The 10mm eyepiece is perhaps the best of the two, but the eye relief on both is quite poor - you have to push your eyes right up into the eyepiece cup to see anything, making for uncomfortable viewing, and almost impossible viewing for spectacle wearers. The 20mm eyepiece did seem to create internal reflections, marring the narrow true field of view of just 0.9 degrees (the Full Moon’s angular diameter is just 0.5 degrees, for comparison). The eyepieces are average and are to be expected at this price point. The views are decent for a five-inch telescope at this price point, but reports are that the quality control is a little 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 boasted well-corrected optics at high powers, with stars easily focussed into tiny airy disks. (Image credit: Celestron) Celestron AstroMaster 130EQ: Performance The CG-3 is an equatorial mount, which needs to be aligned with the Pole Star, Polaris. However, for short exposures, say of the Moon or Jupiter, the motor drive suffices, at least at a beginner’s level. However, it doesn’t track along the declination axis – you will still have to manually adjust the positioning of the telescope, again hampering long-exposure astrophotography. If you choose the version of the AstroMaster with the motorized right-ascension drive, then this will help as it tracks your target in right ascension across the sky. 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. 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 sky. However, we found that the supplied manual guided us through the process with ease. A niggle is that the mount doesn’t come with a polarscope, meaning you also have to know where Polaris is and manually align the telescope to it. Once aligned, the telescope then tracks stellar motions in right ascension and declination (the coordinate system used on the celestial sphere) as the sky turns.īeginners may initially find manually moving the mount to keep tracking objects, twisting and turning it off-axis, as somewhat counter-intuitive, but newcomers will soon get the knack of it. Polar alignment is important because without it, you’ll get field rotation – the apparent rotation of objects in the field of view during your viewing session. Unlike a simple up-down, left-right alt-azimuth mount, the CG-3 is an equatorial mount, meaning that it has to be aligned with the Pole Star, Polaris. The AstroMaster 130EQ can carry a smartphone at the eyepiece through the aid of an adaptor with no problem. This in itself limits its use for astrophotography, so users need to choose their additional accessories with care. It's suitable for supporting the OTA, but will struggle if you add further weighty accessories to your set up, such as a particularly hefty DSLR camera that can piggyback on the telescope via a threaded screw. The AstroMaster 130EQ's GC-3 mount is fairly lightweight. The five-inch aperture is a decent size for a beginner’s telescope, giving the user sufficient light grasp and resolving power at their disposal to get good views of the popular targets – the Moon’s craters, Jupiter’s atmospheric belts, Saturn’s rings, the bright wisps of the Orion Nebula (Messier 42) or the fuzzy shape of the Andromeda Galaxy (Messier 31). Celestron AstroMaster 130EQ: Design & key specs
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