What can i expect?

[mark993]

Hi i have another post about getting a new telescope and i was just wondering what can i expect to see with a skywatcher 130 and does anyone have any pictures taken with one to give me a better idea?

[Astro_Baby]

You could take a look here Review of the Sky-Watcher 130PM I did a review of mine some time ago. There are some pics on the page taken with a cheapo point and click cam held up to the eyepiece. The ones of Saturn and Jupiter have been tarted up a bit to give an idea of the actual view to the eye.

Might give you you at least an idea of what you'd see.

[xboxdevil]

Photo's taken with scopes will always show a lot more detail than your eyes, as an example for Jupiter think of a small pea held at an arm's length, on a good day you'll see a slight difference where the poles are and the North equatorial belt and some festoons, maybe even the South one soon. Better to lower your expectations and viewing will always be more pleasurable.

You could take a look here Review of the Sky-Watcher 130PM I did a review of mine some time ago. There are some pics on the page taken with a cheapo point and click cam held up to the eyepiece. The ones of Saturn and Jupiter have been tarted up a bit to give an idea of the actual view to the eye.

Might give you you at least an idea of what you'd see.

Nice review by the way :-)

[bish]

It's difficult to describe what you can expect to see. Expect the 'faint and fuzzies' to be just that - but that doesn't mean you don't enjoy looking at them. I found the Lunar features and Saturn on a good night to be beyond my expectations. It's all about tracking things down and appreciating what you are looking at (when it comes to DSOs).

[dmahon]

Photos look nothing like what you will see - google for sketches instead.

[LukeSkywatcher]

I have SW Heritage 130P DOB (the same optics as any other SW 130P scope).

What you can see is a hell of a lot. What you cant see is also a hell of a lot. Its only a 5"mirror.

Faint fuzzies are exactly what they should be with a 5" mirror...........SMALL but still VERY pleasing.

Larger (and closer to us) DSO's will be even MORE pleasing to observe.

I spotted the Ring Nebula with my scope a few months back and i was blown away with it even though it was small. It was perfectly formed and i knew what it was. The inner planets should be pretty good also if the time of year is right to observe them. Star clusters are lovely. The larger nebulae are also a treat.

The Moon is just breathtaking.

Definitely go for a 130P. The "P" means the primary mirror is parabolic and that means the light gathered across the mirror is then concentrated towards the secondary. Pretty much the same concept as radio telescopes.

The "M" means that the same scope is motorized.

"PM" means the mirror is parabolic (a must) and the scope is motorized (not really essential unless you are planning to image the night sky).

[perrin6]

Hello Mark993,

There's a heck of a lot you can see with a 130mm telescope, but the number of objects depends on a) what you want to look at and whether you are prepared to put in the time and effort to find them. c) whether you want to do astrophotography

Have you actually got the telescope yet - if not you need to think about the answers to the 3 questions above?

If you don't want to do astrophotography you could spend the money you have on a dobsonian because you can get a bigger aperture for the money (because the mount is simpler - for astrophotography you need an equatorial mount which is more expensive). With dobs you have to learn how to 'star-hop' so you can find objects. If you have a very limited time for observing you might want a 'goto' scope which will find objects automatically for you. I have mostly had dobsonian scopes because you get more aperture for the money with these.

Objects visible with a 130mm scope:-

hundreds of interesting/attractive stars such as doubles, variables, dozens of star clusters, dozens of galaxies and nebulae (unless you have bad light pollution), some detail on jupiter plus 4 moons (and moon transits), saturn looks small but lovely!some detail on mars around opposition time (every 2 yearsish), phases of venus & mercury (mercury.- only if you have a clear view of the E or western horizon as mercury is so close to the sun). Some Asteroids too (they look like stars).

[perrin6]

(oh - and several saturnian moons. Uranus & neptune as faint bluish-green stars and our wonderful moon's different geological features)

[mark993]

Thanks very much that is a lot of information and sounds like a lot of great targets. I bought the skywatcher 130m and a web cam with an adaptor. I dont expect to get much but i thought i would at least give it a go. Thanks again.