took the plunge and ordered a Telescope

[delbi1]

Hi People, 

 I finally have got myself a Telescope after years of thinking astronomy was only for the rich and thinking a goodish scope would be completly out of any budget i would have.

The telescope i have ordered is a Celstron astromaster 130eq-md  has it is what i can afford atm, and has good reviews for that sort of price range, cheapest i found it was of all places Curry`s/Pc world of all places in UK @ £139 delivered

My question is, what sort of upgrades should i be looking at, i have limited budget on upgrades of spending say £40 a month so what should i buy first for that sort of money and what to get next after that. I will make a list and source best prices and hopefully get said upgrades asap

Thanks in advance for all help i recieve

[delbi1]

I can

[delbi1]

bah i pressed enter on second post by misstake  and can`t edit

I was gonna put my primary viewing targets will be planets, but am interested in nebula too, i know this won`t be the best scope for this, but is all i could aford and i couldn`t wait longer to get a scope, cos i can`t wait to get out there viewing.

[PeterCPC]

Hi

That was my first scope. You will find that the Red Dot finder is rubbish so you will want to replace that. Don't do anything else though until you have used it for a while and you will find out what you are not happy about or not. Download Stellarium if you have not already done so as it will help you find your way around.

Peter

[LukeSkywatcher]

Dont spend any extra cash on it just yet. Wait til you have tried it out for a while. 

[ronin]

First is reality, costs not a lot.

It says max mag 307x, forget that, 150x to 180x is more like it.

So Celestron are saying 2.36x diameter now. How did they arrive at that?

Usually the 20mm is OK, the 10mm poor.

A lot depends on priorities:

I would suggest an 8mm BST eyepiece, followed the next month by the 25mm BST eyepiece, then a collimator.

After that it depends on the urges you have for a reasonable 12mm BST or the 5mm BST, however as Saturn will be around at the time to think about the 12/5mm BST the 5mm BST will be good for Saturn.

So:

8mm BST,

25mm BST,

Collimator,

5mm BST

Just realised that is the half set I use on my small scope, 5mm, 8mm, 25mm.

Works well on mine. No collimator as it's a refractor.

[tekkydave]

Welcome to the club. I have the Celestron version of the 127mak. I found upgrading to some better eyepieces a worthwhile expenditure. I went for the Celestron Xcel 25mm & 7mm as they have good eye-relief for speccy wearers. Lukeskywatcher is right tho - use it for a while and you will work out where the strengths/weaknesses are

[delbi1]

i do have stellarium i allso have a planisphere, i did read the 10mm is poor has it is allso a erecting EP.  a 8mm or 6mm does sound like a good start to see saturn with the 10 being poor

[delbi1]

Btw what does BST meen, is it a brand or type of lense ( may sound silly but i have no idea )

[PeterCPC]

http://www.365astronomy.com/8mm-BST-Explorer-ED-Eyepiece.html?gclid=COa3n-r54cQCFSQGwwod2y4Aig

The seeing will need to be good whatever you use.

Have a look at this post as well http://stargazerslounge.com/topic/196278-what-can-i-expect-to-see/?fromsearch=1

Peter

[delbi1]

http://www.365astronomy.com/8mm-BST-Explorer-ED-Eyepiece.html?gclid=COa3n-r54cQCFSQGwwod2y4Aig

The seeing will need to be good whatever you use.

Have a look at this post as well http://stargazerslounge.com/topic/196278-what-can-i-expect-to-see/?fromsearch=1

Peter

Looks nice lense that, looking like my first buy, ty

[Stargazer33]

Hi and welcome to SGL. Nice scope you have there. Search for some of the posts from members that have 130mm scopes.

BST is the manufacturers name of the eps (eyepieces). They also go by the name 'Starguider'. Have a look at the review on this page; down at the bottom of the page, read from "And finally....".

[delbi1]

Hi and welcome to SGL. Nice scope you have there. Search for some of the posts from members that have 130mm scopes.

BST is the manufacturers name of the eps (eyepieces). They also go by the name 'Starguider'. Have a look at the review on this page; down at the bottom of the page, read from "And finally....".

yeah i did read around on here before i ordered it does seem like i have a good scope for the money.

i have allso read around now on this forum about bst EP`s,  lol i need one now. They look like really comfy clear clean wideangle eyepieces so will def be my next buy has i can keep them if at some time i upgrade to another scope