whats the best eye pice for a 130p skywatch

[andrewoco1]

hi all jus seeing what is the max mag for the skywatch 130p dont want t buy 1 and find i cant focus any help please thanks all

[John]

The maximum useful magnification for that scope would be somewhere between 150x and 200x, depending on the seeing conditions. You would only use that for observing the moon, planets and double stars usually, deep sky objects are best viewed at low to medium magnifications, something like 30x - 70x.

Could you describe the focus problem a bit more ?.

[andrewoco1]

thanks of the reply john its not a focus problem im jus really new to astro and want to know more what eye pices to get, i would like to view some nebulas and need to know best fillter and best magnification to use if you could help it for the same scope 130p skywatch thanks again for the reply

[newman]

Contrary to popular belief of.. pretty much everyone who doesn't have much experience with amateur astronomy, more magnification isn't always desirable

A telescope's primary function is to collect light and deliver it to your eye. High magnification can be useful on very specific targets, such as planets, double stars, or certain DSO types (small and bright - such as the planetary nebula M57). However, with most DSO's (galaxies, nebulas, open clusters, etc) you'll want low to medium magnification.

What you should do is read about basic properties of an eyepiece and telescope, and what each means. These properties include the apparent field of view of the eyepiece, the exit pupil it provides with your scope (this is the width of the light beam that goes from the eyepiece into your eye), f/ratio of your scope, etc.

Since your scope is f/5, I would suggest a reasonably good 10mm eyepiece for it. It will give you the sweet spot regarding exit pupil for DSOs (2mm) while giving you 65x magnification.

But before you go shopping you really need to read up on the eyepieces, because choosing one is a personal thing and without knowing a bit more about them it's very, very easy to buy something that doesn't suit you in the end.

[NigelCampbell]

Hi Andrew,

I have a 130P and I would agree that you might want to read a lot more before taking the plunge.

Here's what I can tell you - the 2 x Barlow supplied with the scope is the weakest bit of the kit - for planetary or splitting double stars then a good 3 element 2x Barlow would be a good start.

I replaced the supplier 10mm with an 8mm Vixen NLV which cost me £30.00. I also bought a 15mm Vixen NLV for the same price.

I got a good deal on an Astro Engineering 2X Barlow but I hear the Celestron ones are also good.

For DSO's you might want to replace the 25mm with a higher quality more contrasty EP - that is what I will be doing next but I haven't settled on anything yet. I will be looking at the VIXEN's as they do seem to be very good for the price.

Hope that helps.

[andrewoco1]

thanks for the reply guy will take the advice all the best