A Prime Day telescope deal so good we bought one for ourselves

With the Prime Day deals ending tonight, now is the best time to buy your first telescope, and this Celestron AstroMaster 130EQ deal at Amazon saves you over $100. If you want a relatively beginner-friendly telescope to see views of the Moon, planets and beyond for under $250, this fantastic deal is definitely worth taking advantage of — in fact, our staff writer has just bought one.

Get the Celestron AstroMaster 130EQ for $241.40 at Amazon right now.

With its large 130mm aperture, the AstroMaster 130EQ lets in enough light to see Saturn’s rings, Jupiter’s moons, the craters on the Moon and more. And weighing just 17 lbs (7.71kg), it's lightweight and transportable to take with you to dark sky sites to get a glimpse of the Orion nebula, the Andromeda galaxy or the Pleiades star cluster.

Celestron AstroMaster 130EQ: was $349.99 now $241.40 at Amazon US

Save $108.55 on one of the best telescopes on the market for beginners and intermediate users who want quality at an affordable price. There's a bit of learning involved when it comes to setting it up, but for users who enjoy the challenge, we think it's a rewarding purchase for stunning lunar and planetary views.

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In this Celestron AstroMaster 130EQ deal the tripod and mount come pre-assembled, and you also get a 10mm and 20mm eyepiece, a StarPointer red dot finderscope and free Starry Night Astronomy software.

We haven't reviewed this telescope yet (but guess what our staff writer will be doing very soon), however, we have tested and reviewed a number of Celestron's optical instruments from the best telescopes to the best binoculars for stargazing.

We are continuously impressed by both the build and optical quality that Celestron produces, and they are one of our favorite optics manufacturers, so you can trust that you're getting a fantastic product — and at this price, it could make a great Christmas gift for your favorite Astronomy lover.

Key features: Newtonian reflector, 130mm aperture, 650mm focal length, f/5 focal ratio, 33x and 65x magnification with included eyepieces.