| This Celestron telescope has:
• 130mm f/15 Maksutov-Cassegrain optics
• heavy-duty Advanced Series computerized go-to equatorial mount and tripod
• 10 x 50mm finderscope
• 32mm Plössl eyepiece (63x)
• optical tube adaptable to a photo tripod for terrestrial observing
• 2-year warranty The Celestron C130 Maksutov-Cassegrain puts good quality multicoated catadioptric optics on a heavy duty computerized go-to German equatorial mount. It can take you effortlessly on a tour of the best sights in the heavens any night the skies are clear. The C130 Mak provides an excellent mix of high power performance, portability, and computerized convenience at a very affordable price.
For the observer whose interests are the brighter solar system and deep space objects, the C130 Mak has a lot to offer. Like all Maksutov optics, it is exceptional for observing anything that is small and bright and needs a lot of power to resolve clearly. It provides sharp, high contrast images of subtle lunar and planetary details, details that are free from the spurious color you’ll find in comparably-priced achromatic refractors. Outside the solar system, binary star systems and globular star clusters are particularly well-resolved and vivid, with the contrasting colors of many binary systems showing nicely. The brighter nebulas and galaxies stand out briskly against a dark sky background, thanks to the high contrast Maksutov design.
Detailed information about this product's features  ASC mount
 NexStar Computer
This Telescope’s Optical System . . . - Maksutov-Cassegrain optics: 5.1" (130mm) aperture, 2000mm focal length, f/15.4 multicoated optical system. The 18" long optical tube weighs 11.5 lbs with finderscope and eyepiece attached.
- Multicoated optics: The system’s Maksutov corrector lens is fully coated on both sides with multiple layers of antireflection materials for high light transmission and good contrast.
- Internal focuser: Focuses by moving the primary mirror fore and aft in the optical tube by means of a large focusing knob on the rear cell.
- Internal flip mirror system: An internal first surface flip mirror, operated by a knob on the rear cell, directs the incoming light either to a 90° viewing angle 1.25" eyepiece holder at the top of the rear cell for visual astronomical observing, or to the Cassegrain focus at the center of the rear cell. The Cassegrain focus is threaded to accept either the supplied 45° viewing angle erect image 1.25" diagonal for visual terrestrial observing or an optional camera adapter for terrestrial and astronomical photography.
- Eyepiece: Fully multicoated 1.25" 32mm (63x) Plössl eyepiece with a 0.82° field of view (over one and a half times the diameter of the full Moon).
- Finderscope: 10 x 50mm straight-through achromatic design in a quick release bracket that attaches to the rear cell. Focuses by loosening the trim ring behind the objective lens cell, screwing the lens cell in or out to focus, and tightening the trim ring to lock in the correct focus.
- Software: Comes with a CD-ROM of TheSky Level 1 planetarium and star charting software. This Windows-based program has a database of 10,000 stars and deep space objects. It will let explore the Universe on your PC and print out custom star charts of the sky to help you find faint objects by star-hopping from object to object using your scope’s slow motion controls.
This Telescope’s Mount . . . - Heavy duty Advanced Series CG-5 computerized go-to German equatorial mount: The mount includes dual-axis slewing/tracking motors with positioning encoders on each axis for go-to computer control. The scope is supplied with a car battery cord to operate from the cigarette lighter plug of your car or from a rechargeable 12V battery pack. The 7 amp hour capacity Celestron Power Tank #4512V is recommended. It can be recharged hundreds of times and will operate the scope all night long without danger of running out of power.
The mount has setting circles, manual slow motion controls, a latitude scale and fine adjustment controls in both altitude and azimuth, an 11 pound counterweight, and more. For more details, click on the “mount" icon above. - NexStar computer hand control: The supplied computerized hand control has a built-in database of more than 45,000 stars and objects it can find and track for you. These include the complete RNGC, Messier, Caldwell, IC, and Abell catalogs; selected SAO stars, including variable stars and multiple star systems; the planets, the Moon, and more.
All of the database and telescope operation information is displayed on a double line, 16-character, liquid crystal display on the hand control. There are 19 fiber optic backlit LED buttons to make it easy for you to control the computer without affecting your dark-adapted vision. An RS-232 communication port on the hand control allows you to operate the telescope via a personal computer.
Several different alignment methods are built into the NexStar computer, allowing you to choose a level of computer accuracy in automatically finding objects with which you are comfortable. Both two and (more accurate) three star computer-guided alignment methods are easily accomplished in only a few short minutes. You can be observing in less than 15 minutes after you first take the scope outdoors, including telescope assembly time. For more details, click on the “computer" icon above. - Adjustable height tripod: The tripod has 2" diameter steel legs with a center leg brace for rigidity, with excellent damping characteristics. The center leg brace is drilled to form a convenient accessory tray that holds 1.25" and 2" eyepiece to keep them up out of the dew-soaked grass.
- Dovetail slide bar: An adjustable dovetail slide bar allows the optical tube to be quickly and precisely balanced fore and aft on the mount, eliminating the need for an extra counterweight to balance a camera or other accessories. Setup and takedown times are exceptionally fast, as a single large hand-tighten knob holds the optical tube in place. A second lock knob prevents the tube from sliding off the mount should the hand-tighten knob loosen. The dovetail bar has standard 1/4"-20 thread photo tripod mounting holes that let you mount the optical tube on any suitably sturdy photo tripod (remember that the tube weighs a stout 11.5 lbs.) for use as a conventional spotting scope for terrestrial nature study.
- Two-year warranty: All Celestron telescopes have a two-year warranty, double that of competitive scopes.
What can you see through this 130mm Celestron Maksutov? With its long 2000mm focal length and equally long f/15.4 focal ratio, this is not a scope for low power wide field scanning of large and faint deep space objects. A 40mm 1.25" eyepiece, the largest usable with the 1.25" eyepiece holder on this Mak, will produce a 0.84° field with 2.7mm exit pupil, not numbers for serious rich field observing. For brighter objects requiring high power and color-free high resolution, on the other hand – globular clusters, close binary star pairs, lunar and planetary images, etc. – this a scope to be reckoned with. Using optional eyepieces and/or a Barlow to boost the magnification, you can see subtle planetary details with the clarity and contrast for which Maksutovs are famous. You can study lunar craters as small as two miles in diameter, rilles, mountain ranges, and low contrast lunar ray detail at high magnification. Detail in Jupiter’s cloud belts and the Great Red Spot (actually closer in color to the Faint Pink Spot at this point in time) are routinely visible, as are dusky markings on the face of Saturn and Cassini’s division in Saturn’s brilliant rings.
Optically very nice, this Celestron 130mm Maksutov has the optical performance and the go-to computerized convenience that will keep you busy observing for many years to come.
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Terestrial Photography
Star Cluster, Nebula, and Galaxy Photography
