First scope, Opinions?

[Astorix]

Thanks for the great comments everybody! really helped!

[russ]

I see from your sig you are awaiting the arrival of the 130P......excellent stuff indeed. Look forward to the first light report.

[Astorix]

Hi Russ,

Thankyou! i can't wait! will hopefully get it in two weeks!

Have heard so many good things!

Quick question though, can you give me a rough estimate of the size of saturn, jupter and mars? as in, how large will it look through 130x mag?

[Astorix]

because i worked out what me TFV would be from a 10mm ep and on a field of view calc i found, says jupiter would fill my ep which i find hard to belive .....

[John]

because i worked out what me TFV would be from a 10mm ep and on a field of view calc i found, says jupiter would fill my ep which i find hard to belive .....

You are right to disbelieve that !.

It's very difficult to describe the apparent size of objects though a scope. This thread asked the same question about a similar scope:

http://stargazerslounge.com/astro-lounge/101497-size-jupiter-saturn.html

Mars is tiny at the moment and getting smaller - even through my 10" scope at 340x the disk is small and details pretty hard to make out.

Saturn and Jupiter (when it's in the sky in a few months time) are larger but will still appear suprisingly small until you get used to the views.

[russ]

I've recently acquired a 90mm achro refractor and been using a similiar power to observe Saturn. It looks remarkably good at 130x, showing a nice sharp (small but perfectly formed) image, rings clearly defined, pencil thin shadow of the rings on the disk and some banding. You won't be disappointed.

I wouldn't even bother turning the scope towards Mars to be honest. At 130x it won't show a single thing except a very very tiny disk. Mars really does now demand 200x minimum and even then it's hardly impressive. At the weekend we were pushing 400x with a C11 to get a respectable size disk and any detectable features.

Jupiter returns in the summer at a much higher elevation and is going to be mindblowingly brilliant this year. 130x will be ample for a excellent view of the largest planet.

[Moonshane]

I think to visualise the size of things in the view is difficult as others have said especially as things often 'seem' bigger as you are concentrating on them. I reckon that a good sized image of Mars would be about the size of a chick pea at arms length if what you see with your eye is the whole field of view so as others have said, quite small. Saturn and Jupiter are a 'lot' bigger (maybe the size of a butter bean). Can you tell I'm hungry?? By the way, I thing the Orion Nebula is about the size of a nice juicy fried egg in a large pan so some things will fill your view and eg the Beehive will more than fill it.

[coxie]

just to throw my 2 cents in i have a 130 skywatcher, im pleased with it, saturn was great and like the others have said i wouldnt even bother with mars till its closer

[Astorix]

Thanks guys! very good comments!