Skymax 127 help

[blackthorn]

Hi

Just starting out with my new hobby. I purchased a Skymax 127, the scope came with the standard eye pieces. I have been able to use the scope of a couple of times. I have to admit that I was not to happy with the results. After reading a number of reports I thought that the results would be better. Do I need to upgrade the eye pieces for better results, if so what should I go for?

Would I be bet off with a refectory telescope? With a budget of £500 what should I be looking for? Any help would be greatly appreciated

[GazOC]

The Skymax 127 is a very good scope. I'm not sure what eyepieces are included with the scope these days but they are usually OK without being great.

What problems are you having?

[johninderby]

Replacing the diagonal can also help a lot. The standard diagonal that comes with it isn't that bad with a 25mm eyepiece but after all it's just a cheap diagonal worth £10.00 or £15.00. A very good 1.25" dielectric diagonal would set you back about £55.00 but is well worth it. And yes you can also go to a 2" diagonal, but that will be quite a bit more and not that much benefit on the 127.

John

[part timer]

Please do not buy any extra kit just yet.

Your scope is one of the best available in that price range. The eyepieces are not the best, but they are not terrible either. Astronomy is not as simple as just the telescope. You have probably encountered one of two things.

1) a poor sky quality

2) High expectations

Many people expect top see things that they see in photographs. This is not possible with the human eye.

As the previous response said, it would be good to hear what specific problems you have had.

A good place to start is the moon and also the planet Saturn is easy to find at the moment. You should get good views of these even with bad skies and the eyepieces you have currently.

[sn00p]

see my comments here...

http://stargazerslounge.com/astro-lounge/101451-does-look-ok-you.html

Im still waiting for that perfect clear night when i can use some higher power eyepieces to get some good clear magnification.... at the moment ive only been able to get as low as 9mm with crystal clear focusing...

I have not tried Mars yet with my 127 but when i did in the ETX70 its was NO more than a pin ***** slightly red/orange... VERy disapointing... Im told at the moment we dont have the best opposition for Mars and of course saturns rings are edge on and waffer thin right now giving it a much smaller look.... i say hold out get some more practice and spend NOTHING unless you think the items purchased will be used with your next upgraded scope.... ive bought loads of ***** and most have been a waster of time effort and money lol.... BEST option is go travelling to a nice dark site best money is spent on the fuel to get their

[eddy]

I have this scope to, and have been nothign but impressed with it, Ive seen lots of things ranging from M42 the Orion Nebula, with great contrast on the Nebulae, to Saturn, crystal clear view of the rings etc, The moon is amazing, Lots of clusters, M35 upto M38 you just have to be patient, know where to look and how to look at it.

To be honest, ive found the Synscan a waste of time and far easier using a Starmap/Stellarium to find objects, but then again cant say ive actually aligned it properly!

All the best

Eddy

[Space Cowboy]

Had my 127 for nearly a year and only had to purchase one other eyepiece....a 32mm for wider field of view. Don't blame your tools until you have enough experience to know how good they are

[pvaz]

I can assure you the atmospheric conditions have a huge impact on the results.

When I got my 1st scope I had a great 1st session on Jupiter I soo 4 moons, 3 bands and a very sharp image, although smaller then what I was expecting. Then I had 3 lousy observing sessions where jupiter just seamed blurred out and I could barely make 1 band. That's when I first experienced the difference "seeing" makes!

Try the moon and saturn as suggested above. This 2 targets tend to be a little less sensitive on bad seeing conditions. Saturn will be spectacular but probably smaller then you expect (at about 200x it looks like a pea at arms length, or smaller, depending on the pea ).

Another VERY important thing is to learn to see! You need to let your eye adapt and just observe the same target for periods of at least 15min. You get small instants of sharpness (known as "pockets of seeing") and your eye starts to get detail out. Another very useful tricky is to do a rough sketch, you notice more details when you're trying to sketch what you see.

Don't buy more EPs until you had at least 10 sessions! The only extras you really need are:

- Warm cloths

- Red light torch to read charts, sketch, etc, without loosing dark adaptation

- cheap Neutral density filter for the moon (it's really bright on a scope)

- if you get any stray light in your observing spot use a towel over your head to avoid it. (I use a towel and an eye patch:icon_pirat:)

[BazMark]

Mine came with 10mm, a 25mm and a Kson 16.8mm orthoscopic thrown in free. The 16.8mm has good eye relief and gives just under 89x mag on it's own or 178x when used with the deluxe 2x barlow that came with it. With good seeing this is enough to just begin to see banding on Saturn. I've only had mine a couple of months so I've not yet trained it on Jupiter but I can't wait. (Daft statement I know as I've got no choice really)

[hemihaggis]

practice practice practice ...takes the first few nights to get used to the scope ..

i have saw prob 50 galaxies in one night ..plus nebulas, clusters , ect and mars , saturn , venus , mercuary and took some good pics of the moon !!