Help picking a telescope

[LostStarGazer]

Hi All,

I am new to this forum, I’m also new to astronomy, and I am looking for advice on some telescopes that I am looking to purchase. They are:

Celestron 102 NexStar SLT

Celestron 127 NexStar SLT

Celestron 130 NexStar SLT

Celestron NexStar 4 XLT SE

Which one is best for seeing more than just planets ie Moon, Planets and their moons, Comets, Asteroids, Meteors, Nebula and Stars?

I have looked them up on the internet but it’s hard to identify which ones will get greater deep space items, rather than just planets. I do understand that these are not 6 to 12 inch scopes. I understand that there limitations as to what can be seen, but would like to know what I can actually see with these and which is best for my needs.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks.

[Catweazel]

102 will be better for Deep sky, 127 for planets, 130 is probably the best all-rounder & best value IMO. I don't know a lot about the 4SE. Hope that helps

[sunshine185]

I cannot see your writing,I am using mobile browser, what am I doing wrong? Its just black with a faint outline of writing.

[swamp thing]

I cannot see your writing.

Me neither.

Your writing is black letters on a dark grey background.

[RogerTheDodger]

Hi All,

I am new to this forum, I’m also new to astronomy, and I am looking for advice on some telescopes that I am looking to purchase. They are:

· Celestron 102 NexStar SLT

· Celestron 127 NexStar SLT

· Celestron 130 NexStar SLT

· Celestron NexStar 4 XLT SE

Which one is best for seeing more than just planets ie Moon, Planets and their moons, Comets, Asteroids, Meteors, Nebula and Stars?

I have looked them up on the internet but it’s hard to identify which ones will get greater deep space items, rather than just planets. I do understand that these are not 6 to 12 inch scopes. I understand that there limitations as to what can be seen, but would like to know what I can actually see with these and which is best for my needs.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks.

for those that can't see the writing.

[sunshine185]

Thnx, I knew my eyesight was bad, but for a minute I thought I had gone blind.

[swamp thing]

Out of interest is there some reason it must be a Celestron scope?

TBH a far better all round scope would be an 8" Dob. It would beat any of these hands down on deep sky too.

Regards Steve

Ps Cheers Roger

[Catweazel]

Out of interest is there some reason it must be a Celestron scope?

TBH a far better all round scope would be an 8" Dob. It would beat any of these hands down on deep sky too.

Regards Steve

Ps Cheers Roger

8" Dob much better, I assumed he wanted it motorized though?

[valleyman]

If he wants it motorised, then the SW 127 mak has to be the better choice IMHO

[LostStarGazer]

I appreciate all the help.

Sorry about the writing I didn’t realise it was hard to read.

I guess I was being a bit narrowed minded just focusing on the Celestron telescopes, there’s a lot more available than I thought. Yeah I wanted to get a motorised GOTO telescope as I’m new and thought it might be easier to use. But I think I’ve made up my mind and I think I’m going to go for Skywatcher Skyliner 200P Dobsonian. It’s better than the telescopes I’ve mention above and also it’s better value. Would the 8" be sufficient for viewing plants and deep space objects in fairly good detail?

One last question, would it be better to get Skywatcher Skyliner 200P Dobsonian with auto tracking?

[ChrisThePuma]

Would the 8" be sufficient for viewing plants and deep space objects in fairly good detail

I think you will only see plants if they are a long way away. Don't try to focus on ones in your garden as these will be too close

[Catweazel]

I think that you would be more than happy with the views froma 200P on both planets and DSO'S. If it were me, I wouldn't bother with the extra expense of motors at the moment, Dobs are fairly intuitive to use, so just get the 200P and try it out.

[Sarah]

I think that you would be more than happy with the views froma 200P on both planets and DSO'S. If it were me, I wouldn't bother with the extra expense of motors at the moment, Dobs are fairly intuitive to use, so just get the 200P and try it out.

I agree. The 8" dob should be a great all rounder and easy to set up and easy to use. They are easy enough to nudge gently to keep an object in view.

Apart from the extra expense of motors, the dob base needs to be really level for the tracking/GoTo to work properly. We have a 12" auto flextube dob for visual at home and star parties. From our experience the solid tube dobs seem to hold their collimation a bit better than the flextube versions. You would also need a light shroud for the flextube. We also seem to have suffered with more dew problems with the flextube over the solid tube dob. we sold the solid tube version as two 12" dobs seemed overkill, plus we were running out of storage space! But we miss the simplicity of the solid tube version!

The 8" will give you a decent amount of aperture to see lots of great things. We started with an 8" Newtonian. By not spending money on motors, you can have some spare for any extras bits you might want to purchase!

[Capricorn]

Get a pin, blindfold yourself, get someone to spin you round 4 times (once for each option), then stick the pin in the list.

Asking will get opinions for each scope and you still won't have a scope and will sit there trying to think it out for longer.

The method above is as good and you get an instant decision.:evil6:

Better yet which of the 4 do you fancy the most?

Get that one.

[John]

I've edited the original post so that the questions are visible now. Black text on a very dark grey backgound is a challenge !.

You mention seeing more than the moon and planets, ie: deep sky objects. The scopes you have listed will show some of these but they get much more interesting with more aperture. An 8" dobsonian mounted newtonian does a good job on the moon and planets as well has giving significantly nicer views of deep sky objects.