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Is the Celestron Astromaster 130EQ decent and other reflectors


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Hello There!

I am a beginner astronomer that has always been interested in the wonders of space, and I have now decided to buy a telescope. I have been thinking a lot about the Celestron Astromaster 130EQ (130/650) and I was wondering if any of you guys have any experience with it and can tell me what I would be able to see with it? Im also planning on buying a EP or two and a barlow to bring the magnification up to 200-250x which would almost be stretching the limit for max mag but not completely. I was also wondering if any of you guys possibly know any other scope around the 200-250$ mark that are as good as the 130EQ or maybe even better.

I am grateful for any answer :)

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The Astromaster telescope is OK but the mount is rather awkward to use, the control rods tend to foul each other and prevent the telescope from moving in certain positions so you have to keep resetting the mount. For starters, I think a similar aperture Dobsonian would be a better bet.  :smiley:

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Hi Kriss, the Celestron Astromaster 130EQ is a good starter to break your teeth on, but I can't help wondering that you will want something bigger and better later on, perhaps a dobsonian as Peter has suggested above.  Also, don't get hooked on magnification, much astronomy is done on low and medium magnifications.  Higher mags are OK for solar system objects such as Moon and planets, but the rest of the universe demands lower widefield study.

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The Astromaster was my first scope and to be honest, if I'd done a little homework, I'd have definitely bought a dobsonian instead. Yes the mount isn't too clever either because as soon as you touch it the image wobbles for aeons, or so it seems. The RDF is a pain also. If I were you I'd have a rethink.

Ally

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Ok, thanks for the advice. Im just wondering, are there dobs that are in about the same price category as the astromaster 130EQ? And isnt it quite hard to follow the object with a dob?

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Hi Kriss, I am not sure what you pay for equipment in Sweden but this would be a good Dob choice. http://www.firstlightoptics.com/dobsonians/skywatcher-skyliner-150p-dobsonian.html

Dobs do need manually moving to follow objects but this is no problem at the lower magnifications you would be using (up to 200x) with this size of scope  :smiley:

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The Heritage 130p is a Dobsonian in very similar price range,. Great little scope. A year on with a bigger scope I still find myself using it quite a bit, especially when I added a few quality eyepieces it gets used more than before these days. 

At high mag like 180 or above so it does get a little wobbly if you are not very still. I still find it perfectly useable though but focusing becomes a bit tricky as it wobbles a bit at very high mag. 

Only last night I was reminded how well this little beast shows Jupiter, I was using it to split a bunch of doubles, very clean images from this little mirror on the one I have anyway.  From a darker site it does well on deeper sky objects (DSOs) too  for that aperture, lovely ratio that 650/130 for lower mag wider FOV views and for deep sky I find very nice.  M81/M82 in a 25mm eyepiece is a joy to watch at around 26x magnification with a 2 degree FOV in a scope such as this.

If you are willing to stretch another little bit more the 150p SW Dobsonian would be an excellent buy. :smiley:

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