additions to my new scope

[jenksie]

Hi all a sgl my first post , i have recently purchased a celestron astromaster 130 md, 3 x barlow, planisphere and astronomy for dummies:D. I want to really look at planets and the more easier to spot dso that is possible with my scope and dont really want to buy any white elephants as im on a tight budjet. I would like to get another book and see turn left at orion has just been released for 2011 and called into a telescope shop and was recommended to get a 6mm eyepiece which had a larger looking lense to see through ( is this wide angle?). Any recommendations greatly appreciated.

[singlespeedman]

I am new to all this as well and have been out and purchased a few lenses. I have a Celestron 127eq. Someone on the forums told me how to work out the magnification you get from a lens as the lens divided into the focal length.

Yours would be 20mm into 650mm (i think) and mine would be 20 into 1000). These would give you 32.5 magnification on a 20mm lens and me 50 times. I am including my stats for a reason here.

On mine the 4mm lens is a total waste of time but I have picked up a 9mm lens. This is fantastic and the moon more than fills the view and allows me to move round the moon. I have a 15mm too and that is perfect for my viewing whilst I learn.

The 4mm gives 250x, the 9mm 111.11x and the 15mm gives 66.66x. I have found these to be ideal for me and was initially a little annoyed at only 111x magnification being usable but the level of detail I can see more than makes up for not being able to effectively max out the scopes claimed specification.

I think a 6mm lens will give you around the 108x magnification range but I would certainly not rule out a 9mm or 10mm which should give 72.22x and 65x as the detail will be great. Looking at the moon last night with the 15mm was amazing (glad I bought a moon filter though) and you could see the rough edge of the moon clearly and the crater patterns.

Just wanted share what I have found to be good. The EP's I have are all Plossl as they are far better than the stuff that came with my scope. There seems to be much more to it all than the focal length and lenses though with the size of mirror coming into play, the type of primary mirror etc but I am going to take a cheap course to learn more to avoid wasting money on kit that is not needed

[jenksie]

thanks for that advise. I have a 10mm and 20mm erecting lense that came with the scope so dont think 9mm required or is it . Think i need a moon filter as well now lol.

[singlespeedman]

even with the moon filter in place I was getting a sore eye so I would say yes for certain

[Cjg]

Jenksie, is there a local astronomy club / group that you could visit? You'll perhaps get to look through others eyepieces and get a better "feel" for what you might need / use.

Chris

[jenksie]

Jenksie, is there a local astronomy club / group that you could visit? You'll perhaps get to look through others eyepieces and get a better "feel" for what you might need / use.

Chris

yes there is liverpool astro society over in pex hill nr widnes and i plan to nip over on wedneday night, hopefully see the difference in eyepieces. Been waiting for the darker nights to come in so i can take my son so its not to late on a school night. went a few times in winter and was amazed .

[Andy38416]

I also have this scope but already had some other EP's which i use on this. I found the 20mm ep not very good at all, not sure if mine was a bit crappy/damaged though.

Also the dot finder i personally found to be rubbish, but this may have just been my own frustration trying to set it up. I have now bought a seperate red dot sight that i am used to and removed the one that came with the 130.

All in all very good scope, though i have only had mine currently about a week.

[jenksie]

I also have this scope but already had some other EP's which i use on this. I found the 20mm ep not very good at all, not sure if mine was a bit crappy/damaged though.

Also the dot finder i personally found to be rubbish, but this may have just been my own frustration trying to set it up. I have now bought a seperate red dot sight that i am used to and removed the one that came with the 130.

All in all very good scope, though i have only had mine currently about a week.

out of curiosity what model is your new red dot sight. Mine was very dim and they replaced it for me with a much better one and not tried it yet.

[Andy38416]

I brought a completely different one for like £17, i didnt need anything expensive but just wanted something a little better than the stock one. Its a Bresser universal fit red dot finder, it attaches using strong sticky strips (as not drilling my tube) but from what i understand its very strong but removable if need be (if that makes sense). i should get it in the next day or so as ordered at the weekend.

To be honest the stock one sounds like something people get on with and are fine or they dont get on with at all in other comments i have read.

[tom33pr]

Jenksie,

Good, wee scope to begin with.

Couple of thoughts that helped me... may be useful.

As someone had mentioned above, it would be cool to go observing with your local astro club - those guys will offer you the best advice plus you will have hands-on experience with often really decent gear.

Since you have a newtonian type telescope you will need a collimator (a tool that lets you tune your mirrors), I'd recommend a simple, cheshire type.

I'd hold on before making any decisions towards upgrading your eyepieces. This forum offers countless useful threads on eyepieces, so a bit of a research could be useful and fun at the same time. Before you know you will have a fair notion on what you are after.

Get yourself Stellarium installed (if you haven't got it yet). A great, free app that will give you a real-time map of the sky.

A star atlas (for instance The Cambridge Star Atlas) could be also a great addition to your kit. You may get one s/h for a decent price on the Astronomy Buy&Sell... great site for the s/h stuff in general.

Any questions, just give a shout - the folk here love to help out sure

[jenksie]

thanks for all the the advice

[great_bear]

A quick and rough lunar/planetary magnification guide:

75x - Great for seeing the entire moon in one view

150x - Very nice general-purpose magnification for moon

200x - Good general purpose planetary magnification

Although all magnifications are useful to some degree, you won't see much planetary surface detail at less than 150x, and the upper limit of magnification depends very much on the design of your telescope, in combination with the prevailing atmospheric conditions.