Overview Of Astromaster 76EQ Optical Tube Assembly
The Celestron AstroMaster 76 optical tube is a 76mm (3-inch) f/9.2 Newtonian with a spherical primary mirror. A spherical primary in a larger, faster telescope such as the 130mm f/5 Celestron AstroMaster 130 EQ will cause a significant lack of sharpness and definition and is thus unsuitable for an astronomical telescope, but a 76mm f/9 sphere deviates only very slightly from a parabola, so it works just fine.
The only drawback, optically, of the AstroMaster 76 is its diminutive size. By the time one accounts for light loss from the mirrors and the secondary mirror’s obstruction, the Celestron AstroMaster 76EQ Newtonian reflector performs no better than a 60mm refractor. However, the 76EQ does offer the advantages over a refractor of no chromatic aberration and a shorter focal length – the former giving it better planetary and lunar performance, all other things being equal, and the latter giving it a wider field of view and lower power with a given eyepiece.
The Celestron AstroMaster 76 EQ reflector telescope has a decent red dot finder mounted to the front of the optical tube assembly and a more than adequate 1.25” rack and pinion focuser. Both the primary and secondary mirrors can be collimated, which is a feature that, although required, somehow isn’t always available with cheap small Newtonians.
One annoying drawback of the AstroMaster 76EQ is that the focuser drawtube unnecessarily pokes into the light path when it is racked all the way in. Usually it’s racked out enough for this to not be a problem, but with some eyepieces it may eclipse the incoming light from hitting the scope’s primary mirror by quite a bit. If this bothers you, it’s quite easy to remove the drawtube, chop the offending portion off with a hacksaw, and re-install it with absolutely no negative impact on the telescope’s functionality.
The other fault of the optical tube is that it has an extremely short dovetail bolted directly to the tube. There is thus no way to rotate the tube to a more comfortable position, nor balance it if you are using heavy eyepieces or accessories.
Mixed Feelings on Eyepieces Provided
Like all other AstroMaster Newtonians, the Celestron AstroMaster 76 EQ comes with a cheap, narrow-field 20mm eyepiece. This eyepiece really provides too much power (35x) to be a “low-power” eyepiece for a 76mm telescope and also has a narrow, straw-like field of view. Furthermore, its useless erecting optics and cheap coatings absorb a lot of light and degrade the image quality. We would recommend replacing it with a 32mm or 25mm Plossl as soon as possible to get the most out of this telescope.
The other included eyepiece is a 10mm Kellner, which provides 70x. It’s a pretty decent eyepiece, albeit largely made of plastic.
The Rock-Solid CG-3 Mount
The mount supplied with the AstroMaster 76EQ is referred to in some literature as the “CG-2” but it is identical to the mount supplied with the larger AstroMasters, which Celestron terms the CG-3.
The CG-3 is overkill for the featherweight 76mm Newtonian optical tube, but certainly does a great job. The scope is rock-solid, and I have zero complaints about stability.
The CG-3 has flexible slow-motion cables; there is only one for the right ascension axis, however, and you’ll have to swap it from one side of the mount to the other depending on which half of the sky you’re viewing. The mount is also, of course, capable of taking other telescope optical tubes, but a different optical tube would likely cost more than the entire Celestron AstroMaster 76EQ unit.
The CG-3 can be motorised with Celestron’s Logic Drive for hands-free tracking. Forget astrophotography, though – any kind of camera will make the scope top-heavy and there’s no way to balance it, in addition to the fact that this is an f/10 scope on a relatively simple mount with an only partially metal focuser.
Alternative Recommendations
For the same price as or a little more than that of the Celestron AstroMaster 76EQ, we’d probably recommend a tabletop scope: either the Zhumell Z100 or the Sky-Watcher Heritage 100P, essentially identical scopes with a bit more aperture and far superior accessories. If you can expand your budget, the Zhumell Z114 is even better.
For additional options that might be right for you, check out our rankings.
Aftermarket Accessory Recommendations
Apart from its small aperture, the AstroMaster 76EQ is acceptable performance-wise, but the provided 20mm erecting eyepiece of course kills any chance of decent low-power views. A 32mm Plossl (22x) is far better and provides the widest possible field you can get with the 76EQ, perfect for deep-sky viewing, while a 6mm redline or goldline eyepiece (117x) provides the maximum useful magnification with this telescope – ideal for viewing the Moon, planets, and double stars. You can also fit the AstroMaster CG-3 mount with Celestron’s Logic Drive for automatic motorized tracking if desired.
Astrophotography Capabilities
Apart from simple phone shots, forget any kind of astrophotography with the Celestron AstroMaster 76EQ reflector telescope. The scope is too small in aperture to do useful work with a CCD camera for planetary imaging (a CCD would also cost more than the entire telescope), and a DSLR will strain the focuser and mount as well as render the telescope unable to balance properly.
For a sub-£200 telescope, though, this is all to be expected.
What can you see with the Celestron AstroMaster 76EQ?
The 76mm aperture of the Celestron AstroMaster 76EQ telescope is only enough to show you the brightest deep-sky objects, but it will do a reasonably good job of observing the Moon and planets. With the AstroMaster 76EQ, expect to see:
- Mercury’s phases, with effort and luck
- Venus’ phases
- Lots of details on the moon
- One or two dark patches on Mars when it’s in opposition every two years.
- Jupiter’s moons, cloud belts, and Great Red Spot
- Saturn’s rings, its moon Titan, and maybe the Cassini Division and some banding on the planet itself with good seeing.
- Uranus and Neptune as turquoise and azure dots
- The Orion Nebula, the Ring Nebula, M13, the Pleiades, and a couple dozen of the other brightest deep-sky objects.
- Many double stars
