Finding a suitable telescope for new astronomy enthusiast with very little astronomy experience

The first time I looked through a powerful telescope was during a trip to Hawaii on the Big Island where my girlfriend and I looked through a Celestron telescope (different model) and was in awe of what I was able to see such as the rings of Saturn, the moons of Jupiter and the craters of the moon. I proposed to my now fiancée, and it just seemed beautifully fitting to purchase a beginners telescope as the perfect birthday gift to begin our astronomy journey together. So I started my journey on finding a suitable telescope for new enthusiasts with very little astronomy experience. After doing a lot of research, the Celestron 130EQ Newtonian reflector model kept coming up, and now it's clear to see why it's a great starting point.

All the parts came meticulously individually wrapped and carefully packaged, at first it did all look alien, and we did wonder how long it would take to set up as we are novices combined with my fiancée's need to read every sentence on the instructions it took us approx 1.5 hours to set up. I do recommend thoroughly reading through the instructions, they are clear and concise, which made it all easy to set up. It also comes with other knowledgeable resource tools (such as an app) to kick-start the configuration process. Once we set up it and stood back to look at it from an aesthetics perspective, it certainly looks the part. All the parts are easy to assemble, It feels durable, and the tripod is super sturdy - this is a huge point to note. Personally I love the dark robust look and the hints of orange. 

Using the telescope itself, we tested it out on some bright stars by configuring the viewfinder and taking our time to learn to use the different dials. We progressively moved onto different stars, which just look like bright tiny lights in the distance but are fascinating to see. The real wow factor for us was once we patiently waited for the full moon and looking into our telescope and seeing huge craters on the moon, it bought us back to that moment in Hawaii and truly made us appreciate the sheer beauty of space.

Thank you for opening up a whole new world for us, we would happily recommend this Celestron Astromaster 130EQ Astronomy Telescope for beginners like us!

Review by Scott Pritchard