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Xyraryx

By Xyraryx
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jason.p

jason.p

Posted
Posted

Welcome and +1 for Stellarium, an excellent resource, and free!! A lot of us spend time on Stellarium when we get the odd cloudy night! I'm not familiar with that scope, but there's sure to be someone here who is, so don't hesitate to ask anything.

Good luck and keep in touch.

Jason

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JamesM

JamesM

Posted
Posted

Hi Xyraryx and welcome to the forum.

The Celestron 130 is not a bad scope for someone starting out and there are many members here who have the very same scope and it works for them. The only criticism I regularly read concerns the included red dot finder that comes with the scope. It is either too bright (red light is good for maintaining night vision but it must be dim or it defeats the object) or that it is a little awkward to align it to the main scope. Like many telescopes designed for the beginner, they are naturally made to a price and it is not uncommon to replace the odd part with an improved aftermarket alternative. In the case of the above red dot finder, a good alternative would be the Rigel Quikfinder which is nice and small and compliments the scope. You might also find an optical finder a useful addition too and together would make hunting your targets a lot easier.

I have no idea of what budget you are working with and I know how easy it can be for other people to spend your money. The real important decision is whether you start at the cheaper end only to upgrade quite quickly at an additional cost or whether it is better to start up the ladder a bit. My personal view is the latter because if you buy wisely and then feel that astronomy is not for you, then of course better kit will yield a higher resale value (around 70%) meaning that the real cost of having the scope for a short period is relatively low, whereas having to sell a small scope that no one else might want, will mean you're left with the whole initial cost. In astronomy aperture is king and by that I mean the bigger the mirror (or objective lens for refractors) the more light you will be able to capture and therefore the more detail you will be able to resolve. Now planets are bright objects and as a result they can carry sufficient light that under magnification will yield some detail that will be worth observing. The moon which is our nearest neighbour is even brighter again and will always supply great detail even if you were observing through the bottom of a milk bottle!  :icon_biggrin: The tricky targets are deep sky objects (DSO's) such as galaxies and nebulae which being naturally very faint, will require all the light that you can muster to warrant their observation. To that end my recommendation would be the Skywatcher Skyliner 200P which is the U.K's best selling scope, it is more expensive but with the help of it's 8" mirror it will certainly yield some interesting detail on many objects that will certainly keep you interested in astronomy for some time to come and as someone starting out, that is really important as enthusiasm will only take you so far, it's only when you can see stuff that you begin to learn and understand what all the fuss is about. :icon_biggrin:

The above is my personal opinion and there will be others that may have a differing view. The key thing is to take your time, do the research which should also include attending some public outreach events that many local astronomy clubs organise which can furnish you with the experience of actually looking through some of this kit, the eyepieces, checking out the size of some of the scopes along with their set up times etc. They are typically free to attend and will certainly take you that bit closer to making a final decision, not to forget that you might want to consider posting your question in the beginners equipment section as more people visit there than here. Lot's of experience to draw upon so don't hesitate to ask any questions as the need arises and don't forget the search button in the top right hand corner of your screen from which you can access past question and answers too.

Clear skies and hope you enjoy your stay here.  :icon_salut:

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BeerMe

BeerMe

Posted
Posted

Hi and welcome aboard!  +1 for joining up with a local Astronomy club or star party and checking out the kit other people have.  They will let you have a look through them so you can get an idea of what an upgrade in scope actually does.  I wanted to buy my first one weeks ago but after reading and asking about in here, i've decided to settle on a cheap pair of bins for now until I can get a try of some scopes and see what suits me best.  More pennies by then too which means more to invest if I wish ;)

As for the scope you mentioned.....I was looking at this very same model just a few days ago and asked for opinions in here.  I was told to invest the extra £30 or so and go for this instead;

http://www.firstlightoptics.com/dobsonians/skywatcher-skyliner-150p-dobsonian.html

By all accounts, this scope is the best value for money out there with it's 6" primary objective.  Going up to the 8"/200mm is a big jump in price....maybe by the time I go to invest, the missus will have loosened the purse strings a little ;)

Clear skies, and I hope you enjoy the forum!

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Dave In Vermont

Dave In Vermont

Posted
Posted

Greetings and welcome to SGL, Xyraryx - nice to see you've joined us!

For your questions on a scope, I'd suggest starting a thread in this forum here:

http://stargazerslounge.com/forum/186-getting-started-equipment-help-and-advice/

You'll find we love helping people with "What kind of telescope?" questions!

Clear skies -

Dave

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