Damian A. Peach Buys 130mm Celestron Telescope for $50, Finding Crisp Planetary Views
Updated
Updated · Space.com · Aug 4
Damian A. Peach Buys 130mm Celestron Telescope for $50, Finding Crisp Planetary Views
1 articles · Updated · Space.com · Aug 4
Summary
$50 bought Damian A. Peach a used Celestron AstroMaster 130mm reflector on Facebook Marketplace after about a week of searching, with the scope complete, clean and little-used.
130mm of aperture gave the telescope far more light-gathering power than new $50 refractors, and a quick collimation in under 10 minutes produced sharp star tests and crisp views of Venus and Jupiter.
Two included Plossl eyepieces, a red-dot finder and a manual equatorial mount made the setup immediately usable, though the lack of motorized tracking limited long-exposure deep-sky imaging and required constant manual adjustments.
Under darker skies 45 minutes away, Peach said the bargain scope still showed Messier 13, Messier 81 and 82, the Double Cluster and other bright deep-sky targets with surprisingly strong detail.
Peach said the result shows the secondhand market can outperform new entry-level telescopes at the same price, provided buyers inspect optics, mounts and missing parts carefully.