Guest pwiles1968 Posted July 22, 2015 Share Posted July 22, 2015 Hello I have toyed with the idea of a telescope for a long time, and recently my son has been asking about one so I did some research and went for a Celestron NexStar 130SLT, only arrived on monday so only had a quick chance to set up and try calibrating, I may try and stay up lat at the weekend. I thought it would be good for future advice on setup use and general advice if I joined a forum, as I'm in the area this one looked ideal. I will not be going rushing out to buy any lenses but I know that is probably the next purchase if anyone has any advice It would be appreciated, I know the scope will take 2" as well as the 1.25" 9mm and 25mm that came with the unit. I have seen the Celestron 94303 Box set and may be able to get them at a good price if I visit the US any time in the near future any comments on these. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M. Posted July 22, 2015 Share Posted July 22, 2015 Hello & welcome I too have read good reviews about that scope I soon found that eyepiece selection is somewhat of a minefield, but I'm certain you will get some sound advice here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BAZ Posted July 22, 2015 Share Posted July 22, 2015 Hi Paul, a warm welcome to EMS. I am not familiar with the Celestron handset, but if it's similar to the Sky Watcher one, pay attention to the date format. The Sky Watcher uses the american version, ie. mm.dd.yy. this did me for a while until it was pointed out to me, it throws the tracking out by a mile. I wouldn't race off and buy those box sets, they seem like good value for money, but you generally end up with some poor eyepieces in them, hence why they seem good value. The ones supplied are usable, the 25mm isn't bad, but the 9mm is usually poorer. The 130 will keep you busy for a good while. If you have any questions feel free to ask any questions you might have, someone will be along to assist. Let us know how you get on with your scope. Enjoy the forum. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc Posted July 22, 2015 Share Posted July 22, 2015 Hi Paul welcome to EMS. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allan the Plumber Posted July 22, 2015 Share Posted July 22, 2015 Hi and welcome to the Forum Paul loads of help here if you need it Allan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest pwiles1968 Posted July 22, 2015 Share Posted July 22, 2015 Wow quick replies, thank you for the welcomes. I was aware of the American date entry system read this during my research and It pained me to do it but I did manage to type it in the American way round and got the scope aligned OK on my test, not that there was much to see at the time. No Rush on the lenses but If I got them in the US it would cost me under £90 for the set they are supposed to be Plossl (not that I really know what that means) but no rush as yet need to get used to the scope first. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M. Posted July 22, 2015 Share Posted July 22, 2015 Take a look in the eyepiece forum here for some ideas Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BAZ Posted July 22, 2015 Share Posted July 22, 2015 Have a read of this, it's a good guide to eyepieces and what to expect. http://www.swindonstargazers.com/beginners/eyepieces.htm Try a few eyepieces before you buy, as they can suit one person, but not others. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daz Type-R Posted July 22, 2015 Share Posted July 22, 2015 Hello and welcome to the forum. As said above, don't rush out and by the first thing you see, those EP sets are cheap for a reason and are a false economy in my opionion. I stuck with the standard EP's that came with my scope for just over a year, made me appreciate how rubbish the 10mm was but made my next purchase so much better. Ep's are a very personnel thing, what one person likes, another hates, best advice I can give is for you to pop along to a meet, or find a local astro society and try before you buy. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy the forum. M. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tuckstar Posted July 22, 2015 Share Posted July 22, 2015 Hi Paul, welcome aboard. I had a 130 for a couple of years and I saw plenty with it, although mine was a manual one. The dark nights are coming and we'll be meeting up at the darksites again hopefully. Always a good chance to see what kits about and have a go with some eyes pieces. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brantuk Posted July 22, 2015 Share Posted July 22, 2015 (edited) Hi Paul and a warm welcome to you and your lad. I made the mistake of getting the Celestron box set - it cost about £130 when I bought it and to be honest I wouldn't give £50 for it brand new now. Biggest mistake I ever made - best things about it are one 32mm multi lens eyepiece and the ally flight case. Everything else is either cheap and nasty, not as described, no better than supplied eyepieces with a new scope, or unusable. The less said about the filters the better. Just my opinion but you'd do a lot better to buy two or three eyepieces that you've researched, tried out in your scope and like - or invest in a good zoom lens while you build your eyepiece set. Hth Edited July 22, 2015 by Brantuk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Bino-viewer Posted July 22, 2015 Share Posted July 22, 2015 Welcome Paul. There's plenty of info & some youtube clips of your scope on FLOs website. Take a look.... http://www.firstlightoptics.com/beginner-telescopes/celestron-nexstar-130-slt.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tweedledee Posted July 22, 2015 Share Posted July 22, 2015 Welcome to EMS Paul. You've come to the right place to get all the information and advice you need Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest pwiles1968 Posted July 22, 2015 Share Posted July 22, 2015 Hi Paul and a warm welcome to you and your lad. I made the mistake of getting the Celestron box set - it cost about £130 when I bought it and to be honest I wouldn't give £50 for it brand new now. Biggest mistake I ever made - best things about it are one 32mm multi lens eyepiece and the ally flight case. Everything else is either cheap and nasty, not as described, no better than supplied eyepieces with a new scope, or unusable. The less said about the filters the better. Just my opinion but you'd do a lot better to buy two or three eyepieces that you've researched, tried out in your scope and like - or invest in a good zoom lens while you build your eyepiece set. Hth Thank you for feedback on the box set aways good to hear back from people that have used these things. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brantuk Posted July 22, 2015 Share Posted July 22, 2015 You're welcome Paul - I split my set up as follows: Flight case now houses dslr camera and fittings. Donated 9mm and 20mm to club loan scope. Took lens out of 4mm for use as a collimating cap for my dob. Still use the 32mm now and then. Lost/mislaid the 6mm somehow (both 4mm and 6mm are like looking in a straw). Still have the filters if you want to borrow/try them out - I never use 'em as I have a set of better quality ones. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smithysteve Posted July 23, 2015 Share Posted July 23, 2015 Hi Paul, welcome to you and your son! Eyepieces! Most of us are still finding our way with these.😄 All the above advice is very sound and true. No need to rush in! Try out your own first and read reviews on the ones you have and compare them to other eyepieces and their reviews and specifications... also, if in any doubt, seek advice (on here of course😊) before you leap! Enjoy! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
philjay Posted July 23, 2015 Share Posted July 23, 2015 Hi Paul and welcome. I use the Celestron Nexstar and its relatively straightforward to set up. I recommend doing a few dummy runs during the day, getting your time, date and co ordinates in first then doing a dummy calibration run a couple of times. Once the time and location details are in, you wont have to do again, so the second time you power up you just have to set the calibration stars through the scope. Then once you've got used to that, download Nexremote onto a laptop then link it to you mount and run it from your pc, that's great fun. My Celestron CGE is fully PC controlled and uses a wireless gamepad for slew adjustments, easy with Nexremote and does away with the handset. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest pwiles1968 Posted July 23, 2015 Share Posted July 23, 2015 Hi Paul and welcome. I use the Celestron Nexstar and its relatively straightforward to set up. I recommend doing a few dummy runs during the day, getting your time, date and co ordinates in first then doing a dummy calibration run a couple of times. Once the time and location details are in, you wont have to do again, so the second time you power up you just have to set the calibration stars through the scope. Then once you've got used to that, download Nexremote onto a laptop then link it to you mount and run it from your pc, that's great fun. My Celestron CGE is fully PC controlled and uses a wireless gamepad for slew adjustments, easy with Nexremote and does away with the handset. I got the calibration the other night no problem took 2 goes to get a cal but first time I tried to be clever and use Long Lat instead of City. Nextremote sounds great no Mac support unfortunately but I think I have an old XP netbook floating round that might be good. I have TheSkyX light installed that is great assume I can select targets from that for the scope ? Are there any Free Planetarium software you would recommend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
philjay Posted July 23, 2015 Share Posted July 23, 2015 Stellarium is very popular Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BAZ Posted July 23, 2015 Share Posted July 23, 2015 Stellarium is a decent one, and there's Carte du Ceil as well. It has been rumoured that the latest version of Stellarium has a few bugs, so if you download one, get version 13.1. This works fine. CDC is more popular for guiding mounts and is less trouble. http://www.stellarium.org/ (program download) http://www.stellarium.org/ ( User instructions) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted July 25, 2015 Share Posted July 25, 2015 I've never used that 'scope. I'd recommend the Skywatcher Plossls and Moonfish Group eyepieces if you don't have a cartload of money. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Werisit Posted July 26, 2015 Share Posted July 26, 2015 Hi Paul and welcome. I too bought a set of Plossl eye pieces, Revalation in my case (no pun intended ). The only ones I use now are the 32 and 20, both in the ST102 so very wide field. I have found that it's worth paying out for good quality EP's to get the best out of my scopes. For example, the Sky-Watcher ST 102 (102mm aperture, 500mm focal length) comes with 25mm, 10mm EP's and a 2x Barlow. The 25 is ok. When I put the 10 + Barlow on (equivalent to a 5mmEP) I was disappointed and thought that the 100 x magnification that gave was much more than the optics could cope with. I've since tried a 4mm (125 x mag) Vixen SLV Eye piece and it gives a really nice and clear view. You get what you pay for! But I agree that EP's are a bit of a personal thing so if you can try before you buy it's best. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest pwiles1968 Posted July 26, 2015 Share Posted July 26, 2015 Thank you for all the advice, i will not be buying the Plossle set now, will get one or two better quality units but not straight away need to use the scope a little first, did manage to get a look at the moon on Saturday night with the 25mm, I was impressed the 6mm was too much I am thinking a 3*mm quality lens and a Barlow would give me plenty of options for deep sky and moon viewing in short term. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brantuk Posted July 26, 2015 Share Posted July 26, 2015 Hi Paul - if you want to try out a few different types and sizes of eyepieces I'd be happy to bring some round for you to look at one night - if you're not too far away. Or you could bring your scope round to my place and we can have a session. I'm 5 miles NW of Leicester - pm me if you fancy meeting up sometime and we'll arrange it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest pwiles1968 Posted July 26, 2015 Share Posted July 26, 2015 Hi Paul - if you want to try out a few different types and sizes of eyepieces I'd be happy to bring some round for you to look at one night - if you're not too far away. Or you could bring your scope round to my place and we can have a session. I'm 5 miles NW of Leicester - pm me if you fancy meeting up sometime and we'll arrange it. Thank you for the offer I am not far south of leicester, Once summer is done i will try and get up to see you . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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