New Looking for ideas to go with new telescope

[mikeluvs43 (Mike)]

Hi

My girlfriend is and has been her whole life since a little girl interested in Astronomy. When she was a little girl her father bought her a regular telescope think about 100mm (bare with me with specs as I don't know much but am trying)
So anyway obviously even though her love for the night sky was great her power to see it was not.
Even to this day when ever the mooon looks large and close she breaks here scope out and enjoys even the little bit she see's.

Well this year for her birthday I decided to get her what I think is a decent start in the right direction. I just got in the mail today an
Orian SpaceProbe 130mm EQ
Equatorial Newtonian Reflector Telescope
total focal lengh 900mm
eye peices 25mm and 10mm Explorer II

What this all means. I don't know I thought when getting it was a decent set and for the money a good deal. As I started looking around more today I find other things ah that would have been better this that or whatever.
But this is what I got and FINALLY to my questions

1 - Is this a decent "starter" scope

I also bought a

Orion 1.25" 13% Transmission Eyepiece Moon Filter

Orion Shorty 2x Barlow Lens, 1.25"

2 - are this things of any use?

3 - What else should I get her to go with this that you think she will run into wanting, or needing or could just use because it is neat.

and

4 - I saw while looking on the forums here about mounts (believe was for taking pictures) can any of those go on the telescope I got, And If so would this telescope be powerful enough to get any good shots even if a mount could hook up to it.


Thanks for the help in advance

Mike In New Jersey

[sadia]

I will shed my little knowledge on this:

1. Sorry to say this but A decent starter is a relevant term which depends on many things. If you want to go ahead with this scope make sure you are happy with the weight and size of the scope. Newtonians can be heavy and might require the some heavy lifting during set up.

2. Moon filter will give you greater detail in bright areas of the moon and barlow will magnify image for planetary observation (diffrent scope will have diffrent magnification limit). I would say they are useful items to have in the kit.

3. My suggestion will be dont buy it all together as bulk. buy each item only once you realize the need and only after you have done some research....local astronomy clubs are very helpful on this aspect.

4. I would say choosing the right mount for your requirements is the most important thing and a good mount may cost way more than a decent scope.

Hi Mike,

The Orian SpaceProbe 130mm EQ is fine for a first scope.
I had a similar scope, Celestron 130mm EQ and I got awsome detail views of the moon, saturn, nebulas etc.

I think you should hold onto you money and wait till she gets use to the scope and night sky.
Then if she is still interested, I would keep using the scope for a while and save up for a bigger telescope later down the track.

[dannat (Daniel)]

1. it may be ok for a starter scope but I think many would recommend a bit larger or different scope. 130mm or 5" is not a big scope now, with most going for a 8" newtonian reflector

2. the orion shorty barlow is good quality - and doubles the magnification of each eyepiece. Keep in mind though it cuts down on the light getting through - so is for the brightest objects.
I don't use moon filters but they can be useful when it is too bright

3. For this setup I would get one good quality eyepiece, generally the ep's bought with these scopes are not the best - they throw something in so you feel you are getting a complete package. I would look at something like a televue plossl, maybe 15x (60x mag) which would barlow to 120x magnification on the planets. This is a personal choice though and you will get many different answers on EP choice.

4. the mount you bought with this is most likely an EQ2, not the most sturdy - if anything i would change this to make viewing more enjoyable - this mount will most likely shake a lot when moving it around

[Paddy (Patrick)]

Hi Mike,

I reckon its a fine way to start - easy to transport and you can find a lot of stuff. Rob_K on this forum has been using a more modest scope for years and doing astro imaging with it. His web site is

http://robsastropics.googlepages.com/

My beloved got me started with a 114 mm Tasco relfector - I got a lot of enjoyment out of it before upgrading to something bigger when I knew i was hooked.

I would recommend some type of guide to the night sky and what there is to look at. I like "Atlas of the Southern Night Sky", but that would be no good to you! Maybe someone else can point you in the direction of a Northern book. Most commercial telescopes also come with some software to help find things to look at, but a book is a little simpler and usually has some lists. Magazines like Sky and Telescope are useful - their web site is quite helpful - www.skyandtelescope.com

[stevoggo (Stephen)]

Hi guys,
Its too late to worry too much about the scope, you have plenty of equipment to get into astronomy. From my three months of experience there are two ways to astronomize...
1. get a guide, learn constellations and try to locate things that interest you (planets nebulas clusters)
2. Look through your scope, twirl it around and look at stuff that interests you. Then you need to learn constellations, get a guide and try to work out what you just saw!!
Either way a skyguide is helpful, I found a star atlas was a bit too much detail for me, I found the free monthly guide at www.skymaps.com simple enough for me (Obviously you will need the Northern version). Also as mentioned before sky and telescope magazine has a sky map in it as well as some interesting articles...Oh and it has lots of adverts of huge telescopes we can't afford!!
Have fun
Steve

[mikeluvs43 (Mike)]

Thanks alot everyone on all your input.

Hope to be talking with you all soon......