My Next Scope

[banders808]

Hello all,

I'm looking into upgrading my telescope. Currently I (My Daughter) has the Sky-watcher Heritage 76, and I have a Celestron Travel-scope 70. Both I have found to be fantastic for the backyard astronomy that me and my daughter do (On those rare cloudless UK nights).

I'm looking for something that would render a bit more detail and get closer in to the moon and planets but have the versatility for DSO.

I'd like to be able to piggy back the  travel-scope as a guide-scope or a camera for Astro-photography.

Looking at First Light Optics, I'm torn between the Sky-watcher Explorer 130M or the Skyhawk 1145P.

What are peoples thoughts on the above setup? Any other scopes I should/could consider?

 

Thanks in advance.

 

Phil

[russ]

They are two nice little scopes, I bought a 130M for my elder son many moons ago. And he loved it.

The problem are the mounts they are supplied with, the EQ1 and EQ2. Neither one is a great astrophotography option. They struggle to take the scopes they come with, let alone adding a Travel Scope 70 as a guide scope. Plus they are single axis drive only and no polar scope. A better bet would be a used 150P on an EQ3-2. Will cost the same as a new 1145P or maybe less. That way you get the polar scope, dual axis drives and a chance at some astrophotography plus a scope that pushes things a long way on from your current scopes.  

The 150P is when things start getting serious. Great views of everything and a good camera platform for widefield photography. Just a thought.

[Carbon Brush]

Good advice from Russ.

My general thought on mounts is to buy the biggest mount you can lift and handle, subject to the size of your wallet.
This gives you the most options on scope swaps or upgrades.

The mount/scope combined packages are often based around the minimum mount the manufacturer can use.
We tend to look more at optical specification than the physical details of the mount.

Some years back, some manufacturers would offer an 8" reflector (think here SW200) on an EQ3 mount. This would be quite wobbly.
Later manufacturers started putting this size scope on EQ5.
Some people these days say that HEQ5 is a minimum size for astrophotography with SW200 size scopes.

You have already established your viewing patterns. You know where you store kit and how many flights of stairs you have to deal with, etc.
An EQ5 size/weight is OK for one person to handle. Beyond that you might want to split mount and tripod.
Try to get a hold of and lift a few mounts to get the idea.

Hope this helps,

David.

[ScouseSpaceCadet]

I'm unsure of your budget but if you're looking at new 130M models then it's just shy of £200.

For that price, consider putting the astrophotography aspirations on the backburner and look for a 2nd hand good condition 200mm Dob or buy a new Skywatcher Skyliner 150p Dob for £207. A bigger step up from the travel scopes. Easy for both of you to use and you will see much more than you do now.

Or, as already suggested look for a decent used 150p/eq 3-2. There's usually a clutch of these available on Ebay for around £150.

Edited August 9, 2019 by ScouseSpaceCadet

[Vulisha]

Think about Sky-Watcher StarQuest-130P, and if portability is more important then Heritgae Flextube 130p, or above mentioned 150p if better views are more important. They all have parabolic mirrors while 130m has spherical if i remember correctly 

Edited August 10, 2019 by Vulisha

[banders808]

Thanks for that advice guys. Much appreciated.

Not sure if my viewing is serious enough yet to warrent a 150, however, it is food for thought and will depend on how much budget I can arrange.