Some thoughts on the NexStar 130 SLT – where does it fit?

[beka]

I managed to borrow this scope from a friend. Initially I was interested in using it for DSLR astrophotography, thinking it would be better than the 102 SLT refractor I had because it would be free of chromatic aberration. However I learned that DSLRs would not come to focus even before I tried - without modifying the OTA or using a barlow. I then wondered if it might be good on planets. On Jupiter using a 8mm to 24mm Celestron zoom eyepiece and 2X barlow (162.5 time magnification) the view was quite good. I could see details in the bands and it was free of CA. However I could tell from the moons that collimation was not prefect. I had tried some time back but was never fully satisfied with the result. Saturn was more disappointing. I could barely make out the Cassini division and some banding. I didn’t try to see its moons but I think I would have noticed them if they were obvious. I did not try any deep sky objects on this night but some months back I had tried to view the Orion Nebula and the stars of the Trapezium. Four stars were crisp but I could see no sign or the E and F stars. I will continue to check this scope for deep sky but I already reached some conclusions.

Visually on planets my old FirstScope 114 900mm FL f8 is better. The longer focal length makes it easier to get higher magnifications and I guess the f8 focal ratio makes it easier to collimate. The 130 SLT scope does track but for me the manual FirstScope slow motion controls were better at high magnification.

Visual deep sky - of course my CPC 1100 is vastly superior except for wide fields. Star fields in Orion and Southern Cross were very pleasant in the 130 SLT. So for wide field low magnification visual, this scope is better than the either of these two.

Casual astrophotography I can do with the 102 SLT refractor without any modification. CA is prominent but it can be reduced in processing. The 130 SLT has the potential to be better but I would need to buy a dedicated astro camera (but somewhere I read that mirrorless cameras can come to focus without modification).

My final thought is that it is a decent scope to have - if you have other scopes! Good for grab and go for quick wide field views. I would not recommend it as a good all rounder for a beginner. For that my opinion would be a 4.5 inch f8 reflector on a good manual mount – I don’t know how well a dob will track at 200x mag, but why does no one make these on a good equatorial or alt-az mount?

Thanks for reading!