Celestron Nexstar 102SLT or Skywatcher Skyliner 200P

[ChristianNorman]

Hi there, this is my first post of many, i hope, and i am very new to this so would really appreciate some advice.

I am a novice when it comes to stargazing, i live in a quiet and, thankfully, very dark area of Cornwall and want to rekindle my childhood love of the extraterrestrial.

I can buy the two scopes above for pretty much the same price but am unsure if one or either are a good choice for me, the Nexstar is obviously interesting to a newbie with the GoTo set up but i'm assuming the Skywatcher will give more magnification, probably the wrong word.

Any advice on these or other scopes would be greatly appreciated.

Many thanks.

[scarp15]

Hi and welcome, the Skywatcher will provide you with more aperture. If you are interested in learning visual astronomy, then the 200p dobsonian, combinded with a few fairly inexpensive additional items, applied in dark skys will be a great and straight forward to use set up.

Additional items could include a copy of 'Turn Left at Orion' - available Amazon, a telrad finder and down load www.stellarium.org

You will also require a collimating tool with your purchase.

[baggywrinkle]

I would go with the 200P. Not for the magnification but for the light grabbing power, especially if you have dark skies.

The suggestion of 'Turn Left at Orion' by scarp15 is a good one. I have a copy and it is a very useful book for navigating the night sky, teaches you a lot and for the beginner it shows what you might expect to see through bino's, a refractor and a reflector.

[Schorhr]

If you can transport it or use it on your property (light pollution...) go with the 200mm telescope. 200mm will show you so much more then 100 on deepsky obects. Even my heritage 130p will start to show details my 102mm maksutov did not, not to mehtion the stuff the 10" shows!

Drawings show best what can be seen through a telescope after some practice (and good weather/conditions);

http://www.clarkvision.com/visastro/m51-apert/index.html

So you see a 8"/200mm will start to show nice details, while in a 100mm telescope it will be just a smudge ;-)

Still, in every telescope you can view a lot of nice things, whatever you choose: Have fun!

With a good book and some practice your brain is an excelent GoTo-System.

[LukeSkywatcher]

There is simply no competition between both. The 200mm scope wins hands down. With the 200mm scope though you have to consider portability and storage. If neither of these are an issue............its a clean cut case in favour of the 200mm.

[Grotemobile]

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Celestron-31045-Astromaster-130EQ/dp/tech-data/B000MLL6RS/ref=de_a_smtd

How about something like this.

A lot easier to use than a Dob.

My son has cot one.Works very

well.You will need to factor

in a couple more EPs,but that

is it. The 4,& 5 are the best.

http://www.firstlightoptics.com/skywatcher-eyepieces/skywatcher-planetary-eyepieces.html

[Oat]

I'd say to also consider portability and ease of set up -the best scope is the one you'll use most. That doesnt mean the biggest.

A dob is BIG but set up time is minimal.

A 102 goto is smaller so is more portable, will eat batteries and set up can slow up your observing. However the goto will help find some objects.

A very personal opinion, EQ mounts are a real faff and i couldnt get used to it. For me this meant that scope didnt get used at all. I would advise to avoid an EQ.

I had a similar decission dilema to you and am pretty well set on a 200 dob and possibly a smal frac aswell.

Base your decission on ease of use as that scope will then give you most satisfaction.

[Schorhr]

Also keep in mind comparing a 100/130mm telescope on a eq mount is a bit unfair for a 200mm dobonian ;-)

The small heritage 130mm dobsonian is lighter then most telescopes on an eq mount! Especially a goodeq mount is heavy. Also a 150mm dobson is a relatively inexpensive device that will show some detail, even if not as much as a 200mm telescope.

I don't know if there is a english website that has similar comparison images, but it should work via google translate.

http://translate.google.de/translate?hl=de&sl=de&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.joern-lenhardt.de%2Fbenny%2Fart_scopes.html

In the table a 6" on an eq mount has roughly the same weight as a 8" dobsonian.

There is a table with different telescopes and google was not able to translate it all, it's from left to right: Device, weight, mount cost, mount weight.

[ChristianNorman]

Many thanks to all for your help and for the link stellarium download, a day after posting on here someone relatively local to me put a 200P on ebay that had only been used three times, and no one puts anything good on ebay down here, so i figured that it was meant to be. This is the listing and it cost me £225 which i think is a good deal, it even had the original delivery date on the box and it was late January so i figure the three times statement is probably true: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SKY-WATCHER-SKYLINER-200P-203MM-8-F-1200-PARABOLIC-DOBSONIAN-TELESCOPE-/281102889000?_trksid=p2047675.l2557&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEWAX%3AIT&nma=true&si=BfFNJVuvJik8Q%252BK9mTR1ZQlQIdw%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc

When there's cloud for the next month you are more than welcome to blame me.

Can't wait to get started!!

Many thanks again.

[Schorhr]

Awesome! Keep us posted how it turns out and how your first observation went :-)

[LukeSkywatcher]

Many thanks to all for your help and for the link stellarium download, a day after posting on here someone relatively local to me put a 200P on ebay that had only been used three times, and no one puts anything good on ebay down here, so i figured that it was meant to be. This is the listing and it cost me £225 which i think is a good deal, it even had the original delivery date on the box and it was late January so i figure the three times statement is probably true: http://www.ebay.co.u...cvip=true&rt=nc

When there's cloud for the next month you are more than welcome to blame me.

Can't wait to get started!!

Many thanks again.

The scope comes with all the accessories shown, for £225?. Thats not a bad deal at all. The scope looks pristine.

[ChristianNorman]

The scope comes with all the accessories shown, for £225?. Thats not a bad deal at all. The scope looks pristine.

Everything for £225 including accessories and it seems to be in pristine condition, he only bought it in late January so thanks to all the advice i think i got a good deal.

[scarp15]

That really is very good, enjoy the scope.

[ChristianNorman]

I've now finally gotten over the new scope jinx and the storms cleared to allow me to look at Saturn last night and wow, i couldn't believe how easily i could see the outline and the Telrad is so helpful. I've also downloaded an app called Mobile Observatory which is really useful for locating things and then having information about it to read. I have read a few posts about the 10mm ep and how it is not the best, i'd love to be ale to make out some detail on Saturn and wondered whether some new ep's would help, anyone have any favourites?