mrblackbat Posted December 10, 2013 Share Posted December 10, 2013 Hi All,I've been secretly browsing the forum for the past month or so, having decided to take a plunge and buy my first scope since I was a kid (not sure what that was, a refractor of some sort). Thanks to some of the great stuff posted on here, I plumped for the Skywatcher Explorer 130P and have really been enjoying it (when the skies permit) since then.So far I've spotted a lot of the easy stuff that I imagine is typical for a budding new astronomer: Jupiter and moons, the Pleiades, the Hyades, the Orion Nebula and of course, the Moon.I currently spend quite a bit of time viewing from fairly heavy light pollution from the centre of Manchester in the UK; as such the Orion Nebula was fairly faint. Is there anything that I can do to try and improve that?I do also have a question with regard to eyepieces and the apparent field of view against magnification. I'm currently enjoying looking at open clusters such as the Pleides, but when I switch to the 10mm eyepiece provided to try and see more of the fainter stars, obviously the whole view is reduced. If I were to use an eyepiece between the two powers (25mm and 10mm) but with a wider field of view, would that entail having a larger view of the cluster but with more detail, or is that just wishful thinking?M Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Spock Posted December 10, 2013 Share Posted December 10, 2013 Hi M, welcome to SGL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sologuitarist61 Posted December 10, 2013 Share Posted December 10, 2013 Hello M and welcome Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bizibilder Posted December 10, 2013 Share Posted December 10, 2013 Hello Mrblackbat and welcome to SGL!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rwilkey Posted December 10, 2013 Share Posted December 10, 2013 Hi M, and welcome to SGL, I think it would be best to get used to the ep's that came with the scope to start with, the 25mm is the best one for looking at open clusters, however, an 18mm BST Explorer/StarGuider at 60 degree aFoV would be ideal for your purposes found here: http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_trksid=p3984.m570.l1313.TR0.TRC0.Xstarguider&_nkw=starguider&_sacat=0&_from=R40Best to ask questions in the appropriate section on the forum, that way you will get more responses. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveGarland Posted December 10, 2013 Share Posted December 10, 2013 Hello and welcome. You're on the slippery slope Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeeWilky Posted December 10, 2013 Share Posted December 10, 2013 Hello and welcome I believe you can get a filter for ambient light. I may be wrong but I'm sure I read it somewhere. If you come across any cloud filters let me know lol! Been sat out here for two hours with 3 weather apps saying clear skies tonight and nothing but cloud so far. Such is this game. See you around. Lee Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesM Posted December 10, 2013 Share Posted December 10, 2013 Hi and welcome to he forumClear skiesJames Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hobbes22 Posted December 10, 2013 Share Posted December 10, 2013 Hello and welcome. My scope came with 20mm and 10mm eyepieces. I have bought the BST Starguider 15mm, and it gets used more than the other 2 now. It has a good Field of view and very clear optics, it seems a nice balance between the 2, I then barlow it to 7.5mm giving me 120x. This I am more than happy with. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesF Posted December 10, 2013 Share Posted December 10, 2013 Welcome to SGLJames Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pig Posted December 10, 2013 Share Posted December 10, 2013 Hello & welcome Shaun Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HIP3802 Posted December 10, 2013 Share Posted December 10, 2013 Hi, mrblackbat, and welcome to SGL! There are light pollution filters you can buy to help reduce some light - press the 'FLO' logo at the top of this page type 'light pollution filter' in their search engine and it will give a number of possible filters to use - but I am not sure how effective they will be in the centre of Manchester. I have a friend in Moston and the best filters won't help with the light pollution from Manchester/Trafford there! Fortunately yours is a very portable scope and should not be too difficult to take to a darker site. Why not try some of the Manchester astronomy groups and see how they cope with light pollution? There are a few mentioned on the 'Social Groups' section of this site.Martin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bernard254 Posted December 10, 2013 Share Posted December 10, 2013 Hello - Welcome to SGL, I started with the 130P with the 10 & 25 EP supplied and it are great as a learning scope, you can get a x2 barlow that will double the mag / half the EP to give another two more options while you get used to it all, hope you enjoy itKev Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyman Posted December 10, 2013 Share Posted December 10, 2013 Hi from me too Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wookie1965 Posted December 10, 2013 Share Posted December 10, 2013 A warm welcome to SGL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrblackbat Posted December 11, 2013 Author Share Posted December 11, 2013 Thanks all for the warm welcome and the pointers! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swag72 Posted December 11, 2013 Share Posted December 11, 2013 Welcome to SGL, glad that you found us.Look forward to seeing you around Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Knight of Clear Skies Posted December 11, 2013 Share Posted December 11, 2013 Welcome to the forum, hope you enjoy your new scope.Concerning viewing the Pleiades, you could try this telescope simulator to get an idea of what you might see. Select the Pleiades as the target object, enter the focal length and aperture (650mm and 130mm for your scope) and experiment with different eyepieces. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michigander Posted December 11, 2013 Share Posted December 11, 2013 Welcome to SGL, Mrblackbat!Dana Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
glowjet Posted December 11, 2013 Share Posted December 11, 2013 Hi M and welcome to SGL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete Presland Posted December 11, 2013 Share Posted December 11, 2013 Hi welcome to SGL from Pete in Bedfordshire Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charon Posted December 12, 2013 Share Posted December 12, 2013 Hi from me too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveGarland Posted December 12, 2013 Share Posted December 12, 2013 "Edit" Just realised I've already said hello. *stupid* Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stevie P Posted December 12, 2013 Share Posted December 12, 2013 Hi Welcome to SGL... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bizibilder Posted December 12, 2013 Share Posted December 12, 2013 Hello mrblackbat and welcome to SGL!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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