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Hello all - first post...

Welrod50

By Welrod50
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Welrod50

Welrod50

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Hello all, new here just registered and starting off with a friendly wave...

I've come here for advice and inspiration mainly having just bought a Skywatcher 130 Newtonian, and having recaptured the awe I felt as a boy when I looked up at the night sky and thought "what must there be out there??"

Just saying Hi for now, and will post a little more about myself if anyone's interested. For now, I'll do some more research and have a good nosey at what's going on.

Thanks :)

Scott.

Staffordshire UK

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Welrod50

Welrod50

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Thanks for the replies all. I suppose I should give a brief intro of my kit and circumstances, as I will be asking a few Q's along the way.

Live in Stoke-on-Trent, which is built up and light pollution is a problem, albeit we do live high up on our estate so this helps. Had a keen interest in astronomy as a youngster, and our son has begun to ask questions about the skies lately, so we went out with my 12x50 bino's 2 weeks ago and it was like a switch was flicked in me again! What can I say, I now have a Skywatcher Explorer 130 (900mm F6.92 non parabolic) with two eyepieces, a 2x Barlow and a Celestron 4mm on the way).

We've been in the back garden three times this week-either clear or only semi cloudy skies- and what a revelation. We are hooked.

I spent pretty much all of the weekend printing star charts, constellations and Messier list (www.ngc891.com is a superb site) and deciding which stars and constellations to go for first based on magnitude.

So far, I've been able to see Alcor and Mizar which before appeared to me as a single star. M42 looks superb with the 25mm, as does Venus and Mars, but Jupiter in particular looked great last night. We were able to see clearly four moons and our son thought this alone was 'well cool'!!

All being well tonight, I'm going to try to see M101 and M103. I've already had a go at these, but I'm not sure I got them before.

Now, down to the questions bit...

I've concluded early on that the Barlow x2 does bring objects closer, but the degredation of the image leads me to think it's rather pointless. I do a lot of photography, so already know the importance of ED coatings and good quality glass. I wonder, if I were to purchase a better x2 or even x3 Barlow, what experience do you folks have and what recommendations might you make? I would look to spend £40 to £50 maybe and want it primarily for planetary obs.

Thanks all for listening and any advice will be greatly appreciated!

Scott :)

Skywatcher Explorer 130

25mm EP

10mm EP

x2 Barlow

Tasco 12x50 Bino's

Tasco 40mm refractor (circa 1980)

and counting......

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Welrod50

Welrod50

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Hi Richard,

yes thanks for that I thought as much, which is why I plumped for the 4mm. Just a quick Q...

I have considered a zoom eyepiece, but I imagine that like camera lenses, a good 'prime' is optically better than a zoom lens, even a fast aperture one. Would I be right in thinking then, that although more convenient, a zoom EP will give away a notable amount of sharpness and contrast to the fixed EP's ?? (that's why I bought the 4mm - was I right or is it different in astro?)

Cheers

Scott.

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Welrod50

Welrod50

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Yes, well that settles it then. I will stick with what I have and learn from there. I think I may go for a moon filter next and maybe a Neodymium to try to hold back some of the light pollution around here.

Thanks for the advice.

Scott :)

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Welrod50

Welrod50

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Cheers all. Skies in Staffordshire tonight are overcast, so no stargazing this time. I've been doing more research on potential areas to concentrate on though as I feel I've got some catching up to do since I last used my old Tasco about 30 yrs ago!

At he moment I am just looking up and enjoying what my Explorer 130 will allow me to see.

I'm planning a run out to the Roaches one night early next week, as I know the skies out there are really dark with no light pollution, from when I've been there before with the camera before sunrise.

I would be interested to hear what experiences others have with the Skywatcher 130 (or other such similar 5" Newtonian) so please do share - best EP's, best Barlows etc.

It's a lovely scope and I bought it after much research and reading here what folks thought of their's. I know it wasn't the cheapest but went for this as a solid entry to astronomy and am glad I opted for it. I may try my hand at astrophotography at some point, but must admit, despite my experience with DSLR's and wedding photography, I feel a little daunted and don't quite know where to start (although I'm in no rush).

Have a look and let me know your thoughts folks. And thank you for the kind welcome. There's a lot of helpful people here and a lot of knowledge too.

:)

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