The adapter accommodates most phones with the case on, but some large and/or bulky phone cases (including folio style cases) may need to be removed for the phone to fit in the adapter. If you are looking for a telescope mostly to observe Jupiter, Saturn and the moon, then the 130EQ is a great choice. As some users have noted, you may need to adjust some nuts on the pointer to get it to work properly. The main issues seem to be a rubbish red dot finder that is not removable and there is no centre spot on the primary mirror making collimation impossible unless you remove the mirror in mark one on. To get a decent finder you have to fit an accessory shoe - not a hard job but scary for those who may be not good at DiY and lets face it no one wants to drill holes in their new toy.

Doesn't appear to come with a 2x Barlow however I've seen posts that indicate it wouldn't be worth much anyway.

Learn more about extra solar planets imagery, 3D Star rendering, observation planning, telescope control, multiple-panel printing, and much more. It’s also a bit too much magnification (33x) to be a great low-power “finder” eyepiece, and thanks to its narrow apparent field, it only gives a true field of view of 0. Saturn is within grasp through the five-inch aperture, and the gas giant's rings are easily visible in the field of view.

Using our own equipment to increase the magnification to roughly 120x, the Cassini Division – the dark gap in Saturn's rings – can be picked out along with atmospheric detailing in the world's atmosphere. This innovative software solves the time-consuming problem of trying to pinpoint the North Celestial Pole.It is the brightest star in Cygnus and the 19th brightest star in the night sky, with an average apparent magnitude of +1. Additionally, this telescope can accommodate a motor drive that can be added to the mount to automate this process even further. With its light, rigid frame, this accessory allows you to connect any smartphone to any telescope eyepiece with an outside diameter of 34mm. Gemma is content director of science and space magazines How It Works and All About Space, history magazines All About History and History of War as well as Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics (STEAM) kids education brand Future Genius.

The Celestron AstroMaster 130 is widely advertised and praised as one of the better beginner telescopes out there, but it suffers from several shortcomings that tend to make it infuriating to use out of the box. I opted for the Skywatcher 130P and I haven't had any problems learning to set up and use the EQ mount.If you can get one that’s motorised, even better, especially if you want to do some astrophotography.