Konus Reflectors

More Information  · Supplied Accessories  · Images of Some Features Price $189.00 Shipping $25.00 List Price $429.95 Highest Useful Magnification 250x Visual Limiting Magnitude 13.1 Focal Length 1000mm Focal Ratio f/7.7 Resolution 0.89 arc seconds Aperture 5.1" Net Weight 30 lbs. Warranty 1 year

The lightweight and physically-compact scope is easily stored and transported. It has an equatorial mount with a convenient battery-operated motor drive that makes it easy to keep nebulas and galaxies in the field of view for extended no-hands viewing sessions. It also has some unexpected features – such as an electric focuser; two soft carry bags with shoulder straps for transporting the scope (one for the mount and tripod and a second for the optical tube); and a CD-ROM of superb planetarium/star charting software to help you find your way around the skies with this sensibly-priced scope. Also included are large scale Moon and sky maps. The Moon map has 276 craters and features labeled to help you find your way around the lunar surface. The sky map is a chart of the entire sky, both northern and southern hemispheres, so you can learn the constellations and major stars and deep sky features easily.

The 130mm aperture Konus Konusmotor-130 short tube reflector is a good choice for the beginning astronomer who wants to see the universe outside our solar system in detail. If you want to see more than just the solar system, for not a lot of money, this may be the scope for you.

This Telescope’s Optical System . . .

• Reflector optical tube: 130mm (5.1") aperture f/7.7 focal ratio Newtonian reflector with all-glass mirrors. Each mirror is coated with highly reflective aluminum and overcoated with quartz for long life. Aluminum tube with protective tube end rings. The physically-short optical tube uses a Barlow lens built into the focuser to increase the focal length to 1000mm, considerably longer than the actual tube length. The reflector design of the scope is totally free of the purple haze of spurious color visible around the Moon and planets in lesser refractor scopes. Images are sharp and clear. You can even collimate (align) the mirrors for the sharpest images. This will have to be done only rarely, thanks to the special design of the cell holding the lightweight mirror. The optical tube can be rotated in its felt-lined mounting rings to bring the focuser and eyepiece to the most comfortable observing position.

• Rack and pinion electric focuser: The 1.25" focuser has a factory-installed battery-operated electric focuser for smooth low-vibration focusing at high powers. A hand control box with two pushbuttons controls the focusing so you never have to touch the scope during critical focusing, eliminating a possible source of image-blurring vibrations.

• Two Plössl eyepieces: You get two good quality low to medium power 1.25" eyepieces – a a 10mm (100x) and a 17mm (59x) with a 0.76° field of view (one and a half times the diameter of the full Moon). Both eyepieces are a higher quality four-element Plössl optical design than you find in most other telescopes in this size and price range. They have antireflection multicoatings on their lens surfaces for sharp images and very good contrast. Instead of providing low quality eyepieces that give unrealistically high (and often unusable) magnifications, Konus provides higher quality eyepieces with powers you can use and enjoy every night you take your 5.1" Konus out to observe the planets and the faint fuzzies outside our solar system. Optional eyepieces are available to let you increase your magnification range significantly for wider angle deep space exploring and for closeup lunar, planetary, and globular star cluster observing.

• Finderscope: The supplied battery-operated non-magnifying red dot finder seems to project a dot of red light on the sky exactly where the scope is pointed at all times. It makes initial scope alignment and object centering easy and painless.

• Moon filter: You get a 1.25" optical glass Moon filter that threads into the base of the eyepieces. It cuts the glare of the brightly-lighted Moon and improves the contrast so it is easier for you to see faint details that might otherwise be washed out by the brightness of the lunar surface.

This Telescope’s Mount . . .

• Equatorial mount: The sturdy equatorial mount is designed for astronomical observing. By aligning the mount on the north celestial pole, the supplied motor drive can automatically follow the motion of the planets and stars as they travel east to west across the sky. A counterweight on the opposite side of the mount from the telescope balances the weight of the optical tube and makes it easy to move the scope effortlessly from one part of the sky to another.

• Motor drive: The supplied user-installed single axis battery-operated right ascension motor drive has a variable speed control to match the slightly different speeds at which the Moon, planets, Sun, and stars move across the sky. This keeps objects from drifting out of the field during long observing sessions, or while several people in a row observe the same object. The drive runs up to 40 hours from one 9-volt transistor radio battery (depending on ambient temperature, as low temperatures reduce battery capacity).

• Setting circles: Setting circles (graduated scales marked in either hours and minutes or degrees) are provided in both right ascension (the east/west position of objects in the sky measured in hours and minutes) and declination (the north/south position measured in degrees). These allow you to align the scope on the approximate position of an object in the sky by using its r. a. and dec coordinates from a star chart – before you search for it in the finderscope and eyepiece. Setting circles can reduce the time it takes for you to find the fainter and more difficult deep space objects.

• Manual slow motion controls: There are two slow motion control knobs connected to the mount by long flexible cables so they are easy to reach while observing. One controls the scope’s motion in declination (the north/south direction in the sky). Turning this knob enables you to correct for any north/south drift a celestial object may take as it drifts across the sky, due to an improper alignment of the scope on the north celestial pole when you first set it up. The second controls the scope’s motion in right ascension (the east/west direction in the sky). Turning this knob enables you to follow manually the motion of celestial objects as they travel from east to west across the sky, should the battery in your motor drive die when you’re out observing.

• Tripod: The aluminum tripod easily adjusts from 2.3’ tall to 3.8’ to accommodate a variety of observer heights. The tripod includes an accessory shelf that holds your eyepieces and accessories.

• Moon and sky maps: The large fold-out full color maps will help you learn the skies and the face of our nearest celestial neighbor. The Moon map has 276 craters and features labeled to help you find your way around the lunar surface. The sky map is a detailed chart of the entire sky, both northern and southern hemispheres, so you can learn the constellations and major stars and deep sky features easily.

• Software: The supplied Windows-based CD-ROM of planetarium/star charting software is one of the most sophisticated and flexible available. You can use it to print out detailed star charts to help you locate stars, planets, galaxies, asteroids, comets, star clusters, and more. You can also use it to print out charts showing the positions of the moons of Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune so you can identify them, plus lunar maps and more. The software will help you find your way around the skies with your Konus reflector like a pro.