Celestron Astromaster 130 EQ MD

[221B Observer]

I have a bit of a bumper pay packet coming my way end of this month. I shall just have enough to afford a Celestron Astromaster 130 EQ MD. I already own a Celestron powerseeker Az50. Before I take the plunge and buy the Celestron Astromaster 130 EQ MD, can anyone offer some advice? I am primarily interested in the Moon and planets. My dream is to see the rings of Saturn, Jupiter's famous red spot, some Moons and also some nice views of Mars. I also want to see the craters on the Moon. Would the Celestron Astromaster 130 EQ MD fit the bill? I am only really becoming more active in the field of astronomy. I have loved it since I was a child but and have already dreamt of having a decent telescope.

[ronin]

Difficult. Owing to the lack of a "P" I assume that the mirror is spherical which will mean a slight loss of definition and for Saturns rings you need definition.

The scope should give the magnification required as 120x will be OK for both Saturn and Jupiter. Concerning the GRS at the distance we are it is actually small and unless the scope is large I doubt it is red either. These images you see are just that - images taken on a camera then processed. Your eye doesn't work the same way - on a camera looking at it for 20 sec is 20x better then 1 sec, with the eye looking at it for 20 sec is just the same as 1 sec.

The difficult part is: It is better then the 50AZ but is it what you want, as I suspect that very rapidly you will want something a bit bigger and better.

Does the scope need to be motorised?

I know it helps track things just wondering if that is the reason or not.

[astrosathya]

Hi Mate,

I'd recommend you go for a long focal length refractor or reflector. The 130mm scope has a 650mm focal length, but is not parabolised. The lack of parabolization can be made up with a long focal length as at longer focal lengths, a sphere and parabola behave similar. If its planets you want, then go for the Sky Wathcer 90mm refractor on the EQ2 mount, last time I checked it cost £150, or the Sky-Watcher Explorer 130M, which is a 900mm focal length 130mm reflector with an EQ2 mount and motor drive. For high magnification views of the planets you need to compliment a good telescope with very good eyepieces. The eyepieces supplied with Celestron and Sky-watcher are good to start with, but the shorter focal length one, that is the 10mm eyepiece will not give very good views. Buy yourself a decent £20 plossl eyepiece of about 6mm focal length. This should help in improved views of planets while maintaing image contrast and brightness.

[Mrlangston]

The 130eq will help you see most of the things you want to - I know because I have one! The moon and it's craters are clearly visible and easy to find even with the awful red dot finder supplied.

I have seen Saturn's rings and cloud bands on Jupiter but have not seen the great red spot although I have not planned a time to observe when it is visible.

As others have said, the 130 is not the best available for what you want but I think it is a good all-rounder. Just budget for a telrad and a better planetary eyepiece next month!

Michael