Celestron SLT range - which to buy?

[Mostly Harmless]

Hello all,

Well after pondering what do buy for the last few weeks I have still not made great progress on buying a new telescope. I have definitely ruled out a Dob (well the Mrs has! - we had a look a one at the National Space Centre last week) and within my £400 budget I have narrowed it down to one of the Celestron SLT range. Maybe the Dob will come later when I get 'her in indoors' hooked!!!

In terms of use I will want to get nice views of planets and the moon but would also like to explore constellations and DSO. Which I do appreciate is like trying to want my cake and eating it! How bad is a Mak when used for observation other than planets / lunar. I understand that the field of view on the Mak will be narrow - Was thinking of picking up a 32mm TVB clone or GSO 32mm EP to help on that front - comments?

My research so far (lots of reading on the internet and Sky at Nightmagazine) has suggested that the Mak 127 will give good results on planets but not DSO. Is the DSO viewing that bad? Has anyone got any photo I could look taken through a Celestron or Skywatcher 127 Mak please.

If I don't go for the Mak then my choice is the 102 refractor ( a bit small on the aperture front?) or the 130 reflector (which is a bit bulky for our storage area). Any comments would be most welcome, particularly any links to photos taken through a Mak. Currently in this three horse raise my preference is Mak, Refractor and the finally the Newtonian- but some validations / discussion before I part with my hard earned would be very welcome indeed

Also looking at the Celestron 4E

Thanks in advance for any help!

Cheers

Carl

[Capricorn]

The 127 Mak will be reasonable on DSO's just keep the magnification down. As they get bigger they get dimmer and DSO's are dim the start with. The Mak is still a 5" scope.

A 32mm will be most useful, I bought a 40mm for the same reason, had a 32mm and I believe the 40mm give just a little bit more, I wanted every last arc second.

The scope will work well with decent plossl's, so not expensive, although slightly wider eyepieces could be useful also. Something in the 60-66 degree area.

Scope is f/11.8 so 10mm and 12mm are probably as small as you will need the vast majority of the time. Pick what you like in the middle ground.

[Demonperformer]

I've got a 102SLT, which I use for imaging with my canon. Gives a nice fov (75'x115') but the objects are correspondingly small. Still, some quite nice results (at least they suit me!)

[swamp thing]

Hi

Nothing wrong with using a Mak for DSO,s. they perform exceptionally well on high contrast objects like globular clusters small bright planetary nebulae etc.

They are great scopes.

Good luck with your decision.

Regards Steve

[MorningMajor]

I still grab my 127SLT and take it out every so often - it will get DSO's especially with good seeing, but remember it is only 5" and aperture rules with DSO's -biggest gripe about it is the mount - but I still love it!

[tyco]

You could buy an 8" reflector for £400

[M4lcs67]

I have the 127 SLT and find it a great scope. I will eventually get an 8" SCT though. But for now the Celestron 127 Mak is more than fine for me. I would get a powertank though otherwise you will be spending a ton of money on new batteries. I was also told that if your maximum ep on a 127 will be 27/28mm otherwise all you will end up seeing is the edge of the tube. I just recently got a Baader Hyperion 24mm 68 degree ep for mine and I love it.

[Northern Soul man]

Hi Carl, Another 1 for the 127 Mak, Ive used an 8" lx90 and a 12" Revelation dob, both sold now to fund my cpc 1100 (still not got it - gotta wait till May (AAAAAARRRRRGGGGGGHHHHHH), but the 127 is great on the brighter Messier's M81/82 - M35,36,37,38 etc in Auriga, was looking at them the weekend (also Mars - great - polar cap and Syrtis Major easily visible) rule of thumb for me is about mag 9 ish - so the majority of Galaxies are out - even some of the open clusters due to FOV - but you may have a darker sky than me (west Midlands - well light polluted).

The Baader UHC-S also helps a little -but only a little remember its a 5" scope. Its all I have for a while now but I'll still be out with it. Regards Carl and clear skies to ya. Paul.

[MorningMajor]

I was also told that if your maximum ep on a 127 will be 27/28mm otherwise all you will end up seeing is the edge of the tube.

My Vixen NPL 30mm has no problems, but I've never tried anything larger

[Dunkster]

The limiting component of the 127 Mak is not the focal length of the eyepiece used, but the baffle tube diameter which is 27mm as stated here by Celestron.

In a previous thread, I learned that....

...True Field of View = (EP field stop diameter / telescope FL) x 57.3

so for a 32mm TV plossl we get:

...TFOV = ( 27.9 / 1500 ) x 57.3 = 1.066 degrees

field stop comes from Televue's specs, focal length from Celestron. Given that the field stop is slightly larger than the diameter of the baffle tube, there will be a _small_ amount of vignetting.

[Dunkster]

I might add that I really like my 127

With the long focal length it restricts the maximum TFOV but is less fussy with eyepieces. Compare with the 130SLT, the shorter focal length would give you potentially a wider view, but you'd need shorter and better quality eyepieces to get the same magnification - for planetary or lunar, for example.

[rowan46]

I have a 5" sct not quite a mak but similar in that it has nearly as long a focal length. it's the dim stuff that it doesn't do well at. anything bright and it's a good scope. There's double stars, clusters planets and the moon plenty to see and at a dark site even some of the faint fuzzies are possible. You will need to make yourself a dew shield and get a power tank.