Orion SpaceProbe 130 EQ Reflector
by Orion Telescopes and Binoculars

List Price: $249.99
Our Price: $229.99
You Save: $19.96 (7%)
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Category: Digital Camera
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Digital Photo Product Details

• Complete 5.1" aperture reflector telescope with full-size adjustable tripod and equatorial (EQ) mount for easy manual tracking of objects in the night sky
• 900mm focal length and f/6.9 focal ratio makes the SpaceProbe 130 EQ an excellent telescope for viewing wide-field deep-sky objects like cloudy nebulas, distant galaxies, and sparkling open star clusters and bright globular star clusters
• 130mm optics gulp up light from the night sky for wonderful views of the Moon and planets like Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn
• Sturdy EQ-2 equatorial telescope mount features two slow-motion control knobs so you can keep what you're looking at in the eyepiece for extended views
• Includes two Explorer II 1.25" Kellner eyepieces (25mm and 10mm focal lengths) for two different viewing magnifications, a 6x30 finder scope for easy aiming of the telescope, collimation cap, dust caps, accessory tray, Starry Night software, and more!

• Orion DeepMap 600 Folding Star Chart
• Orion Beginning Stargazer's Toolkit
• Sky Atlas for Small Telescopes & Binoculars
• Orion DualBeam LED Astronomy Flashlight
• Small Orion Deluxe Accessory Case, Black

Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Orion SpaceProbe 130 EQ Reflector

Customer Review: Good portable telescope
Summary: 5 Stars

Even from the balcony of our apartment in LA (i.e. far from ideal environment) we have been able to see clearly the rings around Saturn and Jupiters Galilean moons. The details of the moon's surface are also clearly visible.

Taking it out of the city lights into the desert we were even able to see Titan, one of Saturn's moons, and the Cassini gap. We could also see the fuzziness of the Orion nebula and the Trapezium.

We have also used it to look at globular clusters and a few other things of interest.

The software, The Sky, that is included with the telescope is particularly useful for figuring out at what time the objects you wish to view will rise. You just have to feed it your position coordinates (most major cities are preprogrammed into it).

I have not used it for astrophotography but you would probably need to get the electronic drive to get good pictures, especially if you intend to photograph faint objects.

The scope is also pretty easy to operate and as it comes with an equitorial mount it's also easy to trace objects as they move across the sky.

Finally, this scope is quite portable, which was important to us in choosing it as we live in the city where conditions are not too great for viewing. It will easily fit in any trunk and is not too heavy to carry around for a few tens or hundreds of meters.

On the whole this is a great telescope for a beginner who is not yet sure whether he/she is willing (or able) to spend hundreds or thousands of dollars on equipment. It is good enough to show you most things of interest and light enough to be portable.

For the serious astronomer it would probably be clever to go for larger aperture - although that always comes at the cost of portability and higher price.

Description of Orion SpaceProbe 130 EQ Reflector

The Orion SpaceProbe 130 EQ Reflector with its Explorer II eyepieces serves up bright, clear images of the Moon, the planets, and even deep space objects like star clusters and galaxies. The 25mm eyepiece magnifies the image by 36 times; when I look at the Pleiades or Seven Sisters cluster at 36X the SpaceProbe 130 shows me a bright open cluster with dozens of point-like stars filling the field of view. When I use the 10mm eyepiece (90X magnification) the lunar disk fills the field of view and the rings of Saturn are plainly resolved. And when I use an optional Ultima 2X Barlow with the 10mm eyepiece for 180X magnification I can see the cloud bands of Jupiter and pick out individual stars in bright globular clusters like M13.

The EQ2 equatorial mount included with the Orion SpaceProbe 130 EQ Reflector comes partially assembled, but it shouldn?t take long to set up. The trick to using an equatorial mount is to point the polar axis at Polaris, the North Star. Once the mount is aligned and balanced, the telescope tracks stars and planets at high power with just a turn of one slow motion knob. You can even add an optional motor drive for hands free tracking.

The Orion SpaceProbe 130 EQ Newtonian Reflector Telescope is a simply a great value. The Explorer II eyepieces deliver bright sharp images of the Moon, the planets and the stars, and the EQ2 mount can be motorized for hands free tracking. --Jeff Phillips

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