Celestron SkyProdigy 130 130mm f/5 "smart" go-to altazimuth Newtonian reflector

The thing that keeps most beginning astronomers from enjoying the night sky - even with a computerized telescope - is figuring out how to line up the scope on the right stars at night to begin with, so its computer can find the things that are too small or too dim to see with your bare eye. With the Celestron SkyProdigy 130, it's a problem no longer!

You don't have to know Altair from Zubenelgenubi or know how to read a star chart to find your way around the sky with the Celestron SkyProdigy 130mm go-to Newtonian reflector. It combines electronic motors, an intelligent on-board computer, a digital camera, and StarSense technology to create an automatic, instant alignment telescope that requires no input from you to line it up on the night sky. You don't even have to look at the sky to get properly lined up on the stars each night to observe.

Simply turn on your SkyProdigy, push one button, wait three minutes while the scope does its magical thing, and then enjoy the wide angle views! No knowledge of the night sky is required to use the Celestron SkyProdigy. Its one touch innovation turns anyone into an instant astronomer!

In only about three minutes, the SkyProdigy's automatic alignment process has the scope ready to show you more than 4,000 celestial objects and track them unerringly while you observe at your leisure. Not sure what to look at? Select the Sky Tour option and SkyProdigy will take you on a tour of best objects in the sky to view for your exact time and location anywhere in the world!

With the Celestron SkyProdigy 130 you can enjoy both wide-angle and close-up views of the lunar landscape; Venus and its phases; surface details on Mars during favorable oppositions; Jupiter and the ever-changing dance of its 4 moons; Saturn resolved as a disc, with its rings plainly visible; plus binary stars, open and globular star clusters, the brighter nebulas, galaxies, and much more outside the solar system.

The Celestron SkyProdigy 130 has all the features, light gathering, and wide angle optical performance needed to keep a casual backyard astronomer happily observing for years to come. With its pre-assembled adjustable height steel tripod and easy no-tool assembly, the Celestron SkyProdigy 130 can be up and ready to take you on a tour of the Universe in a matter of minutes any night the sky is clear.

This Telescope's Optical System . . .

Newtonian reflector: 130mm aperture (650mm focal length f/5). The light weight optical tube is connected to the mount by a no-tool quick release dovetail for fast assembly. Aluminized mirrors for high reflectivity and good contrast, overcoated with quartz for long life. Push-pull primary mirror collimation screws minimize the need for frequent collimation. Easily collimated, if needed, using standard reflector collimation methods.

Finder: StarPointer non-magnifying variable brightness illuminated red dot finder on a quick-release dovetail mounting bracket. The StarPointer is a quick and easy way to point your telescope exactly at any visible object in the sky, even if the object isn't one of the more than 4,000 in its database. There's no need to worry about the inverted images you see through traditional finders, either. Just align the red dot in the StarPointer with the desired object in the sky and you're done.

Focuser: 1.25" rack and pinion.

Two 1.25" eyepieces: The first is a 25mm providing a magnification of 26x. The field of view of this eyepiece is 1.7° across, nearly three and a half times the diameter of the full Moon, for very expansive views of open star cluster, nebulas, and galaxies. The second is a higher power 9mm (72x) with a 0.64° field for more close-up views of the Moon, planets, binary stars, and globular star clusters.
This Telescope's Mount . . .

Fork mount/drive system: Single fork arm altazimuth design with pre-installed enclosed dual DC servo motor drives. A supplied battery pack can power the telescope for over 30 hours. An optional AC adapter and rechargeable 12V "Power Tank" battery packs are available to conserve battery life.

SkyProdigy computer control: The supplied StarSense-technology computer hand control has an illuminated numeric keypad and a two-line 16-character LCD display. It has a database of 4,033 stars and objects it can find and track for you, including the complete Messier and Caldwell catalogs of famous deep space objects; a selection of the brightest and best deep space objects from the Revised New General Catalog (NGC); selected SAO stars, including the best variable stars and multiple star systems; the planets; the Moon; the Sun; and more.

When you are ready to observe, simply turn on the SkyProdigy. There's no need to input the date, time, and your location into the SkyProdigy computer, as with other computerized scopes. Simply press a button, stand back, and watch the magic. The scope will slew to three different parts of the sky. A CCD camera built into the mount's fork arm will take an image of the sky at each location. The StarSense software in the scope's computer will use those images to determine how the sky is oriented over the scope and align the SkyProdigy on the sky without your ever having to touch the scope during the process.

Then, a few keystrokes on the SkyProdigy hand control and the computer will automatically slew your scope to any of the 4,033 objects in its memory you choose and track it so you can observe at your leisure. You can find hundreds of fascinating deep space objects your first night out, even if you have never used a telescope before. No matter what level of experience you start from, your SkyProdigy scope will unfold all the wonders of the Universe for you, your family, and your friends. Unsure of what to look at? Select the Sky Tour option on the hand control and SkyProdigy will take you on a tour of best objects in the sky to view for your exact time and location anywhere in the world!

The SkyProdigy mount moves at nine different speeds, four for locating objects (3°/sec, 2°/sec, 1°/sec, and 0.5°/sec) and five for centering them in the field of view (32x, 16x, 8x, 4x, and 2x sidereal). There are user-selectable sidereal, solar, and lunar tracking rates for keeping objects precisely centered while you observe them at your leisure. The StarSense computer hand control is flash-upgradeable over the internet so you can keep your SkyProdigy scope up to date for years to come.

Supplied software: The scope comes with a CD-ROM of TheSky X - First Light Edition planetarium and star charting software. This program is a computerized sky map that features a 10,000 object database, 75 color images, horizontal projection, custom sky chart printing, and zoom capability. It will let explore the Universe on your PC or Mac and print out custom star charts of the sky to help you find faint objects that are not in the SkyProdigy computer's database.

Adjustable height tripod: The preassembled adjustable height tripod has steel legs to damp vibrations quickly. The center leg brace holds a convenient no-tool quick-release accessory tray to keep your eyepieces and accessories up and out of the dew-soaked grass.

Two-year warranty: All Celestron telescopes have a two-year warranty, double that of competitive scopes.

• 130mm f/5 Newtonian reflector optics
• Go-to computerized altazimuth mount with dual-axis DC servo motor drives and CCD camera for automatic hands-free sky alignment
• Pre-assembled adjustable height steel tripod
• Accessory tray
• Hand control with 4,000+ star and object database for go-to operation
• Battery pack (batteries not supplied)
• Battery-powered variable brightness StarPointer red LED non-magnifying finder (battery supplied)
• 1.25" rack and pinion focuser
• 1.25" prism-type star diagonal
• 1.25" 25mm eyepiece (26x)
• 1.25" 9mm eyepiece (72x)
• TheSky X - First Light Edition CD-ROM star-charting software for PC or Mac
• Dust covers.