Dash1st

Hi again all,

I have another question......

Can someone tell me what the '2" Eyepiece Adapter' is used for, as there's no mention of it in the instruction manual.

I'm baffled, so I know this is the best place to ask.

Many thanks

Thanks again for all the help, but my wife, after watching & reading things, is already talking about wanting a new Barlow lens & possibly replacing the stock lenses. 

So I am again looking for some more help/guidance/advice from your good selves, as I know I will get nothing but good advice here.

The first lens she is talking about is a 5x Barlow lens, so I can't afford an expensive one, but I don't want something that's cheap & nasty. So can you possibly help again?

Many thanks

Hi all,

I've had a good look over the telescope now & everything looks great, so here are some photos.

I have however spotted a small spec of dust on the big mirror (see photo). So I was wondering if someone can tell me if I might be best off cleaning it. I have cleaned camera mirrors, using either a soft brush, using air, compressed or a small bellows type blower ( which is more gentle) or using isopropyl alcohol (if necessary). 

Again any advice would be much appreciated.

Hi all,

Well a decision was made, thanks to all the advice which we received from everyone in this post. I wanted a Dobsinian Heritage type & we were looking at getting the Sky-Watcher 130P Flex, but I then thought to see if there was any in v.good condition possibly on the various secondhand sites & I found something better.

I found on eBay a Sky-Watcher Skyliner 200P Dobsinian, described as only used once, & it looked in excellent condition in the photo's, but the best bit was they were asking £200 or Best offer. So I made a first offer, which was refused, so I made a second which was accepted.....I ended up buying it for £165, which I personally thought was a bargain. The only downside was that I had a 2 hour drive to go get it & 2 hours back, but the fuel cost would have been roughly £30, for the round trip, making my total cost roughly £195.

I'll pop a photo on tomorrow & I'll get my wife to join the forum, as I'm sure she'll be after advice for add-ons etc.

So thank you all for your invaluable help, I know I spent more than first planned, but I know I haven't bought some rubbish, that I might well have done.

Thank you all 👍

35 minutes ago, vlaiv said:

There is not much difference in light gathering capacity between 5.1" and 6". If you want real improvement then go for 8"

8" dob is seriously good scope and it will show you a lot. It's a bit more bulky than 6" - with 26Kg total - split into 16kg base and about 10kg scope. It has same focal length so field of view will be the same as with 6" - not much difference there.

I love my 8" dob (also skywatcher model) and it has shown me a lot.

I do have to point out that most people get underwhelmed by what they see at eyepiece if they are used to "Hubble like" images on internet - things don't look like that at all in telescope - again youtube helps a bit there:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jI7IPPmu76U

 

 I have got to show that video to my wife, as it puts everything in to much better perspective.....it will also end up making her want me to spend more money on something much bigger. 😵

27 minutes ago, joe aguiar said:

heres my take on the 130mm heritage scope this is my opnion and may or may not be yours so read and see if its valid or not to you

first I kinda like it but it has 3 issues that I don't like (yes I also did a video on it so far not memtioned on the list  up above)

the first 2 are minor but the 3rd may be more

heres the link  https://youtu.be/ozPVjDfP_UE

1-st the shroud no big deal buy black felt clip it on and there u go $10

2-a good stable stool to put it on $40 maybe

3 biggest issue for me is price its $279 b4 taxes with taxes $325 add these 2 items I just listed and now your closer $375 cdn

The meade has a 130mm which is same ota scope f/5 parabolic BUT on a eq2 mount and tripod, so no shield or table needed. Also I think a eq mount and tripod is worth more then that mini dob base which is made from paricle chip board and vinal coating. The height is also a perfect height even at the lowest tripod setting. You get manual slow motion controls which helps a lot veres keep bumping the scope every 20 secs compared to the mini dob. later on add a clock drive so it can track.

Now on polar align if that confuses new people you don't even have to learn that part to start just point it roughly north turn the tube around and view and use the controls to track. Later if you learn how to polar align then great you only have to use 1 control.

these are my is thoughts I rather for cheaper price OHH sorry the meade Polaris 130mm is $299 so its cheaper and as I said get the tripod mount etc.

if you don't agree that's ok too but these are my thoughts

joejaguar

Thanks for reply, it again gives me (my wife) more to think about & I've just watched the first video link & will pass it on to my wife, as she's the one the telescope is for.

13 minutes ago, vlaiv said:

150 model is more serious in about everything. I would not call it "beginner" scope (if there is such a thing). It is bulkier, heavier and will show you more. It also has more focal length - which is good for planets and the Moon, but prevents you from achieving wide field views.

It is nowhere near "grab & go" as 130 model - which can be carried in one hand as you have seen from videos. As a contrast, 150 dob from skywatcher weighs in at about 16kg! Scope is about 6kg and base is about 10kg. While it can be carried easily in parts (telescope and base separately) - it is really not grab & go scope and is quite large.

Thanks for the reply.

My wife has it in her head that because the 130 is smaller she won't see the thing's she'd like to. But to be fair to her she has had an interest in astronomy for years & watches regular YouTube astronomer's & she does read quite a lot about space & astronomy, hence my thinking about the 150. But we do have a big car & I don't think the weight is too much of an issue, though I personally like the idea of the smaller 130, for its grab& go ease.

Thanks again for all the information given & the use of your outstanding knowledge, it is hugely appreciated.

My wife has kept saying that she really wanted a telescope on a tripod, but I have shown her all of your replies & I am going to buy her one of the Heritage models, though I'm still not 100% on which to buy the 130 or 150.

Thanks again.

3 hours ago, Mic2020 said:

I am a newbie and I bought second hand from FaceBook Market place. I paid £60 for the Skywatcher 130 and EQ2 Mount and for what I paid I think I got a good deal. Look around I think second hand you will get a lot more for your money. The money I saved has allowed me to buy additional equipment and books. Good luck in your search.

Now you've thrown a spanner in the works. 🤔

You got me looking & I've found the same telescope as you have shown locally, but he's asking for £100, but it comes with an EQ2 motor. I looked it up online & it seems to be £195, without the motor, but is a motor any good or just a gimmick?

What do I do? 😵

1 hour ago, vlaiv said:

Dobsonian mount is very well regarded with amateur astronomers for its simplicity of operation.

It is also often recommended and used because it is the least expensive type of mount - so more of the budget goes into the optics. If you have more money to spend, then I would say have a look at this scope:

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/dobsonians/skywatcher-skyliner-150p-dobsonian.html

There are some drawbacks to that scope - it is much larger to carry around, but will fit in car without too much problems.

Only advantage that EQ mount offers is - it can track object with motion in only one axis, and this motion is uniform - so it is well suited to adopting motors to drive it. It has other benefits that are much less important for observing and much more for imaging - like lack of field rotation and such.

Issue with EQ type mount is that cheap models are really shaky and light weight. They are a bit awkward to use for beginner - you need to polar align them and motion of the telescope tube is not straight forward to grasp. With EQ type mount, newtonian (mirror) type telescopes often end up in strange positions for observing - you need to rotate whole telescope in its rings to get eyepiece to suitable position.

With telescopes aperture is very important factor in what it will show you.

For this reason, beginners often go with newtonian type telescope as it offers the most aperture for their money. Because of newtonian construction - they are well suited for alt/az type mounts - that thing with eyepiece being in awkward positions. And in the end cheapest alt-az mount is dobsonian mount.

From all of that you can see why dob mounted telescope is recommended for beginner. Now, 130P flex tube is very lightweight and portable scope, and only drawback is that it is open / truss tube design and my recommendation would be to fashion some sort of shroud for it to stop stray light from entering it. Larger scopes become less portable really fast. They also tend to be fairly bulky really fast.

Here is comparison of different sizes of telescopes and a grown man with height of about 6'.

If you can handle the bulk of 150mm dob (or even 200mm - it is just larger diameter and heavier but same height as focal length is the same - 1200mm) - then go for that one, if not, 130mm will serve you very well.

Thanks for your very detailed explanation, which has now made a lot more sense of everything to me. The decision I now have to decide upon is, do I go for the 130p flex or spend the extra & buy the bigger 150p, either way I now think I won't be wasting my money on buying one of these. I know the 150p would allow my wife & daughter to see far more space, but I think I will end up buying the smaller 130p flex, purely just for the fact it is smaller & would be easier to move about & store.

But once again, I do thank all who have replied, you have certainly helped stop me from wasting money on one of the cheaper telescopes.

Many thanks to you all for your advice, it is very much appreciated.

I've had a good look at these & I'm sure my wife & daughter would love them. I myself have no idea about telescopes & was wondering if the 130p flex is ok to use in a town & does it need anything to help reduce light polution?

I was also wondering if these are good to take to less light polluted areas, or would something with a telescopic stand, even if it's a bit more expensive to buy, something like the Sky watcher Explorer 130p (EQ-2)?

1 hour ago, Owmuchonomy said:

Hi and welcome.  For your situation avoid anything on an EQ mount.  I would recommend either of these.

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/beginner-telescopes/skywatcher-heritage-100p-tabletop-dobsonian.html

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/beginner-telescopes/skywatcher-heritage-130p-flextube.html

Check this out too: https://www.firstlightoptics.com/beginner-telescopes.html

Thanks again.

Hi,

I was hoping I might get some advice about buying a beginner telescope on a tight budget, under £150, if possible. I've seen things like these, but was unsure if any good for a beginner & are they cheap for a reason.......

Celestron Travelscope 80 22030-CGL Refactor Telescope - Sale price £49.99 was £109.99

Celestron Astromaster 70AZ LT - £78.48

Celestron Astromaster 114EQ - £109.98

Celestron Omni XLT 114AZ - £129.99

My wife & young daughter love stargazing, but we live in a town with lots of light pollution, so ideally I was thinking of possibly buying something that's easy to move (travel with) & setup without too much fuss. Depending on how much success we/they have with this, then we'd look to getting something better in the future.

Any advice would be gratefully appreciated.

Many thanks.