Hi I'm new to the forum

[chessboxing]

Hi there I'm new to the forum and recently purchased my first telescope the skywatcher heritage 130p. I read the reviews and watched many helpful videos before making my purchase. I managed to buy a second hand 130p boxed with instructions practically new for the great sum of £100 . To this I have added a celestron omni 2x Barlow ,a celestron moon filter and a starguider bst 8mm .also I made a foam shroud and did  the ptfe mod on the helical focuser.  After the last few nights I have mainly been focused on Mars and jupiter with jupiter being the most impressive.  Managed to get a good transit across the field of view last night using the 8mm bst and the 2x omni with plenty of detail ,moons were pin sharp cloud bands visible . I was so impressed even though my feet and hands were cold . Would it be worth adding any extra eyepieces and what would you recommend for different viewing experience.  I'm a total beginner so any advice would be much appreciated.  

[chessboxing]

Focusing in on Mars using night cam on my phone 

[chessboxing]

Focusing on jupiter using night cam for photo

[chessboxing]

The bst and  2x omni 

[happy-kat]

It's a great telescope I've enjoyed the views in mine. I also enjoyed using a 16mm lens.

[christiano]

Looks like you’re having fun!

Welcome to the forum.

[cajen2]

You're off and running with a vengeance! Good choice of first scope and upgraded eyepiece too. To recommend more EPs, we need to know your approximate budget and whether you intend to concentrate on any particular type of target: lunar/planetary, deep sky, double stars, etc. It's also handy to know if you need glasses for observing.

[Floater]

Welcome. Hope you have lots of fun. 🙂

[barbulo]

Hi and welcome to SGL

[PeterCPC]

Hello and welcome.

[Sunshine]

A big welcome to SGL! I’m sure other who have used this scope will chime in with recommendations, thanks for joining and yes! Jupiter is a load of fun to look at, especially those transitions!.

[wookie1965]

A warm welcome to SGL

[Astro_Dad]

Welcome to the forum! A great ‘scope there and you look to be having an excellent time with it already. 

[chessboxing]

Thankyou for all the warm welcome messages.  I've been mainly viewing planets and the moon so far and have achieved some fairly decent views from my back garden of Mars, jupiter and tonight caught a glimpse of the wonderful Saturn before it disappeared below the roof tops .Viewed with the 8mm bst and then dropped the Barlow in . I'm not sure if I could get the 5mm bst to further magnify the image or if it wouldn't be worth it as I already have the 8mm ? I have also used the 25mm super eyepiece that was provided with the scope and that gave a nice view of plaides stars . I'm honestly not that clued up on what sort of lenses to use for different viewing experience like the deep sky and double stars but I would like to see such sights as the orion nebula . I don't wear glasses either for any recommendation for eyepiece and budget wise probably looking ballpark £60 per eyepiece.  

Thanks again for all your replies 

[chessboxing]

My photo of the moon from Thursday night through the lense using my phone 

[Xsubmariner]

Welcome to the forum. Such enthusiasm is great to see, have a great time exploring this wonderful hobby.

[Astro_Dad]

I often use a 32 mm Plossl with my Heritage 150p - this is a relatively low cost way of obtaining a wider field of view than the stock 25mm, useful for framing larger deep sky objects such as The Pleiades well. 
You are pretty well covered with an 8mm plus Barlow giving you up to 162.5x power.   There will be times you can go higher than this - dependent on the prevailing conditions, atmospheric turbulence etc. but not very often. For these occasions, the 5mm plus Barlow will enable you to achieve the stated  theoretical max power potential of 260x (with Barlow). Not necessarily one to rush into but could be worth experimenting at some stage. 

[chessboxing]

Thanks for the replies i have had a look at the 32mm super plossl ep on flo and it seems like a reasonable price . Handy to know that it works well with your 150p astro dad . I think I'll give it a go and pass on the 5mm bst for now . I'm hopefully going to get out one night this week to some darker sky's and see if I can get some better views of Saturn 

[dave34]

welcome to the lounge.

[chessboxing]

On 09/12/2022 at 13:57, Sunshine said:

A big welcome to SGL! I’m sure other who have used this scope will chime in with recommendations, thanks for joining and yes! Jupiter is a load of fun to look at, especially those transitions!.

I was thinking if I keep watching for long enough I'll see the great  red spot .then thinking about how long it takes for jupiter to full rotate. Then watching the jupiter episode of the planets on BBC I player . 😄

[Dave Lloyd]

Hi and welcome. 

[Stu]

Welcome @chessboxing

 there are two mods which are worth doing which will improve things. The first is wrapping some PTFE tape around the threads of the focuser which tightened it up nicely.

 The second is to make a shroud to cover the gap between the bottom OTA second and the upper assembly. This does cut down glare very well, but also prevents your breath going across the light path which can affect the views. Plenty of posts and YT videos on how to do these mods.

 Enjoy the scope. I’ve had one and was impressed by the views it gave 👍

[chessboxing]

Well I decided to put the scope in the car last night and head out to some darker sky's.  Wrapped up warm but wasn't prepared for how cold it was. My eyes were watering and my fingers were numb . Still managed to focus on a few planets and could see the milky way above which was cool . The moon was also amazing looked like a sunset at first rising out of the cloud then massive and orange as it rose into the sky . Tried to get a picture through the lense with my phone but my hands were so cold . This was the best I could get . 

[chessboxing]

I wasn't put off too much by the cold so was out again in my slightly warmer and sheltered garden for some stargazing with the 25mm ep that came with the scope and caught this camera phone shot of pleiades 

[chessboxing]

Oh and I saw 3 of the geminid meteor shower tonight so all in all a cold but good week so far