Absolute Beginner - 2 scope choice

[kniclander]

Reading all of the above with great interest,as I am in much the same position ,undecided about the 130 PM or Supa Trak Auto or the Dob 200p. How heavy is the Dob ? could a woman of advancing years lift it without slipping a disk ? only a short distance. Thanks .

I have a 150 skywatcher dob. It has convenient carrying handles but if you are "a woman of advancing years" I think you would struggle to carry it all at once and the 200 would be a good bit heavier. However, it is literally 3 seconds work to take the tube off the cradle and seperately they are very easy to carry.

imho dobs are best because there is no setting up time (but you will see that there are many other opinions.....)

[Astro_Baby]

I did the same as cloudyskies - got the 130PM but upgraded very quickly to a 200P on an HEQ5.

Its a good little scope and I dont think you'll be disappointed with the views. I never found the mount overly wobbly myself. I found it could comfortably handle the 130PM. It not the worlds greatest mount by any means but its a good start for sure.

[ash]

Good choice you won't be dissapointed great views of saturn, the moon, the double cluster and probably a thousand more objects.

Also try Turn left at orion to use in conjnction with the scope it's taught me a lot.

If you haven't already down load Stellarium, sorry can't do the link thing, it will show where things are in real time and it's free.

Welcome to SGL by the way :wave:

Andy

[Scribble]

Thanks Ash, I do have stellarium and its excellent, if only I could see everything outside that I can on the PC.

Skywatcher arrived today and was quickly assembled.

I took it out to view the moon tonight (was all that was visible with the cloud out there), and calibrated the red dot finderscope. The moon looked great at low magnification when the cloud momentarily cleared and despite it being very full.

Very pleased so far, just working out all the mount settings (confusing for a noob like myself), and need batteries for the motor

So far, it's all good.

[mdstuart]

Glad its working out for you...You have many years of finding new things in the sky ahead of you.

[cloudyskies]

i changed the battery holder for a 4x AA from maplin and used rechargeable batterys,most people have this size of rechageable battery and they work out alot cheaper than using D size ones.

[Scribble]

Good point cloudyskies, I may look into that but I already have 2 x D rechargeables, just need the two more.

thanks mdstuart, I hope so.

Tonight, the girls and I have been looking at Jupiter and the moons, they were very impressed at seeing another planet for the first time! (they can't wait to tell their teacher tomorrow).

Was very impressed at the telescope views, the craters on the moon were great just now (thanks to the moon filter I ordered with the scope).

Only trouble is, there's so much to look at it's deciding what to turn to first. 8)

[mdstuart]

Get turn left at orion (book) for Christmas and then you will be really overwhelmed with choice.

[stefski]

Hi Scribble and welcome to SGL

As you can see everyone's willing to give you great advice here....

Just to inundate you further, I think you've made a good choice. I used to have a Nexstar 130GT back in the day. It was great! Saw lots of stuff and reignited my interest in the hobby. Will be great for your kids too, for the reasons mentioned already.

One problem you will find is that you'll get so hooked that you'll probably end up getting an extra mortgage on your house(or, indeed, selling one of your children) to build a dome over your small lawn (you don't really need that green space anyway), erecting a 20" leviathon 'scope complete with imaging equipment and nagler eyepieces!. ...Oh well, you only live once!

Enjoy your new 'scope mate!

Stef

[Scribble]

Thanks Stefski!

The advice has been great and spot on so far.

I find myself on a morning now looking up at the stars as I get int he car to go to work wishing I had time for a closer look, or looking up at the clouds on my way home, hoping they'll clear.

I think my wife'll have something to say about upgrades like an observatory!

[daz]

If there is something that SGL'ers like doing, its spending someone else money!!

Welcome Scribble, and glad your girls enjoyed their first view of Jupiter. If they were excited by that, wait till Saturn arrives on the scene!!!