Need help with telescope

[kishan93]

Hi guys, 

Im new to the astronomy and currently have a Celestron130eq.  It is really good at looking at the moon but i want to go one step further and start observing other planets and try use the full power of the telescope.  Do you guys know of any lenses I could buy so i can see other planets such as jupiter or star clusters. 

Im willing to buy a new telescope aslong as it doesnt cost too much. 

 

Please give me some advice  would really appreciate it 

 

Thanks 

[Timebandit]

Hello Kishan and welcome to SGL. In regards to eyepieces I am not sure of the exact specifics,focal lengh of your scope but I see it's 130 as aperture .

Therefore as in the uk we are limited to the magnification we can use , due to atmosphere conditions, but there is a guide of around 300x maximum magnification for good seeing conditions, I don't think or do I use this much magnification for much of my observing even for planets most of the time and sometimes considerably less.                            But to see planets in any detail you do need relatively high magnification ,so I would suggest something in the 5mm or 6mm range, as to make or type the vixen seem to have reasonable feed back and so do the BST starguider for there price . Obviously then you can go up in cost to the televue range which are very good but way more expensive. For Star clusters(depending on size of clusters) something around the  8mm to15mm eyepiece  would be handy to have especially if it has a reasonable fov .

If you do want to upgrade your scope to get better views than with your current scope , then you would have to push the aperture up more, so to get more light into the scope. A well respected scope is the skywatcher 200p to which can be picked up used for not to much cash and I think you would see a marked improvement over your current scope. 

I hope the above is helpful ☺  

[Dave In Vermont]

So that you will know when you've gone in the right direction when you do see things like planets and star-clusters - which your telescope can certainly show you - you'd do well to check out this (long) thread:

Back when I started out with my first telescope - in 1972 - I would have welcomed having this to read first! Back then, one had to 'fly by the seat of your pants!'

Enjoy your scope!

Dave

[Galactic Wanderer]

7 hours ago, Timebandit said:

300x maximum

I think it's roughly about 200x with this scope

[baggywrinkle]

Max theoretical would be 260x, but on a very good night with a cooled scope and good seeing. So 200x should be reasonably achievable. As the scope is an F5 then careful selection of higher power lenses would be advised.

With a focal length of 650mm a 5mm ep would give 130x, but with a 130mm diameter mirror the light gathering power will be quite dimmed by a 5mm ep (plossle).

[Timebandit]

2 hours ago, Galatic Wanderer said:

I think it's roughly about 200x with this scope

Hello. Just to clarify. As Galactic wander seems to have highlighted a few words to pick up on.

I said in my post, there is a guide of around 300x  maximum magnification for good seeing conditions. i don't think or do I use this much magnification  for most of my observing even for planets most of  the time and sometimes considerably less.   

So I suggest something in the 5mm to 6mm eyepiece ,which is well under 300x magnification 

I hope this is helpful and clarifys to the op☺ 

[kishan93]

22 hours ago, Timebandit said:

Thanks for the reply. Can you forward me a link to the sky watcher 200p.  and does that come with the sky map  so i could track the stars and the planets. All this seems very daunting because Im not too sure what im looking for and it seems very complicated by reading what you said haha.  

 

[Ricochet]

There are  Skyliner and Explorer variants of the 200p. However, I would not recommend you buy either of these at the moment. You already have a 130mm reflector and this is a perfectly reasonable reasonable scope to start off with. The problem is that if you haven't bought any additional eyepieces then your highest power is 65x, which is not really enough for viewing planets or globular clusters, but will be for viewing large open clusters. You probably want to be in the 150-200x range for planets and 100-150x range for globular clusters. Magnification is telescope focal length divided by eyepiece focal length, so for your telescope with a focal length of 650mm, 100x is achieved with a 6.5mm eyepiece and 200x with a 3.25mm eyepiece. These are quite small focal lengths so you could plan to get a 2x barlow and then your wanted eyepieces are in the range of 13-6.5mm which will be more useful if you do upgrade to a longer focal length scope in the future. Both of these ranges can be covered by eyepieces from either the BST Starguider/Explorer or Celestron X-Cel LX ranges which are a big step up from the eyepieces supplied with your current scope or any future scope. 

As for "sky map" I assume that you mean some planetarium software? If you have a PC then Stellarium is a great piece of software you can download for free no matter which scope you end up buying/using. If you are looking for something for your phone/tablet then there are plenty of options available for a few pounds that are worth paying for. If you are currently struggling to find objects in the sky then these tools are a great way to help you learn the sky. Turn Left at Orion is a good book to get you started with descriptions and directions to many different things in the night sky.

[noah4x4]

I had a Celestron 130SE; was disappointed; so spent as much again on the limited quality Celestron EP kit; was disappointed (notably at the higher power end); sold the lot at a huge % loss and upgraded. I might have satisfied with it for longer had somebody suggested buying a single Televue Delos wide view EP for planetary use instead of the box of accessories which leave you struggling to look through a pin hole.

The trouble with astronomy kit manufacturers is that they lure buyers to expect to see images like those from the Hubble when using merely inexpensive kit. Then buyers feel frustrated and either give up having spent loads of money or they spend even more on ever more expensive replacements. That's why Ebay is full of barely used telescopes. But you rarely see many high quality EP's at bottom drawer prices.

The "What can I expect to see" thread mentioned above should be read by anybody considering buying a telescope of any price and/or any quality. If I had done so I would have saved at least £300 which would had contributed greatly towards the purchase of the scope that I really needed to meet my aspirations, which I now have. But should I have waited and bought a 11inch? Why did I waste even more money on useless filters? Why did I buy an I-Pad when hand control is more reliable? Why didn't I upgrade my Star Diagonal and Barlow before I bought more high power EP'S?

Arrggghhh! It's that sort of hobby!  One always wants to see more. Wish I had found this wonderful group of like minded people earlier to get advice.

[cloudsweeper]

21 hours ago, Timebandit said:

Hello. Just to clarify. As Galactic wander seems to have highlighted a few words to pick up on.

I said in my post, there is a guide of around 300x  maximum magnification for good seeing conditions. i don't think or do I use this much magnification  for most of my observing even for planets most of  the time and sometimes considerably less.   

So I suggest something in the 5mm to 6mm eyepiece ,which is well under 300x magnification 

I hope this is helpful and clarifys to the op☺ 

Yes.  Going for ever higher mag is usually doomed to failure on account of poor seeing, as well as reduced brightness, sensitive focusing, and narrow field.  I usually operate well under x200, the main exception being the Moon.

Doug.