Eyepiece & Accessories kit to get the best out my Telescope

[Hendo]

HI. Ive ordered a Skywatcher 130p Az goto telescope. Heres the link to the one i have ordered

SkyWatcher Explorer 130P SynScan AZ GOTO 130mm Reflector Telescope

I want to buy a eyepiece & accessorie kit to get the most out of my telescope. I really want to get the best viewing and magnification that i can. Could someone give me some advice on what i should buy.

Heres another link to a kit i have seen. its a little briefcase half way down the page. Is this any good????

Skywatcher Eyepiece | Diagonals and Filters

Thanks for any help

Scott

[Aussie]

The 2mm and 5mm with that kit probably are too much for that scope. It is a decent EP set, however I know one that might suit you a bit better.

Eyepiece Sets - Revelation Photo-Visual Eyepiece kit

Not only is it cheaper then the other set, but the eye pieces magnification are much more suited to the scope. I use a 9mm sometimes with my same scope (not Parabolic mirror though) and that is right on the edge of "acceptable magnification". The 32mm that comes with that set is jaw dropping to use. And it comes with all the same filters as in the other set.

You will soon realize that magnification is not everything. Typical max viewing is limited to 250x-350x magnification in Britain and even then that is with larger scopes. When you go into higher magnification images become extremely unclear, dark, and very cloudy.

I wish you happy viewing and hope your sky's are a lot clearer then mine . Oh and thats a great scope, you will get some amazing views with it, even with the EP's that came with it.

[Astro_Baby]

The max magnifcation of your telescope is x260 but more typically it will probably be around the x150 mark.

Magnification of the scope is calculated by the scopes focal length (650mm) divided by the eyepiece focal length. So for instance a 25mm eyepiece will produce (650/25=26) x26 magnification while a 10mm eyepiece will produce (650/10=65) so a magnification of x65.

To get to the max usefual magnifaction you;d be somewhere between a 5mm and 6mm eyepiece.

Bear in mind magnifaction isn't all its made up to be. As you magnify the quality drops away and as has already been said in the UK most observing is done at around the x230 mark.

Its a good scope though capable of showing the rings of Saturn, cloudbelts and moons of Jupiter, some great lunar views and quite a bit of the deep sky objects.

The accessoeries you'll need eventually are a red light torch and a collimation tool of some kind. A simple collicap type tool would be adequate for a 130 scope and you can make one of those easy enough if you prefer.

As I say - its a good scope and lots of people on here have owned one at one time or another.

Clear skies to you

[JamesM]

I have read on here many times that the Revelation set is better value than Skywatcher's offering and so would agree with Aussie's suggestion. It will get you off to a good start.

James

[brantuk]

Hi Hendo - nice choice for a first scope and mount - should give you lots of good viewing.

The ep's supplied will be sufficient to get going - the 25mm will probably be the better of the two. I would advise against going too high on magnification. With extremely good "seeing" in the UK 200x will probably be the most you can expect due to atmospheric effects. This is true of most scopes. Some can go a bit higher but there are limits and it depends on ep quality and scope optics.

To work out the magnification divide the ep size into the focal length of your scope. In the "briefcase set you mention the 2mm would give 325x magnification - this will be terribly blurry and difficult to track with - you'd be lucky to see anything at all.

5mm will yield 130x - reasonably doable it will depend on accurate colimation as to the quality of the view.

Sometimes it's best to accept a sharper smaller image than a fuzzy larger image.

My advice would be to try the supplied ep's first and increase power a little at a time till you reach your comfort level. The 10mm will not be very good, and I've never heard a good report about it when barlowed. But a better quality one will be quite pleasant to use.

Join a local astro soc and see if you can borrow one or two better quality ep's to try first so you can get an idea of what you want to get.

Hope that helps

[Hendo]

Thanks guys. I think im going to wait till my scope arrives (should be mid week). See how i get on with what comes with the scope. then ill do some research, ask more questions on this site and then buy some eyepieces.

I really cant wait to get started. ever since i was at primary school ive been amazed by space. i love looking at photos people have taken of planets & galaxys etc. Ive just got my own house now with an average sized garden. The first thing ive done is buy i telescope!!

One more thing. Ive got a NIkon Coolpix L110 12mp (DSLR / Bridge camera)

Id love to get some photos of the moon and other objects. Is it as simple as holding my camera up to the scopes eyepiece and snapping away??? or doesnt it work like that?

Thanks

Scott

[brantuk]

You can get pics just holding the camera to the ep. Some people have even managed it with a phone camera. Results will be limited though (eg it's mostly planets or the moon). You can get an adptor to hold the camera and ep in line like this one:

Adaptors

Top of page.

[dmahon]

I was told that it wasn't worth it - even at the special offer price of £69

[WayneR]

More good advice guys, thanks.

[240788dt]

hello what would be a good eyepeice and accessories kit for me please? i have a celestron astromaster 90 EQ refractor telescope and i already have the 10mm and 20 mm eyepieces btw