| | |  | Reflectors | Home » » » Celestron NexStar 130 SLT Computerized Telescope | | | | | | | 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 | | | 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
| | | Product Details: | | | Product Length:
| 28.0 inches | | Product Width:
| 12.0 inches | | Product Height:
| 8.0 inches | | Product Weight:
| 33.07 pounds | | Package Length:
| 39.5 inches | | Package Width:
| 20.4 inches | | Package Height:
| 11.0 inches | | Package Weight:
| 31.7 pounds | | Average Customer Rating:
|  based on 25 reviews |
| | | | Customer Reviews: | |
Average Customer Review:
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 Buyer BewareAug 10, 2010
Just unpacked this last night. Did not work. Called tech support thismorning and that was no help. There only suggestion was to send it back to them. I guess I did not do a thorough a job of researching as I thought I did. My bust.
 MisleadingJul 13, 2010
My quarrel isn't so much with the telescope as it is with the photos provided to demonstrate the telescope's abilities. The pictures provided were not pictures that have been taken using the telescope, not to mention the fact that the telescope lacks the power to even view these images with such clarity. It would probably be better to have no pictures than to show misleading ones.
 Great starter scopeJun 20, 2010
I've just started using this scope a couple of months ago after it sitting in my closet for 2 years. But in the past 2 months I've used this practically every clear night available. Here are my thoughts and advice after extensive use:
For the price and the aperture this scope is great. The first thing I did was buy a Ultima barlow and 3 X-Cel eyepieces - 25mm, 10mm, and a 2.3mm. With the 10mm barlowed you get magnification of 130X which will give you great views of the rings of Saturn and the bands of Jupiter. On nights of exceptional seeing you can use the 2.3mm for a magnification of 280X -which is close to the max useful magnification of 300X- and can see the Great Red Spot on Jupiter. The moon is awesome at high magnification, but if it is more than a quarter full you need a filter because it is too bright to view. From my very light polluted yard (limiting magnitude at zenith about 4 - 4.5) I can still see most of the Messier catalog, although I haven't been able to resolve any globulars, and some of the fainter nebula aren't viewable, and the few brighter galaxies are just smudges. However, open clusters are great to look at and some of the brighter nebula are great (Orion, Swan, Lagoon). I'm sure that if you get this scope to a dark site it would be way better.
As far as the GoTo feature - it works great if you align it properly. The most important things you need to do are to enter an accurate time(don't estimate - I was off by 20 minutes one night and couldn't find anything) and date, gps coordinates (I used Google Earth to get the exact coordinates of my house and anywhere else I may take my scope), and have the scope level. As far as the Star align, I found that the One Star align works best. If you don't know any named stars use the Sky software that came with the scope and learn to identify the brightest stars in the sky for that night. Using this method I've consistently been able to slew to dozens of Messier objects each night with no problem. Last night I spent 2 hours slewing between about 14 different objects in the southern part of the sky, and at the end of the session the scope was still bringing objects to near the center of my 25mm eyepiece - it definitely does what it is supposed to.
Also learn how to collimate it. The manual shows how to do this just by looking through the focuser and centering the reflection of you eye - this will give you a rough collimation - but to align more accurately you need to buy a collimation tool.
Overall this is a great beginners scope - it will show you enough of the wonders of the night sky to make you want a bigger scope and see even deeper!
We are pleasedMay 15, 2010
This was a gift for my daughter for her 13th birthday. We had it out last night for the second time for our first serious attempt at observation. Sky alignment is a snap and my daughter performed last night's alignment with me talking her through it. After the controller indicated a successful alignment, my daughter selected Saturn and the mount went to work and locked on to Saturn with minimal manual slewing to center the planet in the eyepiece. We swapped out eyepieces from 32mm all the way down to 4mm (the scope only comes with 25 & 9mm as advertised...we bought the 1.25" eypiece/filter/Barlow kit). At 25mm with a 2x Barlow the rings of Saturn barely began to emerge. But by the time we hit 4mm w/Barlow the rings were pronounced and crisp, the planet was resolved to a nice-sized disc, and as a bonus two of Saturn's moons were visible. The only difficulty in using this scope is in understanding and achieving collimation (alignment of the optics). I ordered the Celestron collimation eyepiece at the same time as the scope and other accessories. I am a manufacturing laser operater and deal with optics alignment several times on any work day. The instruction sheet included with the collimation eyepiece did little to instill confidence and I found myself alternately reviewing the instructions and staring through the pinhole of the eyepice for more than an hour before I started turning screws. I had to collimate the scope right out of the box as it shipped with loose primary mirror locking screws. One week later (yesterday) I found that both the primary and secondary mirrors had shifted and another collimation was necessary. The secondary mirror adjustments are very difficult compared to the primary which are quite easy after overcoming the initial anxiety. I was at it for quite a while again. I must have done well as indicated by such sharp focus on Saturn's rings and no perceptible wandering of stars during de-focusing. But you will have to collimate, so get a collimating eyepiece with this kind of telescope. Perhaps a laser-equipped collimator would make the process easier?
Great TelescopeApr 26, 2010
First I bought the Celestron 130 SLT ( Christmas 2009)and the 60 SLT. It was so easy; I started ordering eyepieces, filters, ccd, SkyScout, Nexstar Connect, the PowerTank (17aH) power inverter and the solar filter. I will admit I expected to take deep space pictures but the mount is really only good for planetary Pictures. My Bad...the literature says as much!
The SkyScout hooked-up to the telescope is the bomb! They say in their literature that it will not slew the scope...wrong! It is great. In one night I had a "StarParty" with some friends who have never seen a real telescope. I looked like a pro: point the SkyScout, it orally tells what you are seeing and slews the scope to the object. We saw everything on the SkyTools III list for the night that was viewable: Moon, Saturn, Saturn's moons, Mercury, Venus, and took pictures. Someone would ask what is that, they would point with the SkyScout and away we would go. My friends never realized that this was the first time I had operated the SkyScout "Connected" to the SLT's. One said, this is better than that planetarium (referring to the Mark Smith Planetarium). Though they were indeed wrong, what they were actually saying, "this is great fun." I have a crowd anytime I go stargazing. What fun!
I am ordering the CGEM 1100 HDEdge because I am teaching Astronomy next year and I am teaching in Malawi this Summer and can see the Southern Constellations. I expect deep space pictures. I am certain I will!
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