Ricochet

That won't work with a Newtonian as there will not be enough focuser travel to achieve focus. I wouldn't worry about getting the image the right way up, you soon get used to moving the scope and when viewing astronomical objects the orientation doesn't matter.

The dob is a much larger scope. It would probably be worth seeing one in the flesh before buying. It will outperform the other options on all targets but will be difficult for your kids to use.

Sorry, I keep forgetting the prices these days. A 23mm aspheric would be a much cheaper alternative.

5, 8 and 12mm BSTs. They are the best three Starguiders, the longer ones are not going to perform well in an f5 scope and you should look at the ES68 range instead.

When you try to focus on stars turn the focuser so that the circle becomes smaller. When the circle is at its smallest, or even a point, you are in focus. The point at which stars are in best focus will be almost identical to the point at which the moon is in best focus and you may not be able to tell the difference between the two points. If you find that one is in focus but not the other, you are mistaken about one of them being in focus.

Chris, what is your budget for this scope? The scopes listed above appear to be around the £100 mark but the Heritage 130p you were looking at is a bit above this, does that mean there is some leeway? Also, am I right in thinking that whatever you buy has to include a mount as you don't have one/can't get on with the EQ you have?

Looks like one for your review list then. It would be interesting to see how these compare side by side with the az-eq Avant line. They've combined a couple of the same telescopes with the same mount head but changed the tripod, added longer slow motion controls and added a dovetail clamp. It seems like a difficult choice between the two.

So long as your scope has rings and a dovetail it shouldn't be an issue. If it is for visual I think an alt az mount is better for a Newtonian.

How do you find the moon with binoviewers? It seems to me that viewing the same brightness with both eyes negates the issue, but I don't have a general sensitivity issue.

2" 1.25" Cheaper 1.25", don't believe the before/after filter image.

I agree with John, a Neodymium filter is the way to go. Additionally, you might find a pair of polarising filters useful so that you can fine tune the brightness to your desired level.

On Windows, I suggest Stellarium

How did you get on with using binoviewers and can you reach focus with them in your current scopes? If it was me I would always look to binoview for planetary unless it was impossible or for a lightweight travel setup where weight is important.

A Hershel Wedge is for white light solar, so all the wavelengths are transmitted and an ED/APO scope is preferable. For HA you are correct.

Can you get to the terminals with a multimeter when the batteries are installed? If so you can check the voltages at different points to find where the contact is not connecting properly. Alternatively, how about buying a 12V LiPo battery (or several) and powering through the working power socket? Over time a rechargeable 12V battery is going to be more cost effective than continually buying new AAs.

A focal length of 1250mm is almost the same as a 6-10" dob (1200) and I am sure there are many people that are happily using those solely with 1.25" eyepieces. There are a few targets that will be very tight in terms of the field of view but most things will fit in. Finding things is going to be the hardest part, a 9x50 RACI finder will help, but this is quite large compared to the telescope. The focal length is also roughly double that of your telescope so you can simulate the maximum field of view by using your longest focal length eyepiece and a 2x barlow. Perhaps try leaving the barlow in for an entire session and see how you both get on with it, just remember that the 90mm Mak will gather less light so stars will be dimmer in it (and some dim ones you see in the 130 won't appear in the 90).

Interesting, I guess I was wrong then. It is good news that these scopes are being supplied with parabolic mirrors.

The twist up eyecup is to help get your eye the correct distance from the lens. Set it up if you don't wear glasses, down if you do.

From a quick Google it looks like Synta might actually be the only manufacturer making 130/900 Newtonians so perhaps testing would be easier than I first thought. I'm not sure how much coma should be visible at f7 though.

Thanks, Geoff. You are right, as without someone testing of all the telescopes or manufacturers stating the mirror is spherical we cannot know for sure, but only infer from "parabolic primary" being missing from the advertising (and for synta products, the name).

Better quality eyepieces do give better views but more expensive eyepieces are not necessarily better quality. Baader Classic Orthos, for example, give high quality views at the expense of field of view and eye relief whilst still being at the cheaper end of the market. Double the price and you can buy Vixen SLVs which add decent eye relief to high quality views or you can buy Baader Hyperions which give decent eye relief and wider views at the expense of image quality. Moving on to your current situation, the biggest issue you will have at the moment is how low Jupiter is in the sky. In future years when it is higher, you will get better views with the same equipment. The second issue is that I believe all of the 130/900 Newtonians on the market have spherical mirrors, which will limit their sharpness. I think that a 3.6mm eyepiece will be producing a magnification beyond the capabilities of this telescope regardless of whether it is good or not. The 10mm supplied with these telescopes (assuming Synta 10mm MA) is usually regarded as not being a great performer and could be replaced with a better eyepiece, however, I would not invest too much into eyepieces for this scope. It is probably better to buy eyepieces suited for your next telescope instead.

Now that you know to always use the diagonal in the focuser, I don't think you really have a problem as it seems that your eyepieces reach focus. If you're wanting to use the telescope without the diagonal then you will need an extension tube rather than a barlow. I think the light path of a 1.25" diagonal is usually around the 65-70mm mark so you will need an extension tube of this sort of length to replace the diagonal. If you want more magnification then the 10mm and 2x barlow is probably going to be too high for your telescope. An 8 or 9mm eyepiece might be the limit.

Turn the focuser knob one way until it will not turn any more. Now turn it the other way and count how many turns it takes for you to reach the point where you reach the point where the knob will not turn. With a 6SE (I assume this is your scope) this should be in the region of 30 turns. If you have about 30 turns then you have the full range of travel, if you have fewer then there is some internal issue that needs repairing. If you have the full range of the focuser then try aiming it at terrestrial targets at varying distances and see if any of them are in focus. Once you find something that is in focus you can try targets farther away and see if you can bring them all to focus. If you can focus on something very far in the distance then you should be quite close to the focus point for astronomical targets and can try again at night.

They might be the same filter. SVBony don't make anything, they just order items in large enough quantities to get their name printed on them. Skytech could be the same, or even the own brand name that the manufacturer has been selling them under. With regards to filters, I think this is an area where it is worth paying for a premium brand. If you've got LED lighting in the area then it is probably worth your while looking at the new(ish) IDAS filter that is designed with that in mind.

Nice one Louis. Hopefully we're still recommending them after you get the chance to star test them all.