Celestron 127mm Newtonian Reflector

[mickmerv]

Hello All,

I am a very amateur wannabe night sky watcher and have been lurking on this great site for around a year now. I am hoping for some advice regarding a first time purchase of a telescope.

I have seen advertised in Dick Smith electronics a telescope priced at $226.

What i really want to know (and not from the shop salesman!) is whether or not i would be throwing away my money on a telescope at this very cheap price. It seems to good to be true.

I am looking to use the telescope mainly for lunar and planetary viewing and would like to know what kind of performance i could expect from this equipment. Below is the advertising blurb for the Celestron 127mm Newtonian Reflector i have been looking at:

• Easy to assemble 127mm German Equatorial reflector
• Pre-assembled aluminium tripod and accessory tray
• Slow motion controls for smooth tracking
• 3 x Barlow lens triples the magnifying power of each eyepiece
• Finder scope: 5 x 24
• Includes two eyepiece 1.25"
• Includes CD-ROM 'The Sky' Astronomy software
• 2 year warranty

Specifications

• Newtonian Reflector
• Aperture - 127mm
• Focal length - 1000mm
• 1 x 20mm FL x 50 magnification
• 1 x 4mm FL x 250 magnification
• Optical Tube length - 508mm

Telescope weight - 7.17kg



I currently have a pair of Celestron 12 x 60 binoculars which do a great job for lunar viewing but i would really like to take it up a notch and be able to see cloud bands on Jupiter and the rings of Saturn..my question is will this telescope let me do this??

Thanks,

Mick (Brisbane)

[iceman (Mike)]

Hi Mick!

to IceInSpace! You've made the right first move - asking questions before parting with your hard earned cash!

I'll go into more details with an answer in the morning (unless someone beats me to it) when I have more time, but you really should avoid that telescope.

You can get much more value for money in an 8" dob, for not that much more money.

A few questions too:
1. What's your budget?
2. Are you purely into observing, or did you want to do astrophotography?

[mickmerv]

Thanks for replying so quickly!

To answer your questions:

1) $300 - $350 tops (wasn't in the market for a telescope until today when i saw this one so its no big deal if i have to wait until there is a bit more free cash to spend on something a lot better)

2) I do have an interest in astrophotography. Again i am very much a beginner. I have a Fuji S9500 and have been learning how to use it over the past year. I took a few shots of the milky way back in June which came out with some decent detail in them and also got some got shots of the lunar eclipse in August. I just hoped to be able to get a clearer view of the moon and planets through this telescope, i'm not too fussed on being able to hook a camera up at this stage.

[leon]

Mick, Mike has given you good advice, those super market type scopes are not worth the effort, you are better to wait until you can possibly save a little more, and go for the Dob that Mike suggested.

You would be very disappointed with the Dick Smith model, which in turn may discourage from this great hobby.

Leon

[dhumpie]

Don't get the Dick Smith model. That one is one of them so called catadioptric newts with the barlow in the focuser to extend the focal length. And yes the dob is your best bet....

Darren

[Jarrod]

hey mick, and welcome to IIS.

if the scope you are referring to is the celestron powerseeker 127, run away!!! i wont go into too much detail.... all you need to know is this scope is a piece of crap. as mike says, you'd be far better off getting a nice 6 or 8" dobsonian.

jarrod.

[mickmerv]

Thanks for the advice everyone, looks like the overwhelming verdict is to give this particular telescope a wide berth so thats what i'll do!

Cheers,
Mick

[leon]

Wise choice Mick.

Leon

[erick (Eric)]

Next step Mick, search the internet for some of the specialist astronomy shops in Australia and look at the reflecting telescopes on dobsonian bases.
In your price range, this is the place to start. Upgrade paths are very possible when you start from these. Eric