Celestron Firstscope 114 Short Telescope
by Celestron

List Price: $378.99
Category: Digital Camera
See more product details

(Click here)

Digital Photo Product Details

• Manual slow-motion controls
• Newtonian reflector optics
• 1,000mm focal length
• Comes with adjustable aluminum tripod
• 18-inch tube is compact and portable

• Corel PaintShop Photo Pro X3 [OLD VERSION]
• AmazonBasics Camcorder/Camera Bag with Shoulder Strap (Black)
• Corel Photo & Video Pro X3 Bundle [Old Version]
• AmazonBasics Universal Camera Case for Digital Cameras HF (Black)
• Celestron NexImage Solar System Imager

Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Celestron Firstscope 114 Short Telescope

Customer Review: good scope...
Summary: 4 Stars

now to specifics...

the equatorial mount is not 100% rock-solid - it's a little shaky sometimes, specially when i set it up in a hurry - but any trembles settle within about 5 to 6 seconds. the 4.5" aperture is fairly decent, and i have found that contrast provided by the included eyepieces is pretty decent. i'm not sure what kind of eyepieces are included, as i'm yet to hear from celestron on this query. the 10mm ep doesn't have as good eye-relief as does the 20mm, but that's to be expected (and is not specific to this scope), i guess.

the scope was delivered by adorama.com, and was fairly well packed. collimation was near perfect, and i haven't meddled with this one yet.

i'll need to transport this one back home to india - more than 8000 miles away by air, and still need to find out what will happen to alignment on that journey - according to all accounts, i'll need to collimate it when it lands back home. celestron doesn't include much by way of enlightenment on collimation - they only say to visually eyeball alignment - this is sketchy at best, and i'll need to read up on this one and not trust the manual totally.

while on the manual... looks like this was written by some sweatshop employee without much grasp of the language, the component break-up image is missing some part number indicators, etc., etc... don't go by the manual much - just look at it as something that celestron needs to include with the scope, and they have done it - absolutely no quality there.

parts... the scope is of pretty good quality - mostly metal parts; a little plastic, though bearable. the ota looks like it will take a lot of abuse and seems to be sturdily built. parts of the mount may need to be shimmed to get close tolerances - to ensure less shaking than current. an optional t-ring has to be bought to plug an slr camera to the unit, so that feature is available on demand, too.

my personal conclusion: it's an excellent scope for my money, and i'm very happy with the purchase. am looking forward to carry out some decent astrophotography with it, and shall try to update this review, if at all possible.

Description of Celestron Firstscope 114 Short Telescope

With this telescope its easy to see Saturn's rings and Jupiter's cloud belts. When the night air is still and clear I've been able to see the Cassini division in Saturn's rings and even spot the shadow of Jupiter's moons crossing the planets cloud tops! Deep space objects like star clusters and galaxies also show up nicely. The Ring Nebula M57, for instance, shows up as a pale smoke ring, and globular clusters like M13 and M15 begin to reveal their individual stars.

The compact 18-inch long optical design of the Firstscope 114 Short is very similar to the computerized Nexstar 114-GT. Like the Nexstar 114, this telescope uses a short focal length mirror combined with a corrector lens to simulate a traditional long tube reflector. This works best at moderate powers; at low power the stars seem out of focus near the edges. Planet views are OK if you keep the planet near the sweet spot in the center, but again sharpness declines toward the edges. If you're willing to spend a little more, Celestron's long tube Firstscope 114EQ is capable of sharper images.

To get the best views from a Newtonian reflector, the optics may need to be tuned up or "collimated" occasionally. I find a Collimation Tool helps get this fine tuning just right. The other essential accessory is a guide book like NightWatch or a subscription to Night Sky magazine; once you own a telescope you'll want to know where to look for cool sights like planets and galaxies! Jeff Phillips

Pros:

• Compact and affordable
• Includes all the basics
• Good (but not great) optics

• Views are soft around the edges
• Optics may need fine tuning
• Terrestrial images are upside down

Refractors

• Camera & Photo > Binoculars, Telescopes & Optics > Telescopes > Refractors