Celestron

Celestron NexStar 130SLT

A 130 mm f/5 reflector on Celestron's entry GoTo mount: the cheapest way to get real light grasp and a motorised object finder in the same box, as long as you accept a tripod that is working near its limit.

76/ 100

Polaris Score

#4 of 6 entry computerized telescopes

See the breakdown ↓

Aperture

130mm

Focal Length

650mm

Focal Ratio

f/5

Mount Type

Motorized Alt-Azimuth GoTo

Optical Design

Newtonian

Weight

8.2 kg

Typical range: $600-$700Estimated

Try in simulator →

Where to buy

High Point ScientificCheck price→

What it's built forOpen these in the simulator →

This telescope was built for sweeping wide.

A short, fast reflector with a generous true field — the whole sword of Orion in one view, star fields that spill past the field stop. It rewards low power and dark skies far more than chasing magnification.

Widest true fieldsBright at low power

The view people remember

Andromeda, wider than the Moon.

A vast soft oval with a blazing core — two and a half million light-years of galaxy, spilling well past the field of view under a genuinely dark sky.

See Andromeda Galaxy through this telescope →

Where else it shines

Within reach

Orion Nebula

Stronger structure — embedded stars plus dark lanes within the core

Open view →

Easy first target

The Pleiades

Rich field — fainter members fill out the cluster

Open view →

Rewards a dark sky

Whirlpool Galaxy

Definite galaxy shape — core stands out against the sky

Open view →

Also excellent on

Saturn

Atmospheric bands or polar caps visible depending on the planet

Open view →

✦

Tight planetary detail belongs to a longer scope. This one trades reach for a breathtaking field.

01What it's good at

What it's best at — and the trade-offs.

Best at

✓130 mm of aperture gathers roughly 62 percent more light than the 102 mm NexStar 4SE at a similar price, which is the difference between seeing a galaxy and merely locating it

✓f/5 and 650 mm keep the tube short and the field wide, so open clusters and the Orion Nebula frame properly instead of spilling past the eyepiece

✓The SkyAlign routine gets the GoTo working off three bright objects you do not need to be able to name

✓The 40,000-object database and tracking motors turn a beginner's frustrating hour of star-hopping into a night of actual observing

Trade-offs

!The tripod and single fork arm are light for a 130 mm tube, so views wobble for a second or two after every focus touch

!Eight AA batteries last about two hours of slewing, so a power pack is close to mandatory rather than optional

!The focuser is plastic and coarse, and it becomes the limiting factor once you observe above about 150x

!At f/5 stars soften toward the field edge in cheap eyepieces, so the bundled 9 mm flatters the scope less than it should

02In plain English

What These Numbers Mean

Aperture

130 mm (5.1 inch)

This is the number that decides what you can see at all. 130 mm brings globular clusters like M13 to the point where the outer stars resolve, shows dust lanes in the brighter galaxies from a dark site, and makes the Orion Nebula structured rather than a smudge. Compared with the 102 mm scopes at this price it is a visible step, not a spec-sheet one.

Focal length

650 mm

Short focal length means wide natural framing. The bundled 25 mm eyepiece gives 26x and takes in a field roughly four times the width of the full Moon, which is what you want for the Pleiades, the Double Cluster and large open clusters. The trade-off is that reaching planetary magnification takes short eyepieces or a Barlow.

Focal ratio

f/5

Fast optics deliver bright, wide views, but they are demanding on eyepieces. Light cones this steep expose edge aberrations in simple Plossl and Kellner designs, so stars near the field edge can flare. Budget for one decent wide-field eyepiece and the scope changes character.

Optical design

Newtonian reflector

A mirror at the base and a small flat near the top, which is why 130 mm of aperture costs this little. There is no chromatic aberration at all. In exchange the mirror needs collimating occasionally, and the open tube means the optics cool to outside temperature before the view fully settles.

Weight

8.2 kg complete (tube 4 kg)

About 18 lb for scope, fork and tripod together, and the optical tube alone is under 9 lb. One person carries the whole thing out assembled in a single trip, which in practice is the difference between a telescope that gets used and one that stays in the cupboard.

Mount

Single-fork alt-azimuth GoTo

SkyAlign aligns on any three bright objects, then the motors slew to and track 40,000 targets, which is the whole reason to buy this over a manual 130 mm reflector. The honest caveat is capacity: this mount was designed around smaller tubes, so it damps vibration slowly and gets shaky above roughly 150x.

02The Polaris Score

How it scores, and why.

76/ 100

Celestron NexStar 130SLT

#4 of 6 entry computerized telescopes

Performance

Ease of use

Portability

Upgrade potential

Polaris weighs optical capability, how easy the scope is to live with, how portable it is, and how far it takes you before you outgrow it — not list price or brand.

03Who it's for

An honest fit check.

Buy it if you

✓Beginners who want the telescope to do the finding and would rather learn the sky slowly

✓Suburban observers who want more reach on clusters and brighter nebulae than a 4-inch scope allows

✓Anyone who needs the whole setup to break down small enough for a car boot or a closet shelf

Look elsewhere if you

!Astrophotographers, since an alt-azimuth fork rotates the field and rules out long exposures

!High-magnification planetary specialists, who will be better served by a Maksutov or an SCT of similar price

!Observers who want a scope that never needs adjustment, since a fast Newtonian needs occasional collimation

04Build your rig

What to buy next — and where it leads.

Recommended upgrades

Observe all night, no AA batteries★ Top pickCelestron PowerTank Lithium

The mount runs on eight AA batteries that die in a couple of hours; a lithium pack runs the GoTo all night

$99.95View details →

A sharper everyday viewExplore Scientific 68deg 24mm

At 27x it gives the widest true field this f/5 tube can produce, which is where the 130SLT looks its best

$109View details →

Sharper planets & lunar detailCelestron X-Cel LX 7mm

93x with real eye relief, a large step up from the bundled 9mm for the Moon and planets

$109.95View details →

Grow your kit

A sharper everyday viewCelestron X-Cel LX 18mm

$109.95View details →

Tame lunar glareGSO Moon Filter 13pct 1.25-inch

$11.95View details →

Make nebulae popSVBony UHC 1.25-inch

$27.99View details →

Double your magnificationTele Vue 2x Barlow 1.25-inch

$153View details →

Lunar & planetary

Good

Deep-sky visual

Capable

Astrophotography

Short exposures only

05The numbers

Full specifications.

Optics

Optical DesignNewtonian

Aperture130mm

Focal Length650mm

Focal Ratiof/5

Mount & drive

Mount TypeMotorized Alt-Azimuth GoTo

Physical

Weight8.2 kg

Editor’s Take

The 130SLT is a computerised GoTo telescope: you align on three bright objects, pick a target, and the motors slew there and keep it centred. What separates it from the rest of the entry NexStar range is the optics. Instead of a small sealed Maksutov it uses a 130 mm f/5 Newtonian, which means substantially more light and a much wider field for the same money, and that combination is genuinely good on clusters, the brighter nebulae and the Moon. The compromise sits underneath: this is Celestron's lightest GoTo mount carrying its largest SLT tube, so the setup damps vibration slowly and does not enjoy very high magnification. Buy it understanding that the mirror is better than the tripod, feed it a power pack and one decent eyepiece, and it is a lot of telescope for the price. Buy it expecting rock-steady 250x planetary views or any astrophotography and it will disappoint.