The best eyepieces for planetary viewing for the skywatcher heritage 130

[Owen_pryce9317]

Hi all,

I recently bought the skywatcher heritage 130p as my first scope after being into astronomy for years, but never having the money to buy a scope. The scope comes with two eyepieces: a 10mm which gives 65x and a 25mm which gives 26x. I also bought a 2x Barlow with the scope. 

This morning I got my scope out properly for the first time to look at Jupiter and Saturn and to be honest wasn’t expecting a lot with the stock eyepieces after reading reviews on them. However I was blown away using the 10mm eyepiece. I could see nice detail on Jupiter and all Galilean moons. I could see the rings of Saturn clearly and very faintly caught a glimpse of Titan.

After this I’m really interested in buying a planetary eyepiece to make these views even better. I’m also interested in a low power eyepiece to look at DSO’s. I was just wondering if anyone could give me any advice on which eyepieces to buy as there is so many! A little bit out of topic here but is it possible to see Neptune with the skywatcher heritage 130?

[johninderby]

What’s your budget?

The BST Starguiders are highly regarded for the price.

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/search/for/starguiders/

You should be able to detect the tiny dot  that is Neptune but that’s all it will be just a dot.

Edited April 24, 2020 by johninderby

[John]

Your scope will show all the planets except for the ex-planet Pluto.

As John says above though, Uranus will look like a tiny pale blue spot and Neptune an even smaller blue / green spot even it high magnifications. You can actually see these things in 30-50mm binoculars if you know where to point them and which star-like point is which.

Saturn and Jupiter and Mars and Venus, when favourably placed are the most interesting to view through a scope. Venus is at a lovely phase right now and very easy to find in the western sky after sunset. Mars is currently tiny but will get quite a bit larger as it nears its opposition in the Autumn.

The BST Starguider eyepiece mentioned by John are a very good step up from the eyepieces that are supplied as stock with scopes.

 

[CraigT82]

The heritage 130p was my first scope in 2011 and I still have it, it's a great little performer. My first EP upgrades were the BST eyepieces mentioned above and they are also great for the money. I'd go for the 5mm to give you 130x mag. 

[Mark at Beaufort]

Hello Owen and welcome to SGL. I have the Heritage 130P as well which I use as my quick grab and go telescope. The BST Starguider EPs have had good reviews by members on this forum and they are reasonably well priced.

You will see lots of interesting objects with this scope including the Planets. The other night I had a good view of the Comet C/2019 Y1 (Atlas) using a zoom eyepieces.

[Owen_pryce9317]

Hi everyone thank you so much for your quick replies! I’ve had a look at the BST ep and I will buy both the 5mm for the planets  and the 18mm for DSO. My next target will be Venus (tonight if the weather agrees). Again thank you all for you comments and will order them when pay day comes around!

[johninderby]

Venus is very bright and a variable polarising filter will help a lot with observing it. The are specialist Venus filters but very expensive.The variable polarising filter is a cheap option and also,can be useful for lunar viewing. 

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/moon-neutral-density-filters/astro-essentials-variable-polarising-moon-filter.html

[happy-kat]

I really like the 16mm maxvision Inn this telescope and one was listed on here yesterday, I'm not attached to the seller

[johninderby]

The seller has withdrawn the 16mm Maxvision. 🙁

Edited April 24, 2020 by johninderby

[Owen_pryce9317]

1 hour ago, johninderby said:

Venus is very bright and a variable polarising filter will help a lot with observing it. The are specialist Venus filters but very expensive.The variable polarising filter is a cheap option and also,can be useful for lunar viewing. 

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/moon-neutral-density-filters/astro-essentials-variable-polarising-moon-filter.html

I did purchase a moon filter with the scope, but haven’t had chance to use it due to the moons phase. Will give it a try on Venus though. Thank you for the tip!