Scope help

[Rangers82]

Ok asked a couple of questions and now I'm just confused was thinking of getting 130 slt then was told should check out 127 slt then was told get a 200p dob I want a scope with goto and looking at 200p dob it's not got it so whats the starting price for a goto dob and what's the diffrence between a 127slt and a 130slt need help its pay day soon and just don't know what to do

[rowan46]

lets start from the beginning. we have estalished that your most important function is goto. For your budget that leaves you with these 2 scopes either the http://www.firstlightoptics.com/maksutov/skywatcher-skymax-127-synscan-az-goto.html/http://www.firstlightoptics.com/slt-series/celestron-nexstar-127-slt.html

or the http://www.firstlightoptics.com/slt-series/celestron-nexstar-130-slt.html/http://www.firstlightoptics.com/az-goto/skywatcher-explorer-130p-synscan-az-goto.html

The 127slt is the same scope as the 127 skymax which is a maksutov telescope good for planets in that it takes magnification well less good for dso's in that it has a narrow field of view in comparison to the 130 it can however reach Zenith because the tube length is so short

The 130 slt is the same scope as the 130p explorer goto alt az it is slightly better for dso's than the maksutov in the fact that its wider view and less inherent magnification makes them appear a little brighter. It cannot reach zenith because the tube is too long and it catches on the mount. But its cheaper.

Which is the better of these scopes I would go for the 127 mak because it can reach zenith. That's the answer to your question. The reason the non goto scope was mentioned is because it is so much better none of the money has gone into electronics it has all gone into the optics so for a similar price you could have a much different viewing experience but as goto is what you want then I would get the 127slt or skymax 127 which is slightly cheaper

[DirkSteele]

There does seem to be an almost default recommendation of the 200p Dob on stargazers lounge regardless of the circumstances or interests of the individual asking for advice....But there is a good reason for that. It is an excellent scope, with enough aperture to really start to show the observer plenty of the universe. However, looking at your original post, you specifically said you wanted GoTo so that recommendation does not meet that requirement. First things first, you can buy GoTo dobsonian scopes, but they would vastly exceed your budget unfortunately. The tracking platform as recommended on the other thread is a good idea. It will not provide you with GoTo so you will still need to find the object manually, but then you can comfortably view the object for some time without having to concern yourself with manually moving the scope to keep the object of interest in the field of view.

This is an example of a 200p with GoTo. http://www.firstligh...xtube-goto.html

Question I would ask you is this. Why do you want GoTo? I will not deny that it is a great feature to have (one of my 4 scopes has it) but for every penny you spend on the mount and the sophisticated electronics to enable GoTo, the less you are spending on the actual optics. The 200p is an 8" scope and will go far deeper and show much more than than any scope in your budget that comes with GoTo.

While the thought of having to learn to navigate the sky can be daunting, that is half the fun and as your experience grows it will become easier. A couple of recommendations would be to purchase a good star atlas such as the Sky & Telescope Pocket Sky Atlas (download the free Stellarium as well) and purchase the book "Turn Left at Orion" as well as it is a great beginner guide.

I see Rowan46 has just listed the differences so I will not bother to repeat what has already been written about the 127 and 130.

I would leave you with the thought to ask yourself exactly what you want to achieve in astronomy and why you want GoTo. If the reasons are good enough, then of course go that route. Aperture is not everything (but it is a lot). I have scopes ranging from 4" to 11" and the 4" gets the most use.

EDIT: And I agree, I would also go with the 127 as well.

[Luke]

The 127SLT and 130SLT sound similar but they are different telescope designs.

The 127 is a Maksutov Cassegrain with a long focal length of 1500mm, while the 130 is a Newtonian with a much shorter focal length of 650mm.

This makes the 127 a bit more geared towards high magnification viewing of planets and the moon (you can see other things too but it's not a great choice if you want low power, wide views). It's a compact design that "folds" the light to behave like a very long telescope while being amazingly compact. It's probably the better choice if your main thing was moon and planets.

The 130 is a bit more general purpose and will give you wider views as well as being fine for planets, so might be the better choice if you want to look at everything up there.

A 200mm goto dob won't come cheap, the flextube 200 goto is about £750.

The manual 200 dob is very popular because it gives you the most bang for your buck optically. A big 8 inches of aperture - the bigger the aperture, the more you can see in general. 8 inches is a bit of a magical size where there are lots of objects visible (unless you have lots of light pollution).

So do you want goto and a smaller mirror, with fewer objects visible, or do you want a bigger mirror that will show more objects but you need to find the objects yourself. It's down to what will work best for you and other things matter too, like how portable and compact you need the scope to be.

Hope that helps a bit.

[Rockrae78]

I have the SLT 130 and think that it's a very good starter scope. The scope and the GoTo are both easy to set up and you can get going in minutes. I don't really rate the red dot finder though - I replaced it with a Telrad not long after purchase.

The included eyepieces included are fine to start off with, but again, you may wish to upgrade to something better (I did this a few months after purchase).

I have seen planets (and their moons), galaxies, nebula and clusters with this scope and have thoroughly enjoyed the views it has given. Due to the 5" aperture, it really does need dark skies and a dark site to fully appreciate what you can see (for example, the Crab Nebula wasn't visible from my back garden, but I saw it fairly easily from a dark sky site).

I bought it after seeing the following review - from someone at Jodrell Bank:

http://www.jb.man.ac.uk/public/im/cel130SLT.html

As you can see from the first picture in the review, there is a sand bag on the tripod. The tripod itself is pretty lightweight - which is great in terms of portability should you need to take your scope to a different site, but it means that it wobbles a lot! I live on a main road and when larger vehicles go by, the whole scope wobbles which is very annoying. People walking around the scope, or just touching the focus knob all make the scope wobble. I counteract this by using a brick to weight it down which does help a lot! You can also purchase vibration suppression pads for the feet of the tripod, but having never used them I have no idea if they are effective or not.

I think that the reason most people recommended a dob because they are excellent value for money. For less than £300, you can get an 8" telescope instead of the 130 - which is a 5" telescope. Dobs don't have GoTo facilities but a lot of astronomers prefer this as they can star hop - find objects by jumping from star to star! Movement of Dobs is incredibly simple and the actual scope doesn't have any electronics so set up time is nil! You just take them outside and go! I have tried a few Dobs and they are incredibly easy to manoeuvre.

You don't have to rely on the GoTo system on the 130 SLT, I have used the scope without it on many occasions to star hop, but it is nice having the GoTo facility there if I need it. However, with electronic scopes, you also have to think about power for the scope. It does run on batteries and unlike some bigger scopes, the batteries will last a few hours. You may want to purchase a more substantial power pack to ensure that your scope doesn't go dead in the middle of an observing session! FLO sell power sources at very reasonable prices.

There are advantages and disadvantages to all telescopes and many users will have their favourite types. In order to be completely sure that the scope you have chosen is the one for you, it's best to visit a shop, or - even better - a local astronomy group to see if there are other scope types that you will prefer.

HTH.

[Rockrae78]

Sorry, the other posts weren't there when I started typing! Slow fingers!

It's seems that we've all said similar things about the value for money for a dob, and the pleasures of star hopping!

I do hope though, that I've managed to give you some good and bad points of the the SLT 130 to help you make an informed choice.

[ronin]

OK, goto seems to be the deciding factor, so forget the 200p dobsonian.

That leaves goto as an Alt/Az mount or as an equitorial, you don't give a preference.

As an Alt/Az version you have the 130p newtonian reflector on the Synscan mount @£285.

The alternatives are the 127 Mak on the Synscan mount @£360.

Celestron have the 127 SLT scope at much the same cost £369.

The actual 127 scopes will I think be the same underneathe the colours.

All are about the same diameter so will collect the same light, owing to the long focal length of the Mak's you will get greater magnification out of it that is useful for planets and web cam imaging of planets. You can get long plossls for it to keep the magnification low for DSO's. Drawback is they cost more, however either 127's are I suspect the more versatile.

Equitorially mounted scopes

A 150P on an EQ3-2 goto is £540

The 150PL on EQ3-2 goto is £565.

The 130P on EQ3-2 goto does not seem to be offered as a package.

I think the 150PL is the more versatile of these two.

All goto's have their quirks, so do not expect to put it on the ground and realistically be viewing without going through the screaming and hair tearing stage.

If you go for the Alt/Az options find out what is on/in the unit to aid alignment.

Celestron has the SkyAlign, that is useful according to people I have spoken to that have it on theirs, also enquire about plug in GPS modules.

Owing to cost and transportability and features I think the Celestron Nexstar 127 SLT wins.

But I like refractors and they do not match your apparent requirements and conditions.

[nightfisher]

Ronin gives some very good advice in the above post

[astronymonkey]

I agree with Dirksteele about considering if you need goto.

With astronomy being a visual pursuit getting as much light into your eye is one of the key things to consider hence why aperture if often considered king with other features being added as aperture is sacrificed.

For the less expensive end of the scale the cost of goto, as a proportion of the overall cost of the scope is significant meaning you sacrifice a lot of aperture - with an 8 inch dob having 2.5x the light gathering of a 5inch scope.

At larger apertures the light gathering increase when moving up to the next size isn't as significant so loosing aperture to pay for other features doesnt affect light gathering as much.

However, I can see the attraction of goto and the benefits it has. Th other week I had the pleasure of using a 14inch lx200 with goto and it was wonderful....and I wanted one. Two nights later though I was using my own 16inch dob and thought that was wonderful and decided I didnt need goto (and with my 16 inch being a third of the price of the lx200 I have to admit id rather save the money and have a few nice holidays with the family

We all have different reasons for liking different scopes, its one of the debates that make this hobby so interesting, but if goto is something you have decided you need then there is some excellent advice on this thread....including advice on he particular scopes you are interested in.

So listen to peoples opinions, read reviews, make your mind up and buy the scope that you want and you feel is best for you .........and the main thing is use it and enjoy it

Clear skies

[impactcrater]

goto is a good concept but can be a bit frustrating...setting up 2 or three stars in the center and only bright stars and other criteria. also it takes a while for the scope to actually 'goto'...it may do a near complete spin around to locate the object rather than just taking a short route...and the scop moves fairly slowly. also you still need to know some stars names to do the best job. my first experience went pretty well but as the alignment stars get higher in the sky, finding them gets harder and slower and everything is moving so you are losing some goto accuracy...and it may still not hit the selected object 'bang on' so some fine tuning is needed.

the 200p dob was certainly on my short list...impactcrater