Celestron 31045 AstroMaster 130EQ Reflector Telescope
Celestron 31045 AstroMaster 130EQ Reflector Telescope, Black/Dark Blue
Better Viewing
Includes everything you need to get started with astronomy: two 1.25” eyepieces (20mm and 10mm), StarPointer red dot finderscope, erect image diagonal, and free Starry Night astronomy software.
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 |  |  |  |  | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Astromaster 70 EQ | Astromaster 90 EQ | Astromaster 76 EQ | Astromaster 114 EQ | Astromaster 130EQ | |
| Optical Design | Refractor | Refractor | Newtonian Reflector | Newtonian Reflector | Newtonian Reflector |
| Aperture | 70mm (2.75”) | 90mm (3.54”) | 76mm (3”) | 114mm (4.48”) | 130 mm(5.11”) |
| Focal Length | 900mm (35.43”) | 1000mm (39.37”) | 700mm (27.56”) | 1000mm (39.37”) | 650mm (25.6”) |
| Focal Ratio | f/13 | f/11 | f/9.2 | f/8.7 | f/5 |
| Magnifi cation (with included eyepieces) | 45x, 90x | 50x, 100x | 35x, 70x | 50x, 100x | 33x, 65x |
| Limiting Magnitude | 11.7 | 12.3 | 11.9 | 12.8 | 13.1 |
| Lowest Useful Magnification | 10x | 13x | 11x | 16x | 19x |
| Highest Theoretical Magnification | 165x | 213x | 180x | 269x | 307x |
| Assembled Weight | 18 lbs | 27 lbs | 16 lbs | 17 lbs | 28 lbs |
| Weight: | 26.5 Pounds |
| Dimensions: | 88.9 x 48.3 x 30.5 centimetres |
| Brand: | Celestron |
| Model: | 31045 |
| Part: | 31045 |
| Colour: | Black/Dark Blue |
| Batteries Included: | 1 Lithium Metal batteries required. (included) |
| Dimensions: | 88.9 x 48.3 x 30.5 centimetres |
| Origin: | China |
arrived as described and well on time – thank you
Hubby loves it. You will need to buy extra lenses..
overall i give this 99prercent (less 1 percent for the cd issue)
Bought as an 18th present for my star gazing son. He loves it. I’ve put 5 stars for ease of assemble as he had no issues. However, I think I’d find it complicated as I’m not great with following instructions! So get someone who can to put it together!
Set up was pretty simple for an adult and took about 20 minutes.
If there was anything I could fault at all (and this is small) is that it doesn’t have easily collapsible legs, there is a static plastic tray that must be twisted off before the legs will collapse and putting the tray back on in darkness would be a bit of a pain. It’s not really a problem, but I just wish it was a quick lever to collapse the legs for quick moving, so I can get it through my door or into my car without having to fiddle with a tray. A flexible nylon tray would have done the same job and made transport easier.
Other than that, the telescope is perfect for beginners, you won’t be disappointed.
EDIT: I bought the Celesteon 2.3mm lens and, without using a Barlow lens, I was able to snap my own picture (the one of Saturn horizontal, not slanted). It still looks better in person as there’s no shakiness blurring the image (the picture was taken on an iPhone 12 by hand, no mount to keep it still)
Purchased as used but acceptable. Nice piece of kit but arrived with an essential bit missing. An adjusting screw missing so not able to fully adjust the equitorial mount. Have looked on line to find a replacement but not available for this model. If I can identify the screw thread I can solve this problem cheaply.
I have used my Astromaster 130EQ for 9 months or so now and have always been extremely pleased with it. Yes, the provided lenses aren’t the best but the telescope is excellent for a beginner. It may be a little too complex for a child but I managed to set it up and use it without any trouble! The barrel is well made and easy to attach to the mount. The tripod is OK but can be a bit shaky if there is some wind. On the whole though. I am more than happy with the tripod for now.
I recently had a major problem with the mount however. I went out to use the telescope and the mount completely broke with the telescope on it! Fortunately, I managed to catch the scope before it hit the ground. Obviously, I was a little upset about this as there was no way to fix it. So, I emailed Celestron in the USA and they responded in seconds (and I do mean seconds); unfortunately, they were unable to help due to shear geography. They provided me with the email for the UK branch of the company and I emailed them first thing. Within minutes they had replied, arranged a replacement and shipped it. This was yesterday morning (28/03/22). The new mount was in my hands at lunchtime today!
Celestron have been outstanding. They have definitely made a loyal customer out of me and I can’t thank them enough for the speed of their response and delivery of the replacement part. A lot of companies could learn a thing or two from them. Awesome company and a decent product for a beginner.
Image quality is excellent. The Moon fills the eyepiece in outstanding clarity. It comes with two different eyepieces. It should be easy to fix a camera to it for astro-photography.
Recommended.
First for the bad part.
After 5 attempts at delivering all early afternoon (my partner and I are both at work all day) I eventually got it delivered on Saturday. I must give credit to the lady on Amazon help desk as she arranged for it to be delivered that day.
On receiving the telescope I was at first a bit annoyed at the state of the box but then when I decided to open it and check it the boxes inside were crushed. I immediately went back on to Amazon help and all I got from the person on the end was. I will make a note and pass this on to the courier!!!!
This is a Christmas present for my son so my wife said why don’t you assemble it to make sure everything is there and working. Everything is there apart from no instructions or paperwork in the box and I’m pretty sure you should get some software which is also not there. Annoyed is not the word. All Amazon say is to contact Celestron which I have done.
Now for the good bits
Love the telescope. I know a few people have said it’s not easy fo setup but I found it a doddle. Setting your polar north and getting the declaration and everything right is a bit trickier but again with a bit of patience it’s not too bad. Luckily celestron have all their manuals online as mine is missing.
Unfortunately I haven’t been able to do any celestial viewing yet as it’s been a lot of heavy cloud and snow about but if the terrestrial viewing is anything to go by it will be amazing.
So far I love the product but I am still furious about how this box has been treated and delivered in that state and then Amazon just fobbing me off with no apology or anything help.
I ordered this telescope as I’m interested in astronomy, it came within the time that was given , set up was interesting, the guide that came with it was a bit confusing however nowadays you can look up on internet for set up so that is what I did , it’s a nice telescope though I have no idea how it works lol, I like a challenge so once the weather improves , will take it outside and use it as well as take some pictures
My main dislikes are the difficulty of locking in position (it’s not the easiest) and the difficulty in attaching the sighting scope (although I feel that’s a little mean as I hardly ever used it with the LCM114).
My main likes are a less fragile, greatly improved, tripod. Though minus the spirit level, as far as I could tell. Seems odd, given those counterweights aren’t light. Other than the bits I don’t use, it was trivial to assemble. Diagram needs work but instructions are mostly clear.
The optics – the bit that actually matters – are great. I can’t fault anything that is relevant to astronomy.
Star Pointer finder scope was not an easy fit especially when installation guide is showing completely a different model with a red on and off switch. My piece doesn’t look like that. I had to go on to youtube to find if anyone else had the same problem and how is this supposed to be fitted. Also, the latitude adjustment screw is not that easy to turn the telescope around. It so hard to turn it that my fingers would hurt afterwards. I wish there was a better and smooth screw or handle design. Another thing is, what is that screw for on the telescope second supporter ring. Surely, It can’t be for the camera as it would take a picture of the Star Pointer.
I found it very easy to assemble indeed, no problems and the images are very crisp. Some of the detail is amazing.
It comes with a very stable, adjustable tripod and two lenses (10 mm and 20 mm), which give 50x and 100x magnification, which allows very nice detail to be seen on the moon, which is where I’ve mainly looked, so far. I think it will take a little while to really get the most out of it, particularly looking at other planets, etc.
One or two of the knobs you use to fine tune the orientation the telescope I think are a wee bit on the flimsy side, but that aside, it is a very solid feeling (and quite heavy) piece of kit.
I’d say ideal for an adult beginner or an older teenager with a keen interest.
Recommended
The downsides are that it’s quite wobbly so when you look into the viewfinder you need to be careful not to touch it, otherwise it wobbles. I managed to take photos by pointing my phone camera down the lens and it works ok. It would be nice if there was an adaptor to take photos but hey, it’s very good for the money.
The laser sight makes it easy to find objects in the sky. make sure you shoot through open windows because reflections etc can make the image look less sharp and you might blame the telescope!
I do like this telescope alot; very good for amateur observations. I would say the default eyepieces aren’t that great, and the best solution is to buy the astromaster accessory kit which contains a couple more better quality eyepieces and some filters.
This telescope is better at observing deep sky objects and star fields than planets as the image does become blurry when subjected to high magnifications.
Would recommend to beginners who need a good reliable scope and are prepared to upgrade in the future to suit their needs.
The quality of the whole thing is great for the cost and once you polar align the telescope, you really appreciate the equatorial mount. There was an issue with my star finder initially as it ran out of adjustment and was miles off but I loosened the screws holding it to the telescope and pressed it and it clicked into place and works perfectly. So if you get the same issue don’t give up on it, just do what I did as it’s easy for it not to be fitted quite right and easily rectified. Added a photo I snapped with my phone in my hand through the lens
A lot bigger than I expected, not easy to take in and out on your own. Does give amazing views of the moon etc once you manage to get it in focus. Takes a lot of patience and practice at first to actually get something in view and then get it into focus. I’m yet to align the scope with the red dot finder, finding it difficult to do so. The whole thing is a bit more complicated than what I was hoping for. Good if you want the advanced stuff, but I wish I’d gone for a simple version. At least the views are amazing.
great item will give its first trial tonight if the sky is clear, for what I spent on my first telescope its good value for money, the reason I gave four stars is because, the mount had some small scratches on it, the dec dial also had some small scratches and the 20mm lens has no rubber eye grommet but apart from that great service. Just one thing to let amazon know, the item was not given to me the white van man had left the box next door on my daughter door step, she was not in but her dogs was going mad, he was getting in his van when I came out to see what the dogs was barking at.
It is very well built and was easy to setup and build. The guide is useful, but ended up searching YouTube for a video guide – this also included how to balance the telescope […]).
The telescope itself was supplied with 2 lenses, a 20mm and a 10mm. The 20mm is plastic and I only use it as a starting lens to position the telescope first to what I want to see. The 10mm is a good little lens and give nice view of the stars and moon. I also purchased the ‘Celestron AstroMaster Accessory Kit’ at the same time – this included lens filters and additional 5mm, 15mm and 2x lenses. This gives more range of magnifications to use with the telescope.
Viewing with the telescope is very good. The moon is amazing, but you will NEED a moon filter – it is very bright. You can clearly see the moons of Jupiter and with my additional 5mm lens I can just about make out the markings of Jupiter. As for the other planets they have not been visible in the evenings yet – but can’t wait until Saturn appears!
The only fault is the StarPointer. It’s not that good, but you can work around/with it.
I have even had my 4 year old daughter looking at the moon – which she found fascinating as she could see the craters very clearly.
Since buying this, I have also contacted Celestron support (issue with the additional lens). They were quick and put me in touch with their local distributor (Hama) in the UK. Hama were also very helpful.
All-in-all this is very good for the price it costs. I wanted a good telescope that would allow me to get started in Astronomy, without using it for a short while and having to replace it when I want more. This is a good start and with the right lenses will do for what I want it for. Good quality lenses are not cheap (it’s the price of the telescope itself for a set), but I can now slowly upgrade this over time now that I have a decent telescope.
I’d been toying with the idea of buying a telescope for a while, and after Christmas had some spare cash so set out to find one for >250. I spent weeks researching and contacted friends, teachers and professors about what would be best for my situation. the feedback i essentially got was to buy a Newtonian reflector of minimum this diameter aperture.
Being 18 and not wanting to overspend i bought this one. And after a combined usage of about 6 hours i think i can come up with a good review. On the upside: It’s easy to assemble regardless of the instructions. I didn’t look once and had it together in 20 minutes; it produces a VERY clear image and have seen brilliant detail of objects like the moon, the bands of jupiter and it’s moons and more recently the Milky Way; it comes with some good extras such as the two eyepieces. On the downside; it’s hard to use at first, the dot finder for example was useless (infact i took it off completely and instead screwed on my point and shoot camera and used the zoom on that to locate what i wanted to see, reduced the time to find, for example, jupiter from 30 minutes to 30 seconds) making it hard to use for beginners although with a few hours practice you’ll be fine; it’s not particularly transportable, to move all the bits and pieces single handed (i.e. the telescope, the counterweights and the tripod) it takes 3 trips and you need those three trips unless you want to mark every wall in your house and develop a back injury as the combined thing weighs a lot; it’s also quite hard to control, the “precision” controls are pretty flimsy and i feel like i’m going to break them, not to mention the fact that you get roughly 4 seconds of visual time on any object before you have to re-align it as the object’s drifted away.
On the whole i gave it 4 *’s because for it’s price it does the job nicely. It’s not super expensive (especially here on amazon) which means you get a lot for your money, the concepts are easy to pick up and it gives you the single greatest feeling ever. The first time i saw jupiter for example it made it worth every single penny. So, if you’re in the same boat as me. You want something to mess around with a couple of hours a week. And to see something really cool. Look no further, or rather not too much further (see below). For the price this was brilliant and arrived quickly all in one piece (figure of speech).
HOWEVER!!!!!
There are two MASSIVE things to keep in mind.
Firstly, if you are like me, a beginner. You MUST!!!!!!!:
1) Buy a light filter too, otherwise you’ll see for example the moon for 3 seconds and you’ll come away nearly blind. I wouldn’t opt for the celstron one amazon recommends, it’s ok, but not great. Instead spend the extra pound and get this “Light Blue 1.25″ Telescope Filter – (73% transmission)” type it into amazon and you can’t miss it
2) Don’t get this one. The is the 130 EQ, get the 130 EQ-MD, the MD stands for motor drive. Which means that it’ll track whatever you’re looking at. This means you’ll be able to actually look at stuff rather than glimpse it then re-align. This also comes in EXTREMELY handy with astrophotography (see below) as it means you can have longer exposure times. It’s worth paying the extra 20 for a better quality stand
3) If you’re interested in taking pictures using this scope you need to buy a 1″ / 1/4″ adapter and a T-Ring of your particular brand DSLR camera. This is the easiest way for doing it, as in my experience afocal imaging is hard to do. Although if ALL you want to do is take pictures of stuff, don’t bother with a telescope, buy a DSLR camera, a telescopic lense, a stand and an automatic shutter release. It’s so much easier to do, and produces just as good pictures as the telescope a lot more easily.
And secondly
If you’re not a beginner. Don’t buy this telescope at all. This is a good scope, but having seen the quality of a picture taken on a 7000 telescope the price really does matter even at a smaller scale. pay as much as you can afford and i promise you’ll be happier with it. Although i can’t really advise you much on what to get.
Spurred on by last years series of Stargazing Live, and thanks to the positive reviews on Amazon I took the plunge and purchase this telescope.
It arrived well packed in a large box and the tripod feels very solidly constructed. Like many others I had trouble following the printed setup instructions, I would recommend building it near your PC/YouTube enabled TV/with a tablet near by so you can follow the setup video. Once built the tripod is a really good weight and the scope can be attached or removed, it’s not permanently fixed. This has been brilliant for the many months I’ve been unable to use the `scope and have had it stored away ready for clear dark nights.
In use I’ve had hit and miss results. I still need to practice locating objects in the sky, again like others the actual sights seem to be fairly useless when trying to line up objects for viewing. This can be hugely frustrating to begin with and you must be prepared to be very patient in the beginning.
However…then you finally manage to lock on to the moon and what an amazing sight it is. OK we’ve all seen photos on the TV or on PCs, but to look at the moon with the naked eye, then look again through the telescope is a fantastic experience.
I’m very much in the early stages of using this telescope, but for the price I would recommend it to anyone thinking of buying one.
Keep in mind you may quickly want to purchase some extra lens/filters to maximise your experience. I ended up quickly purchasing Celestron 94303 Telescope Eye Piece and Filter Kit which added an extra 150 to the overall cost, so in the end I spent just over 300. However, you can easily find individual additions if you don’t want the full kit.
Just remember to wrap up warm, it can be very addictive leading to hours spent out in the cold night time weather.
As for what you can see, so far I have been unable to use it for more then about 5 mins purely because of cloudy skies. For the five minutes i did get a chance to use it i was aligning the red dot sight on the top, but did get a few moments of stargazing which was very very good.
If you are going to buy this as a first scope, be sure to consider the accessory kit, but also if you can find a padded case for the eye pieces as well just in case.
Firstly there are those who have questioned the build quality of this scope. Well six months of use have found no problems with the build quality of my scope. If I am being charitable I would say that those who have had problems such as parts shearing must have had poor examples of the product and that maybe QC is not up to much at Celestron. However from my experiences with this and other Celestron products I would say that those users who managed to break their scope are extraordinarily ham fisted. Build quality is fine and indeed better than you would expect for a scope of this spec at this price.
Then there are those who have whinged about the quality of the eye pieces. Sure they are not top quality, but the whole scope, mount, tripod and eyepieces cost around 150. You’re not going to get a pair of eyepieces which would normally retail at 100 each in a kit for 150 are you. They get the job done and get you started. The only thing I would say about the eyepieces is that if I were speccing this scope I would not include the erecting eyepiece, but would include something else instead. Perhaps a Barlow lens or another atronomical eyepiece, or maybe a good quality moon filter. If you want a scope for terrestrial use you’re not going to buy one on an equatorial mount, so why would you want an erecting eyepiece?
The most puzzling review is perhaps the chap who was surprised by the size. The dimensions are readily available on the web, and anyway how small did he expect a 130mm reflector to be? Likewise his inability to follow the assembly instructions is not a reason to return the scope.
The person who wanted QR clamps on the tripod legs also puzzled me. An equatorial mount will always take a little time to set up and once setup it is presumably going to sit where it is for some time, an hour at least. So what advantage would QR clamps be? You’re not going to be picking up the scope and moving it every five minutes as you would with, say, a wildlife scope. So why would you need QR clamps.
In short you will not get a better scope of similar specifications and capabilities for the price. This is a classic example of the adage “you get what you pay for”. Yes you can get a better 130mm reflector, but for more money. You can even get a worse one for (not much) less. You are not, however, going to get better for the same price. If you want better, pay more. You can’t say fairer than that.
i had very high hopes for this but xmas had lots of cloudy nights.
we’ve only used once and i was amazed that, as i finally managed to find the moon, a plane flew right over it. that must be quite unusual.
don’t get your hopes too high, otherwise like me you will be disappointed with the magnification. the moon is still a LONG way away!!
it is a well made unit
it is a bit time consuming and fiddly to assemble…takes about an hour.
some of the knobs are a bit flimsy and feel like they might break…but others are very sturdy.
hopefully we will et out of london and go and try and see the milky way or something…not many opportunities so far
i am happy i bought this one i think. seemed to be the best buy out there. if i’d got a cheaper one there would have always been a what=-if feeling. and i imagine there is a lot fo scope for making MUCH MORE INFERIOR telescopes than this one. 120/130 not bad…seen one in a shop nearby for 200!
The only issue I have with it is that it came with the instructions for a different (similar) model, and we had to look online at videos at how other people had put it together. It is my partners first “proper” telescope, and even he had problems putting it together. We managed to assemble it in 2-3 hours, and was using it that night. The next time we put it together, it took us 15-20 mins, because we knew where and how everything went. Once you know where the pieces go, then its simple enough to use.
I am pleased with the item, I would recommend it to others, as long as you have a few hours spare to set it up for the first time. Good buy, thumbs up!
Upon unpacking the telescope I found that the tripod was broken (one of the leg supports was cracked (no signs of damage to the packaging). I was so disappointed (it was a nice clear night).
I’m afraid the tripod does look quite weak but costs have to be saved somewhere; the equatorial mount and scope look good and I guess this is where you are better off spending the money if the tripod is secure enough. I guess I will just need to handle it with care…
Excellent service from Amazon, filled out the returns form on line and a new telescope was delivered 2 days later (before I had returned the faulty one).
UPDATE
Having used my 130EQ for a few weeks now I can say that it really is an excellent piece of kit with a few reservations:
The ‘star pointer’ (used to aim the scope) is really bad. I could not get this to work and even struggled to find the moon using it! I have now removed it (quite easy by removing two Philips screws) and I bought a Telrad finder which is so easy to use. The Telrad took me 5 minutes to mount and set up (the hardest bit was finding an object to aim at with the scope in the first place). I can now point the Telrad at an object and it is immediately centred in the eyepiece. The Telrad is a bit expensive at around 50 for what it is but but for the difference it makes it is well worth it. It transforms this scope – don’t hesitate to upgrade to a Telrad if you struggle with the built in finder.
The tripod is not very steady so astro photography is not easy but it does the job and the equatorial mount is a substantial quality mount. At the price – this is fine.
The scope itself pulls in a huge amount of light and the best views are with lower magnifications. I can highly recommend the Revelation Eyepiece set which I bought from Telescope House. This set is worth the money for the Barlow Lens, T-adaptor and especially for the 32mm eyepiece which is fantastic.
Overall this scope is an excellent introduction to astronomy but budget for an update to the pointer – I can find an object in less than a minute with the Telrad when without it I could spend all night trying and still fail!
I now intend to join a local astronomy club and continue my journey in this new hobby.
Hope this review is helpful for any newbies like me.
Anyway, The Celestron Astromaster 130EQ came in a massive, well packaged box. Just to let you know it weighs a ton, so have someone with you when excepting the delivery. It’s really heavy.
When I first opened the box, I thought to myself “Oh my God”, its going to take forever and be really difficult to set up. To my surprise the instructions were clear and took me through step by step to get it up and running. Altogether it took about 1 hour.
Since I’ve had it the snow in my area has been really heavy so I haven’t had a chance to take it outside and have a look, so I’m sorry I can’t tell you what you can see when looking through it.
I feel this is perfect for a beginner as I am also a beginner and I did alot of research before I decided on this one. Its also a really good price in my opinion.