soldave

Welcome. I'm very new to this too! Turn Left at Orion and Nightwatch have proven to be really good buys :)

Damn that all escalated hilariously. I'll just watch the fallout from afar with my "Sky-Watcher 130M" model, 1300 millimetre/mm/millimeter diameter scope 😀. My 130 metre scope I leave for really clear nights!!!

Apologies then. I thought it was the Sky-Watcher 130M as advertised on multiple sites that I own. If I was referring to the primary mirror diameter I'd have used lower case.

Awesome. Thank you, and dumb question has been answered

That sounds about right then. Looks like I have 30 degrees of movement in the declination plane. Maybe this video will help show.

I've got a Sky-Watcher 130M which comes with the motor drive do allow for constant adjustment across the R.A. plane as objects move. I'm also a complete newbie to stargazing (tonight and last night were my first two experiences, looking at Venus and the moon, and my collimation still probably sucks!). Right now I'm manually adjusting the R.A. axis when I've focused on something to keep my eye on it. The question is: when should I start using the motor drive in my stargazing? Do you think with my newness to it all it should come in much later and I should first get used to using it manually, or do you think it should be a used from early on. Apologies for all the questions - am trying to learn as much as I can as quickly as I can!

Potential dumb question again here now so bear with me. The R.A. fine adjustment knob/wheel offers complete freedom of movement, which of course allows me to track an object across the sky. However, the declination fine adjustment has (from memory) either 10 or 20 degrees of movement only, before that knob goes tight or just starts spinning loose. Is that correct and proper? I get that the R.A. adjustment needs to have that full range of movement, but just wanting confirmation that declination fine adjustment should be within a limited window before I've got to undo the lock knob and re-adjust.

Good discussion, and was just going to start searching for something on this myself, as tonight was my first night in using my 130M to take a look at the moon and Venus. I've got a 25mm, 10mm and x2 Barlow. Tomorrow I'll try once more. @R.frankish good luck with your viewing. Are you going to try again tomorrow, if the skies are clear?

Thanks for the post. Even wit a Cheshire though, I think I'd still need the centre dot on the primary. And getting that primary out (or rather back in) is a big pain with my scope I believe.

Done my first bit of stargazing prep this afternoon, with the creation of a collimation cap. So I'll try and check the secondary alignment tonight indoors. The primary... well that's going to be a whole different ballgame as taking the primary mirror out of the 130M to put a centre spot on it is an absolute nightmare (https://stargazerslounge.com/topic/348759-removing-primary-mirror-from-130m/). Might have to do it by sight and then ask someone at the local Society to give me a couple of pointers. I'm also going to order Turn Left at Orion and Nightwatcher tonight, grab myself a red LED flashlight and have my eye on a BST Starguider 8mm to replace the 10mm one I've got, which seems to be the first good eyepiece move. Then all I need is Arctic gear so I don't end up looking like Jack Nicholson at the end of The Shining after an hour of being outside!

Welcome, fellow Yorkshireperson!

Welcome to the forum!

Hello, welcome, and very nice shot! Durham was my part of the world many moons ago when I was a uni student so I have very fond memories of the place. Good luck with the stargazing

Thanks. That second link was the thread I read was what got me worried initially about the nuts. Looks a right pain so I'm thinking maybe a Cheshire would be the way to go.

On yours, were the nuts in the tube captive?

The alignment I don't think I have an issue with, and have seen that mentioned before. The issue is with the non-captive nuts on the inside of the tube, their positioning in relation to the primary platform, and how I'd get it all back together once removed. This is assuming the nuts are not captive, which is what I've heard from the 130M. May be incorrect, but I can't get a good enough eye on them from the other end of the tube.

I think the issue is that, looking at other people's experiences, the nuts aren't captive. Meaning you need a combination of gorilla-like arms and long needle-nosed pliers to hold them in place whilst you try to tighten the screws, neither of which I posess! Source:

So I'm thinking I should centre dot the primary mirror of my 130M to make collimation with a cap easier. I've seen a few guides such as the one at https://garyseronik.com/centre-dotting-your-scopes-primary-mirror/ once the primary is off the scope, but I've got to get it off to start with. Now there are some screws around the side, but these go into inside the scope, and looking down it that's going to be a pain to say the very least. Now the base of the primary mirror has 6 screws; three adjusters and three locking screws. Would I be right in thinking that if I remove all locking screws then the primary mirror and base would just come off the back of the scope? The plastic base could very well be in two parts from what I can see so I think it's possible, but wanted to get thoughts from people as it must have been done by othes. The alternative would be to just get a Cheshire, as I don't believe I'd need a centre dot for that.

Again, forgive my stupidity, but when you've locked the big thumbscrew (and thereby locking the clutch), the small adjustments you're making are resulting in the RA circle changing relative to the pointer. I thought Cornelius Varley said in that situation it would stay locked together. I may just be getting confused too with the small silver screw sitting above the pointer and the larger lock knob on the other side.😕

Ahhhh I see. Sorry, I'm still a total beginner and am working out the RA and DEC numbers. Apologies - at least you know the level of questions you may get until I get my head around these things!

Doing a tiny bit of indoor playing with my new 130M with EQ-2 mount and have noticed something which, to me, seems a little strange. When I'm making adjustments, either large or small, on the RA axis (is that the right word? Apologies if not) then the RA circle on the mount is moving along with the pointer. Hopefully my video below will explain. My very basic understanding is that the thumbscrew above the pointer holds the RA circle in place so that it doesn't move when tightened up. The problem is that the thumbscrew is as tight as I can get it, and although I can feel more friction in the RA circle, it's not stopping it rotate when the mount does. Any ideas on how I can resolve this? Am sure it's an easy fix but my knowledge on these things is super simple right now so I'm cautious of doing something wrong.

Just south of Wakefield (Sandal or thereabouts) so that's a good shout. Thanks for letting me know about them

Reading this thread eagerly as today I got hold of a used Sky-Watcher 130M and am a complete noob to telescopes, equatorial mounts and all this stuff. Will be grabbing "Turn Left at Orion" and probably a laser collimator too to make sure the mirrors are set up right.

Thank you! You lost me there in the middle but I got the gist! Was testing whether it worked by doing a little neighbour-stalking (joke!). Hate being such a noob to things; was even wondering why the image was appearing upside down at first Ahhh thank you. As long as that's in the right position then I'm good. Will learn how to use the scope first before starting on the motor drive

Good evening all. Just joined the forum as I've just joined the ranks of telescope owners with the purchase of a used Sky-Watcher 130M. I have zero experience with telescopes and astronomy so this is very much going to be a voyage of discovery for me. The telescope looks in good condition though so hopefully I've made a good purchase. I'll be reading up on here to find out what a decent replacement lens is as I've heard the 10mm isn't spectacular on this, as well as which laser collimator to get, decent grease for the worm gear etc. And that's before we get to using the thing! The only question I have right now Is regarding the metal piece that looks almost circular and then with an arm coming off it (see pics 2 and 3 below). The screw holding it in place was loose when I got the telescope. Can someone advise what it's for and whether it's in the right position or not? Anyway, that's it from me for now. I'm sure I'll be active on this forum. Very active!