[Owyman]

Hullo, I'm a newbie who just bought my first scope after much careful research and consideration. I mostly was enthused about getting good views of the planets so I sought out reviews of products within my budget range (about $250) which included promises of good planetary viewing. I eventually decided on the Skywatcher 130 x 900 eq2 from Andrews Communications which seemed amazingly powerful for the money. As I said I did my research and found people saying wondrous things about scopes far less powerful than my eventual choice so I eagerly anticipated sensational results from such a relatively powerful device. Alas my grand look at the planets yielded nothing more than mere tiny specks barely larger than my own eyes could see. Needless to say I'm somewhat disappointed and dumbfounded. I can see the moon and terrestrial objects clearly so I dont think it's a technical issue (i.e. colimation or unclean mirrors or lenses etc.). Maybe I'm an ignorant novice but I believe it's an issue of magnification since the advertised specs for the thing promised 130x magnification, the lenses included were only 10x and 25x. If anyone can give me some enlightenment about why my expectations aren't working out it would be very much appreciated. Thanks.