Meade DS-2130

[spacebabe]

Hi is the Meade DS-2130 ATS-LNT Telescope any good + is it worth buying? I have a budget of £400 and would like a portable telescope that will giev me good views across the sky and one that i will be able to take pictures with.

Thanx

Claire

[brantuk]

I don't know this scope but there's a full spec here:

Meade Instruments Corporation - DS-2000 Series

And there's some reviews half way down this page:

Meade DS-2130ATS-LNT review - Telescopes

But with or without "goto" ability you will need a knowledge of the sky. Have you got any good books? Turn Left at Orion is a good starter for a small aperture scope.

You'll see quite a lot with a 130mm scope. It'll be able to image planets on the alt/az mount. Only the brighter dso's will be available but imaging them will be very limited (if possible at all).

[Cornelius Varley]

I don't know much about the Meade DS-2130, but I suspect there are better options for £400. The DS-2130 has a focal length of 1000mm but the tube is a lot shorter than that. The telescope probably has a corrector lens built into the focuser to correct the focal length. The primary mirror in this type of telescope is spherical in curvature and the corrector lens helps to correct the sherical aberations that this type of mirror causes. The Skywatcher 130P AZ-goto or Skywatcher Skymax 127 AZ-goto would be my preferred choice of telescope for price and portability.

Peter