In praise of the Skywatcher ST 120 mm refractor..

[Guest]

I brought my recently acquired ST 120 mm to Dorset this weekend. Here I have an 8 inch Newtonian which I normally use.It stays in Dorset.But last night I used the ST to stargaze in a really dark and clear sky. It did not fail. Numerous star clusters, the Double Cluster,M81, M82 and the whirlpool galaxy were bagged. The 8 inch Newtonian always performs. But the ease of setup and use including a comfortable sitting position makes the ST a venerable performer, a joy to use with a shorter tube length. It does have it's limitations. The view of Albireo was good. But the colours of the two stars were not as true as seen through a Newtonian or an ED refractor. This colour rendition of these stars would be improved with a comparable in performance F/5 130 mm or 150 mm Newtonian. The background Milky Way stars with the ST were seen as small pin points closely gathered together.I did'nt notice this so much through a Newtonian. The lack of central obstruction is a benefit with the ST 120 mm refractor. Being ideal for low power and wide field stargazing.I do enjoy my 80 mm Equinox refractor for my dose of tight pin point and more  colour correction on stars. I am currently looking for a smaller Meade ETX Maksutov or Celestron Maksutov for planetary viewing. So my arsenal of telescopes will consist of reasonably modest sized instruments. These can be handled by my AZ GTi goto mount which is fitted to a sturdy EQ5 tripod.

So there is lots to be said in praise of smaller instruments which invite you to use them frequently due to their ease of use. Yes there were times last night that I felt the need to further resolve deep sky objects. But there is always the trade off that having a 12 inch Dobsonian would give a more detailed view. But how often would you use the heafty 12 inch over more modest  telescopes.

I may even fall for the 6 inch ST version. Or the F /5.9 version.But it would be a beast.

Edited May 31, 2021 by Guest
Added text.

[Mr Spock]

I have the normal sized 120 and they are surprisingly good at deep sky. I had a very memorable view of M42 with it.

[Guest]

1 hour ago, Mr Spock said:

I have the normal sized 120 and they are surprisingly good at deep sky. I had a very memorable view of M42 with it.

It's getting me to wonder what the view would be like through a 150 mm F/5 or F/8. Probably too large for me to enjoy though.

[ScouseSpaceCadet]

The ST120 was my first refractor and it didn't fail to hook. Like Mr. Spock, M42 was great through the Startravel and my first view of m81 and M82 from light polluted home was through it.

The Startravel was imho much better for deep sky compared to my 130mm and 150mm newtonians. Wide field there was no contest. Adding a 2" diagonal and quality 30mm 68° eyepiece transformed even more the wide field capability. The excellent contrast and pin perfect stars across most of the field of view was a delight. Almost like binoculars.

The ST120 also excels as a (rather large) day time spotter.

It was only sold it due to a lack of storage space and feeling the scope was too heavy for the AZ-GTI.

The saving grace of owning and then selling the ST120 was discovering how much I missed it and the journey lead me to my current Altair Starwave Ascent 102ED. An excellent (relatively) low cost instrument that is thoroughly enjoyed every time it's put out.

Grumpy like you I'd love a 150mm. The mounting requirements put me off. If I had an observatory and pier with a hefty mount, a 150mm refractor would be on the list...

 

[Guest]

4 minutes ago, ScouseSpaceCadet said:

The ST120 was my first refractor and it didn't fail to hook. Like Mr. Spock, M42 was great through the Startravel and my first view of m81 and M82 from light polluted home was through it.

The Startravel was imho much better for deep sky compared to my 130mm and 150mm newtonians. Wide field there was no contest. Adding a 2" diagonal and quality 30mm 68° eyepiece transformed even more the wide field capability. The excellent contrast and pin perfect stars across most of the field of view was a delight. Almost like binoculars.

The ST120 also excels as a (rather large) day time spotter.

It was only sold it due to a lack of storage space and feeling the scope was too heavy for the AZ-GTI.

The saving grace of owning and then selling the ST120 was discovering how much I missed it and the journey lead me to my current Altair Starwave Ascent 102ED. An excellent (relatively) low cost instrument that is thoroughly enjoyed every time it's put out.

Grumpy like you I'd love a 150mm. The mounting requirements put me off. If I had an observatory and pier with a hefty mount, a 150mm refractor would be on the list...

 

I to have been tempted by the 102 mm F/7 ED refractor. It would be light enough to use frequently. Give good all round views.

[ScouseSpaceCadet]

9 minutes ago, Grumpy Martian said:

I to have been tempted by the 102 mm F/7 ED refractor. It would be light enough to use frequently. Give good all round views.

102mm f7 apo/ed is a definite sweet spot. Portability, easy to mount, excellent contrast, nice round stars, super colour rendition and very little to no chromatic abberation. Decent at wide field and when conditions allow, upping the magnification while maintaining the quality view. Pretty much great at everything except really deep observing, requiring big apertures.

Edited May 31, 2021 by ScouseSpaceCadet

[Gonariu]

In 1999 I bought one of the first short refractors, the Konusuper 120 (achromatic refractor 120/1000) with which in the summer of 2003 I had made some beautiful observations of Mars. Of course, like the first chinoiseries it had something that didn't convince me. I diaphragmed it to 90 mm for a lateral chipping of the achromatic doublet and I made some beautiful observations of Mars last autumn, even on the Moon at 250 - 333X our satellite looks fabulous, when this winter or in the first part of the spring was cold (then the "cold" we have in central Sardinia will make those who live in England smile) I dressed in two sweaters and a heavy jacket (to avoid freezing) and made a quick observation of the Moon. In this month that the temperature has definitely risen (even + 30ºC), I'm waiting for the weather to stabilize, it's a bit too oceanic.

[nightfisher]

some years back i had the Helios branded ST150, and it was a very nice scope, i gave it a carbon vinyl wrap and dual speed crayford focusser and a big 9x50 finder, good scope

[Chris]

4 hours ago, Grumpy Martian said:

It's getting me to wonder what the view would be like through a 150 mm F/5 or F/8. Probably too large for me to enjoy though.

The 150 f/8 is on my dwindling list of affordable scopes I've never tried, it's just mounting the things despite how cool it would look once mounted. The Evo 120mm is probably the better trade off, and your ST120 is well in the grab and go territory so a great compliment to your Dob  

This is literally why you can't be into scopes and just have one scope! 😆 Although if I was forced at gun point to only own one scope it would be a 4" f/7 Apo.     

[Soligor Rob]

Considering my dodgy knees I don't have a problem moving my Evostar 150ED about, I have the EQ6 tripod with extension and the Altair Sabre mount.

The 150ED lives in a Geoptic bag which makes moving it around so easy, whilst the Coffin size Aluminum case is fine for world wide travel it's just to unwieldy for everyday use.

A simple lift into the Losmandy dovetail clamp and you're good to go.

[Alkaid]

I use the 102, totally agree that these ST’s are great bang for buck. At low powers I find mine just great.