Finally made the decision and got my telescope

[CharlyLeyequien]

So, even though I live in a Bortle 7 city, I decided to get a Sky-Watcher Heritage 130p, got a phone adapter(Which I will not even use at first, but I wanted to have it already lol) and I am getting it on the 20th, early christmas present

Now, I found several pet friendly camping locations that I am thinking of going to, to camp and stargaze, so that is going to be interesting

If you have any advise regarding this specific telescope(Or anything regarding dobsonians in general) it is more than welcome

I am thinking of crafting a light guard, was thinking of using a PVC tube, gluing some fabric to it, or something of the sort, and adapt it as good as possible, but if you have any advise on that as well I also appreciate that

I know it comes with 25 mm and 10 mm 1.25" SUPER Eyepieces and I want to get, maybe a 4" but that is going to be in the future, for now I will just use those ones

I am so frigging excited about this

Thanks for reading me rant like a 10 years old boy lol

[GrumpiusMaximus]

Congratulations!

I've heard of people using PTFE tape on the helical focuser to make it a little stiffer to turn but other than that, the 130P seems to get universal acclaim as a scope.

Regarding any scope (and apologies if you've heard this one before!) make sure that you align the red dot finder on a distant object during the day (e.g. on a chimney or a tree) as re-aligning at night can be a real pain.

All I can really say is go and enjoy yourself and enjoy the clear skies!  I know the excitement you feel!

[doublevodka]

This video may be helpful, congratulations on the purchase!

 

[woldsman]

Congratulations on getting a first scope. Camping + scope sounds a great way to spend Christmas - a lot less stressful than the festive season generally. The 130p is an f5 scope. Life would be a bit easier with an f8 reflector because it is a lot more tolerant of collimation. For visual though you don’t need to be exact but I think you may still need to take some collimation tools with you on the trip. A collimation eyepiece and a Cheshire are low cost options. Use the collimation eyepiece to check the secondary mirror is aligned to the focus tube (it will be circular with the three mirror clips visible - Cheshires are too long to see the clips).  Then use the  Cheshire to align the secondary and primary mirrors (ie align the centre spot on the primary mirror). Reason for mentioning this is because transporting  your scope on a camping trip will probably put it out of collimation - it will still be usable but the performance will degrade somewhat. Anyway, Happy Christmas!

[Nikolai De Silva]

Congratulations on your purchase! It is a well recommended scope!

A 130p f5 Telescope will give great views. I also have a Sky-watcher Starquest 130p and the optics of your heritage and our one is the same, I think. Very handy small powerful scope! You'll have nice views of the Moon, with all lunar features prominent! Jupiter is nice with two bands clearly visible and Saturn with its rings. Good views of some DSOs. I love Pleiades! Like diamond dust!

You'll enjoy it. These are some views of the Moon. YOU CAN SEE BETTER THAN THESE PICS (this is a bad phone camera!)

Clear skies!

[Tiny Clanger]

In the USA the Heritage 130 is sold under the name Astronomers Without Borders OneSky Newtonian, there's an over 200 page discussion of it on this US site with lots of ideas and images posted by owners.

https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/463109-onesky-newtonian-astronomers-without-borders/

[Sunshine]

Congratulations on your 130P! I’m sure you will love it, especially when under darker skies when camping, and when speaking about telescopes, we all sound like children, enjoy!.