Product Description

Celestron Nexstar 130SLT Newtonian Reflector Telescope lets you travel through our solar system and explore nearby stars and galaxies without leaving earth. It acts as a window to worlds beyond knowledge and imagination. With SkyAlign and PC connectivity, you become familiar with other worlds. If the many wonders of deep space fascinate you but you don't know how to find those fascinating sights, why not let this Celestron telescope do the finding for you? The new SkyAlign easy alignment technology and Star Pointer red dot LED finder of the Celesctron NexStar 130 SLT 5.1 go-to reflector make lining up on the sky a breeze. Once aligned, the scope's computer hand control will find more than 4,000 celestial objects for you and will track them unerringly while you observe at your leisure. With its pre-assembled adjustable height steel tripod and easy no-tool assembly, the NexStar 130 SLT can be up and ready to take you on a tour of the Universe in a matter of minutes. The 130mm aperture of the NexStar 130 SLT gathers well over two and a half times as much light as even an advanced 80mm refractor, for not much more money, giving you deep space images that are bright and well defined. With the appropriate high power eyepiece and a resolution 62% higher than an 80mm scope, it will give you lunar/planetary images that are crisp and detailed. Whether an advanced entry-level scope for the beginning astronomer, or a second scope for the more-than-casual backyard astronomer, the NexStar 130SLT takes you beyond. Adjustable height tripod Celestron 2-Year Warranty

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1857 in Camera & Photo
• Brand: Celestron
• Model: 31145
• Dimensions: 8.00" h x 12.00" w x 28.00" l, 33.07 pounds

Features

• Computerized hand control with 4,000-object database
• SkyAlign allows you to align on any 3 bright celestial objects
• Motorized Altazimuth mount
• Focal ratio: f5
• Focal length: 650mm

Amazon.com
Celestron’s computerized NexStar 130 SLT adds affordable "Go-To" technology to a compact Newtonian reflector telescope. By using mirrors instead of lenses, the Newtonian optics of the NexStar 130 SLT produce an image nearly five times brighter than the NexStar 60 SLT refractor telescope. The package includes everything except the batteries, and features easy no-tool setup, two good eyepieces, and even includes a student version of "The Sky" planetarium software.

The Newtonian design of the NexStar 130 SLT is optimized to produce bright images over a wide field of view. When I use an optional 32mm Plossl eyepiece, the famous Double Cluster in Perseus looks like a display of celestial fireworks with streamers of stars trailing across the 2 degree field of view. The standard equipment 25mm eyepiece magnifies the image about 26 times, with a wide field of view just right for viewing deep space objects like star clusters or the Orion Nebula. The included 9mm eyepiece (72x magnification) offers great views of the Lunar disk and globular star clusters like M13. And when I add a 2x Barlow lens to the 9mm eyepiece for a total magnification of 144x, I can easily see cloud bands on the planet Jupiter and pick up detail in Saturn’s rings.

The NexStar 130 SLT also features Celestron’s patented SkyAlign technology. With SkyAlign I don't need a star chart or a compass to align the telescope, I just enter the date and time then point the telescope at three bright stars. SkyAlign tells me the star names, and allows the telescope to find over 4,000 stars, planets, and galaxies by just pushing a button. The accurate tracking makes it easy to get high power views of the planets, and allowed me to take some great pictures using a Celestron NexImage webcam. I also like the "Two-Star align" and "Solar System align" modes because I can often get the NexStar system up and running while older scopes are still waiting for their alignment stars to appear in he twilight.

Reflector telescopes offer more light gathering power per dollar than any other design, but that value is balanced by the fact that the mirrors may need to be aligned or "collimated" occasionally. Using Celestron’s Collimation Eyepiece I had no trouble fine tuning the optical alignment, and I was rewarded with sharp views of Lunar craters even when I pushed the magnification up to the theoretical limit of 300x. The other drawback of a computerized telescope, of course, is battery consumption. An optional PowerTank battery is a handy way to power the NexStar 130 SLT, and I like to keep the tripod legs short and observe while seated because this gives me a solid and comfortable view. --Jeff Phillips

Pros:

• Wide field views
• Computerized go-to tracking
• Light and portable

• Short battery life
• Sensitive to vibration

Suggested Options:

• Celestron Accessory Kit
• Celestron PowerTank battery
• Celestron Collimation Eyepiece

Customer Reviews

Great Scope
I got my Celestron 130 SLT last month and am extremely happy with it. For the price, it's a great scope and the goto software was pretty easy to get the hang of. The sky mapping software that comes with the scope is also a great help and easy to use. A few caveats: Buy the AC power cord....otherwise you'll need new batteries every night. You'll need to reset the date/time on the goto computer every night.....it doesn't remember date/time between uses. It takes a few tries to get proficient with the three star align....it works pretty well, but you need to make sure you've setup your location and the date/time correctly. This scope isn't weighted and is very light. This causes it to shake a LOT when you touch it (i.e. when you're focusing). It takes a few seconds for it to stabilize after any adjustment. Some people weight the tripod tray to add stability. The focuser could have a finer adjustment. It takes a very steady hand to get optimal focus. The scope doesn't come with a Barlow lens, which is a necessity for this scope. You'll want to get one right away. The scope does have a 2" eyepiece adapter, which is unusual and a really nice feature on a starter scope such as this. It's worth buying a 2" eyepiece for wide views. I didn't find the NexStar PC driver software very useful (after buying the $15 cable to use it). Instead, I downloaded a trial version of the pricey NexRemote software, which allowed me to operate the scope from my laptop much more easily. These caveats are all very minor, as this is a solid scope with better optics and software than the alternatives. In short, the scope was way better than cheap toy scopes I'd used and all reviews I read said it had great optics for the price with very few problems/annoyances. I got a great view of Jupiter and its moons the first night I used it. After I got the hang of it, I started checking out Messier Objects, including the brighter galaxies and nebulae, which are easily recognizable with this scope. I'm extremely pleased with it and I'm very glad I got this scope instead of comparable competing scopes, which all seem to have serious issues per the various reviews I've read.

This scope needs maintenance.
I received this telescope about a month ago. It is easy to use and works well. The 2 lenses that come with the scope allow you to begin checking things out in the sky, but there are a few more things needed. 1- A filter kit (at least one filter for the moon. It's too bright to look at without one). 2- 2X Barlow Lens. This will double the magnification of the lenses you have.
Also, this scope needs maintenance. The mirrors must be perfectly collimated (lined-up) on an F5 scope. (The lower the focal ratio, the more precise the collimation must be, and F5 is low.) My scope needed collimating right out of the box. The scope does not have to be shaken hard to knock the mirrors off of angle or alignment. This requires tools and some mechanical ability. Get info online or visit local stores that sell reflector scopes. I paid $200 for my set of collimating tools (Sight Tube, Cheshire and Autocollimator). For this scope to work properly, this maintenance must be done regularly.
PS- This scope is a Newtonian Reflector type.

A great way to get started with amateur astronomy
If you want to view the night skies above with certainty on what object(s) you are viewing, this is a great way to get started. Definitely a first time 'scope, experts will want something bigger. SkyAlign is a good feature, but you need to be careful in centering the star image. Buy an additional power supply, like the Celestron PowerTank or at least a 2000mA 12V regulated power adapter, unless you want the landfill to rapidly accumulate your used AA batteries. The supplied "The Sky" and "NexStar Observer List" software helps plan observations.

Michael Swanson's "NexStar Users Guide" (Amazon currently has the best price) is an invaluable aid. See my review.