Newbie's First Scope Test

[milkyjoe]

Hello to all.

I apologise if I'm posting too much on here, but I would just like to share my new scope review with everyone for anyone who is thinking about buying a new telescope.

After what seemed like marathon of telescope research during the past month I placed my order for a Sky-Watcher Startravel 102 on an EQ1 mount from FLO on Sunday evening (15/08/10). I thought I'd give them a quick ring on Monday morning to check everything was in order, but after a few attempts to phone FLO, I got an answerphone message so I sent an email and received a reply within the hour from a nice chap called James, who apologised and was very helpful.

First Impressions:

The scope arrived the next day by FedEx to my office in a huge box, almost as big as my sofa!! Everything was well packaged and there was no sign of any damage. I had a quick look through all the boxes to make sure nothing was missing, and everything looked good.

The scope is much bigger than I had imagined and I'm glad I hadn't ordered the 150 version as I live in a small house and haven't got room for a monster scope!! I had to wait until I got home before I could start assembling the scope. When I got home I laid all the boxes on my sofa and unpacked all the components (there are quite a few!). Fortunately, you are provided with an instruction booklet and a telescope 'user guide'. Within 30 minutes (only looking at the instruction booklet a few times) the scope build was complete. The EQ1 mount and tripod are (in my opinion) solid enough for a beginner. I played about with the controls to familiarise myself with it, it didn't take long.

I took the scope upstairs and while I was eating my tea I noticed the moon was up in the southern sky.. so, like a kid in a sweet shop, I rushed upstairs to have a look. I gathered the eps, barlow and sd all supplied with the scope and popped the 25mm wide angle long eye relief into the sd and peered into it (the eps btw have no markings so not sure how good they are!?). After fiddling with the focus I was presented with a beautiful, crisp, bright image of the current half-moon; I could easily make out some craters, but because it was not full-dark, the moon did not look at it's best (I will have to wait for my 'WOW' moment-lol). Next, I popped in the supplied 10mm ep and saw a dimmer but 'not bad' image and again, I could still make out the craters in relative detail. I'm sure both of these eps would work much better in full-dark. Finally, I put the supplied 2x barlow lens in and tested both eps, but I could barely make out any detail so I will need to test these properly when the skies are clear and at night!

When it did evetually go dark, I decided to take the scope outside for a quick test before the looming clouds rolled in (pitty). I let the scope cool down for a moment while I went for a brew. When I came back outside the skies were fairly overcast to see anything 'interesting', but I did manage to take a look at what I think was Vega (I have a north facing garden), directly overhead; the image was very clear.

Judgement:

Overall, I am very pleased with my purchase and I have to say a big thank you to everyone on here for their help and expertise. I have a 7.5mm and 10mm super plossl, and a Tal 2x barlow on the way so I will need to test the scope again and compare the eps properly when and if the skies ever clear then I will be able to make a better assessment; my initial impressions are a very solid and optically excellent scope for the money... and for £175 including a mount, you can't go wrong.

Clear skies.

Richard.

[richbyers]

sounds good, hopefully youl get some decent nights to try it to its full potential

rich

[neilm]

So you went for the Sky Watcher over the celestron, looks very much the same scope but different mount and tripod. Hope my photo's on your original thread "at last" didn't put you off!

Neil

[Rui]

Just wait until you see Jupiter with it's equatorial belt (only one for the moment...) and the four Galilean moons!

Enjoy your new scope and clear skies.

[milkyjoe]

So you went for the Sky Watcher over the celestron, looks very much the same scope but different mount and tripod. Hope my photo's on your original thread "at last" didn't put you off!

Neil

I was weighing up the pros and cons of a GOTO scope for some time, and decided it wasn't worth the money in the end, especially so on only a 4" scope; I want to find my own way around the sky as it will be more enjoyable that way.

[neilm]

Agree with you about the GOTO, also lugging around a power pack is not my idea of fun. I don't know how long you've been into astronomy but I assume you've got your copy of Stellarium. I picked up a copy of Turn Left at Orion (recommend by a number of people) which gives you directions from the easier to find objects to the more difficult to find, unless of course you already know where to look! Anyway, by referencing the book to Stellarium I'm already plotting what I want to try and see come the dark nights of winter.

Happy hunting.

Neil

[brantuk]

Best to use it outside Joe - let it cool down for 30mins to an hour for the best views. The moon is at it's best when only half illuminated - the terminator can be fascinating to scan seeing all the shadows and looking down into craters.

Better quality ep's will make the scope perform better. Keep an eye on ep reviews and the other eye on the for sale section - there are some great bargains to be had and most members here sell stuff in very reliable condition. I've had some "as new" ep's at half to a third the new cost

[TheThing]

oh that's nice!

Good choice. Enjoy and clear skies!

[Cygnus X-1]

Did no one warn you of the guaranteed month of cloud that comes with any new scope. I believe this period gets longer the more you spend. I too decided not to get a Go To mount because I believe you will learn more in the long run. the downside is that you may not see as many objects but I have no regrets.

[Astro_Baby]

Congrats and I am sure as you get some eyetime in you'll see some amazing stuff.

[milkyjoe]

Review update:

Last night the skies were clear for a while (wow, second day in-a-row!) so I made the best use of this by testing the scope in full-dark on the half-moon from the comfort of my bedroom with the window open and a cup of tea in hand.

My super plossl's and Tal barlow arrived yesterday so I decided to test them out against supplied counterparts. First off, in went the 10mm sp. I could see the moon clearly, but couldn't really notice any difference compared to my basic 10mm ep! Not sure if I was doing anything wrong, but there was quite a bit of atmospheric 'wobble', which made viewing the moon a tad difficult-probably due to the earth still cooling down as it wasn't long after sunset!

I then proceeded to test the 7.5mm ep and again, the image looked clear... until I put the barlow in; With both the 10 and 7.5mm eps, I found it very difficult to focus my eye on the craters as the 'wobble' was too intense at 100x and 133x magnification, would warm air inside my room and the cool air outside disturb my viewing? One odd thing I did notice though was that when I looked through all my eps, the image seemed to be a lot brighter through my left eye than my right eye, could this be down to the basic star diagonal I was using?

At 23:00 I took the scope outside as there were a few stars out. I let the scope cool for a few minutes, and then I spotted a very bright object in the eastern sky... Jupiter I exclaimed! I quickly aligned the scope using the red-dot finder and twiddling with the controls, I popped in the 25mm ep, focused, and there she was... a small, but very clear indeed image of Jupiter and her moons. I could see some slight banding across the planet with the 25mm ep and barlow, but I didn't get chance to use the other eps because the dreaded cloud blocked my view and I had to give up. I was not happy!

I've never seen Jupiter in any detail before and I was very impressed. Hopefully when the skies clear again I will be able to try again with a bit more magnification.

All I've got to do now is work out how to polar align the mount and view some more planets and maybe get a look at a nebula / galaxy or two, which is what this scope is supposed to be good at, being an f/5.

Clear skies.

Richard.

[milkyjoe]

Agree with you about the GOTO, also lugging around a power pack is not my idea of fun. I don't know how long you've been into astronomy but I assume you've got your copy of Stellarium. I picked up a copy of Turn Left at Orion (recommend by a number of people) which gives you directions from the easier to find objects to the more difficult to find, unless of course you already know where to look! Anyway, by referencing the book to Stellarium I'm already plotting what I want to try and see come the dark nights of winter.

Happy hunting.

Neil

That is the main reason why I didn't want a GOTO, the power tank issue or gazzilions of batteries, and I want to learn my way around the skies without any 'help!' lol.

I am a complete novice where astronomy is concerned, but I want to learn, and yes, I have Stellarium installed on my laptop; It is a good free tool, which allows you to download additional stars and it has a red screen mode for outside use. I would like to plot some objects to look at, but haven't got round to it yet, but I might buy that book you mentioned: Turn Left at Orion.

I live in Cheshire and have been trying to figure out where I can take my scope on a clear night because my garden is a bit small... fortunately though, there isn't much light pollution where I live and there are a lot of fields nearby.

Richard.

[TheThing]

Always use your scope outside. If you you are inside looking out of a window then you will get distortion from heat both in the room and rising from the house itself. If you're looking through a closed window then all you will do is magnify the impurities in the window glass.