Help with first choice telescope please.

[DSM]

Hi, I'm fairly new to this and I'm looking into buying my first telescope, iv done some research and iv narrowed it down to what I think would be a good starting point, they are :

Skyhawk 1145PM high power parabolic motorised Newtonian

Explorer-130P SupaTrak Auto 130mm (5.1") reflecting telescope

The Sky-Watcher Explorer-200P

The first two of these are more in my price range and obviously the sky watcher explore 200p would be the better scope but is it that much better for the money? And would I be better of with a motor or goto feature on my scope? I need to make a decision by Friday really and I'm a little stuck, there is so much choice. Any help would be greatly appreciated, thanks.

David.

[Ad Astra]

Hi DSM, welcome to SGL!

Of all the scopes available, I would consider a 150mm dobsonian for your first scope - I have 12 of them in service and everyone of my astronomy students learns on this scope.

Rugged, durable, simple to set up and use, easy to store and transport (a 200mm scope is roughly twice the mass and bulk) - and really great views! Beginners have a lot to learn about, and adding complexity right away isn't always the best choice.

You may wish to go with one of the 'intelligent' dobs that can help direct you to deep sky targets, but a full-on GoTo system certainly isn't what I'd recommend to someone starting out. The require skill and knowledge to set up and operate properly and they are not the magic bullet that they claim to be. They definately have their uses - especially if you are in a light-polluted area!

Remember that the scope that is easiest to transport and use is the scope that usually gets the most observing time. There is a good reason that so many amateurs prefer a "grab and go" system, or even binoculars over a full size scope.

I hope that helps,

Dan

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Sound advice by Dan, though I never had any problems setting up an equatorial mount. The SKYWATCHER SKYLINER-150P should fit the bill nicely, and at F/8 it is a planet killer, excellent on deep sky, and is not too sensitive to collimation errors. The faster Newtonians you mention are much more sensitive in this respect. You get 33% more light for 30 pounds more, and dont have any hassle setting it up. I used to have a home-made 6" F/8 Newtonian, also on an alt-azimuth mount, and loved it.

[DSM]

Great advice thanks, i never really thought about the SKYWATCHER SKYLINER-150P as an option really only because it looks kind of big and clunky, when its going to be in my apartment im going to want to leave it setup in a window bay, but im going to want something that can be packed and taken on my travels. I didnt get a mention to the scopes i mentioned in my post, are any of them going to give me spectacular planet views? or are you going to recommend the SKYWATCHER SKYLINER-150P still?

Thanks again for your replies.

David

[rowan46]

your research hasn't led you astray all the scopes mentioned are good the 130p supatrack is probably the most portable. I have a 5inch scope and can see a lot through it but there are times when that extra inch would make the difference as to taking up space in the flat although the 150p looks clunky on that base it will proably take up less floor space than the others on their eq mounts

[swamp thing]

Hi David

I would second what Dan said a 6" f/8 Dobs an ideal first scope for all the reasons he describes.

Regards Steve

[DSM]

Thanks again for all of your opinions, I think after what iv read on here and some research I'm gonna bite the nail and go for the Sky-Watcher Explorer-150PL. Thanks for the help.

David

[ribuck]

Hi David,

Dobsons are great, my first scope was a dobson, but you might wan't to consider 2 very important factors :-

1) How familiar are you with the position of planets / constellations etc. I personally found it quite difficult to find objetcs at times.

2) The biggest issue for me was manually tracking objects. You would be amazed just how fast a planet will move out of the field of view of a dobson if you leave it alone, so i found myself constantly chasing objects, which meant i couldn't really just relax and enjoy the view.

I would recommend thinking about a scope that tracks at the very minimum. This is just from my personal experience.

Rich.

[DSM]

Hi Rich,

Yes that is something I'm a little worried about and if I could stretch my budget i would, I just want to get a scope I know is good to start with and then upgrade to a tracking mount. I'm going to have a good shot at it and will buy some books etc to start me of, thanks for the concern tho.

David

[ribuck]

Hey David,

No problem at all, just thought i would share some of my experiences. Personally i would save a bit longer, and get something that tracks instead of paying twice, but that's just me.

anyway, as bit light contrast and a bit of fun, how about this for a dobson......check out the Orion monster range.....

Orion Monster Range

Rich.

[Andy79]

I think the skywatcher 150 pl would be a good start..this is what i have myself and numerous others on this forum...its easy to set up and it has good reviews and performance which is what spurred me to buy one.

[Cashman]

I bought a 130p synscan today. very pleased with the view of saturn on my first viewing. conditions were not great so im only hoping it gets better. theres a great big orange light bathing my garden. grr. its portable enough to stick in the car although its still bigger than i imagined. the 8" versions at the showroom were massive!

To quote my girlfriend: "Oh my god, we've got Hubble in the living room!"

[Imp_Perfect]

Hey David,

No problem at all, just thought i would share some of my experiences. Personally i would save a bit longer, and get something that tracks instead of paying twice, but that's just me.

anyway, as bit light contrast and a bit of fun, how about this for a dobson......check out the Orion monster range.....

Orion Monster Range

Rich.

Ye gods they named them right didn't they? They are real monsters. Wish I had the money to use on a scope like that 50" WOW!

[DSM]

I bought a 130p synscan today. very pleased with the view of saturn on my first viewing. conditions were not great so im only hoping it gets better. theres a great big orange light bathing my garden. grr. its portable enough to stick in the car although its still bigger than i imagined. the 8" versions at the showroom were massive!

To quote my girlfriend: "Oh my god, we've got Hubble in the living room!"

Hi, just wandering if you have used this since you posted here, this is well within my budget and would definitely be interested in the purchase. If you have used this whats your experience of planet views?

[Cashman]

Well using the high magnification eyepiece and the 2x Barlow that came with it I had a brilliant view of Saturn on two nights running. It was a nice crisp image. I could not make out the cassini division but you can clearly see the rings and slight colour differences on the surface of the planet. I don't think there are any other viewable planets in the late night sky at the moment.

I've seen Jupiter in early evening on my lesser travel scope and going by what I've seen of Saturn using my 130p I'm really looking forward to having a look at that.

Jupiter and mercury were in the sky closely following the sun into sunset yesterday but that portion of the sky was cloudy. They are always pretty low in the sky by the time it's dark.

I saw a couple of messier objects yesterday. They were feint but there's a lot of street lighting around my back garden which does not help.

I'm gonna drive out of town this weekend and find somewhere dark to give it a proper workout. A friend wants to come so we will probably make a night of it. I'll have more to report then.

[callisto]

Go for the SKYWATCHER SKYLINER-150P, that will serve you well and not take up as much space

[DSM]

Well using the high magnification eyepiece and the 2x Barlow that came with it I had a brilliant view of Saturn on two nights running. It was a nice crisp image. I could not make out the cassini division but you can clearly see the rings and slight colour differences on the surface of the planet. I don't think there are any other viewable planets in the late night sky at the moment.

I've seen Jupiter in early evening on my lesser travel scope and going by what I've seen of Saturn using my 130p I'm really looking forward to having a look at that.

Jupiter and mercury were in the sky closely following the sun into sunset yesterday but that portion of the sky was cloudy. They are always pretty low in the sky by the time it's dark.

I saw a couple of messier objects yesterday. They were feint but there's a lot of street lighting around my back garden which does not help.

I'm gonna drive out of town this weekend and find somewhere dark to give it a proper workout. A friend wants to come so we will probably make a night of it. I'll have more to report then.

Sounds like you get your money's worth with this scope, thanks for the info, I'm gonna buy my new scope tomorrow and I think it's out of either the explorer 130p synscan, the skymax 102 synscan or if I opt to go without synscan it's gonna be the explorer 150 with the eq 3 mount. They are all in stock so I'm gonna take a look before I buy, thanks again for all your replies. Please let me know before tomorrow if their is anything I need to know about these scopes.

David.

[Cashman]

The skymax range from what i gather, are more suited to looking at planets rather than deep space objects.

My explorer is supposed to be more suited to dso but it's only a smallish tube so it will not be as good as other bigger reflector scopes. I've got two huge orange sodium streetlights plaguing my garden at present so my dso spotting hasn't given me great results yet.

I would definitely take into consideration where you are going to be using it. I think the best results from mine are going to come in a car bound mission out into the country.

I need to look into light pollution filters next I think.

[ribuck]

If you have some serious light pollution, you should maybe consider a light pollution filter, something like the Baader Neodymium Filter

That should help a lot to cancel out a lot of the pesky street lights.

Keep in mind it takes about 45 mins to get your eyes adapted to the dark to hep you see more but only a second to ruin it, so anything you can do to block stray light entering your eyes will also help.

Rich.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

The fact that your street light is orange is good news (of sorts): it is probably low-pressure sodium, and LPR filters can deal with them quite effectively

[ribuck]

They do make a considerable difference in light polluted area's.

[Cashman]

Could somebody please give me a link to what I should be looking for on first light optics. I might order one later.

[ribuck]

Hi, i already included the link. If click on the baader link on my last post it will take you to the right page.

Rich.

[Cashman]

:double post error: ignore this.

[Cashman]

Sorry. My bad. I missed that. Sneakily skimming the forums at work on my phone. Hehe.

I assume it's worth the extra £15 to get the baader one?