New telescope

[Daniel3]

Hi guys, new at astronomy...I am looking for a small telescope with a good zoom I was thinking of buying  sky watcher sky max-127 (Az5) 127mm (5”) F/11.8 Deluxe Alt-Azimuth Maksutov-case grain telescope...any thoughts is there a upgrade ?? Thanks in advance 

[Hayduke27]

My first comment as a person who recently went through the process of buying his first telescope is this: Don't worry about the "zoom"!!!  Magnification on all telescopes can be changed to be higher or lower by switching eyepieces. Your telescope will likely come with one or two, but your very first upgrades will likely be better and more eyepieces. Also, A LOT of the best objects you want to observe do not require high magnification at all.  In fact, with many you can see much more detail at lower magnifications. 

 

What you should really concentrate on is something that has enough aperture to pick up the light required to see the dimmer details in the objects you are observing.  I see the scope you listed has a 5" aperture which will work for many objects, but may not be enough for some of the dimmer objects in the sky.  Put your money into the most aperture you can get in a quality telescope on your budget, then upgrade your eyepieces and maybe even your diagonal when you have the money for that.  

[Ganemedes]

Hello and welcome to the beautiful world of astronomy.

     A good start is buying and reading a good book, you will really learn lot of different and interesting things you may not know. Also, if you haven't already, try to observe through  a pair of binoculars first. It really helped me understand about aperture, magnification and field of view. 

    The telescope you mention above is a good telescope for start, it will reveal many targets in the night sky. The aperture is the key for picking a telescope, because of the light gathered. Bigger aperture means more light gathering.

    Keep in mind that the "zoom" is not a feature of the telescope, but of the eyepieces.

   All that in my humble opinion. Hope i helped.

 

Clear Skies,

Kyriakos

   

     

[Daniel3]

Hayduke27....Info much appreciated, telescope comes with 2 eyepieces 10mm  magnification x60 and 25mm x150 I was also thinking of buying a Barlow lens x2 not sure what one as there are so many...also forgot to add is there any  reasonable priced small telescopes with a good aperture that anybody can recommend...thanks

[Daniel3]

Ganemedes... thanks for the info always appreciated.

[Nyctimene]

Hello, Daniel,

welcome to the forum!

A 5" Maksutov is a rather specialised scope for lunar and planetary observing.  Have a look at the Skywatcher Heritage 130 P Flextube; lots of reviews, excellent optics, decent mount, cheap and versatile. Add a Seben Zoom 8-24, a Baader 2,25 Barlow and an UHC filter, and you have an excellent start with the hobby.

Stephan

[NGC 1502]

1 hour ago, Nyctimene said:

Hello, Daniel,

welcome to the forum!

A 5" Maksutov is a rather specialised scope for lunar and planetary observing.  Have a look at the Skywatcher Heritage 130 P Flextube; lots of reviews, excellent optics, decent mount, cheap and versatile. Add a Seben Zoom 8-24, a Baader 2,25 Barlow and an UHC filter, and you have an excellent start with the hobby.

Stephan

 

I’m inclined to agree that a SW Heritage 130 would be good, and will allow a lower power/wider field than a Maksutov, as well as higher powers when needed. I do like Maksutovs, but they are more restricted for a nice low power, although binoculars can fill that role of course........so many choices........

Ed.

[davyludo]

Hi Daniel, 

The mak 127 is a brilliant scope - which I have recently obtained. I would echo the comments of it being more specialised towards lunar, planets and double stars. Although it is perfectly capable of allowing you to view some of the brighter and smaller DSOs.

After playing with mine for a few sessions, I realise that I love it. But that I might not have stuck with it if it had been my very first scope. It's difficult to get a low power, wide field view through it... which could make star hoping and navigating difficult, especially if you're wanting a manual AZ5 mount (unless you're only really wanting it for lunar and planets). 

If you have a good finder scope (rather than a red dot finder) then this can really help when navigating with the mak. Personally I use my mak on an AZ5 mount, with a 6x30 finder scope - I feel this is a great combination.

I started off with a startravel 102 f5 short refractor. This gives a wide field view, which gave me the chance to learn to navigate around the sky. I still have this scope and actually use it along side the mak, because they're both good at different things.

I've not used a heritage 130 myself but I've read good things, and it would give you the wider views that would make starting out a bit easier.

Good luck!!! And enjoy the hobby :-)

[alanjgreen]

Hi Daniel,

welcome. Glad you are looking at AZ mount, they are simplest and easiest to use. The scope looks like it costs around 400 pounds. 

For that budget, I would also recommend you research these 2 scopes as alternatives.

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/reflectors/sky-watcher-star-discovery-150p.html

this is a 6" reflector with goto and tracking. For the price it's great value and the goto will enable you to find objects to look at easily. You would need to budget for a power pack at extra cost.

if you want to stay manual, then the 6" dobsonian gives great value for money. 

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

Again, another great starter scope.

The Mak you suggest is a nice scope but the 6" reflector will be more flexible across a range of targets.

As for eyepieces and barlows, forget about them for now. The scope comes first. Buy the book "turn left at Orion" (full of great targets and sketches of what you see in a small scope) and use the eyepieces that come with the scope for a couple of months. Gain some experience then if you feel the need to upgrade you can do so...

Good luck,

Alan

** depending where you live, there is a great bargain here **

http://www.astrobuysell.com/uk/propview.php?view=133436

(Advert is nothing to do with me, just pointing out a great beginner bargain  )

[Geoff Lister]

Hello Daniel,

You mention the 127mm Mak., on an AZ5 manual mount. I have the same Mak., but on the Synscan GoTo mount.

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/az-goto/skywatcher-skymax-127-synscan-az-goto.html

This uses the same mount as Alan's first suggestion (above), the Star Discovery having a slightly larger mirror (150mm V 127mm) and a shorter focal length (wider field of view, but lower magnification with the same eyepiece).

A few nights ago, I was looking at Uranus, and I think that I would have struggled to locate it without the GoTo. The GoTo tracks the object, whereas you will have to keep turning the AZ5's adjustment knobs to keep the object visible, particularly at the higher magnifications.

Geoff