Celestron Astro Fi 130 telescope: Full overview

The Celestron Astro Fi 130 belongs to a line up of instruments which may possibly well presumably be rather contemporary within the marketplace. Ethical for inexperienced persons focused on touring the evening sky however are unsure of the attach to initiating, the Astro Fi sequence makes use of the most modern Wi-Fi abilities that enables users to alter the in-built computer with their smartphone or pill using the free Celestron SkyPortal. 

The Astro Fi 130 employs an extraordinarily “fingers-free” abilities with out the need for a hand alter — something that’s certain to pride users and assemble navigation the total extra stress-free. Some may possibly well additionally omit the touchpad that’s equipped with most computerized telescopes, however we now settle on to notify that the Astro Fi doesn’t endure with out it. 

Associated: Simplest telescopes for the cash – 2020 opinions and records

Celestron Astro Fi 130: Manufacture

• Very sturdy originate with neatly constructed tube and tripod 
• Moveable and lightweight for on-the-trudge observations
• Makes use of an ethical parabolic indispensable replicate    

The Astro Fi 130 is made with children of 13 years of age or older in mind and we’re chuffed to search that — as soon as fully assembled — it affords a brilliant quantity of portability. The total originate is brilliant for the price and for a telescope of its form: the tube is of ethical construction, while the aluminum tripod is sturdy and does the job, supporting the total setup with out concerns as a complete. This Newtonian reflector — the same to the varied models within the sequence — is equipped with Kellner 10mm and 25mm eyepieces, offering magnifications of 65x and 26x respectively — and a red dot finder. 

The eyepieces are ample to receive a newbie started in astronomy, however with the Astro Fi 130 being a “speedily” telescope, we recommend buying some mid-fluctuate Plössl eyepieces to make certain the instrument is fully equipped for a unfold of targets — whether or no longer you select watching portray voltaic system objects or deep-sky gemstones equivalent to nebulas and galaxies. Instant telescopes admire this one accumulate brief focal lengths that offer wider views of the evening sky, providing you with a lower magnification for any given eyepiece over “slower” instruments. The optical system employs a indispensable replicate with a parabolic form.

Celestron Astro Fi 130: Crack of dawn and efficiency 

• Makes use of SkyAlign abilities for easy alignment
• Huge for lunar and planetary watching, however some views are fuzzy
• Battery drains fast in frosty prerequisites

The very certain, darkish skies of November equipped an magnificent sequence of evening-sky targets to test the Astro Fi 130’s mettle. The 2nd planet from the solar, Venus, shone at an supreme magnitude of -5.1 and had reached greatest elongation east, making it a stunning aim alongside Mars, which became easy to space with the reflector’s 5.19-slip aperture at a subtler +0.5 magnitude. 

The Astro Fi uses SkyAlign abilities for straightforward alignment. Aligning your instrument earlier than you initiating up observations is an extraordinarily mighty, because it reveals your orientation relative to the evening sky to the telescope’s instrument. With this records, the Astro Fi is then ready to slew to your desired evening sky aim. 

Marrying up our smartphone with the telescope’s Wi-Fi became, as expected, rather intuitive. The Celestron SkyAlign abilities made aligning the telescope painless as we selected three intellectual stars to assist with the procedure. The improbable thing regarding the setup is that you accumulate no longer settle on to grab something else regarding the evening sky to receive pleasure from it, nonetheless it does also abet as a instrument in studying your manner around the heavens — we recommend that you select up as unprecedented records regarding the objects you are viewing as that you may possibly well well trust, in particular while you happen to or your family are focused on a severe stargazing hobby. In the occasion you are unsure of what to glimpse in your first evening, then the Celestron SkyPortal app recommends objects for you — a feature that shall be in particular significant to newbie astronomers. Nonetheless, it’s price noting that, while SkyPortal boasts a catalog of hundreds and hundreds of targets, the Astro Fi 130 would no longer accumulate the optical capabilities to select all of them.

On evenings which may possibly well presumably be in particular frosty, battery vitality will also be drained fast and “motorized” telescopes can combat — that’s something we came all the map by with the Astro Fi 130 below in particular frosty prerequisites. We propose buying a 12V rechargeable battery, in particular since there may possibly be rarely genuinely any varied option: the Astro Fi is unable to feature with out the app; manually slewing the telescope is no longer that you may possibly well well trust and it need to accumulate a offer of vitality in describe to feature fully. Sadly this renders the telescope pointless need to peaceable the Wi-Fi facility stop to feature at any given time. Nonetheless, despite the flaw, we’re chuffed to search that the tube itself will also be added to 1 more mount, equipped it uses a Vixen dovetail attachment, for these that admire to alter between manual and computerized slewing of the instrument. 

Views of the moon are ethical by the Astro Fi however were no longer hugely crisp. For a newbie telescope though, this is rarely genuinely too unprecedented of an subject for the reason that optics equipped ample magnification of the cratered terrain. We noticed our pure satellite in its waning gibbous allotment, the attach the terminator gave brilliant sights of a chain of craters and rilles, performed up by the daylight hours hitting the rugged lunar surface. 

Despite gentle pollution from the moon, the Astro Fi became peaceable ready to select nearby Venus and Mars with ease. Views of the planets were as expected given the optical fluctuate — shrimp however a piece of blurry within the subject of take into legend. Slowly turning the focuser, we were ready to carry a touch of readability to our take into legend; Mars’ salmon crimson disk namely showed up neatly, with a Martian pole cap discernible in our subject of take into legend.

The focuser is rarely genuinely manufactured for stunning-tuning, and we were left with views that jumped between watching extremes — something to accumulate in mind when getting basically the most inviting sights of your chosen aim. As soon as commended, the Astro Fi took us to the constellation of Andromeda the attach we noticed its galaxy Messier 31, identified unprecedented extra merely as the Andromeda Galaxy — a gratifying gaze that ethical bought greater and better and visual as a faint smudge with a brilliant bulge at the heart.

Celestron Astro Fi 130: Verdict

At an exceptionally low trace, the Astro Fi is an ethical telescope that boasts lowering-edge abilities and a tight quantity of toughen for these ethical starting out within the hobby of astronomy. The telescope is portable, which makes it brilliant as a “snatch and trudge” scope, however we recommend taking a legitimate 12V vitality offer with you given the battery’s tendency to lose payment in frosty prerequisites. 

Geared up with eyepieces, a red dot finder and a sturdy tripod, the complete lot you will need in your watching classes are integrated within the equipment, nonetheless, we recommend upgrading among the equipment to receive optimum outcomes from the telescope’s optical system. Solar system views will also be a piece of blurred while you happen to push beyond the telescope’s capabilities, however — total — we’re impressed with the watching prowess of the Astro Fi 130.