Skywatcher Explorer 200p - advice on next steps in observing and imaging

[Steve Reed]

I am finding my way with an Explorer 200p on an EQ5 mount. I have stock eyepieces (Super 10, Super 25 and a 2x Barlow). Last night I managed to get a decent view of Saturn. Seeing the planet clearly for the first time was quite a moment! With views of planets improving over the next couple of months, I want to make sure I can get the best possible views and maybe try and get a view photos. I assume an eyepiece upgrade will help with visual observing. Can anyone with this scope suggest an upgrade that will specifically help with viewing Saturn, Jupiter and Mars? Thinking of basic astrophotography, I like the look of the ZWO ASI 120 MC-S. What additional kit would I need to marry this to my scope and have half a chance of getting some acceptable planetary photos?

Thanks in advance.

Steve

 

[Cosmic Geoff]

2 hours ago, Steve Reed said:

I like the look of the ZWO ASI 120 MC-S. What additional kit would I need to marry this to my scope and have half a chance of getting some acceptable planetary photos?

A Barlow lens to increase the effective focal length - planets are small.  The barlow may also help to get the camera in focus - something which is by no means guaranteed with an unmodified visual Newtonian. Also consider buying an atmosphere dispersion corrector (ADC). You will also need at minimum a RA motor drive, and software to capture and process 'lucky image' videos to get a sharpened image. e.g. Sharpcap 4 + Registax 6.

Any eyepiece should be an improvement on the Super 10.

[Steve Reed]

2 hours ago, Cosmic Geoff said:

A Barlow lens to increase the effective focal length - planets are small.  The barlow may also help to get the camera in focus - something which is by no means guaranteed with an unmodified visual Newtonian. Also consider buying an atmosphere dispersion corrector (ADC). You will also need at minimum a RA motor drive, and software to capture and process 'lucky image' videos to get a sharpened image. e.g. Sharpcap 4 + Registax 6.

Any eyepiece should be an improvement on the Super 10.

Many thanks. Presumably the 'stock' barlow I have won't cut the mustard and would need upgrading. Anything I should look out for?

Thanks

 

Steve

 

[wookie1965]

Flock the tube that will increase contrast. 

[Cosmic Geoff]

59 minutes ago, Steve Reed said:

Presumably the 'stock' barlow I have won't cut the mustard and would need upgrading.

Maybe. I had the irritating experience of buying a mid-priced Omni barlow and finding its performance was totally identical to my stock Sky-watcher one.

[ScouseSpaceCadet]

33 minutes ago, Cosmic Geoff said:

Maybe. I had the irritating experience of buying a mid-priced Omni barlow and finding its performance was totally identical to my stock Sky-watcher one.

 

1 hour ago, Steve Reed said:

Many thanks. Presumably the 'stock' barlow I have won't cut the mustard and would need upgrading. Anything I should look out for?

Thanks

 

Steve

 

There are much better barlows out there that really do leave the stock bundled barlow standing. Obviously there's also a price to pay, however used bargains can be found. My GSO 2.5x ED barlow was £15 used and an absolute bargain.

The same rule applies for most equipment. For instance my Opticstar PX-35C planetary camera (retailing at £99) was a tenner from Ebay. Far from the best out there but it got me going.

Keep an eye out for BST Starguider eyepieces especially 5-15mm. They come up for sale regularly used as people upgrade to wallet busters. 😯

 

 

[Dr Strange]

6 hours ago, Steve Reed said:

I am finding my way with an Explorer 200p on an EQ5 mount. I have stock eyepieces (Super 10, Super 25 and a 2x Barlow). Last night I managed to get a decent view of Saturn. Seeing the planet clearly for the first time was quite a moment! With views of planets improving over the next couple of months, I want to make sure I can get the best possible views and maybe try and get a view photos. I assume an eyepiece upgrade will help with visual observing. Can anyone with this scope suggest an upgrade that will specifically help with viewing Saturn, Jupiter and Mars? Thinking of basic astrophotography, I like the look of the ZWO ASI 120 MC-S. What additional kit would I need to marry this to my scope and have half a chance of getting some acceptable planetary photos?

Thanks in advance.

Steve

 

Steve

Congratulations on joining the astronomy community!

I would suggest the Explore Scientific 82 degree eyepiece line. For what you are looking for I would recommend the 14mm, 11mm, and either a 8.8 or 6.7mm eyepieces. That will give you the views you are looking for and will make you feel like you fell into the telescope and are swimming in space. I am not a fan of barlows. They cut down on the light gathered and that, to me, is a big negative. 

On the subject of imaging front I would strongly encourage you to hold off on that for at least 6 months if not a year. The reason for this is because AP (Astro Photography) is a very complex part of the hobby and a very expensive one. That hold off will let you know your night skies better, your equipment better, and give you more experience overall. Too many people (myself included) jump in to AP with both feet very early on and a good number exit the hobby in frustration because of it. I would suggest a cell phone adapter which will let you use your cell phone instead of a dedicated camera to capture images.

But if you are dead set on the AP planetary route then the ASI 120 is a good affordable option. Once you get started in this you will find that at a minimum you will want to upgrade your focuser. Skywatcher makes a great telescope and the Explorer 200p is a good telescope. However in the case of most Newtonians the focuser tends to be the weak point in the chain and most people upgrade them. This can become expensive in the grand scheme of things so please be aware of that.  

Edited August 3, 2022 by Dr Strange

[bosun21]

59 minutes ago, Dr Strange said:

I am not a fan of barlows. They cut down on the light gathered and that, to me, is a big negative. 

A good quality barlow will result in a negligible amount of light loss , and indeed in my opinion can even improve the image produced by some eyepieces. Regarding upgrading your eyepieces as previously stated the Explore Scientific 82 & 68 degree eyepieces are a great upgrade, although costly. If wanting to save money then the well tried and tested BST Starguiders are a solid choice, particularly the 5 - 8 - 12 - 15mm. What I discovered was that I wished I had bypassed the middle of the road eyepieces, and instead went straight to the better quality ones straight away. I would have saved a lot of money. Good luck with whichever direction you choose to go in, but replace your super 10 ASAP.

[Steve Reed]

Many thanks to those that have replied to my questions. Lots of great advice. I think I need to sort the eyepieces out first, get some observing under my belt, and then think about imaging. Seeing the rings of Saturn with my own eyes for the first time was truly awe inspiring and I am looking forward to my astronomical journey!

Steve

 

[Spile]

I own the 200P Dob and have written up a number the upgrades and viewing strategy I have found works for me. Link is below.

[Steve Reed]

On 04/08/2022 at 21:23, Spile said:

I own the 200P Dob and have written up a number the upgrades and viewing strategy I have found works for me. Link is below.

Many thanks - what a fantastic resource!

[malc-c]

The 200P really excels at  nice bright views of star clusters and brighter DSO's.  It's a fast scope having an f5 focal ratio, so not best suited for high magnification views of planets.  Using a webcam and stacking the stock 2x barlow with an revelation barlow I was able to get this result back in 2011.

 

Another night and slightly better seeing 

 

 

But it was a fair bit of hard work and visually the image was very dark when viewed with a low power eyepiece as the scope was effectively an 20cm f20 scope.

Edited August 6, 2022 by malc-c

[Paulo Campeone]

Hi, I’m about 8 months into owning a Skywatcher 200p and the EQ5-Pro mount and feel brave enough to move onto connecting to my laptop and exploring Stellarium. Anyone got any tips on the hard wiring? No matter what variety of cables and connection outlets I combine my mount doesn’t show in Stellarium, ASCOM or EQMOD. 
As the mount has no direct outlet to connect too I have tried using the ports on both the Synscan hand set and the hand control system that it plugs into but neither have given me any joy.I know this has probably been asked a million times before, I apologise in advance but would appreciate any advice at all.

thanks.

[Clarkey]

You need to add your scope to the telescope settings in Stellarium. From memory, from there it is quite simple although I am using a EQDIR cable not USB.

[Paulo Campeone]

I have tried to do that, it says it’s connecting continuously. I’m fine at getting to that point, I’m just at a loss as to why the mount isn’t visible to the laptop. Where does your cable connect to on your computer if not via a usb? I may try that out, see if I have any joy.

There’s a pic below of the cables I’m trying to connect with.

thanks for replying by the way. 👍🏻

 

 

[Peter-uk]

I do not have this mount, but my understanding of connecting this to your PC/laptop would require a connection cable from your hand controller

to your PC/laptop.  However, you need the correct cable, (using the incorrect cable I believe you risk permanent damage to your mount/handset).

I think it is called a serial communication cable, this cable will have an RJ11 socket on one end and a USB at the PC end and it will have a converter chip somewhere along the cable. Maybe this one

Myself I would use the SynScan Wi-Fi Adapter, once that is plugged in it will emit its own Wi-Fi signal and you just connect to that, saves all the wires.

 

Edited August 17, 2022 by Peter-uk

[Paulo Campeone]

Nice one Peter, I think I’ll definitely go down the wireless route, the cables are proving problematic to say the least.

I’ll post again on here when I’ve tried it.

thanks again.

[Peter-uk]

On my NEQ6 PRO i use the synscan wi-fi adapter it comes with two Adapter cables nether worked i had to use the hand controller cable, also the ssid it transmitted did not say synscan was cd-*****.
(SSID is the name your device sees when it scans)

On your laptop you will need "Windows program: SynScan Pro App, Version 1.19.20" to make the wifi conection
(or Android App: SynScan Pro App, Version 2.0.6 if you want to use your phone to control the mount)

When thats all in place take a look at connecting to Stellarium

[LaurenceT]

14 hours ago, Paulo Campeone said:

Hi, I’m about 8 months into owning a Skywatcher 200p and the EQ5-Pro mount and feel brave enough to move onto connecting to my laptop and exploring Stellarium. Anyone got any tips on the hard wiring? No matter what variety of cables and connection outlets I combine my mount doesn’t show in Stellarium, ASCOM or EQMOD. 
As the mount has no direct outlet to connect too I have tried using the ports on both the Synscan hand set and the hand control system that it plugs into but neither have given me any joy.I know this has probably been asked a million times before, I apologise in advance but would appreciate any advice at all.

thanks.

Hi Paolo

Please forgive me if I'm misunderstanding what you are trying to do, I'm an absolute newbie to this astro business. However I do have the same mount as you and I've been setting it up this morning to try and solve your problem and learn something myself. Normally I don't use the hand controller, I use an Asiair instead so this is a learning curve for me too. Firstly you have to connect the hand controller to the mount via the hand control port on the the left of the controller. Secondly ditch the cable that you have connected to the auto guide port, it's not required. The USB port on the Synscan handset is a USB 2.0 type B. You must connect the hand controller to your laptop via the USB port on the hand controller using one of these cables:

USB C Printer Cable, USB C to USB B 2.0 Cable, Compatible with Printers, Scanners and other accessories (1m) : Amazon.co.uk: Computers & Accessories

I have been following this video this morning:

https://youtu.be/nWoTr6CcFb4

It helped me and may help you.

[malc-c]

You have a new revision synscan board as identified by the USB -B port.  You're best bet it to use a standard USB - A to B cable (active if longer than 3m).  Connect it to the mount and then the PC and power up.  Windows should detect the new hardware and place a virtual com port in device manager.  If it shows a yellow exclamation mark you may need to download the Prolific driver for a USB to TTL serial driver from either SW website or Prolific website.  Once this is installed and the COM port is no longer showing any warnings, open the properties and set the transition speed to 115200 baud.

You don't need to connect any cables to the handset.  In fact the handset can be removed completely as you should not use it when using a PC to control the mount.

You will also need ASCOM platform installed to allow all applications to communicate through it, and I recommend using EQMOD as the "driver" for telescope control.  - Configuring EQMOD has been covers time and time again on the forum, so no pint in repeating things here, just use the search function to throw up previous posts.

 

[LaurenceT]

33 minutes ago, malc-c said:

You have a new revision synscan board as identified by the USB -B port.  You're best bet it to use a standard USB - A to B cable (active if longer than 3m).  Connect it to the mount and then the PC and power up.  Windows should detect the new hardware and place a virtual com port in device manager.  If it shows a yellow exclamation mark you may need to download the Prolific driver for a USB to TTL serial driver from either SW website or Prolific website.  Once this is installed and the COM port is no longer showing any warnings, open the properties and set the transition speed to 115200 baud.

You don't need to connect any cables to the handset.  In fact the handset can be removed completely as you should not use it when using a PC to control the mount.

You will also need ASCOM platform installed to allow all applications to communicate through it, and I recommend using EQMOD as the "driver" for telescope control.  - Configuring EQMOD has been covers time and time again on the forum, so no pint in repeating things here, just use the search function to throw up previous posts.

 

I did wonder why I was connecting the handset..........