Lots of DSOs with Heritage 130P

[Mark at Beaufort]

Wonderful sunny day yesterday so early evening I left out my Heritage 130P on its Pronto mount in the hope of seeing the Nova again. Just after 10pm I went outside to see a fantastic transparent sky. I leave a SvBony 10-30mm zoom permanently in the OTA so I moved the scope to pick up M52. Went straight to the cluster and identified the Nova. I estimate that it was still around mag 8 similar to 2 nights before.

The sky was so good I decided to view DSOs without reference to a star atlas and going just by memory. I added the Celestron Ultima DUO 17mm and 10mm EPs and started with M1. Really good view of this DSO. Moving from West to East starting with Auriga these are the objects I viewed. M38, M37, M36, M35, NGC 2158, M67, M95, M96, M105, NGC 3384, M66, M65, NGC 3628, M104, NGC 4494, NGC 4565, M53, M3, M51, M63, NGC 4485, M101 and finally M13.

The Heritage 130P is a brilliant, small and lightweight OTA and works well on an Alt/Az mount. I cleaned the primary and secondary mirrors a week ago so this was a first test. I would add that all my neighbours lights were off and no light pollution from east to west. Great night.

[John]

Great session Mark

 

[Stu]

Amazing what can be seen with a little Heritage 130p under good skies and in the right hands! Great night Mark 👍👍

[Mark at Beaufort]

38 minutes ago, Stu said:

Amazing what can be seen with a little Heritage 130p under good skies and in the right hands! Great night Mark 👍👍

Thanks Stu - what I like to do is to compare this scope with a quality 4" APO on DSOs. Have you ever done this comparison? I know there is no comparison when observing Planets, Moon or doubles

[Zermelo]

4 hours ago, Mark at Beaufort said:

M38, M37, M36, M35, NGC 2158, M67, M95, M96, M105, NGC 3384, M66, M65, NGC 3628, M104, NGC 4494, NGC 4565, M53, M3, M51, M63, NGC 4485, M101 and finally M13

Impressive list, and amazing powers of memory!

[Stu]

5 hours ago, Mark at Beaufort said:

Thanks Stu - what I like to do is to compare this scope with a quality 4" APO on DSOs. Have you ever done this comparison? I know there is no comparison when observing Planets, Moon or doubles

I’ve been surprised by the performance of both 130 and 150p Mark, so I suspect they may well outperform a 4” Apo on DSOs. I should be able to give this a go at some point if that would be of interest.

[RobertI]

Great haul Mark. I was also lucky enough to get a wonderfully clear night last night and the neighbours played ball and a couple of street lights are out - heavenly! The H130P is a great little scope - it must easily have the best aperture to portability ratio around. Mine is a perfect match for my SkyProdigy mount - I may venture forth tonight if I can stand the arctic weather! 
 

I actually did a comparison of my H130P with my Tal 100RS (not an apo though) and I posted the results here: 

Although the Tal did well, I think if I had done more comparisons on faint fuzzies the 130P would have been the clear winner - I have had some stunning views of the Veil during the summer with this scope. 👍

Edited April 6, 2021 by RobertI

[Mark at Beaufort]

2 hours ago, Stu said:

I’ve been surprised by the performance of both 130 and 150p Mark, so I suspect they may well outperform a 4” Apo on DSOs. I should be able to give this a go at some point if that would be of interest.

Thanks Stu I would like your opinion. I fancy buying another 4" apo but 90% of my time is viewing DSOs - so is it worth it?

I have just bought a lovely case to transport the 130p so it really has become my travel grab and go.

[Mark at Beaufort]

39 minutes ago, RobertI said:

Great haul Mark. I was also lucky enough to get a wonderfully clear night last night and the neighbours played ball and a couple of street lights are out - heavenly! The H130P is a great little scope - it must easily have the best aperture to portability ratio around. Mine is a perfect match for my SkyProdigy mount - I may venture forth tonight if I can stand the arctic weather! 
 

I actually did a comparison of my H130P with my Tal 100RS (not an apo though) and I posted the results here: 

Although the Tal did well, I think if I had done more comparisons on faint fuzzies the 130P would have been the clear winner - I have had some stunning views of the Veil during the summer with this scope. 👍

Thanks Rob that is much appreciated. I enjoyed your post on the comparison between the Tal and the Heritage. I can't believe the quality of the Heritage for the money.