The Celestron Astro Fi 130 belongs to a line up of devices which might be comparatively new in the marketplace. Suitable for inexperienced persons eager on touring the evening sky however are not sure of the place to start out, the Astro Fi sequence makes use of the most recent Wi-Fi know-how that allows customers to manage the in-built pc with their smartphone or pill utilizing the free Celestron SkyPortal.
The Astro Fi 130 employs a very “hands-free” expertise with out the necessity for a hand management — one thing that’s certain to please customers and make navigation all of the extra enjoyable. Some might miss the touchpad that’s provided with most computerized telescopes, however we’ve got to say that the Astro Fi doesn’t endure with out it.
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Celestron Astro Fi 130 key specs
Optical design: Newtonian reflector
Aperture: 5.19″ (130 mm)
Focal length: 25.59″ (650 mm)
Focal ratio: f/5
Eyepiece 1 focal size: 25 mm (26x)
Eyepiece 2 focal size: 10 mm (65x)
Total equipment weight: 18 lbs. (8.16 kg)
Mount sort: Computerized altitude-azimuth single fork
Celestron Astro Fi 130: Design
- Very sturdy construct with effectively constructed tube and tripod
- Portable and light-weight for on-the-go observations
- Makes use of a very good parabolic major mirror
The Astro Fi 130 is made with youngsters of 13 years of age or older in thoughts and we’re happy to find that — as soon as absolutely assembled — it offers a good quantity of portability. The total construct is honest for the worth and for a telescope of its sort: the tube is of excellent building, whereas the aluminum tripod is sturdy and does the job, supporting your complete setup effortlessly as an entire. This Newtonian reflector — just like the opposite fashions within the sequence — is provided with Kellner 10mm and 25mm eyepieces, providing magnifications of 65x and 26x respectively — and a pink dot finder.
The eyepieces are sufficient to get a newbie began in astronomy, however with the Astro Fi 130 being a “fast” telescope, we suggest buying some mid-range Plössl eyepieces to make sure that the instrument is absolutely outfitted for a wide range of targets — whether or not you favor observing photo voltaic system objects or deep-sky gems similar to nebulas and galaxies. Fast telescopes like this one have quick focal lengths that present wider views of the evening sky, offering you with a decrease magnification for any given eyepiece over “slower” devices. The optical system employs a major mirror with a parabolic form.
Celestron Astro Fi 130: First gentle and performance
- Makes use of SkyAlign know-how for simple alignment
- Great for lunar and planetary observing, however some views are fuzzy
- Battery drains shortly in chilly situations
The very clear, darkish skies of November offered a wonderful collection of night-sky targets to check the Astro Fi 130’s mettle. The second planet from the solar, Venus, shone at an excellent magnitude of -5.1 and had reached biggest elongation east, making it a shocking goal alongside Mars, which was simple to identify with the reflector’s 5.19-inch aperture at a subtler +0.5 magnitude.
The Astro Fi makes use of SkyAlign know-how for easy alignment. Aligning your instrument earlier than you start observations is important, because it reveals your orientation relative to the evening sky to the telescope’s software program. With this info, the Astro Fi is then capable of slew to your required evening sky goal.
Marrying up our smartphone with the telescope’s Wi-Fi was, as anticipated, fairly intuitive. The Celestron SkyAlign know-how made aligning the telescope painless as we selected three vivid stars to help with the process. The great thing about the setup is that you simply needn’t know something in regards to the evening sky to get pleasure from it, but it surely does additionally function a instrument in studying your means across the heavens — we suggest that you simply absorb as a lot details about the objects you are viewing as attainable, particularly should you or your loved ones are eager on a critical stargazing passion. If you are not sure of what to look at in your first evening, then the Celestron SkyPortal app recommends objects for you — a characteristic that shall be notably helpful to novice astronomers. However, it’s value noting that, whereas SkyPortal boasts a catalog of tons of of hundreds of targets, the Astro Fi 130 does not have the optical capabilities to pick all of them.
On evenings which might be particularly chilly, battery energy will be drained shortly and “motorized” telescopes can wrestle — that is one thing we found with the Astro Fi 130 beneath notably frosty situations. We suggest buying a 12V rechargeable battery, particularly since there’s not likely another possibility: the Astro Fi is unable to operate with out the app; manually slewing the telescope is just not attainable and it should have a supply of energy with a purpose to function absolutely. Sadly this renders the telescope ineffective ought to the Wi-Fi facility stop to function at any given time. However, regardless of the flaw, we’re happy to find that the tube itself will be added to a different mount, offered it makes use of a Vixen dovetail attachment, for many who like to change between guide and computerized slewing of the instrument.
Views of the moon are good by way of the Astro Fi however weren’t massively crisp. For a newbie telescope although, this is not an excessive amount of of a difficulty for the reason that optics offered adequate magnification of the cratered terrain. We noticed our pure satellite tv for pc in its waning gibbous section, the place the terminator gave splendid sights of a collection of craters and rilles, performed up by the daylight hitting the rugged lunar floor.
Despite gentle air pollution from the moon, the Astro Fi was nonetheless in a position to pick close by Venus and Mars with ease. Views of the planets have been as anticipated given the optical vary — small however barely blurry within the discipline of view. Slowly turning the focuser, we have been capable of carry a contact of readability to our view; Mars’ salmon pink disk specifically confirmed up effectively, with a Martian pole cap discernible in our discipline of view.
The focuser is not manufactured for fine-tuning, and we have been left with views that jumped between observing extremes — one thing to remember when getting the most effective sights of your chosen goal. Once instructed, the Astro Fi took us to the constellation of Andromeda the place we noticed its galaxy Messier 31, recognized rather more merely because the Andromeda Galaxy — a nice sight that simply acquired higher and higher and visual as a faint smudge with a glowing bulge on the heart.
Celestron Astro Fi 130: Verdict
At an exceptionally low worth, the Astro Fi is an efficient telescope that boasts cutting-edge know-how and an honest quantity of assist for these simply beginning out within the passion of astronomy. The telescope is moveable, which makes it appropriate as a “grab and go” scope, however we suggest taking a dependable 12V energy provide with you given the battery’s tendency to lose cost in chilly situations.
Equipped with eyepieces, a pink dot finder and a sturdy tripod, every thing you want to your observing classes are included within the bundle, nonetheless, we suggest upgrading a number of of the equipment to get optimum outcomes from the telescope’s optical system. Solar system views will be barely blurred should you push past the telescope’s capabilities, however — total — we’re impressed with the observing prowess of the Astro Fi 130.