The Sky-Watcher EXPLORER-130P is a fantastic choice for the serious beginner and also receives high marks from more seasoned astronomers. With an extremely useful 130mm of light gathering aperture and a superb parabolic primary mirror, this telescope is a highly capable all-rounder for the observation of the Moon, bright planets, nebulae, galaxies and star clusters. Supplied with the EQ2 equatorial mount, which when polar aligned, will allow you to easily track objects as they move across the night sky via its slow motion control cables.
The EXPLORER-130P models feature premium-quality Parabolic Primary Mirrors, normally found in larger more expensive telescopes, to eliminate spherical aberrations, producing even sharper, higher-contrast images which are full of detail. A parabolic or more accurately a "paraboloidal" mirror, is ground to a shape which brings all incoming light rays to a perfect focus, on axis. In addition they feature 0.5mm Ultra-Thin secondary mirror supports, to reduce diffraction spikes and light loss.
The EQ2 Equatorial Mount is suited to both beginners and experienced astronomers. It offers very good stability and the tall, fully adjustable aluminium tripod with large accessory tray is a real plus. This mount features 360º slow-motion tracking gears on both the right ascension and declination axes with flexible controls. Dual metal setting circles allow location of objects by their R.A. and DEC. coordinates. A separate latitude adjustment aids in polar alignment.
An optional D.C. Motor Drive can be installed to the R.A. axis for auto-tracking purposes.
