Skywatcher 150P

[euphony]

Hi guys,

After a bit of confusion (mainly on my part) I have got a Skywatcher Skyliner 150P. I intended to get a 200P but it all went a bit wrong (don't ask! ).

Anyway, this might be a very silly question, and if it is I apologise in advance.

Is there any particular eye piece or pieces that I can use with the 150P that will make it as good as if I had bought the telescope I actually meant to get??

(Sorry, as you can tell, I am a complete beginner! )

Chris

[patomlin76]

You won't be able to match the light gathering of the 200p however it is still a very capable scope. Are there EPs with the scope at the moment?

I am upgrading to a set of 8 and 25mm BST explorers, but as a beginner you will soon find your limiting factor on quality will be the sky conditions...

Enjoy your scope!

Ps: What was the confusion, although you'll have saved a fair few notes

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[swamp thing]

Is there any particular eye piece or pieces that I can use with the 150P that will make it as good as if I had bought the telescope I actually meant to get??

Sorry but no eyepiece can do this.

Aperture is absolute for visual astronomy and even the finest eyepieces you can buy cannot make that much difference.

Regards Steve

[euphony]

Thanks for your prompt response

I have just the 2 bog-standard 1.25" eyepieces it came with and I bought a light pollution filter.

Would you recommend any eye pieces to get the best out of the 150P?

What difference would a set of 8 and 25mm BST explorers make for instance.

It'd take me far too long to explain what the confusion was! lol

[Stargazer_00]

Hi,

I have the Skywatcher 150P, it is a capable scope for sure but you do need good conditions to get the most out of it (which I am sure can be said for most scopes!).

When the moon is up DSO are pretty much out of the question regardless of your EP (although I haven't tried a moon / LP filter just yet so this may mitigate a little)

Planets look very good in this scope. If you use the supplied 10mm with a 2x barlow (supplied) you will get good detail on Jupiter in the winter (it's a bit low at dark now so it's settling into the haze near the horizon which distorts the image alot).

You can do a good deal of double star spotting with this scope as well.

If you intend to find the faint fuzzies then you will probably find this scope wanting. I do. Personally I find this scope perfectly adequate to give you a good taste of whats out there without making a serious investment. It's good build quality, the supplied EQ3-2 mount is a good standard and well built. All in all a good all round scope however the simple lack of large apeture means it will not reveal much meyond mag 9 / 10 in terms of DSO and what it does show will be only on perfect seeing nights.

That said it does a fanatstic job on the orion nebula, M81 & M82, nearly every double I went looking for I've been able to split... I managed to get wispy hints of the Leo Trio about a 2 weeks ago. If you want more than hints then I guess you just need more apeture.

When it comes to EPs (your original question after my ramble) you can go one of two ways. Either buy fixed focal EPs and buy a small selection and a good barlow (BST Explorers are good and cheap, see ebay) or buy a zoom EP (Baader Hyperion Mk3 - not used myself but good range of mags and I hear good quality).

No eyepiece will compensate for lack of apeture though really.

Personally I am currently saving for a Skyliner 300P GOTO Dob, and although this should (guessing here) give a massive difference in the amount of fuzzy you can see I am sure it will have similar limitations ultimately. Sadly we aren't buying Hubble

This scope definitely should give you ample fun and when you find the limitations of this scope you will probably find that a 200p wont look like the scope you want next anyway

[euphony]

Sorry but no eyepiece can do this.

Aperture is absolute for visual astronomy and even the finest eyepieces you can buy cannot make that much difference.

Regards Steve

Thanks Steve,

That's what I suspected but being a complete novice I thought it best to ask!

Looks like I will have to live with the 150P as is.

Thanks guys

[euphony]

Hi,

I have the Skywatcher 150P, it is a capable scope for sure but you do need good conditions to get the most out of it (which I am sure can be said for most scopes!).

When the moon is up DSO are pretty much out of the question regardless of your EP (although I haven't tried a moon / LP filter just yet so this may mitigate a little)

Planets look very good in this scope. If you use the supplied 10mm with a 2x barlow (supplied) you will get good detail on Jupiter in the winter (it's a bit low at dark now so it's settling into the haze near the horizon which distorts the image alot).

You can do a good deal of double star spotting with this scope as well.

If you intend to find the faint fuzzies then you will probably find this scope wanting. I do. Personally I find this scope perfectly adequate to give you a good taste of whats out there without making a serious investment. It's good build quality, the supplied EQ3-2 mount is a good standard and well built. All in all a good all round scope however the simple lack of large apeture means it will not reveal much meyond mag 9 / 10 in terms of DSO and what it does show will be only on perfect seeing nights.

That said it does a fanatstic job on the orion nebula, M81 & M82, nearly every double I went looking for I've been able to split... I managed to get wispy hints of the Leo Trio about a 2 weeks ago. If you want more than hints then I guess you just need more apeture.

When it comes to EPs (your original question after my ramble) you can go one of two ways. Either buy fixed focal EPs and buy a small selection and a good barlow (BST Explorers are good and cheap, see ebay) or buy a zoom EP (Baader Hyperion Mk3 - not used myself but good range of mags and I hear good quality).

No eyepiece will compensate for lack of apeture though really.

Personally I am currently saving for a Skyliner 300P GOTO Dob, and although this should (guessing here) give a massive difference in the amount of fuzzy you can see I am sure it will have similar limitations ultimately. Sadly we aren't buying Hubble

This scope definitely should give you ample fun and when you find the limitations of this scope you will probably find that a 200p wont look like the scope you want next anyway

Thanks for the helpful advice, it is greatly appreciated

How much is Hubble to buy? I probably won't be happy until then! ha ha ha

Many thanks again and all the best,

Chris

[DOBBY]

just to cause confusion... a 150 at a dark site will show more than a 200 in my back garden.... £5 of petrol can reveal a lot

[euphony]

[Stargazer_00]

just to cause confusion... a 150 at a dark site will show more than a 200 in my back garden.... £5 of petrol can reveal a lot

and i'd imagine a 150 to be much more portable than a 200? The 150 sits nicely stood up on the front passanger seat with a seat belt through the mounting bar.

[swamp thing]

just to cause confusion... a 150 at a dark site will show more than a 200 in my back garden.... £5 of petrol can reveal a lot

Excellent advise here.

If your sky has any LP, driving to a dark sky will have more effect than jumping to an 8" scope.

[euphony]

Thanks for the advice about driving to dark skies.

I have bought a light pollution filter but as with anything like that I'm sure it can only do so much

[patomlin76]

Hi, thought I'd give you a little background as to why I was upgrading to the BST explorers...

You will probably find after some use that the supplied 25mm suffers a lot from edge softness, so things in the middle look sharp but off centre they go blurred. A particular annoyance when viewing the moon or barlowed planets. This is due to the fast f/5 nature of the scope I have.

The BST range have good reviews for much better sharpness and are well suited to fast scopes. A little off topic but wanted to stress the EPs I suggested were not to see more, but to enhance the quality of what you are seeing...

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[euphony]

Thanks for all the advice guys.

It's a good job I didn't get the 200P as it appears to be a little bigger than the 150 and I'd have had a nightmare trying to fit it into the dining room. My wife would have gone banana's

[Stargazer_00]

my wife went bananas when she saw my 150 set up, I think she was expecting something more like the size of a cling film tube on a camera tripod, was a kodak moment (if those even exist anymore).

I am sersiously considering setting up a camcorder to record the look on her face when she comes home to see the 300P dob im saving for next

[pajr777]

my wife went bananas when she saw my 150 set up

Same here "What is this? <expletive deleted> NASA??"

[knobby]

The 150p is however a great scope ... enjoy it

[chownsie]

Got my 150 2 days ago......and VERY HAPPY!! Also a beginner and am content this scope is a great leg up. Views of Moon last night blew this household away!

ENJOY

[GTR]

I have recently bought exactly the same 150p scope.

Last night it was finally clear so I drove a few miles out from home to the North York Moors, and saw fantastic views of the moon. I THINK I also saw Jupiter and 4 moons but to be honest I haven't yet got round to learning what to see and where yet! That's a bit of a shame because I would have loved to have seen Saturn but I don't know where to start! I did enjoy picking out clusters of stars to look at though, it's surprising just how much there is out there to see even without spending a fortune!

I've also ordered a x2 Barlow so hopefully once I do know what to look for I'll be enjoying much more! Might check it was indeed Jupiter and some of it's moons I saw! lol

[pajr777]

I have recently bought exactly the same 150p scope.

Last night it was finally clear so I drove a few miles out from home to the North York Moors, and saw fantastic views of the moon. I THINK I also saw Jupiter and 4 moons but to be honest I haven't yet got round to learning what to see and where yet! That's a bit of a shame because I would have loved to have seen Saturn but I don't know where to start! I did enjoy picking out clusters of stars to look at though, it's surprising just how much there is out there to see even without spending a fortune!

I've also ordered a x2 Barlow so hopefully once I do know what to look for I'll be enjoying much more! Might check it was indeed Jupiter and some of it's moons I saw! lol

Saturn was roughly following the path of the moon last night (about 2 1/2 hours behind it and slightly closer to the horizon).

Stellarium is freeware for Mac, iOS and PC which will really help before and after observing to find / identify objects.

[Stargazer_00]

and always get a copy of Turn Left at Orion, best beginner book by far

[Smiles]

I finally bit the bullet and bought a 150p which arrived yesterday, it's set up and ready to go, hopefully going to get first light tonight!

There is a free app for ipods called Distant Suns which is pretty handy for learning your way around the sky.

[euphony]

The 150P does seem to be a great scope. I've only been able to get out twice to use it due to the clouds, but after an initial problem trying to align the finderscope (as the furthest object in the daytime I can focus on is only 30 metres away), I seemed to get it all set up properly. Great views of the moon and venus, but have struggled so far with getting much more, but that's more down to me and not the scope itself as I have been pushed for time due to early morning shifts.

[Sputnic]

Same here "What is this? <expletive deleted> NASA??"

had to quote that to say ive just fell of my chain laughing! lololol

[Tribal-Wolf]

I wouldn't change the standard 25mm as it's not that bad but I would possible add a 32mm widefield EP and get the 8mm BST if you find the 10mm a bit lacking. I bought the 8mm BST and it is a nice EP but I still use my 10mm for viewing the moon as it seems great for that though maybe a little short on eye relief. The 150P is a good scope and will see you right for a long time so don't be disheartened. There are plenty people who have bought a scope and thought they bought the wrong one, me included, but now I love my scope(but not when the neighbours are watching lol). Grow with what you have and just enjoy the views.