nickb2513 Posted January 22, 2015 Share Posted January 22, 2015 Hello all, I currently have a Celestron Astromaster 130eq and I'm looking to upgrade to a Skywatcher Explorer 200p EQ5. I'd like to know what people thoughts are on this upgrade. Thank you in advanceNick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
recceranger Posted January 22, 2015 Share Posted January 22, 2015 SW ED80 + HEQ5you won't regret it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveS Posted January 22, 2015 Share Posted January 22, 2015 What are you hoping / planning to do with it?Visual? If so do you want to hunt down faint fuzzies or study the moon / planets?Imaging? Again DSO? Or lunar / planetary?All will have very different requirements, getting the wrong 'scope / mount could be an expensive frustration. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nickb2513 Posted January 23, 2015 Author Share Posted January 23, 2015 recceranger - I'd love to buy that scope but its a little out of my price range! The cheapest I could find was £1300 DaveS - I'm hoping to use the new scope for a bit of everything really. Planetary viewing and imaging is my main objective but I'd also like to view some DSO's. I've only every really looked at Newtonian reflectors so I know nothing about refractors. As far I understand refractors are a lot more expensive hence me not looking at them at all! I've heard a lot of good things about the Skywatcher Explorer 200p but i'd like to know peoples opinions on here and any recommendation would be greatly appreciated Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveS Posted January 23, 2015 Share Posted January 23, 2015 First off, no one scope will do everything, however:Since you mention imaging I'll say first, get a copy of Making Every Photon Count by Steve Richards (Our own steppenwolf) from FLO, and see how far you want to go. Second get the heaviest mount you can afford, I would say HEQ5 *minimum*Generally, to get started with imaging you'd be looking at a short FL ED refractor, one of the ubiquitous 80mm ED semi-apo jobbies on a HEQ5 Syntrek mountThis mount will also do for lunar / planetary imaging and observing, for both of which something like a Mak 127 might be a good start. The mount will also keep your target centered in the eyepiece / webcam depending on what you're doing. Don't be put off by people telling you equatorial mounts are difficult to understand, they're not in reality.DSO observing (Unlike imaging) will need a real light bucket, the usual beginers choice being the (Equally ubiquitous) 200mm Newt on a Dobsonian base,as it gives the most apperture for the money though you'll have to push / nudge (Same thing really) it around two axes instead of one. They're no good for DSO (And IMHO planetary) imaging. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nickb2513 Posted January 23, 2015 Author Share Posted January 23, 2015 DaveS Thank you for taking the time to give such a helpful reply, I really appreciate it. I think I need to do some saving and shop around! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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