The mount sits on a steel tubing tripod that prevents shaking and vibrations. You can adjust the tripod’s height to raise or lower the telescope to your most comfortable viewing level. 3. Finderscope

It’s mostly ideal for lunar and planetary observations. But with the right eyepiece, you can coax some decent quality deep space images out of it, though you’ll be limited to the brighter galaxies and clusters. Although you can still view objects in our solar systems, such as the moon and planets, focusing this telescope on such may be more challenging to achieve than with other telescopes. If you are looking for a telescope mostly to observe Jupiter, Saturn and the moon, then the 130EQ is a great choice. In a standard eyepiece, the image is upside down. However erecting the eyepiece uses more optical elements, so you lose brightness when looking at dim objects at night. Nevertheless, viewing the moon with this telescope produces a decent image.

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BTW, digiscoping primarely is the term used for a digital camera with a spotting scope not a telescope. The Celestron Astromaster 130 EQ is a popular choice among the well-known Astromaster line of telescopes and for a good reason. This telescope is affordable, easy to use, and delivers crisp, clear images of astronomical objects. The eyepieces are average and are to be expected at this price point. 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 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. Sinerjee wrote: ↑ Wed Jan 01, 2020 7:22 am3- The primary mirror- I’ve since learnt that it has a spherical primary however I don’t know what spherical aberration looks like so no idea if we’re getting that or not haha. Either way is it possible to buy mirrors from somwhere and is it worth replacing it with a parabolic? Would I have to change anything else if I changed the primary?

Since it is an erecting eyepiece, it means, you can use it also during the day, and the image in the eyepiece will be the correct way up. Furthermore, the equatorial mount provides smooth and precise movements when adjusting your telescope’s position in response to changes in celestial bodies’ positions. The primary mirror- I’ve since learnt that it has a spherical primary however I don’t know what spherical aberration looks like so no idea if we’re getting that or not haha. Either way is it possible to buy mirrors from somwhere and is it worth replacing it with a parabolic? Would I have to change anything else if I changed the primary? When consulted, Celestron gives varying answers as to whether the AstroMaster 130 scopes are sold with spherical mirrors or not. One should not have to play the lottery to get a decent instrument with hundreds of dollars on the line, and Celestron should be able to give a concrete answer as to the nature of their product. This alone disqualifies the AstroMaster 130 from being a serious recommendation in our book. Overall, this telescope is an excellent choice for anyone looking to explore astronomy on a budget while still having access to quality equipment that provides engaging views of our universe. Overview of Astromaster 130EQ Optics PerformanceThe two eyepieces included are a 10mm and 20mm Kellner eyepiece which provide magnifications of 65x and 33x respectively. The Astromaster mount looks strong but in reality is so full of plastic its about as steady as a jelly trifle. The Skywatcher EQ2 looks a bit Meccano but it does actually work and its plenty strong enough for a 130P. The bulk of the AstroMaster 130 scopes I’ve seen have had acceptable primary mirrors–usually not quite parabolic but not quite spherical either–but a few have had spherical primaries that made for mushy views. I’ve also seen a few with great optics. Stargazing like this is much easier than twisting the knobs while looking through the eyepiece. But note that the motor is not included when you buy the telescope. Nonetheless, it can be bought as a separate kit.