To buy or not to buy...

[spitfire12]

Hi

ive been keeping my eyes peeled for a new scope and this looks like it might be just the ticket!

U.K. Astronomy Buy & Sell

im currently using a cheapo jessops 80/800 newt on an ALT AZ mount.

im currently having a lot of trouble viewing DSO's due to the tiny 80mm AP so will 130mm be much much better?

does this look like a good deal? ive heard that these are good starter scopes and reccomended by sir parick moore.

cheers

[Brent]

Only thing I would say is that from my own research when I was getting my SW 150p, the SW 130/900mm uses a spherical mirror not a parabolic, so personally I would give that a miss.

(Just my opinion though, and it would still be much better than your current scope.)

EDIT: If you can find the 130/650 that uses a parabolic and should be much better.

[spitfire12]

Cheers for the input, whats the difference between these 2 mirrors?

would i be able to find anything much better for my roughly £100 budget? im about to become jobless and return back to college to study science hence the very low budget!

Cheers

[Brent]

From what I've read, with lower magnifications (viewing DSOs, etc.) it probably won't make too much difference. It's when you want to use higher mags for planets that the image degradation will be more noticeable against a parabolic.

I also have an Optus 76mm newt. (it was an Aldi special a few years ago, lol, ALT-AZ mount same as yours) which has a spherical mirror, it's a pretty safe bet that your Jessops scope also has a spherical.

I feel for you re: lack of funds, I had to stretch the budget to get a second hand 150p (but I'm REALLY glad I did).

I just wish I had some cash to replace the eyepieces it came with (and buy one of those cloud filters I keep reading about on here! )

Even with the renewed recent popularity of astronomy I reckon you will still be able to get a second hand 130p for around the £100 mark. I saw one go on eBay a couple of months back for £110, it had an RA motor as well.

In fact, as others have said, I wouldn't be surprised if there's an influx of scopes on eBay in a month or two when people decide they don't actually have the time/good weather to use them! Might be worth waiting if you can.

Good luck.

[spitfire12]

Thanks for all the advice!

so would you say its definatley worth sacraficing the focal length for a parabolic mirror?

it would be nice to be able to pick out more detail on planets as both saturn and jupiter appear technicolour through my jessops, i assume this is probably due to poor optics and spherical mirror?

ill try to keep my eyes out for a 130p, ive never considered one due to the focal length, however i didnt know that they used different mirrors.

Cheers!

[peeceeTal2M]

If you have transport this might be an option, Tals have great optics and built like tanks, no mount wobble with this one

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/TAL-1-110mm-Newtonian-Astronomical-Telescope-Russian-/250794609738?pt=UK_Telescopes&hash=item3a64860c4a