Newbie from the gloomy south east!

[Struders]

Hello all

I'm new to this whole astronomy thing! I remember when I was a youngster going to my local observatory and seeing Saturn through a telescope and from that point onwards I was hooked on science!

about a month ago I got my first scope, it was the cheapest, smallest one I could find, a 50mm refractor that set me back £20! With it I can see a fair bit of detail on the moon and I've pointed it towards Jupiter and seen the smallest white disc with 2 points of light around it. That was more that what I was expecting to see with a cheap £20 scope!!!

I'm now looking to go up market a bit and after a bit of searching I think the Celestron AstroMaster 130EQ is the best scope I can find for my price range.

Anyone got any advice or comments?

[Veracocha]

Morning Struders and welcome. Noob here myself but if there's any advice I can give its go to your local astronomers club if you have one. I learnt more in one night there than months of book/forum reading.

[russ]

Welcome to SGL.

The general line is that the Skywaytcher 130P is better value than the Celestron Astromaster 130. But ask away in the equipment section, you'll get loads of replies.

[brantuk]

Hi Struders and welcome to SGL

130mm aperture on an eq mount is a great idea for a first scope. Look also at the Skywatcher version which I feel is a little better equiped and has a parabolic mirror which is better at focussing:

Reflectors - Skywatcher Explorer 130P

[oldfruit]

Hi Struders and welcome to SGL.

[carpman]

Hello Struders welcome to Sgl you have come to the right place for info and advise , great bunch here...

[reddoss]

Welcome to SGL Struders. I would also recommend the Skywatcher Explorer 130P as a starter scope.

[markophoto]

Welcome Struders

Have you played around with Stellarium yet? It's a great piece of (free) software for learning what is where in the night sky.

Enjoy the scope purchase

Marko

[rob158]

welcome to the forum,

[glowjet]

Hi Struders, a warm welcome to the SGL forum.

john.

[bombassa]

Hi Struders

Hope you'll enjoy it here

[Brendan of Borg]

Hello and welcome.

[Mr Spock]

Hello and welcome to SGL

[JamesM]

Hi Struders and welcome to the forum.

In order for you to come to an informed decision regarding the proposed Celestron 130 and another scope suggested above, can I refer you to an earlier post (detailed below) in which Astrobaby provided a concise critique on both which I am sure you will find very helpful.

Beginners Help and Advice Section

Neilius: "What is the difference in quality between....." Posted 19 January 2011

Clear skies

James

[michigander]

Welcome to SGL, Struders!

Dana

[Bino Pete]

hello and welcome

[nightfisher]

hi and welcome to sgl

[nobbytate]

Hi and welcome from me to

[Bizibilder]

Hello Struders and welcome to SGL!!

[swamp thing]

Hi Struders

Welcome to the lounge.

Regards Steve

[MorningMajor]

Hi Struders - welcome to SGL - I urge you to read some of the starter tutorials - they are really fascinating

[phillc]

Hello Struders and a warm welcome to SGL.

phillc

[todd8137]

hi and welcome post in the right section and the answer will come thick and fast

[slim80]

Hi

Welcome to SGL

Rob

[Ewok]

Hi Struders,

I have a Celestron 130eq and am very happy with it. I have to say though that I think that the Skywatcher 130p is a smidge better. The reason I say this is that the star pointer on the 130eq is next to useless, I am replacing mine with a Telrad finder ( suggested by Brantuk and Starflyer ). I am presuming that the finder scope / star Pointer on the S/W 130p is better. So with that in mind the decision is yours........