The Celestron Astro Fi 130 belongs to a line up of devices which can be comparatively new available on the market. Suitable for learners eager on touring the night time sky however are not sure of the place to begin, the Astro Fi collection makes use of the most recent Wi-Fi expertise that permits customers to manage the in-built pc with their smartphone or pill utilizing the free Celestron SkyPortal.Â
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 equipped with most computerized telescopes, however we have now to say that the Astro Fi doesn’t endure with out it.Â
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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 kind: Computerized altitude-azimuth single forkÂ
Celestron Astro Fi 130: Design
- Very sturdy construct with properly constructed tube and tripodÂ
- Portable and light-weight for on-the-go observations
- Makes use of a great parabolic predominant mirror   Â
The Astro Fi 130 is made with kids of 13 years of age or older in thoughts and we’re happy to find that — as soon as totally assembled — it gives a good quantity of portability. The total construct is honest for the worth and for a telescope of its kind: the tube is of excellent building, whereas the aluminum tripod is sturdy and does the job, supporting the complete setup effortlessly as an entire. This Newtonian reflector — just like the opposite fashions within the collection — is equipped with Kellner 10mm and 25mm eyepieces, providing magnifications of 65x and 26x respectively — and a crimson dot finder.Â
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 totally geared up for a wide range of targets — whether or not you favor observing photo voltaic system objects or deep-sky gems comparable to nebulas and galaxies. Fast telescopes like this one have brief focal lengths that present wider views of the night time sky, offering you with a decrease magnification for any given eyepiece over “slower” devices. The optical system employs a predominant mirror with a parabolic form.
Celestron Astro Fi 130: First mild and performanceÂ
- Makes use of SkyAlign expertise for simple alignment
- Great for lunar and planetary observing, however some views are fuzzy
- Battery drains rapidly in chilly situations
The very clear, darkish skies of November offered a wonderful number 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 surprising goal alongside Mars, which was straightforward to identify with the reflector’s 5.19-inch aperture at a subtler +0.5 magnitude.Â
The Astro Fi makes use of SkyAlign expertise for easy alignment. Aligning your instrument earlier than you start observations is crucial, because it reveals your orientation relative to the night time sky to the telescope’s software program. With this info, the Astro Fi is then in a position to slew to your required night time sky goal.Â
Marrying up our smartphone with the telescope’s Wi-Fi was, as anticipated, fairly intuitive. The Celestron SkyAlign expertise made aligning the telescope painless as we selected three brilliant stars to help with the process. The fantastic thing about the setup is that you just needn’t know something concerning the night time sky to get pleasure from it, but it surely does additionally function a device in studying your means across the heavens — we suggest that you just soak up as a lot details about the objects you are viewing as potential, particularly for those who or your loved ones are eager on a critical stargazing interest. If you are not sure of what to look at in your first night time, then the Celestron SkyPortal app recommends objects for you — a function that will likely be notably helpful to novice astronomers. However, it’s value noting that, whereas SkyPortal boasts a catalog of a whole lot of hundreds of targets, the Astro Fi 130 would not have the optical capabilities to select all of them.
On evenings which can be particularly chilly, battery energy will be drained rapidly and “motorized” telescopes can wrestle — that is one thing we found with the Astro Fi 130 underneath notably frosty situations. We suggest buying a 12V rechargeable battery, particularly since there’s probably not some other possibility: the Astro Fi is unable to perform with out the app; manually slewing the telescope isn’t potential and it should have a supply of energy in an effort to function totally. 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 modify between handbook and computerized slewing of the instrument.Â
Views of the moon are good via the Astro Fi however weren’t vastly crisp. For a newbie telescope although, this is not an excessive amount of of a problem because the optics offered ample magnification of the cratered terrain. We noticed our pure satellite tv for pc in its waning gibbous phase, the place the terminator gave splendid sights of a number of craters and rilles, performed up by the daylight hitting the rugged lunar floor.Â
Despite mild air pollution from the moon, the Astro Fi was nonetheless in a position to select close by Venus and Mars with ease. Views of the planets had been as anticipated given the optical vary — small however barely blurry within the subject of view. Slowly turning the focuser, we had been in a position to convey a contact of readability to our view; Mars’ salmon pink disk particularly confirmed up properly, with a Martian pole cap discernible in our subject of view.
The focuser is not manufactured for fine-tuning, and we had been left with views that jumped between observing extremes — one thing to remember when getting the perfect 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 far more merely because the Andromeda Galaxy — a nice sight that simply obtained 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 expertise and a good quantity of assist for these simply beginning out within the interest of astronomy. The telescope is transportable, 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.Â
Equipped with eyepieces, a crimson dot finder and a sturdy tripod, all the pieces you want on your observing classes are included within the package deal, nevertheless, 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 for those who push past the telescope’s capabilities, however — total — we’re impressed with the observing prowess of the Astro Fi 130.
