Help Upgrading 130EQ

[hairykopite]

Good afternoon all, i was wondering if i could get some help.

My son recently received an astromaster 130eq, after doing some reading it seems it would be best to upgrade the stock eyepieces but this is where i get confused.

How would you guys go about upgrading ideally withen a budget of about £100.

 

Thank You In Advace

[joe aguiar]

I didn't think he would go that much for eps that scope I think even getting plossls or super plossl is good enough.

Meade makes the HD60 ep which is about $99 to $119 cdn so that's  probally $60UK to 65UK under your budjet and still saving money.

A celestron omni plossl are about $30 to $35 UK

a better ep than both of these if you want to go up to your $100UK price is at badder hyperion eps BUT in a way im thinking that may be too good for the scope UNLESS you plan for the future keep those eps when u upgrade the scope later.

joejaguar

Edited January 8, 2020 by joe aguiar

[laudropb]

Hello and a warm welcome to the SGL. Have you tried the supplied eyepieces ? I would expect that the 20 mm ep will be ok, though the 10 mm might not be that good. The BST starguiders come highly recommended on this site. They cost just under £50 each. The series does not have 20 or 10 mm models , but you could try the 18 and 8 mm eps. Perhaps try the 8 mm first and see the improvement it gives.

Edited January 8, 2020 by laudropb

[knobby]

Hi, I hope your son enjoys the scope, I'd say just use the eyepeice you already have for a while to make sure he is into it. If you do want to try new ones then keep a look out on ukastrobuysell, look for BST starguiders (aprox £35 used) or celestron exel lx slightly more expensive.

If he gets into planets then a 7 or 8 mm will give decent magnification whereas if he gets into nebula / deep space then a 32 mm would be useful.

ps. being a West Ham supporter I found it very hard giving you advice judging by your user name 🙂 ... Liverpool supporter ?

example of used bargains ... https://www.astrobuysell.com/uk/propview.php?view=156492 and where to look

[hairykopite]

Hi thank you all for your help, i will take a look at an 8mm possibly.

When it comes to nebula/deep if i was to use the 32mm would i be able to see much or am i pushing the scope capabilty too much to view anything 

[Alan64]

A 32mm Plossl serves two purposes: for the widest view of the sky possible, in helping you to find objects in the sky, and in tandem with the finder; then, for the widest views of the Milky Way, the Pleiades, and the galaxy in Andromeda.

[rwilkey]

21 hours ago, hairykopite said:

Hi thank you all for your help, i will take a look at an 8mm possibly.

When it comes to nebula/deep if i was to use the 32mm would i be able to see much or am i pushing the scope capabilty too much to view anything 

The sky is your oyster, anything is possible with your scope and some well chosen eyepieces, I would recommend the BST StarGuiders, found here: https://www.firstlightoptics.com/bst-starguider-eyepieces.html
But don't rush, see how you get on with the supplied eyepieces first.  Clear skies!

[Geoff Lister]

5 hours ago, Alan64 said:

A 32mm Plossl serves two purposes: for the widest view of the sky possible, in helping you to find objects in the sky, and in tandem with the finder; then, for the widest views of the Milky Way, the Pleiades, and the galaxy in Andromeda.

Hello, and welcome to SGL.

I tend to use my 32mm Plossl eyepieces to "find stuff" and then use the smaller 'mm' eyepieces to concentrate on a target.

I found my Astromaster 130EQ difficult to "master", but once you have understood the mechanics of an equatorial mount, the views are very good (when the clouds permit). It is worthwhile putting "Astromaster 130 EQ video" in your favorite search engine, and looking at a few of the YouTube videos.

Geoff

[Aramcheck]

We started out with a similar 130M EQ-2. I'd also suggest using the supplied eyepieces, & perhaps consider getting a 9x50 right angled viewfinder + telrad, if like me you find the red dot finder pretty much useless. Ours was a different manufacturer, so the Astromaster permanently mounted Star finder may be better than the red dot finder we had.

Cheers
Ivor

PS: A cheap ND filter for the moon + light pollution filter also worth getting.

Edited January 9, 2020 by Aramcheck
Forgot filters...

[Swoop1]

My first scope was a Skywatcher 150 on an EQ and I found the supplied 10mm and 25mm eyepieces served me well along with the X2 barlow that came with it. In the subsequent couple of years I have added to the collection with an 8mm and a 28mm with a wide field of view.

The small mm eyepieces are great for lunar and planetary and the wider eyepieces make the deep sky observing better- targets easier to find and explore and then switching to the highre magnification 10 or 8mm for getting in tighter.