Hi :) Help please.

[Nem94]

Hi all. My name is Nem and I have a question you will have heard a hundred times before I am sure.

My 11/YO daughter has taken a keen interest in astronomy and has asked for a scope of her own. I know the basics, no 'toy shop' stuff, fleebay cheapo's and the like but other than that I am at a loss.

I have been offered the following. And although there is an Fleebay one, to my untrained eye it seems not to be the cheap Chinese rubbish.

SkyWatcher 150p EQ2, being sold by an upgrader so just the bare essentials with it. £150.

------------------------------------------

Helios Explorer 150 Newtonian Reflector Telescope.

Specification:

Magnification range: x30, x60, x75, x150

Diameter of Primary Mirror: 150 mm

Telescope Focal length: 750mm (f/5)

Eyepieces: 10mm & 25mm Plossls (Multi-coated)

Diffraction Limited Optics.

Direct SLR Camera Connection

X2 Barlow Lens (with camera adaptor)

Built-in Polar Alignment scope

6x30 Finderscope

Parabolic Primary Mirror

EQ3-2 Deluxe Equatorial Mount.

Aluminium Tripod with Accessory Tray.

Instruction manual

Extra lenses – 3x Barlow Lens and a lens with 21, 14, 7 mm calibrated on its side.

Another upgrader sale, and want offers, what would this be worth?

And finaly the fleebay offering.

>>HERE<<

All advice welcome on the above or any other suggestions?

Thanx.

[Nem94]

How does the Celestron Astromaster 130EQ MD rate?

[peeceeTal2M]

Hi, Skywatchers are a good make and a lot of people on here have them in one size or another. A 6" would make a decent starter scope and will show your daughter the planets and larger dso objects. however i'd say 150 for one is a bit too much as you could get a brand new one for £219

http://www.firstlightoptics.com/proddetail.php?prod=150eq32

i'd steer clear of that ebay scope though as they are rubbish.

[Nem94]

Thanx.

Yes, I have discounted the ebay one as I am told it is actualy an unbranded Sylvan. So if that make wasn't bad enough, this one doesn't even qualify for their mark! LOL.

What would be a fair offer for the SW do you think? It comes with a moon filter, 3 astronomy books and the lenses it 'came with' what ever that means.

Thanx again.

[stev74]

Hi Nem94 welcome to SGL,

Both Skywatcher and Celestron are very good makes for beginners personally I wouldn't go for the unbranded scope on ebay. With either scope you should get good views of the moon and planets including Saturns rings and Jupiters 4 biggest moons. Also some deep sky objects (DSO's) but they are a bit harder to find.

The Skywatcher 150p has the bigger aperture 150mm (6 inches), it has more light gathering power so you can see fainter objects a bit better than the celestron which is 130mm (5 inches). The celestron has a driven mount which means once you locate an object it will track it for you. Other than that I think they are quite similar.

Both are on equitorial mounts which means you have to level and polar align them. This can seem a bit difficult but if your just doing visual observing you basically just need to point the mount north. There is lots of helpful info on here about that and other subjects like collmination. Astro babys (a SGL member) guides are very helpful for beginners.

My kids are 9 and 10 and love looking through my scope and I'm sure your daughter will have a great time. You will probably need to do a lot of the set up to start with though so I'm just trying to give you a bit of a heads up. I hope I'm not putting you off, I'm still quite new to all this and there's a lot to learn. Would also recommend some software like stellarium - it's free to download. You can set it for your location and it'll give you a 360 degree view of the night sky in real time.

The other option would be a good set of 10x50 binoculars which a lot of people recommend as a good way for beginners to get into the hobby. Also there's no set up time with bino's and you can familiarise yourself with the night sky a bit easier.

Hope this all helps you, it's advice that I've had from members on here, people are really friendly and can help whatever stage your at. Don't be afraid to ask.

Cheers

[Nem94]

Fantastic advice guys, exactly what I was after, thanx.