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all the gear no idea

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all the gear no idea

all the gear no idea

Posted
Posted

Good afternoon to all,

 

I'm extremely new to the observation world and i'm looking to get any hints/tips on stargazing and any reading material which will aid me.  I've owned a Celestron 130 md and feel I want to gaze further afield.  I'm thinking of purchasing a second hand Skywatcher 127 mak, would this be a wise choice?  I have a budget of around the £300-400 mark. Portability would be nice but essential. Any help would be much appreciated and a massive thank you in advance

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RT65CB-SWL

RT65CB-SWL

Posted
Posted

Hi and welcome to SGL.

 

Only a few downsides to owning a 'Mak' are...

1. Narrow field of view

2. Long cool down

3. Dew magnet - a dew shield is essential

4. Slow f/ratio if used with a camera

 

 

The upsides are...

1. Fantastic lunar & planet 'scope

2. Compact size

3. Eyepiece is at a sensible position and gives a 'north/south view when used with a 90o star diagonal 

 

There are probably a few more downsides & upsides, but I cannot think of anymore at present. Overall the SW127 is a popular 'scope here on SGL. 

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Dave In Vermont

Dave In Vermont

Posted
Posted

To your question of the 127mm SW Maksutov, here's an excellent review from Astronomy Magazine, April-2016, of this scope. I have the 150mm and do concur with the authors' findings:

Review of 127mm Maksutov.pdf

Feel free to save to your 'puter for keeping about.

No one variety of telescope excels at all things. Mak's are great for up-close & detailed views of planets and similar entities where a rather narrow field-of-view presents no problems. For more expansive vistas, like wide nebulae and open-clusters of stars - not the best choice.

Happy hunting & Welcome to SGL!

Dave

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BlabyStarGazer

BlabyStarGazer

Posted
Posted

Hi !  Welcome to SGL and to the world of astronomy ...  or should that be 'universe' ?

I know the 127 quite well (a close friend owns one) and I have the somewhat bigger 180 Skymax,  but it was the most recently purchased of my three main 'scopes and it was purchased specificly for the benefits that a Mak can bring (and with all the negatives being allowed for by one means or another).

Without wishing to deride the 127 in any way,  imho, the one thing that makes your purchase a good one, is that you bought it secondhand, which means that you're unlikely to lose much if you part with it.   I can only offer my own opinion based on my own experience and yours may of course be different.   You don't say what mount you've purchased with it.  Generally the SW 127 Mak is supplied with an Alt-Az GOTO mount.  Great for grab'n'go observing, but of limited use for astrophotography.  Apart from the Alt-Az aspect, the mount is also very limited in it's payload capacity.  Put the 127 on a motorised equatorial mount though and it is great for lunar and planetary imageing.   I just suspect that you're going to wish that you had something with a wider field of view.  One more thought..  don't spend any of your remaining budget on a high power (short f/length) eyepiece,  it is unlikely to be of any use unless you're thinking of moving to the top of a mountain.

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happy-kat

happy-kat

Posted
Posted
2 hours ago, BlabyStarGazer said:

..... supplied with an Alt-Az GOTO mount.  Great for grab'n'go observing, but of limited use for astrophotography.  Apart from the Alt-Az aspect, the mount is also very limited in it's payload capacity.  Put the 127 on a motorised equatorial mount though and it is great for lunar and planetary imageing.  .....

The AltAz goto mount will be happy with a lighter load of a DSLR and camera lens, and for astrophotography you can get upto 30 seconds per image from this type of mount, take many and stack them and you'll be surpised and what you will get. Even using the 127mm with a dslr on a steady not windy night and see what you can get. Lack of EQ mount does not preclude having a start at imagaging.

This post is a showcase of what members are managing with AltAz tracking mouints on deep space objects, for the Moon and planets use video clips webcams are good for this if you have one and lighter then a dslr.

link here

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Linda

Linda

Posted
Posted

Hi and welcome.

The Maksutov 127 is the same size as your Celestron 130. The only difference is the focus length, which will probably give sharper images of what you see. But you want see fainter objects, as the light that some in is the same.

Depending on what your goal is, you may want to consider a scope with more aperture.

The Mak 127mm is a nice scope and highly portable.

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Paz

Paz

Posted
Posted

Welcome to SGL!

All scopes compromise on something - the 127 is a good scope - you should have a good time with it. I've got a 127 I use for visual use without any computer assistance and the main comments I would make are I use an EQ mount which is easier to keep balanced than an alt/az mount, and so that when I'm finding things I am moving in straight lines up/down/left/right according to the celestial sphere. I also use a 9*50 finder and Telrad. This (plus maps!) makes finding things easy even without computers and with a narrow field of view. 

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