Skywatcher ST102 first light

[proflight2000]

I have been toying with the idea of getting something smaller and more manageable for a while, something to se as a guidescope and something where i could just pick it up and take it outside in a minute or so. I bought the ST102 second hand at a real bargain price.

I took the scope out last night for its first real test as the sky here was excellent compared to recent nights, i decided to mount it on the heq5 and re balance from where my 200 normally sits on it. I was more than "chuffed" at the main view through the scope, crisp, clear views of the sky and with an aperture roughly half that of my 200 I was not expecting to see a great deal, well how wrong I was. M13, M92, M31, M57, The double cluster, the blinking nebula, were all visible, albeit not as well as the 200 but they were there. I then decided on a bit of a trial by looking at the M14,the M26 and the M71, these 3 were for me first views, they were not as prominant as other M objects I have seen but with averted vision using the Meade 5000 26mm I could make them out.

Finally I decided to point the scope at the north American nebula NGC7000 just for a look, I saw plenty of stars but no nebulosity (not sure if I am meant to or this is more something that comes out with pictures) but anyway, just viewing was very nice indeed.

The one thing I really like with the scope is that I can sit down most of the time and turn the diagonal to a comfortable viewing position, a couple of areas I don't like are the weight of the diagonal and the weight of the scope itself, being an all metal structure it does tend to look a heavyweight, also the diagonal, the screws that tighten the diagonal are just in the wrong place all the time, OK for the summer, but in the middle of winter, tightening them will not be easy with gloves on. The other gripe, urrgg the focuser, I am spoilt now as I have a moonlite on my 200 and going back to the rack and pinion is like popping back to the dark ages, it works but like other skywatcher rack and pinions, it does not allow fine focus as I now like it.

Overall, well for £80.00 for the scope, the rings and the diagonal I can hardly complain, she does her job and IMHO does it well enough to be able to spend hours outside with this scope on its own, the clarity is good and generally viewing through it is v good considering the size. As I have never seen let alone used somethinglike an ED80 i cant compare, but as with anything, the aperture allows enough to be visualised. Having a fitted dew shield as well allows the condensation to be kept off the lens.

Would I recommend this scope? absolutely, as I intend to basically use it as a guidescope I suppose in some ways ruins its potential to be a good standalone, so it certainly will not be fixed constantly on the 200, I will enjoy the fact that I can just pick it up and begin looking within a minute or so. I may at sometime in the future treat it to a moonlite and a lighter diagonal, then really have some fun.

The hard bit now is trying to see through my camera on it, when fixed to the diagonal I don't seem to be able to see anything, so out today in daylight to see the scopes day view. ps thank you for the spell checker, it saved my embarrossmount.

[trevboyd]

Hi Proflight

I have a SkyWatcher Evostar 120 (the long tube version). I have to remove the diagonal to connect my 350D, otheriwse I can't get it to focus. Not sure if it will be the same with a short tube 'scope with a different focal length, but maybe worth a try?

Trev

[Whippy]

Nice report PF, I'm still amazed how my 110mm 'frac slaughters my 8" newt on clusters for example. £80 is a real bargain, get yourself a light(ish) mount and that's a t'riffic grab & go. Congrats .

Tony..

[John]

Thats a really nice 1st light report PF. Having discovered the joys of easily portable refractors a while ago I've found that I rarely want to use anything else - which is why my only scope now is a Vixen 102mm F6.5

The ED80's are also great scopes and I was constantly suprised what could be seen through them. I've managed to pin down quite faint stuff such as the Owl and Veil Nebulae (admittedly with the help of a UHS-C filter ) with one.

With our weather the lack of cool down time is another bonus of this type of scope - you can get some observing in when otherwise it would not be worth getting a larger scope out.

BTW I've not managed to see the North American Nebula yet either - I wonder if it's simply to big and you sort of "look straight through it" with a scope . Maybe big binoculars would be better for that one.

John

[trevboyd]

I tried having a look at the NA nebula the other night too, but didn't see any nebulosity. I assumed that just comes out in pictures - is there anyone out there who knows any different? The pictures on here look impressive and it would be cool to be able to see that.

Trev

[The Warthog]

Sound like a nice piece of equipment to own. I enjoy my 105mm frac, although I find the Newt better for looking at stuff near the zenith, as I don't have to crawl to see through the ep.

[Cloudwatcher]

BTW I've not managed to see the North American Nebula yet either - I wonder if it's simply to big and you sort of "look straight through it" with a scope

John

I never thought of that! :shock: So, it's not just me then. Thats a relief.

CW

[Kenny_10_Bellys]

I'm going to join the club and put my hand up to not having been able to see the North American Nebula either. No nebulosity at all, not even a tiny bit, when trying for it with my new 8" SCT. Filters were no help either, so I assumed it needs long exposure photography to show at all.

I have a little Orion ED80 and it is quite surprising how much can be viewed through it, but it does have its limitations. No amount of quality makes up for a 3" aperture in the end, and I began to find myself wishing I'd brought out my larger scope when I turned it to some targets. Superb for imaging though.

[The Warthog]

I ahve been shown the NA neb in a 17.5" dob, or at least shown where the thing is, as you couldn't see any nebulosity, although a few minutes before I saw that, I had seen the Veil will no trouble at all, and no filter in the ep. I have talked to people who have seen the NA nebula in a scope, visually, but I'm not one of them.

[A McEwan]

I've had a couple of these scopes, and they are great pieces of kit.

Can I suggest that if you can still find a Mercury Systems Visual Back adapter, get it. It is a much more secure way of attaching the diagonal, uses a brass comression ring, and is of much better build quality. You won't miss those Synta setscrews, that's for sure!

If you want to improve the stock focuser it is quite easy to strip down and relube with quality grease, making some tension adjustments on the way. Having done these mods myself, I then find the scope to be almost a different animal, and very enjoyable to use.

Enjoy.

Ant

[GordonCopestake]

I've owned one of these before and did a comparison between it and the ST80

http://stargazerslounge.com/index.php/topic,10201.0.html

Needless to say both are excellent 'scopes

[jb1970]

Regarding the North American Nebula. I saw it a Kielder where the sky was very dark. It was easiest to see with my 10x50 bins, but I couldn't see the nebulosity through my telescope.

Jack

[The Warthog]

I wonder if I should just look for it through my 7x50 finder?

[scotastro]

Hi

I have owned a ST102 since 2001 as a grab and go scope and camping holidays. With the purchase of bigger scopes it has not seen much light. I saw a good 2" diagonal on the Net a while back and as I had a 2" Moonish for the Dob wondered how the two would match up on the ST102. Last night I finally got round to using them together. As the EQ1 is a bit rubbish I used an EQ3-2 which is much more stable. The FOV worked out at 5 deg across and magnification x17. The view was much better than expected. The down side was about 15% of the FOV showed distortion. The field is so wide you almost don't need a finder. In this config I had a quick look at Comet Holmes which is now very faint but quite easy to find near Algol in Perseus. The only cloud covered M42 so that was out. M31 showed up well with M32 and M110 easily spotted. Because of the large field you could see more of the galaxy in one go than in the dobbie. With Hercules just rising M13 was a large fuzzy blob which made me want to hunt down M92 - just pointing roughly in the right place and a very short sweep brought it in as a smaller fuzzy blob. Ursa Major high up made M51 easy with both galaxies showing star like cores surrounded but nebulosity. All three of the Leo triplet galaxies (M65, M66 and NGC3628) were easy to see too.

I should say I have a dark rural location, but even so the 2 inch diagonal allows more light to the eye than the cheap 11/4 inch diagonal and is a fun way of sweeping up lots of bright objects even if you cannot always see the fine detail.

[asteria]

Hi all - I have the 120mm f5 version of this scope. I've been very pleased with it because it is so easy to use. I also like the rugged build which means that I don't have to be quite so precious about it. This adds weight, but I don't find it too unwieldy due to the short tube.

In fact, I think if I just had to have one scope, it would probably be one of these fast refractors. I know they can't take high magnification, but so many objects are actually about low mag and plenty of aperture, they make a lot of sense.

I use a two inch diagonal and eyepiece (26mm) which gives about 23x and a 3 degree field. This is perfect for many of the larger objects and generally scanning the night sky.

Glad you're pleased with the ST102.

Ed