First (second?) Light with astromaster 130eq-md

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Hoping I have put this in the correct place. My first light was a little bit disappointing (due to my own haste scope was not fully set up) I struggled to locate anything really as my red dot was miles out and I was rather confused by my first go with the EQ mount and the initially rather unnatural motion of it. I did however get some views of the moon and once I had found this was more than happy, although I had also hoped to find M42 at least.

Last night I went up to a friends in a very dark location on Dartmoor for another go. Initially we checked the scope was all in order, apart from the declination slow motion control not working correctly it all seemed good to go. We had a little go at getting it working but decided to see how we got on without

We managed to find M42 fairly easily and I was rather amazed by how much more there was to see. I did pull out the DSLR but by the time I got it set up and snapped a couple of poorly focused shots M42 had disappeared behind a tree.

We moved round to the other side of the house where his setup was busy snapping M51 and tried to grab a look at Saturn, but were once again thwarted by poor red dot alignment.

His setup had finished the shots of M51 so we had a look at that for a little while and then finally found Saturn via a properly aligned finder scope. I suppose it just goes to show it really is worth spending a little extra time and care on the setup to get the most out of a scope. It's much easier tinkering in the warm and the light.

Anyway we took some shots of Saturn using a webcam which I will share as soon as I manage to process them.

All in all it was a thoroughly enjoyable evening. It's safe to say I'm hooked and can't wait for some more clear skies/free evenings to hopefully see more things and take some photos.

[Astro Imp]

As you have found you really can't take short cuts, never mind you'll soon crack it.

Good luck.

[Dellis]

The standard red dot finder on the 130 EQ is worse than useless, I found it frustrated all my efforts. But all is not lost, for around £25 a decent red dot finder and shoe can be purchased and once fitted will transform your experience. I've since sold the 130 EQ but the first view of Jupiter through that scope had me hooked

Dave

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Nice report. M42 and Saturn are great objects in any scope.

A good finder (red-dot or otherwise) is a must. Does not have to be expensive, but must be reliable. I align mine (both of them) carefully one some bright star (the little 6x30 is never far off, the big 16x70 more so) at the beginning of the session, and usually don't have to touch them again (unless some clumsy idiot (i.e. me ) bumps into them in the dark ).

Once you get your finder sorted, you will have way more fun!

Clear skies (LOOKING GOOD OVER HERE )