Some advice if you can...

[PNB]

Hi folks,

My lovely wife bought me my first scope after watching me stare up at the sky for the last few years. It's a Celestron Powerseeker 127-EQ. I managed to put the standard eyepiece in the washing machine (long story, don't ask) and have replaced that with a Meade 25mm eyepiece, so I have that, the 3x Barlow that came with it and a 4mm that came with it too.

I've managed to get to grips with it and am made up with it as my first scope. I've managed to get some great detail on the Moon, see the rings of Saturn and have also seen what I think was Jupiter, although I may have messed up as it was just a bright white orb in the sky with 2 dots visible to the side of it...and I have since managed to see Saturn quite well so am gonna try for Jupiter properly again in a couple on months when it's better placed in the sky than it is now.

Anyway, my question is, do you think that I am able to see galaxies, nebulae and the like with this scope to a reasonable degree or am I best doing planetary and lunar observation until it's upgrade time?

I'm so pleased with what I've seen so far and am just wondering if anyone else has had one of these scopes and if so, what could you see?

Thanks for taking the time to read this and I'm sorry if it's a dumb question.

Thanks

Paul:)

[ollypenrice]

Hi and welcome. It seems you have a five inch Newtopnian so, yes, you should get to see quite a few deep sky objects from a dark site. The dark site is the key thing. The other is to keep the magnification right down. To calculate magnification divide the focal length of the scope by that of the eyepiece. Keep it below 80x or even less when looking for the faint stuff.

Do you have good charts? Stellarium is highly rated as a free planetarium software.

Olly

ollypenrice's Photos

[LukeSkywatcher]

With a 127mm scope you should see DSO,planets etc.

As Olly said...............to find DSO in a 5" scope keep the magnification down.

[PNB]

Hi, thanks for the response.

I've got Stellarium up and running and am using that to find my way around the sky.

The Magnification info is particulary useful, so considering that my scope has a focal length of 1000, using the 25mm eyepiece will give me a magnification of 40x, which would be better for DSO hunting than using that coupled with the 3x barlow - which would make the magnification 120x. Right?

Ah hah, and as if my magic, something clicks in my brain. Just need to find a dark dark site now to hunt out some DSO's.

Thanks so much.

I appreciate that.

Paul

[LukeSkywatcher]

I have a 90mm refractor scope with a focal length of 1000mm and it loves nothing better then observing planets and hunting DSO.

For observing planets i find a 9mm PERFECT. For hunting "faint fuzzies" DSO, i use an EP somewhere in region of 25-32mm.

30-32MM is best.

Basically forget about barlowing any EP when you are hunting DSO.

[ollypenrice]

Yes, keep the Barlow in the box on deep sky nights. Magnifications as low as 15x can be wonderful if you can get them. People think of telescopes as being there to make small things larger. In astronomy it is more about making faint things brighter, more often than not.

Olly

[Damo636]

Agree with all of the above when searching for galaxies and dso's, your 25mm is perfect. I would recommend upgrading your 4mm eyepiece to something a little more comfortable to use. I would recommend the TMB 6 or 9mm Planetary ep's. I find Jupiter fantastic with the 9mm and occasionally with the 6mm on nights of excellent seeing.