Celestron NexStar 102GT

[banjaxed]

Does anyone have any views or comments on these telescopes as I have a reasonable chance of obtaining one ?

[johninderby]

The NexStar 102 is best for widefield use and kept at fairly low magnification. Not really that good at planetary observing as  CA (false colour and fringing) become a problem if you try and use high magnifications. The mount is OK though if not overloaded.

So basicly it comes down to what you want to observe. 

For the moon and planets one of the mak versions will give great views but not being wide angle not as usefull for DSOs.

The 130 version is a small Newtonian and good at widefield views and still good on planets etc. However unlike the Mak and Newt will require some collimation to perform well.

[banjaxed]

Thanks for your comments, maybe I will keep looking.

[johninderby]

Always a tough question to answer when starting out as in how the heck am I supposed to know what I it is I want to look at yet. ?

Good idea to ask for advise here first before making a potentialy expensive mistake.?

 

[banjaxed]

21 minutes ago, johninderby said:

Always a tough question to answer when starting out as in how the heck am I supposed to know what I it is I want to look at yet. ?

Good idea to ask for advise here first before making a potentialy expensive mistake.?

 

I couldn’t agree more, I had an option to buy one but I am in no hurry as I will be visiting a nearby astrological society hopefully next week.

[johninderby]

Great idea to vist an astronomy society meeting and actually get to  see the scopes in the flesh so to speak. ?