upgrading telescope

[inthedoghouse]

Hi i have a skywatcher explorer 130 looking to upgrade it i would like a telescope for looking a planets and the moon buget is between £300-£400 maybe able to get a little bit more if really needed any advice would be great thanks

[Charic]

Hi there. The Sky-watcher Skyliner from our site sponsor is £275. A popular 8" Newt/Dobsonian telescope. Designed for visual use, easy to use and set-up, probably easier  in use than the 130 Explorer, and no alignment issues, and  well within your price bracket, leaving some change to buy some  EPs of your choice?

Welcome to SGL.

[laudropb]

I too would recommend the skylines 200mm Dob. However if you wanted Go To and the ability to track the 127 mm Mak is also with considering for planetary and lunar observations.

[ronin]

How many and which eyepieces do you have at this time?

Just spending all the budget on a scope is generally "normal" then comes the realisation that you need reasonable eyepieces and even 2 will mean £100

The often mentioned 200P dobsonian will cost £275, equally a set of 6 BST Starguiders, the set is a good and relatively inexpensive option, will cost £294.

[brantuk]

Hi doghouse - the moon and planets should be easily seen in your current scope. I'm wondering exactly why you want to upgrade. Maksutovs are great for sharpness and contrast - and dobs are great for extra light capture and deeper views into space. The right refractors are also good for crisper views and images.

So I would ask - is there something in particular you are trying to achieve with your upgrade? - before offering advice on what to get. Or - is there some particular problem you're having with your current setup that you are looking to improve on?

[damnut]

Good advice from Brantuk, look at his scopes

[inthedoghouse]

Hi I would like sharper and better views of the images thanks

[brantuk]

It may be that you just need better eyepieces - particularly if you're still using the supplied eyepieces. You can also get a bit more contrast with a dew shield - which also blocks out stray light - and/or tube flocking. It'll cost a lot less than a whole new scope and 130mm is a good aperture for your purposes.

Bear in mind we are just past the height of summer - darker winter nights will give a lot better contrast and seeing - and hopefully a lot more of them. Hth

[Alien 13]

I would agree with Brantuk sometimes a scope upgrade is realy a scope change thats why people often have more than one scope. Larger aperature brings lots of improvements but its never a win win you loose the wider field views, ease of use etc,

Alan

[Charic]

brantuk`s solution is sound, especially if your still using the basic eyepieces supplied with the scope. Changing the eyepieces for better ones is the least expensive option for your first upgrade, but an eyepiece alone wont  always make the telescope any better. The telescope produces the image, the eyepiece just allows you to magnify and view that image. The scope has to provide a fully collimated and bright enough image for the eyepiece to work?

The supplied eyepieces are just the  basic design to get you going, and often this is to keep the production  costs down.

If your telescope is properly collimated and  under the right seeing conditions, better eyepieces will improve the quality of the image over that, supplied  by the the original eyepiece,  due to the better design of the newer eyepiece, but there comes a limit, and beyond this, only another telescope will improve things!

Don't just go out and buy the most expensive eyepieces thinking that this will sort everything out for you. One thing though, if you do buy better eyepieces, and there is no improvement in the detail or size of the image, then you know you could do with something bigger, better, and the better eyepieces will transfer to the next scope ?

[glynnlondon]

I echo the good advice above.

The 130p is a capable scope for your targets and if you are still using the supplied eyepieces an upgrade would be a good idea.

I had the explorer on an eq2 mount as my first scope and in regards the eps the 20mm was ok but the 10mm was not the best.

I think it a good idea to purchase an ep in the 8mm range perhaps a bst which receives a lot of praise on here.

You will notice an improvement and the ep will work well in the 200p if you still wish to upgrade.

[glynnlondon]

Forgot to add if you have a local Astro club nearby it would be worth popping along as they will have a range of scopes for you to see and will give you a better idea regarding a possible upgrade.