Telescope recommendation for planetary observations

[Bongo]

Hi,

I bought my first 'scope (a Meade Lightbridge 130mm reflector*) a couple of years ago. I didn't really know what I wanted to look at in particular when I bought it, and it looked like a good general purpose starter scope. As such, I've been pretty happy with it. 

As I've been using it, I've become more interested in planetary observation than anything else. With my current setup I've been able to just about make out the rings of Saturn. I can see Jupiter and the Galilean moons and, on a good night with a little imagination I can make some banding out - the red spot has so far eluded me! Mars is a twinkly red dot.

So, I'm thinking of buying a new telescope with the hope of seeing more planetary 'stuff'. What sort of specs/scope should I be looking at to see a noticeable improvement on what I have? I guess a budget would be up to around 500 GBP.

Any suggestions would be welcome.

Thanks!

* This one, to be precise https://www.skyatnightmagazine.com/reviews/telescopes/mead-lightbridge-mini-130-dobsonian/

[Cosmic Geoff]

If you already have a 130mm reflector, and have a limit of £500, that rather limits the possibilities.  For viewing planets you want maximum aperture, so £500 worth of Dobsonian would give the greatest aperture for your money.

Any sort of scope other than a short focal ratio achromat will serve for planetary viewing, but a Newtonian gives the greatest performance per £.

If you want to see lots of planetary detail, try imaging. It often shows far more than a novice observer can see. Not cheap or instant, but satisfying.

[Bongo]

7 minutes ago, Cosmic Geoff said:

If you already have a 130mm reflector, and have a limit of £500, that rather limits the possibilities.  For viewing planets you want maximum aperture, so £500 worth of Dobsonian would give the greatest aperture for your money.

Any sort of scope other than a short focal ratio achromat will serve for planetary viewing, but a Newtonian gives the greatest performance per £.

If you want to see lots of planetary detail, try imaging. It often shows far more than a novice observer can see. Not cheap or instant, but satisfying.

Thanks for your reply. Maybe I'll have to save up for a little longer then. Imaging might keep me busy in the meantime though - good suggestion.

[bosun21]

I’d go for the Skywatcher 127 Maksutov go to. It’s a fantastic little planetary scope that will show good detail on the planets. You will see definite banding on Jupiter and Mars as a defined planetary disc as opposed to a twinkly red star. It also has the benefit of tracking which will allow you to observe at high magnification without having to constantly nudge your telescope. It’s also good for lunar and some of the brighter DSO’s like planetary nebula. Out of curiosity have you checked the collimation of your 130 ?

[Bongo]

Just now, bosun21 said:

I’d go for the Skywatcher 127 Maksutov go to. It’s a fantastic little planetary scope that will show good detail on the planets. You will see definite banding on Jupiter and Mars as a defined planetary disc as opposed to a twinkly red star. It also has the benefit of tracking which will allow you to observe at high magnification without having to constantly nudge your telescope. It’s also good for lunar and some of the brighter DSO’s like planetary nebula. Out of curiosity have you checked the collimation of your 130 ?

Thanks for the advice. Yeah, I've checked the collimation. 

[doublevodka]

@Bongo I have a Skymax 127 on an AZ-GTi and it's a good little scope, easy setup, one handed carry from the shed to the garden, works fine on AA batteries (and before other chime in, yes I know I should use a powerpack, but it's easy and works for me). They turn up on the used market quite a bit around the £300 mark if you have patience. It is a really good grab-and-go setup and could be complimented with another OTA further down the line if you wish.

It is pretty decent on planets, but with your intended budget and previous experience of dobs, I'd maybe go another way.

For example - https://www.firstlightoptics.com/celestron-starsense-explorer-series/celestron-starsense-explorer-8-dobsonian.html

The Starsense Explorer system seems to be well-loved around here (have a search for it and you'll see what I mean), plus it's a bit more versatile for other objects due to the larger size, faint fuzzies will be brighter, this is also going to give you a better resolution on planets, so more detail will be visible

Alternatively for a little less money and no Starsense - https://www.firstlightoptics.com/stellalyra-telescopes/stellalyra-8-f6-dobsonian.html - again well loved on the forum, also has some nice upgrades compared to a standard dob such as a dual speed focuser and RACI finder.

Just a couple of things to mull over, good luck with the search!

[dweller25]

For visual and within your budget, another vote for the StellaLyra 8” F/6 Dob.

It will be like your 130 but on steroids 🙂

Edited July 12, 2023 by dweller25

[Spile]

4 hours ago, dweller25 said:

For visual and within your budget, another vote for the StellaLyra 8” F/6 Dob.

It will be like your 130 but on steroids 🙂

Another vote for an 8” Dobsonian from me. You missed a fantastic used one that was posted on here last week. However it was snapped up by my friend 😀

[Mr Spock]

I'd go for the 8" too. At £449 this StellaLyra is much better quality than the Skywatcher at £389 https://www.firstlightoptics.com/stellalyra-telescopes/stellalyra-8-f6-dobsonian.html

[Clarkey]

Depending on how strong you are feeling and how much storage room you have, you could consider a larger 10" dobsonian. There are lots for sale second hand - and generally well looked after. Also, within your budget.

Maybe slightly better condition than the one I brought from Fleabay. However, it was only £90. Little bit of fettling and 9 year olds paint job and TA DA!

 

[Nik271]

I'm a bit surprised that your 130mm Dob is not showing decent views of the planets. Jupiter can be tough due to the low contrast of its belts but Saturn is an easy target, at x100 -x150 magnification and 130mm aperture you should be able to see a lot of detail.

If 5 inch Dob is not working for you, try the 5 inch Mak Cass as suggested already. My 127 Skymax shows tons of detail on the planets and in good seeing I can push it to x250 magnification with no problem. It's small, compact so does not need a beefy mount, you can even put it on a manual alt az, though the GTi is the recommended package.

Edited July 14, 2023 by Nik271

[Louis D]

My 6" f/5 GSO Newtonian also shows plenty of detail on the planets.  My 127mm Mak also does, but with longer cool down time.  Even my 90mm APO shows Saturn's rings and Jupiter's bands quite clearly.  Something's amiss with your 130mm Newt.  Perhaps it's mirror is not properly figured?

[Ratlet]

Can I ask what the issue is with the view you are currently getting?

I had awful views of the planets with my 130pds.  If I had to describe them it was like someone had printed a picture on thin paper and was shining a light behind it.  I could see the planet but it was like someone had turned the brightness waaaaay up.

If that's the issue you are having, you should try stacking a cheap yellow filter and a moon and skyglow filter (so screw them together and use them with your eyepiece.  @Louis D suggested this to me last year and it made a massive difference.  I jokingly call it a 'Baargain Contrast Booster' because it massively improves the contrast of the view but costs very little (unlike the Baader contrast booster).

And to be clear, when I say cheap I mean cheap.  I went for the cheapest filters I could find on eBay that had threads on both sides of the filter.  Think it cost £10 for both.

The only downside is a slight yellow cast, but it's very subtle but personally I find it a small price to pay for the massive improvement in views.

[Jules Tohpipi]

Another thumbs up for an 8 inch dob. I used to have one and could see bands on Jupiter easily, the Great Red Spot, moons passing across the disc and shadows of the moons passing across Jupiter. In fact Jupiter is my favourite target.

If the dob is too big to store then the SW Mak 127 is also a good shout. For any given eyepiece it will show near as dammit the same magnification as the 8 inch dob (a bit higher actually), albeit with mildly less resolution due to the smaller aperture (but still good).  

If I were buying a dob again, would almost definitely go for the Celestron Starsense version this time. Because nearly all the user reports heap praise on the StarSense system for locating objects easily. Otherwise finding fainter targets manually under heavily light-polluted skies can be nigh on impossible.

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/celestron-starsense-explorer-series/celestron-starsense-explorer-8-dobsonian.html

 

Edited July 16, 2023 by Jules Tohpipi

[neil phillips]

8" F6  dob all day long.  A 6 " F8 dob would give the 5"  Mak some stiff competition too.

[DirkSteele]

While I am unfamiliar with the optical quality of your current scope, I am a little surprised by your description of what you are seeing with the planets. It sounds like the scope may not be collimated. Before spending your money, have you made sure the collimation is spot on?

 

Second, atmospheric conditions can really spoil the view of subtle planetary details. Have you found some nights quite a bit better than others?

 

If the answer is yes I have checked it and it is good, and you are well aware of the vagaries of seeing, then I would concur with the larger Dob or if you prefer the easier to grab scope, the 5” Mak.

 

Edited July 16, 2023 by DirkSteele
Typo

[ScouseSpaceCadet]

On 12/07/2023 at 14:33, Bongo said:

Hi,

I bought my first 'scope (a Meade Lightbridge 130mm reflector*) a couple of years ago. I didn't really know what I wanted to look at in particular when I bought it, and it looked like a good general purpose starter scope. As such, I've been pretty happy with it. 

As I've been using it, I've become more interested in planetary observation than anything else. With my current setup I've been able to just about make out the rings of Saturn. I can see Jupiter and the Galilean moons and, on a good night with a little imagination I can make some banding out - the red spot has so far eluded me! Mars is a twinkly red dot.

So, I'm thinking of buying a new telescope with the hope of seeing more planetary 'stuff'. What sort of specs/scope should I be looking at to see a noticeable improvement on what I have? I guess a budget would be up to around 500 GBP.

Any suggestions would be welcome.

Thanks!

* This one, to be precise https://www.skyatnightmagazine.com/reviews/telescopes/mead-lightbridge-mini-130-dobsonian/

£500 will get you an 8" Dobsonian with spare change and you should see a great deal more detail.

However, you have not described the eyepieces you're using. Besides poor collimation, bad eyepieces can drastically ruin the view. As Louis D,  Nik271 and DirkSteele have already mentioned, a 130 mm f6 Newtonian should be performing better than you describe.

Like many others, my first telescope was a 130mm Newtonian and it was that good for me I was inspired to try other telescopes because of curiosity rather than because the instrument was 'bad'. I remember my first view of Jupiter knocked my socks off and Saturn was a 'wow' moment too.

Before you go spending money on another telescope really check the collimation is spot on and you have one or two suitable mid range eyepieces rather than relying on the packaged eyepieces.

 

[Second Time Around]

One other reason why your scope may not be performing properly is that you're looking at objects that aren't far above rooftops.  The heat rising from houses can really wreck images.

[RobertI]

I would definitely try and work on the performance of your existing scope just to narrow down where the problem is, as I think it should be doing better than you describe. What sort of magnification have you been trying? How does it do on tight double stars? 

[Stu]

I would agree with others that your scope should be doing better than it appears to be. I’ve owned a Heritage 130p f5 dob and it gave excellent planetary views. Mars near opposition showed some very nice surface detail and the polar cap too. Jupiter’s belts, shadow transits and GRS are all observable and Saturn’s rings should also be clearly visible with the gap between rings and planet obvious, plus potentially the Cassini division on good nights.

All this assumes you are observing the planets at the best times ie when they are transiting the meridian and at their highest. Mars varies a lot depending on how close it is to Opposition.

Check collimation, make sure it is cooled and try to avoid observing over houses or from tarmac or concrete surfaces as these give off all the heat they have stored during the day which can ruin the views.

[Bongo]

On 15/07/2023 at 07:19, Ratlet said:

Can I ask what the issue is with the view you are currently getting?

I had awful views of the planets with my 130pds.  If I had to describe them it was like someone had printed a picture on thin paper and was shining a light behind it.  I could see the planet but it was like someone had turned the brightness waaaaay up.

If that's the issue you are having, you should try stacking a cheap yellow filter and a moon and skyglow filter (so screw them together and use them with your eyepiece.  @Louis D suggested this to me last year and it made a massive difference.  I jokingly call it a 'Baargain Contrast Booster' because it massively improves the contrast of the view but costs very little (unlike the Baader contrast booster).

And to be clear, when I say cheap I mean cheap.  I went for the cheapest filters I could find on eBay that had threads on both sides of the filter.  Think it cost £10 for both.

The only downside is a slight yellow cast, but it's very subtle but personally I find it a small price to pay for the massive improvement in views.

That's an interesting suggestion - I might give that a try.

[bosun21]

Are you only using the supplied eyepieces that came with the telescope? I believe that your telescope comes with a 26mm and a 9mm. With your focal length being 650mm this will only give you a maximum of 72x magnification which is not high enough for planetary observation. I would buy a 2x barlow lens and perhaps a 5mm eyepiece. These will increase the magnification and will give you better views of the planets. I would also double check the collimation of the telescope. There's numerous guides to this on YouTube as well as here on SGL.

[Bongo]

On 15/08/2023 at 16:59, bosun21 said:

Are you only using the supplied eyepieces that came with the telescope? I believe that your telescope comes with a 26mm and a 9mm. With your focal length being 650mm this will only give you a maximum of 72x magnification which is not high enough for planetary observation. I would buy a 2x barlow lens and perhaps a 5mm eyepiece. These will increase the magnification and will give you better views of the planets. I would also double check the collimation of the telescope. There's numerous guides to this on YouTube as well as here on SGL.

Thanks. Sorry for the delay in responding. My eyepieces are as listed in my footer - I do have a 5mm BST and a 2x Barlow.

Looking at everyones comments, I think the main issue might be my location. In my garden, although it's pretty dark, I have low buildings all around so I'm always looking over *someone's* roof. I think a trip into the local countryside with the scope may be an idea. 

I'm fairly confident with the collimation.