SkyWatcher Heritage 76

[ac0203]

OK to start off with I am a new newbie to using a telescope of any sort. I have always been interested in looking at the stars and have been doing some OU courses on astronomy. My gf bought me a SkyWatcher Heritage 76 reflector telescope recently and I have been having a look at what I can see in the night sky (when it is clear which is not very often at the moment!!)

The details of the telescope are:

Primary mirror diameter = 76mm

Focal Length 300mm (f/4)

Eyepieces = 25mm and 10mm Super MA (1.25")

Alt-Azimuth Mount

My question is what sort of detail should I be expecting with this telescope? The first time we tried it we had a full moon to look and using the 25mm eyepiece it definitely looked better than using the naked eye but if I am honest not much better really...

Mars sticks out like a sore thumb in the night sky at the moment but using the 25mm or the 10mm eyepiece it still just looks like a bright star through the telescope.

I have read a few posts on here about focusing and aligning and letting the telescope aclimatise but I wanted to know, using my spec of telescope what I am expecting to see. I understand that pictures you see in books are from outside our atmosphere and from probes to the planets etc so not expecting anything like that. At the moment though I am not getting anything that a pair of binoculars wouldn't get!!

Is that all I am expecting or is their something (based on peoples experience of starting out) that I am missing??

The reviews and write-up for the telescope implies I should see a lot more detail than I am.

Any hints, tips and advice would be greatly appreciated. I would be very cool to see something other than slightly brighter specs in the sky...

ac

[kniclander]

I bought one for my kids (who are 5). It is quite nicely made and considerably better than toy store scopes on wobbly mounts but it comes with very poor eyepieces and the main mirror is not user adjustable so don't expect too much from it. You should be able to see saturn's rings and jupiter's moons and bright clusters (pleiades/ hyades) will look quite nice. i actually though the moon was very nice through it too - way better than naked eye. If you are interested in astronomy, you need something bigger.

ps Mars is actually quite difficult to get good views of even in a much bigger scope as it is so small.

[Cornelius Varley]

The telescope has a very short focal length (300mm) so even with a 10mm eyepiece the magnification is only 30x. The 25mm will give you 12x magnificationn which is probably not much more than your binoculars. To see any real detail on Mars you need a lot more magnification than your telescope will allow. My advice to you would be to start saving for a larger telescope, something that can reach at least 200x magnification.

Peter

[Doc]

I agree you will soon become frustrated by the lack of magnification in this scope, ideal for children but for anyone who is serious about astronomy the scope is to small.

[ac0203]

OK cool, thanks for the comments, much appreciated. I am sure at some point I will upgrade to a better scope but for now this one will have to do. As a compromise I was thinking about getting a 4mm (or some similar size) eyepiece and perhaps a Barlow lense to give me some extra magnification?? kniclander, you say that the eyepieces that come with it are not so good, do you have any recommendations?

Cheers

[astro mick]

I certainly would,nt invest in a 4mm eyepiece,or in deed a barlow.The 4mm will give such a narrow field of view,you will proberbly have great difficulty in keeping the object in the field of view.Also at this magnification the image will just be a blur.Adding a barlow will double the problem.

I would in vest in a quality 25mm eyepiece,check out all the suppliers,they have a wide range of good eyepieces to suit all budgets.

Go no lower than say 15-17mm focal length,and check out the wide angle eyepieces,they have very good eye relief.

On a final note,dont expect too much from this scope,but enjoy what it will give.

regards.

mick.

[kniclander]

I certainly would,nt invest in a 4mm eyepiece,or in deed a barlow.The 4mm will give such a narrow field of view,you will proberbly have great difficulty in keeping the object in the field of view.Also at this magnification the image will just be a blur.Adding a barlow will double the problem.

I would in vest in a quality 25mm eyepiece,check out all the suppliers,they have a wide range of good eyepieces to suit all budgets.

Go no lower than say 15-17mm focal length,and check out the wide angle eyepieces,they have very good eye relief.

On a final note,dont expect too much from this scope,but enjoy what it will give.

regards.

mick.

er, that's not right really. The focal length is only 300mm so a 4mm e/p would be quite usable at 75x. tbh, almost anything would be an improvement on what you have and would make quite a difference. You often see people selling 2ndhand skywatcher 10mm e/ps for next to nothing (as they come free with skywatcher scopes). Also, any "plossl" design would be ok. It's difficult to know what to recommend as a decent e/p will cost what your scope cost but you can always use it in your new scope:).

[AndyH]

A 4mm eyepiece and a 2x barlow sounds decent. 75x and 150x.

or

5mm eyepiece and a 2x barlow. 60x and 120x.

Will a barlow work okay with this scope?

Plenty of reasonably priced eyepieces and barlows out there, that would suit.

Andy.

[ac0203]

Well after I posted that one about getting a 4mm and barlow I did do a bit of reading and came to the same conclusion as kniclander. If I get a couple of good eyepieces now I can then also use them with a new scope as and when I get one. Also I think the plossl design seems to be quite popular.

So now I am thinking that a good plossl 10mm and 25mm and barlow would be best. I would use the 10mm with the barlow instead of buying a 4mm eyepiece. Does this give you the same effect?

Why would the image just be a blur at higher magnification? Is that to do with the scope or the eyepiece? I will get my head around the science bit soon so I will stop asking newbie questions eventually... lol

[AndyH]

If it were me, I'd do this.

[ To work out magnifications, you divide the focal length(FL) of the scope by the eyepiece FL(number in mm printed on 'piece)

eg: 300/25=12x ]

25mm eyepiece = 12x .................you should be able to get one off someone on these boards cheaply. Lots of folk have spare ones that should be better than the one you have?

5mm eyepiece = 60x ...................I'd recommend one of these. 1.25" 5mm 60 Degree Explorer Dual ED Eyepiece on eBay (end time 05-Mar-10 10:44:36 GMT)

Cheap, good quality, comfortable to use.

2x barlow = 120x ..........Again I'd recommend this one....... Tal

Place the 2x barlow in the scopes focuser, then fit the 5mm eyepiece in the barlow.

This will double the magnification of the eyepiece used.

I realise that these will add up to more than the scope cost, BUT, these items can be used in any future, bigger scope, if you go down that road.

Cheers,

Andy.

[ac0203]

Cheers thanks for that Andy. I think I will do that. From reading a few posts it looks like a quite a few of you get your stuff from Sky's the Limit.

It's not a problem that the eyepieces cost more than the scope, I would rather get some good ones to use on a better scope down the line. Besides, the scope was a present so I've not spent any money at all yet

ac