Skywatcher 114 help please..?

[Zigzag79]

Hi my wife bought me my first scope as always wanted one it was a skywatcher hawk 114 which came with a 2x Barlow lens then a 10 and 25mm lens. I tried it out the other night and was a bit dubious about the red dot finder after lots of people complaining about them but it was spot on not sure what all the fuss is about. I found saturn and was a pretty good view with the 25 and Barlow but when I use the 10 for more detail it was worst. I did get it in view and in focus but was poor compared to the 25mm. Was thinking of buying a bigger Barlow lens maybe x3 or x5 to use with the 25mm but would I loose the wide angle and clarity I'm getting now. Thanks Ryan ps any advise on lens to buy would be much appreciated thanks.

[ronin]

The 10mm eyepiece and the barlow supplied are sort of notoriously poor.

Combining 2 notoriously poor items results in something really poor.

I think the 114 is 1000mm focal length. You will want sort of 80x to have a chance of any sort of detail, that would be a 12mm focal length eyepiece.

120x would be better and that is an 8mm eyepiece.

I would forget a barlow and just get a single eyepiece as mentioned around the 10mm area.

Remember that as the magnification goes up then the field of view goes down and without tracking the object drifts out of view.

For the scope just get a plossl, GSO or Revelation are generally good, they are actually the same.

At 114mm dia do not expect magnifications above 150x, even if they claim magnifications up in the thousands.

P.S. If you want to locate a club: http://www.astronomyclubs.co.uk/Clubs/Default.aspx?CountyId=53

There is a club at Norwich, just no idea where in Norfolk you actually are.

[Charic]

Those GSO / Revelations work very well on my scope and are seriously cheap, but such great value.

I sourced mine here, there is a 9mm and 12mm , very close to the recommended size that ronin mentions. http://www.astroboot.co.uk/search.php?needle=gso

[Zigzag79]

Hi I'm in great Yarmouth area. Yes your right it is a 1000 length. Thank-you both for the advice I'll try and source a new lens. Would it be possible to view anything else than just the planets and moon with this scope thanks again Ryan

[ronin]

Yes you will see a few of the bigger planetary nebula, M57 should be OK, I suspect the Dumbell Nebula also. Neither will be Hubble like. M57 will be easiest to locate - look up the constellation Lyra, M57 is easily place to locate but point binoculars at it first to be sure you are going know where to look..

Forget M31 (Andromeda) easy to find but just too big, again binoculars. You will only see part of it in a scope and part of it doesn't look good.

There are lots of clusters, M13 in hercules, being the obvious offering. Find Hercules, find the square and again use binoculars to go around the edge of the square until you get a fuzzy patch (=M13) then point scope at that bit. I say binoculars first as M13 is on one edge, but there are 4 of them and no idea which - hence binoculars and work it out yourself.

As said lots of clusters, there are double stars also. Albireo in Cygnus has contrasting colours, also Almaak in Andromeda (constellation). Simple double is Mizer in The Plough, the handle of the plough, point scope at the middle one of the 3. Also back in Lyra up by the bright starVega is a "star" that in binoculars/scope becomes a double then at higher mag each is itself a double. Known as The Double Double.

The Double cluster between Cassiopeia and Perseus (where the meteors wiill/are/should be coming from.

Mainly go learn the constellations as they are used to navigate around with.

The plough points to Polaris, also Leo, Capella, Arcturus and then Cassiopeias point to Pegasus, Andromeda (M31) and Perseus.

At present go find Lyra and Cygnus.

[rwilkey]

Hi Ryan, the 3x and 5x Barlows are really for astrophotography use and no good for visual - just too much magnification.  Consider a better mid-range eyepiece as suggested by Charic above, that would be a much better option for your scope.

[glowjet]

Hi Ryan, as has been said it is best to keep Barlows out of the equation for the time being. A lens of some of the reputed makes, s/h if need be, such as has been motioned, would be a much better investment for the time being. The Orthoscopics, (CircleT ) although having a slightly smaller field of view, than some of the others, are excellent for helping to resolve fine detail, especially when dealing with the multitude of stars there are to observe.

To expand your knowledge of targets to observe in the night sky and how to find them, then, if it has not already been mentioned, a copy of the book "Turn Left at Orion" would be the choice of many, new to the field of Astronomy. Enjoy your scope and the forum

[Zigzag79]

Thank-you so much for everyone's advice looking at eyepieces tonight and will invest in one of the recommended above. In the mean time I'll ditch the Barlow and search for some of the above clusters if the sky's permitting. Thank-you all so much again have been a great help Ryan