new guy with glasses question

[Mike338]

Hi all,

So I'm close to purchasing my first scope since I was in 8th grade, about 35 years ago. I am leaning towards a celeston astro master 130, mostly because if fits my budget, although the budget is flexible so  I am open to suggestions, is the 130 mirror big enough? I know I will need a columator of some sort, again open to suggestions, but my main question is, I wear glasses, I am near sighted, will I just need to remove my glasses when viewing? If not will I need a special eyepiece? From what I've read upgrading one's eyepiece is a big improvement in viewing anyway so I plan on doing this, I just have no idea what type or brand. Some eyepieces are more than half the price of the 130! Help! Thanks in advance.

[kendg]

Nothing special needed for us who wear glsses.

You just adjust your focus.

[Demonperformer]

You have two alternatives.

You can either view while wearing your glasses (this is beneficial when your eye-problem is astigmatism) or you can remove your glasses and adjust the focus (as per Ken's response). If you want to wear your glasses while viewing, it is worth checking the 'eye relief' of an eyepiece before buying. Without getting too technical, the bigger the number, the further back from the lens nearest the eye you can view from. So a good eye relief allows extra room for your glasses.

You will also need to consider how bad your light pollution is where you observe. If it is too bad, wearing your glasses can introduce nasty reflections, whereas removing them and putting your eye right up against the cup helps to block them out [this is the approach I use].

One other thing that might be worth considering: if you are likely to get inexperienced friends/neighbours wanting to have a look through the scope, if you remove your glasses, they will need to refocus the scope, which CAN introduce the problem of them grabbing the scope to do so and it getting moved/losing its alignment.

HTH

[MarsG76]

From experience I'd recommend getting a mirror at least 200mm in diameter. 200mm is the size that actually started to give me the "WOW" views for not only planets but quite a few deep sky objects. Also it has enough light gathering to use filters like UHC without detriment to viewing quality due to brightness of objects.

With glasses, I don't yet wear glasses but I always assumed that glasses wearers would just need to adjust their focus to suit their sight... the above posts just verified this, I guess it is logical since glasses alter the focal point just like focus adjustment in a scope.

[Feral Rabbit]

Hi and welcome to SGL Mike,

As said above it's a personal choice.

I wear vari-focals but prefer to remove my glasses for viewing. For me it's a personal choice, I like to get up to the EP cup no other reason and I suppose that I don't have to worry about which EP's have which relief.

Removing your glasses does then present the problem of removing for viewing, putting them back on to look at star maps, books, the computer, then removing to look through the scope etc, etc. So I have a neoprene sailing lanyard (I cannot bring myself to wear a gold chain one. I'm old(ish) but vain  ) so I don't forget where I put them down or which pocket I've put them in (See oldness has it's problems too) and the glasses are always to hand.

If you wear contacts then it is probably the way to go. Unfortunately for me contacts dry my eyes out incredibly quickly for normal day to day use so are an expensive luxury for just astronomy 

Once my eyes have stopped deteriorating then I'll go for laser surgery. Glasses are a real pain!

With regards to scope it all depends on what you want to do visual/photography and others on here are more learned than I. If you want to pop the scope in the car and venture to dark sites then size will also need to be taken into account. Have you thought of a second hand purchase? Most astronomers look after their kit so you can get real bargains, with loads of accessories thrown in too, for what you would pay for new. As you are no doubt aware the hobby isn't cheap and you will always find that there is something else you want, to add to your collection

Clear Skies

Regards

[Astro Imp]

I wear glasses and usually observe with them off but I find this a bit of a fiddle when using a star atlas so have started wearing them initially then when I am settled at the eyepiece for an extended view remove them.

That's just me, I know others have different approaches.

[des anderson]

Hi,don`t worry about wearing glasses,just get a lanyard to let them "hang around" your neck,been doing this since the year dot,and get eyepieces with a bigger eye relief. Des

[xtreemchaos]

i wear glasses for everything else but skywatching, if you can do without its better, its just another peice of glass in the optical train. clear skys charl.

[laudropb]

Don't worry about glasses. I seem to be in the minority and keep mine on while observing and have never found any problems. But I was a microscopist for more than 40 years and always viewed with them on so I am used to it I suppose.

[NGC 1502]

Hi and welcome to SGL. your question "is a 130mm mirror big enough ?"

Whilst a larger scope will show you more, it will also cost more (unless you buy second hand), and it will be larger/heavier.

You can do loads of great astronomy with a 130. A senior member of my local club uses a Skywatcher Heritage 130p and loves it.

Regards, Ed.

[wheresthetorch?]

I wear glasses and usually observe with them off but I find this a bit of a fiddle when using a star atlas so have started wearing them initially then when I am settled at the eyepiece for an extended view remove them.

That's just me, I know others have different approaches.

This works for me as well - I find the view becomes more 'immersive' with my glasses off.

[LukeSkywatcher]

Ive never worn glasses while observing. I wear them for everything else.

[Mak the Night]

Hi all,

So I'm close to purchasing my first scope since I was in 8th grade, about 35 years ago. I am leaning towards a celeston astro master 130, mostly because if fits my budget, although the budget is flexible so  I am open to suggestions, is the 130 mirror big enough? I know I will need a columator of some sort, again open to suggestions, but my main question is, I wear glasses, I am near sighted, will I just need to remove my glasses when viewing? If not will I need a special eyepiece? From what I've read upgrading one's eyepiece is a big improvement in viewing anyway so I plan on doing this, I just have no idea what type or brand. Some eyepieces are more than half the price of the 130! Help! Thanks in advance.

 I am leaning towards a celeston astro master 130

It is a perfectly good telescope. Although many say the mount/tripod can be a bit wobbly at times. 

http://www.celestron.com/browse-shop/astronomy/telescopes/astromaster-130eq-telescope

is the 130 mirror big enough?

I have a 130mm (5.1") Newtonian like the AstroMaster and you will easily see the rings of Saturn, Jupiter's cloud belts and the Moon will look fantastic close up. Although most Wratten coloured filters work best with apertures 150mm and above both Baader and Astronomik make UHC (ultra high contrast) filters specifically for around 4" and 5" apertures and I use the Baader Neodymium on a 102mm Maksutov telescope.

http://www.firstlightoptics.com/light-pollution-reduction/baader-neodymium-filter.html

I am near sighted, will I just need to remove my glasses when viewing?

It's difficult to say as I don't wear glasses. Many who do observe wearing their glasses don't encounter problems. Although the eye relief on eyepieces with a focal length of less than 15mm may be problematical for those who do observe wearing eye glasses. I don't think you should have any real problems.

From what I've read upgrading one's eyepiece is a big improvement in viewing anyway so I plan on doing this, I just have no idea what type or brand.

AFAIK the AstroMaster is supplied with a 10mm Modified Achromat and a 20mm erecting eyepiece intended for terrestrial use. Although I've used the 20mm Celestron erector to observe Jupiter's Great Red Spot during early dusk conditions (albeit placed in a TeleVue 3x Barlow) using a 130mm telescope. The eye relief seems quite good with the 20mm, probably at least 13 or 14mm.

Celestron 10 & 20mm Eyepieces supplied with the AstroMaster.

My 20mm Celestron 20mm Erecting EP

I don't know much about the 10mm Celestron eyepiece included with the AstroMaster but I suspect it is virtually identical to the Sky-Watcher 10mm supplied with their scopes.

These are a pair of 10mm Sky-Watcher EP's. They are plastic barreled but are otherwise not bad eyepieces for a give-away. A 10mm eyepiece will give you a 65x magnification with the AstroMaster, the 20mm will halve that but will have greater field of view. I guess the Sky-Watcher are the same as the Celestron 10mm as they are both manufactured by the same company (Synta).

Some eyepieces are more than half the price of the 130! Help!

I just spent 247 quid  (376 US dollars) on a 10mm TeleVue Delos eyepiece. It was worth every penny. The eyepiece is half the telescope at least in my opinion. Although, I would recommend a decent relatively inexpensive starter kit to give you a feel for other eyepieces. The Celestron Eyeopener kit is quite decent for the money, the 2x Barlow, the 13mm, 17mm and the 32mm eyepieces are good quality. The 6 & 8mm eyepieces have too short focal lengths to be practical IMO. The 32mm is a good low power Plossl with long eye relief and a generous field stop size. 

http://www.celestron.com/browse-shop/astronomy/visual-accessories/eyepieces/125in-eyepiece-and-filter-kit

[dick_dangerous]

It's funny - for bird-watching, I keep my glasses on with the binoculars. For astronomy, I remove them but the annoying thing is, I keep them on for using the finder, then remove them to view. Eyepieces come with some sort of adjustment for eye relief if you take your glasses off.

Paul