Please forgive me if I'm overstepping the guidelines here, but I'm a complete No0b at both astronomy forums, and astronomy in general, having just bought my 12yo son his first decent telescope - a Celestron Goto Sky Prodigy 130 (Aperture: 130 mm. Focal Length: 650mm. Focal Ratio: f/5). Being a novice myself and not knowing much, I researched quite a lot re; focal lengths etc before the $1000 purchase, and decided this one would be more than enough to get really great views of (say) Saturn/rings and Jupiter bands etc, and a few distant nebulae. I also bought the Celestron lens kit that comes with 6, 8, 13, 17, 25 and 32mm lenses and colour filters.
Anyway, so far, all I can manage is a sensational close up view of the moon. Anything else seems to escape us. Am I doing something wrong, or is this rather costly goto telescope literally not quite substantial enough in the optics department to do what I'd hoped to with it? Do I need to upgrade to a 2" lens for it perhaps, as these little 1" lenses don't seem to do much? Or do I literally have expectations of (say) a 10-inch / 1200mm Dobsonian, and should buy one of those instead? So far, viewing of (say) the nearest nebulae/s just seem to be a barely visible spray of very tiny, faintly twinkly stars. Certainly when we look at Mars, it's just a tiny microdot star, faintly twinkling, certainly not viewable as a planet beyond that like the moon is.
Am I doing something wrong/silly, or is this the max this little system can manage? Should I just buy maybe a 10 inch Dob? I live in North Brisbane on the bayside, and light pollution seems not so bad I guess, with a few nice, dark places around us.
Please forgive me if I'm overstepping the guidelines here, but I'm a complete No0b at both astronomy forums, and astronomy in general, having just bought my 12yo son his first decent telescope - a Celestron Goto Sky Prodigy 130 (Aperture: 130 mm. Focal Length: 650mm. Focal Ratio: f/5). Being a novice myself and not knowing much, I researched quite a lot re; focal lengths etc before the $1000 purchase, and decided this one would be more than enough to get really great views of (say) Saturn/rings and Jupiter bands etc, and a few distant nebulae. I also bought the Celestron lens kit that comes with 6, 8, 13, 17, 25 and 32mm lenses and colour filters.
A goto telescope is only as good as its aligned at the start of a viewing session. For someone new to astronomy, a goto scope seems an easy solve to knowing what to look for and knowing what you're looking at. But the telescope has to be properly aligned so the goto mount can do its work properly.
In terms of capability of the telescope itself, it's plenty capable. My own telescope is the SkyWatcher Heritage 130p tabletop Dobsonian. Same optical specifications as yours. It's a small, eminently capable telescope. https://skywatcheraustralia.com.au/p...e-dobsonian-2/
As for the eyepiece kit, that was a waste of money. It's a large selection of cheap low quality eyepieces which match what ships with the telescope. The 2x Barlow, if its a metal bodied one, might be decent enough to warrant keeping. The filters are a range of ones that might not see a lot of use unless you do a lot of planetary viewing.
As the first upgrade for my scope, I bought the SkyWatcher branded version of the Celestron AstroMaster Accessory Kit. https://www.celestron.com/products/a...-accessory-kit
The 6mm Plossl eyepiece was useless. The 15mm Kellner eyepiece was better than the supplied Super 10mm and Super 25mm Modified Achromat eyepieces which came with my scope. I lucked it with the 2x Barlow, as my set has the good quality metal barrel one, and not the usual plastic barrel one. The filters see use when I'm doing planetary viewing. The lunar filter is the heaviest used of the filters. But basically, smaller set, less waste.
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Anyway, so far, all I can manage is a sensational close up view of the moon. Anything else seems to escape us. Am I doing something wrong, or is this rather costly goto telescope literally not quite substantial enough in the optics department to do what I'd hoped to with it? Do I need to upgrade to a 2" lens for it perhaps, as these little 1" lenses don't seem to do much? Or do I literally have expectations of (say) a 10-inch / 1200mm Dobsonian, and should buy one of those instead? So far, viewing of (say) the nearest nebulae/s just seem to be a barely visible spray of very tiny, faintly twinkly stars. Certainly when we look at Mars, it's just a tiny microdot star, faintly twinkling, certainly not viewable as a planet beyond that like the moon is.
OK. All the FANCY photos you see of nebula and galaxies are VERY long video sequences, where the frames of the video have been put together and post processed to bring out as much detail as possible as a single still image. The human eye cannot see that much colour detail of a nebula, in any telescope on Earth. I've seen nebula in my scope, and what I've seen of the clouds of them, those clouds are shades of grey. Not all the brilliant colours of the astronomy photos.
2inch eyepieces are for telescope made with a 2inch eyepiece mount.
Your telescope, like mine, has a 1.25inch eyepiece mount. With the correct eyepieces, it is VERY capable.
Spending more money on a larger telescope, when you haven't got used to successfully driving the small scope you have, will only get you further into frustration with astronomy.
You need to make sure the red dot finder is properly lined up, so what its red dot highlights, you can also see in the center of the eyepiece. You need to properly centre stars in the eyepiece, so the auto-alignment of the scope will match what you can see for lining it up to work.
Mars, what you describe, is what I found as well. A small orangey dot in the eyepiece. The small size of Mars and its distance from Earth, means you need a suitable eyepiece, and use the Barlow, to better magnify it. But you won't get the big views of it with a small telescope.
Jupiter, Saturn, Venus, all EASILY viewable with the scope.
Stars, they're always going to be small points of light in the eyepiece. But they'll be a bit bigger in the eyepiece, you'll see more of them, and some, you'll even see the faint colours of them as well. They're not all white points of light.
Some stars look single, till you magnify them enough, then you see they are 2 stars close together. Magnify further, and you might see the 2 separate stars. The scope CAN do this.
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Am I doing something wrong/silly, or is this the max this little system can manage? Should I just buy maybe a 10 inch Dob? I live in North Brisbane on the bayside, and light pollution seems not so bad I guess, with a few nice, dark places around us.
I'm on the north side of Brisbane, and between the trees around my place and all the other lights, and the airport to the east, nice dark skies with wide vistas to explore, I don't get them here.
You're doing nothing silly. As I said, buying a bigger scope won't reward you, if you can't drive the small scope you have. You have a capable scope, you just have to take the time to get the hang of using the computer it comes with.
Getting decent eyepieces, not going to be inexpensive, but you pay for the quality, and that pays dividends in what you'll be able to see.
Best move for eyepieces and info, pay a visit to Astro Anarchy in the Myer Centre in the CBD. http://www.astroanarchy.com.au/index.html
What you are doing wrong is expecting instant success, sorry, running before you can walk, I agree with 99% of JKs comments.
Also attached are 2 images of what you can expect to see of Mars and Jupirter I think with VERY good seeing and practice, no more, and that is pushing it
As a photographer (professional, Journalist, National union of Journalists, sports photographer) when I buy a new lens, my first images are CRAP, like anything it takes time LEARNING to use what you have.
Like all things time and patience and more time and leaning perhaps weeks of trial and error that is all, though I would have bought a dob to start with as a beginner anyway, most astronomers I know have one as well
Near gear has to be learned, no astronomer I know has one, we buy what is needed and build on experience.
The scope is good
I would not buy a scope that does not take 2" eyepieces, I disagree with jeniskiunk on ONE point though the eyepieces are not the best, kits ARE a way for suppliers to sell most things NO ONE needs, but they are NOT poor quality. KEEP them, people buy eyepieces as and when they need them, and chose specific ones, not buying what suppliers say they need, my main ones are Baader MK4 zoom, 2" 8mm, 5mm, 18mm, 25mm and 30mm, the 1.25 eyepieces are for the binoviewers
the only advice I can offer is never buy a scope before joining either a club or a forum
You do have a GOOD scope, LEARN IT, takes time
JS says
"A goto telescope is only as good as its aligned at the start of a viewing session. For someone new to astronomy, a goto scope seems an easy solve to knowing what to look for and knowing what you're looking at. But the telescope has to be properly aligned so the goto mount can do its work properly."
BOY is that true, it took me a MONTH to get used to my Celestron Edge see image, frustrated and annoying
Last edited by Ukastronomer; 13-01-2019 at 10:24 PM.
What you are doing wrong is expecting instant success, sorry, running before you can walk
As a photographer (professional, Journalist, National union of Journalists, sports photographer) when I buy a new lens, my first images are CRAP, like anything it takes time LEARNING to use what you have.
Learned that one well and truly with photography, when I bought my Zenit 12XP back in late 1984.
It was a lesson well applied when I bought my scope in late July last year.
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the only advice I can offer is never buy a scope before joining either a club or a forum
I hadn't actually done either when I bought my scope. I didn't join IIS till I'd paid off the lay-by and bought my scope. I've still yet to join a local astronomy club.
What I had done, for the 3 months before I put it on lay-by and the month while I was paying off the lay-by, was spend PLENTY of time reading forum info on my scope, and watching info videos about it.
I knew when I put the lay-by deposit on mine, what I would be able to see (points of light and more and bigger), and what I wouldn't (the huge colour detailed astronomy photos). While I was disappointed with the poor quality of the stock eyepieces, the upgrades I bought paid the dividends.
Always exciting and frustrating will a new hobby. In particular there as a bit of a learning curve with a scope. Your scope can definitely see the planets and brighter deep sky stuff.
I will pm my details, give me a yell if you have any questions or having difficulties when you are out. Happy to help out.
I never really joined an astro club myself. I spend a fair bit of time researching which is half the fun.
Incidentally, if it is any comfort, Mars is now well past the nearest it gets to us, and in a couple of years it will be significantly larger in the eyepiece than it is now.
raymo
Last edited by raymo; 13-01-2019 at 11:27 PM.
Reason: correction
A goto telescope is only as good as its aligned at the start of a viewing session. For someone new to astronomy, a goto scope seems an easy solve to knowing what to look for and knowing what you're looking at. But the telescope has to be properly aligned so the goto mount can do its work properly.
Yes, I got that.. I didn't mention I'd had trouble aligning it or working alignment out. In fact, it's a super simple system imo, and it always aligns perfectly, or so it seems anyway, as I allow it to do its thing fully, then once alignment is fully completed and confirmed, I auto-select the moon first, then a planet, then a bright star, and all three always align exactly to the dead centre of the FOV, so not sure what you're advising there, the system is always dead accurate in alignment, so I'm happy I've got that perfectly figured - always perfectly aligned to whatever I dial in, and it's really an impressive thing to see, imo. Red dot scope I have dead accurate also. It's very useful.
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Originally Posted by JeniSkunk
As for the eyepiece kit, that was a waste of money. It's a large selection of cheap low quality eyepieces which match what ships with the telescope. The 2x Barlow, if its a metal bodied one, might be decent enough to warrant keeping. The filters are a range of ones that might not see a lot of use unless you do a lot of planetary viewing.
As the first upgrade for my scope, I bought the SkyWatcher branded version of the Celestron AstroMaster Accessory Kit. https://www.celestron.com/products/a...-accessory-kit
The 6mm Plossl eyepiece was useless. The 15mm Kellner eyepiece was better than the supplied Super 10mm and Super 25mm Modified Achromat eyepieces which came with my scope. I lucked it with the 2x Barlow, as my set has the good quality metal barrel one, and not the usual plastic barrel one.
Again, mine are all metal, the barlow included, and I'm certain it's not the cheap kit everyone avoids.. I did loads of research before I bought the scope or the kit, so the cheap kit was easily avoided.
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Originally Posted by JeniSkunk
OK. All the FANCY photos you see of nebula and galaxies are VERY long video sequences, where the frames of the video have been put together and post processed to bring out as much detail as possible as a single still image. The human eye cannot see that much colour detail of a nebula, in any telescope on Earth. I've seen nebula in my scope, and what I've seen of the clouds of them, those clouds are shades of grey. Not all the brilliant colours of the astronomy photos.
Yes, I presumed that was common knowledge and most ppl knew that, sorry.. Perhaps I shouldn't have referred to myself so specifically as a total No0b, I'm tech advanced, so I get all that stuff, and I didn't say I was expecting coloured nebulae. I know there's not a chance with just 500 bucks worth of mirrors lol. I wasn't necessarily after all that awesome coloured stuff (not into astrophotography atm), but mostly just great planets etc, and I hope we get to see Venus/Jupiter/Saturn this week or early next! That will be so exciting.
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Originally Posted by JeniSkunk
2inch eyepieces are for telescope made with a 2inch eyepiece mount.
Your telescope, like mine, has a 1.25inch eyepiece mount. With the correct eyepieces, it is VERY capable. Spending more money on a larger telescope, when you haven't got used to successfully driving the small scope you have, will only get you further into frustration with astronomy.
That's odd - mine can accept both 1.25-inch and 2-inch lenses as standard. The 2-inch capability was one of the reasons I got it.
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Originally Posted by JeniSkunk
Mars, what you describe, is what I found as well. A small orangey dot in the eyepiece. The small size of Mars and its distance from Earth, means you need a suitable eyepiece, and use the Barlow, to better magnify it. But you won't get the big views of it with a small telescope.
Thanks, that's what I figured, and expected, so thank you for confirming. It's little and a loooong way away!
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Originally Posted by JeniSkunk
Jupiter, Saturn, Venus, all EASILY viewable with the scope.
Ok, great! They haven't been visible for us yet, clouds etc. Something to look fwd to!
Quote:
Originally Posted by JeniSkunk
Getting decent eyepieces, not going to be inexpensive, but you pay for the quality, and that pays dividends in what you'll be able to see.
Best move for eyepieces and info, pay a visit to Astro Anarchy in the Myer Centre in the CBD. http://www.astroanarchy.com.au/index.html
Thanks, I always intended to get a good 2-inch lens and throw that in, just haven't found the time yet - my 130 takes a 2-inch lens, so though the multiple lens kit is all reasonable (it's not the cheap one everyone steers clear of, it's the better kit with the full steel barlow etc), perhaps that will be of much larger benefit.
Incidentally, if it is any comfort, Mars is now well past the nearest it gets to us, and in a couple of years it will be significantly larger in the eyepiece than it is now.
raymo
Cool.. That's what I thought. :-) Thanks for the helpful confirmation, Raymo!
Always exciting and frustrating will a new hobby. In particular there as a bit of a learning curve with a scope. Your scope can definitely see the planets and brighter deep sky stuff.
I will pm my details, give me a yell if you have any questions or having difficulties when you are out. Happy to help out.
I never really joined an astro club myself. I spend a fair bit of time researching which is half the fun.
M11
Thanks M11.. Agreed with the research part - so fun!
What you are doing wrong is expecting instant success, sorry, running before you can walk, I agree with 99% of JKs comments.
Also attached are 2 images of what you can expect to see of Mars and Jupirter I think with VERY good seeing and practice, no more, and that is pushing it
Thanks for the two attached photos of Jup and Mars, UkAstronomer, most helpful. The shots I've got so far of those two are quite a bit better already, so maybe I'm being a bit hard on myself. I think if I just get a good 2-inch lens I'll be thrilled with this scope. Thanks so much for the reply and photos. :-)
Thanks for the two attached photos of Jup and Mars, UkAstronomer, most helpful. The shots I've got so far of those two are quite a bit better already, so maybe I'm being a bit hard on myself. I think if I just get a good 2-inch lens I'll be thrilled with this scope. Thanks so much for the reply and photos. :-)
BEFORE you spend money decide what you want to get from a 2" eyepiece (not lens), and good eyepieces can cost many hundreds, at least £150-200, and no one can say what is best for you.
For Moon I prefer my 19mm 2" Celestron Axiom, and 8mm Vixen LVW, for planets my Baader Hyperion 5mm, all cheapish, but these are personal choices and your choice is your own, TRY before you buy
remember a telescope is only as good as the eyepiece as a camera is only as good as the glass on the front of it
I should also say, if your scope does take 2" eyepieces remember you will be adding a lot of weight especially with a DECENT 2" dialectric diagonal from say Baader (click lock) or William Optics, and later perhaps a barlow, so be aware of the limits of your drive system of the scope and it's capacity, and need to counterbalance.
If you get a 2" eyepiece don't skimp on the diagonal.
I should also say, if your scope does take 2" eyepieces remember you will be adding a lot of weight especially with a DECENT 2" dialectric diagonal from say Baader (click lock) or William Optics, and later perhaps a barlow, so be aware of the limits of your drive system of the scope and it's capacity, and need to counterbalance.
If you get a 2" eyepiece don't skimp on the diagonal.
The OTA in the SkyProdigy 130, is a Newt, so no need for a diagonal.
The SkyProdigy 70 is a refractor, and the SkyProdigy 90 is a Mak-Cass, so those would be the ones to get a quality diagonal for.
Having a proper look at pics of the 130, it does look to have a 2inch eyepiece mount.
If your scope does take 2" eyepieces remember you will be adding a lot of weight
Yes, of course, very aware of this, they are HEAVY.
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Originally Posted by Ukastronomer
especially with a DECENT 2" dialectric diagonal from say Baader (click lock) or William Optics, and later perhaps a barlow, so be aware of the limits of your drive system of the scope and it's capacity, and need to counterbalance.
If you get a 2" eyepiece don't skimp on the diagonal.
Yes, thank you SO much Mel, will do! We'll be checking those four clusters/nebulae tonight that you mentioned as soon as it gets dark, including Orion specifically, as a friend tells me it's to be particularly fancy tonight between 9 and 10pm.. it's all very exciting..!
All the best. Give those objects a go.
Orion is always great to look at. In particular you should see the trapezium ( at least 4 stars in the middle of the nebula).
I didn't join IIS till I'd paid off the lay-by and bought my scope. I've still yet to join a local astronomy club.
