Waddensky

I second the suggestion to go for a Sky-Watcher Heritage 130. Since you like to see the Moon in detail, the larger aperture of the Heritage over the StarPro will give you a higher resolution and because of that, the ability to see more detail. The simple mount and the red dot finder allow you to locate objects of interest quite fast. Although the maximum theoretical magnification for the scope is around 250x, this depends to a great extent on the atmospheric stability ('seeing') and most likely will not be achievable on most nights. It is however useful to buy a barlow that will fit between the telescope and the eyepiece and effectively doubles the magnification. The supplied 10mm eyepiece will then provide a magnification of 130x, perfect to study details on the Moon.

Another vote for the Action EX 10x50. Bought them partly based on Steve's review. Nice, solid binoculars with a great performance both day and night.

What a wonderful, detailed and colourful image, thanks for sharing! Lots of background galaxies too. I didn't know about these either, are they in the NGC?

Maybe you can find a second-hand pair? I think they are great, clear views and wide field of view. But I don't know how they perform compared to cheaper options.

Measurements are usually done in zenith, right above your head. Results depend on the type of SQM device you have. I own an SQM-L and they have quite a narrow field of view: they measure the brightness of a narrow piece of sky where you point the device to. I usually take a few measurements around the zenith to avoid the light of the Milky Way or other bright objects to influence the results. The 'classic' SQM device has a larger field of view and will be affected by skyglow of nearby towns.

Ah, I saw that thread but didn't realise it was yours. Yes, a lot of choices (welcome to the world of stargazing 😉). I own an Action EX 10x50 and it's wonderful, but maybe above your budget I think?

The stock super-plössl 25 mm that came with the large dob gets use all the time at outreach events and even sometimes in my own observing sessions. It's light, eye relief is good and its performance is not bad at all. I also have an ancient SR4 around (yes - 'special' or 'symmetrical' ramsden 4 mm). Horrible, almost negative eye relief and tight FOV. But hey, who forgets the first time seeing Saturn's rings. This is of course my sentimental eyepiece.

The SQM measures sky brightness in magnitudes per square arcsecond, it's the same unit used to describe the surface brightness of deep-sky objects. The larger the number, the darker the sky. The darkest natural skies are around SQM 22.00, by using a telescope you can get even darker backgrounds due to the darkening you get at higher magnifications. The difference between the sky brightness and object brightness determines the 'contrast' of the object and the background sky. The larger this contrast, the easier to spot the object. Since the brightness of deep-sky objects does not change, making the sky background brightness darker (by moving to a darker site) will result a larger contrast with the deep-sky object, and therefore this object will be easier to see (and more objects are within reach). The Wikipedia page on the Bortle scale relates the different sky brightnesses to Bortle. As you can see, the sky brightness of an inner city sky is smaller than 18.00. Daylight sky brightness is around SQM 4.00.

Welcome, enjoy your new telescope! Very interested to hear about your experiences.

Hi Tom, welcome! Nothing more fun than sharing enthousiasm with like-minded people 🙂.

Welcome! You can't go wrong with an 8" dob, lots of wonderful things to discover. Enjoy!

Welcome, and enjoy your new scope!

Hi and welcome! The southern sky has some lovely objects in store I could only wish to see one day 😉. Do you own a telescope or a pair of binoculars?

Hi Dafydd, welcome! Scanning the skies with a good pair of binoculars is great, but your new scope will really open up an entire 'universe' of things to see. Enjoy!

I'm sorry, I was being a nitpick. The size is the impression you get when you see a bright object and was described exactly in this way by writers of the past (Tycho Brahe for example tried to actually measure the size differences of several brighter and dimmer stars). Anyway, that's a nice catch! Really bright meteors are rare, you are very lucky to have seen one.

Wow, these are mobile phone pictures? Incredible, thanks for sharing! Exciting that you were able to get the phase of Mercury this way. Do you have a smartphone holder or something to keep your mobile in the right spot? I observed the pair too yesterday. Venus is of course lovely, but it's always a delight to spot Mercury those few times a year when it's possible.

Went to the sea for a nice unobstructed view to the NW, had a wonderful sight of Venus and Mercury in the evening twilight. First in the 10x50 - with Venus showing its crescent shape surprisingly easy, probably because of the bright background sky - and later also without optical aid as two bright pinpoints about 6 degrees above the horizon. Nice twilight colours, too.

Great, good luck and have fun. Even with some light pollution, it's entirely possible to view galaxies with your scope. Just make sure you know what to expect and practice on the brighter objects first. Let us know how it goes!

Lovely, thanks for the heads-up. On the 24th the Moon joins the pair. A nice opportunity to observe Mercury for those who haven't seen this elusive planet before (and are in good company with Copernicus, legend has it, although - as usual - this most likely isn't true 😉).

Hi! Your success in finding deep-sky objects depends on many factors. One is, as you've tried, finding the correct location. Another is knowing what to expect. Most galaxies in small scopes are very, very faint patches of light. Nothing compared to planets. If you live in a reasonably light polluted area, forget about M101 for now (I suspect this is the 'pinwheel galaxy' you mention), as its surface brightness is very low. It's best to try the brighter galaxies first: M81 and M82 would be obvious choices as they are well-placed right now, but the star hop to them can be a bit difficult. M51 (the 'whirlpool') is also relatively bright and the hop from Alkaid is easy. Make sure you have an app or a finder chart available to make sure you point your scope at the right location (your RDF will do, just match the view through the scope with the finder chart - remember that the image in your scope is mirrored!). If you know the exact location of the galaxy, see if you can detect a dim patch of light, don't expect to see the spirals you see on photographs, it's just a really faint fuzz. It's easy to overlook if you're just scanning the area, you need to know exactly where to look for it. Maybe even better is to try some deep-sky objects that are easier to find and much brighter: M13, M3 and M92 are well-placed this season and are fairly obvious. This will give you an idea of what to expect from observing deep-sky objects. Then, continue to find dimmer objects.

Thanks. As others have said there are scopes available for £100 or less, but these are usually a waste of money. I second (third?) the advice to go for a Heritage-130P from Sky-Watcher. It comes with two eyepieces that will give you two magnifications to use and the scope has a nice red dot finder that will help you to find objects. It's basic, but that's a good thing because you'll learn how to find your way around the sky and what to expect from a scope without breaking the bank. Another option would be a pair of binoculars. Anything above 10x magnification will be hard to hold steady, anything below 42 mm aperture is not really suitable for astronomy use. So 8x42, 7x50 or 10x50 for example would be great, you'll be surprised what can be seen with them. I'm pretty sure there is a decent pair to find in your budget. Keep in mind that with these kinds of magnifications, planets will only look like tiny dots but you can easily see the moons of Jupiter with them.

That's part of the difficulty with naked eye limiting magnitudes, there are so many factors involved: transparency, nearby light sources, visual aquity, etc. In general, the NELM for a Bortle 8 site is considered to be around mag 4.5 (source), but this of course differs from person to person and from location to location.

The resolution of the human eye is about twice the maximum angular size of Jupiter, so with the naked eye Jupiter's "size" is exactly the same as all stars you can see with the naked eye. I think you mean brightness. If the event you witnessed only lasted a few seconds, the only explanation is a very bright meteor, as I suggested earlier. It would be interesting to find out if there are other sightings in your neighbourhood.

Well, that was short and sweet. Not so much a lecture as an interview, interesting though, and a lot of talk about his career as a pop idol 😄.

I guess you're referring to the Pocket Sky Atlas? Yes, that's still a great reference, there's even a Jumbo edition with the same contents but larger charts. But it doesn't go very deep. Based on your equipment, I'd suggest to find a copy of the Interstellarum Deep Sky Atlas. Thousands of deep-sky objects and double stars, all classified so you can easily see if your targets are within reach of your scope. There's also a rugged Field edition, perfect for use in humid or cold circumstances.