Guest Legoman6 Posted March 1, 2013 Share Posted March 1, 2013 Skywatcher Skymax 127 SynScan Telescope IS this the best choice? Having read lots and watched all the you tubes I can find I have arrived here. I understand the largest Newtonian will get me bags of light to see more, but size and portability becomes an issue. Dobsonion mounts look great and steady but I would need to know where to point it and then track the object. My question is simple, is £360 spent on my choice a good compromise on light to get portability and the computer support in finding and tracking Objects. Should I look further to find my best option to look at the night sky. In anticipating your questions, I do not know what I am wanting to look at, just want to explore this fascinating subject. The budge can stretch a little more .if needed to. Do not want a toy but do not to see God just jet. I want to see as much as I can for my £. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catman161 Posted March 1, 2013 Share Posted March 1, 2013 (edited) Your last comment rings in my ears. If you want to see as much as you can for your money-then there is no contest a Dobsonian mounted Newtonian reflector is the way forward. A skywatcher 200P is a brilliantly priced 8 inch primary Mirrored scope which will allow you to see lots of deep sky objects whilst still performing well with the planets and moon. You do then have to actually learn the sky and use star maps and navigate it all yourself. When I started I had the above setup and learning the sky and hunting down deep sky fuzzies was all part of the fun. It is time consuming but you learn and don't forget. However if you simply need goto functionality as you want to get straight in there the you can do a lot worse than the 127. It is portable, has goto (is alt/az mount though so not great for long exposure astrophotography) but will track things for a period of time. Is a fairly narrow field of view scope though so not great for larger deep sky objects. It is generally highly regarded as a moon and planetary scope. Bang for buck (aperture wise) you can't go wrong with a Dobsonian-large mirrors for low prices. Jut gotta then put the time in to learn where everything is in the sky, which in my opinion is all part of the fun HTH. Edited March 1, 2013 by catman161 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daz Type-R Posted March 1, 2013 Share Posted March 1, 2013 I think Felix has hit the nail right on the head. That scope has a focal length of 1500mm so with a 127mm diameter primary mirror that equals a focal ratio of F11.8, that is perfect for the moon and planets but I fear it will be a bit slow for DSO's. You could get a focal reducer to "speed" the scope up a bit, bringing it down to a more DSO friendly focal ratio. Like mentioned above, bang for buck a Newtonian designed scope on a dob mount will give you the best of both worlds but does mean you have to find and track by hand (like Felix I love doing that). A 5" mirror on that scope will pick out the brighter DSO's but will really suffer on the dim ones. Your choice I`m afraid, decent amount of aperture (find and guide by hand) and the possibility of seeing more - vs - small aperture but GOTO capability and the possibility of seeing less. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T A WOW Posted March 1, 2013 Share Posted March 1, 2013 Just agreeing with Felix and Daz. You simply cannot beat a Dob for aperture - ££££ ratio. The Dob will be a better all rounder scope than the Mak. Not as easily portable but certainly not unwieldy. Plus if you get the 200p Dob you'd have a fair bit of £££ left over and with a bit more you could get your self something like the baader Hyperion zoom eyepiece, which I know Daz has and it is a very nice piece of kit. Just my thoughts Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Legoman6 Posted March 1, 2013 Share Posted March 1, 2013 Thanks guys for the sound advice. I nearly got a 10 inch dob mounted Newtonian on EBay for £230 second hand, but was pipped at the post. The 127 seemed real easy, but I do take the point more light, bigger aperture better viewing. Do they do a go to feature on dob mounted Newtonian?. Not sure with all those stars out there I will get lost. Just downloads a free app for the ipad that shows you round the sky but it shows the position of things you can not see with the naked eye. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daz Type-R Posted March 1, 2013 Share Posted March 1, 2013 They do make a GOTO dob but from what I have heard, it's not great. A few people on here have got them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brantuk Posted March 1, 2013 Share Posted March 1, 2013 The goto dobs from skywatcher used to start at 10" but they discontinued that size. I've never seen them available with 8" tubes and the smallest you can get new now is 12". At your budget level I would recommend not bothering with goto unless you're after a small aperture planetary scope. You'll see dso's as well but being small it'll only pick up the brighter objects - there's plenty of those about but the view is considerably limited. A 200P dobsonian is good advice for a cost effective proper instrument. Learning the sky seems daunting but once you've tried it for a few sessions you'll see how easy it really is. And the aperture will open up more dso's than you can view in a lifetime. Also you won't be sacrificing aperture for electronics as mentioned already. One useful alternative you might like to consider is a equatorial mounted 150P (eg EQ4 or EQ5). Still a good aperture with plenty to offer and still manual - but you would have the option of adding an RA tracking motor when budget allows. Hth Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Legoman6 Posted March 2, 2013 Share Posted March 2, 2013 Hi fellas again, thanks for all your advice, one more question, 8inch verses 10inch. Dobsonion maounted newtonion. The obvious answer is 10inch but how much better for the increased bucks. My budegt might stretch to a 10 inch but an 8 inch plus other add ons is within my reach. Please advice.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daz Type-R Posted March 2, 2013 Share Posted March 2, 2013 The 10" has 56% more light gathering capeablity than the 8". I believe everything else is the same. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brantuk Posted March 2, 2013 Share Posted March 2, 2013 If you get the 10" and decide later to upgrade then the 12" won't seem worth it - you'd really be looking at 14"+. Worth bearing in mind especially as the 8" is a cracking scope anyway and will serve you well for several years. Upgrading then makes 12" a feasible step cos there's more noticeable difference than a 2" upgrade. But if you think you'll not be going any higher and it's within budget - get the 10" - you won't regret the extra aperture and light gathering - and it will open up a lot more objects. There may be other considerations like portability, observing location, storage, weight, and whether or not you intend to eventually do imaging, ....etc... Hope that helps a bit Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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