See Saturn with Skywatcher P130

[durhamdave]

Hi all,

Some people may have seen my post about getting one of these 'cheap' but I was just wondering as to what I'd be able to see with it? Saturns rings maybe would be amazing, I'm not expecting its moons!!!!

Thanks everyone

[kenmyers]

a 130p has an aperture of 130mm or 5".

you will definately be able to see saturn with that.

you will also see around 5 moons when seeing allows.

5" will allow you to see pretty much everything. The only reason to go any bigger would be clearer bigger views of DSO's which you will be able to see anyway with 5".

[Anweniel]

Do expect moons, you can see them with this scope no problem, likely only 4 or 5 dependant on conditions eyepieces etc

[jimmyjamjoejoe]

As a general rule, you can push a maximum of 50x magnification per inch of aperture. Normal seeing conditions in the uk allow for 200x or so before the image gets blurry and rubbish. So this 5" scope can realistically push a maximum of 250x, well above the atmospheric limit of 200x (though you do get the occasional perfect night where 250x is possible).

So, by the above rule we can say that a 5" scope is pretty much all that's needed to get the magnification that the atmosphere allows. It doesn't matter if you have a 5" or a 12", they'l both have that same limit.

The only reason people go with bigger aperture is more light grasping power. This essentially means that faint fuzzies show as slightly less faint fuzzies...

On targets such as the moon, or planets, there is plenty of light, so larger aperture isn't needed. So yes, the 130 will do as well as most other larger scopes on the planets and moon (although resolution may vary for the super-fine details).

Planets will be great, moon will be great, and the brighter DSOs like Orion and andromeda will be great. Most others will be small fuzzy patches. The scope will certainly be fun and provide many WOW moments, but in reality i imagine after a few months you'l catch aperture fever and want something bigger. Thats fine though, because you can always keep this as a quick grab and go, or sell it on, and recoup most of what you paid for it anyway, since astro gear holds its value really well.

Of course other factors affect the views massively, the biggest of which is the darkness of your sky. Getting to a dark area out in the middle of nowhere is without a doubt the most important thing you can do to improve your views, after that comes dark adaptation (a good 20minutes in complete darkness), then spending time at the eyepiece, really studying your target, then the size of your scope, then eyepieces (in my experience anyway).

[bullettooth]

i viewed saturn a couple weeks ago in my scope and it was amazing. i managed to see titan aswell. dont expect loads of detail but the rings look good. its definately a WOW object.

good luck and clear skies

martin