AstroMaster 130EQ Telecope?

Question

If you have this telescope or have used it. can you tell me, if you can see Jupiter and its moons clearly and how can you see other planets clearly and what would you rate it?

Answer 1

for the price, its a good telescope.

first of all, pretty much any telescope you buy will give you a look at jupiter's four galolein moons. good telescopes can see up to 10, and the really good ones can see about 30. jupiter has 63 moons.

you can probably see venus's moon like phases, possibly mars's ice caps, easilly make out saturn's rings and maybe a few moons, if you do your calculations then you can get a look at uranus and neptune but they would be very faint.

for galaxies and other deep sky objects, i would recomend getting a telescope with a longer tube, and a larger primary mirror such as the Celestron 130 NexStar SLT.

for the price, i'd give it a 4/5. the only problem i have with it is the tripod and the finderscope. the tripod doesn't look that study to me, and the finderscope isn't a laser, which i prefer. but thats just my taste.

its going to give you a good look at the moon. hint: although it may seem tempting to look at the full moon, its better to look at it during its 1/4 1/3 1/2 and 3/4 phases. the sadow effect shows you the lunar suface in better detail. also, when viewing the planets, do so late at night... when they are above the horizon. if they are just rising, the atmosphere messes up your detail.

i assume your odering it from telescopes.com. if not, then i sugest ordering it there. better service, better deals, and with the model you get "The Sky" software which is good for the beginner. this scope doesn't have a goto or gps, so this will help you out when your looking for fainter objects like galaxies or nebulas.

if your willing to double the price, you'll get a much better deal on a beginner telescope. i'd go for the Celestron 130 NexStar SLT. its great for looking at the moon, planets, and deep-sky objects. it also has goto and easy alignment. great for the beginner. you'd see a lot more a lot better with this scope. just give it some thought. it would be better to buy a more expensive telescope thats for the beginner than buying this one, and then another one thats for the same level of observation. trust me, its worth waiting for.

Answer 2

Yes, I've used this scope. I coul see Jupiter, its moons, and a couple of dark cloud belts on its surface, Saturn's rings and brighter moons, and Venus' phases. Mercury and Mars are too small to show much detail. The optics in this scope are pretty good, but the mount is probably too small for the scope, and is a lot harder for a beginner to operate than a Dobsonian mount. I'd recommend getting a 6" Dobsonian rather than this scope: more aperture on a better mount.

Answer 3

The AstroMaster 130EQ produces bright, clear images of the Moon and planets. Its easy to see the moons of Jupiter and the rings of Saturn with this telescope. For views of the brighter deep space objects like galaxies and nebulae, id recommend the larger aperture and light gathering ability of Newtonian reflectors.