Telescope Question - Astromaster 130 EQ

Does anyone here have or used an Astromaster 130 EQ telescope, what are they like and are they good for a beginner ?

Plug

I have one, I've seen a load of stuff, I saw saturn with the rings and its biggest moon titan, jupiter and 4 of its biggest moons and the orion nebuale to name a few. The only thing I don't like about it is the star finder, its too small but if you aim the telescope like a gun it will do the job grand.

I was a complete beginner with no first hand help and I found it easy enough to set up, I still have it.

peterako

I also have an Astomaster 130 EQ (my first scope).

Great, easy to set up scope.

But the viewfinder is a pain in the etc.

Once you get used to finding objects with it the views are very crisp.

Best, for me, at below 160x but even with that you get good, clear views of Saturn etc.

Took these as my first astropics with my Astromaster.



It must be noted that the 'with eye' views through the scope are far superior to my pictures (I'm still learning and I use hand tracking).

Collimation is easy, nice and portable/light etc.

(I don't use mine much anymore as I have since got an 8" reflecter...mainly for photography.)

So, a thumbs up from me

Peter

Thanks guys, I go and order the Astromaster 130EQ in the next few days

Plug

Plug wrote: »

The only thing I don't like about it is the star finder, its too small but if you aim the telescope like a gun it will do the job grand.

I was a complete beginner with no first hand help and I found it easy enough to set up, I still have it.

peterako wrote: »

I also have an Astomaster 130 EQ (my first scope).

Great, easy to set up scope.

But the viewfinder is a pain in the etc.

I got the Astromaster 130EQ with the motor drive, great telescope, easy to set up and very easy to use. I agree with you both about the star finder, so to make things a bit easier I've mounted my camera on top of the telescope and use that instead.

Thanks again guys

Ment to ask, what is the deal with the telescopes cap as seen in the pics below, why is there a small removable cap on it ?

peterako

The MAIN function (I think) of this is to allow you to reduce the amount of light entering the telescope when viewing something very bright.

Eg. the moon.

I thnk you can also put a sun filter on this to view the Sun...but I personally would not try it :eek:

Peter

rhonin

I have one as well. Nice scope. The star pointer is terrible and almost put me off using the scope. I bought a Telrad finderscope and it made it so much easier to use.

Edit: Actually its the 90EQ I have

peterako

Hi Hellboy!

Just realised that you now have your scope!

Pray for clear skies.

What lenses do you have?

Saturn is still visible at the moment and well worth point at, even with the 10mm, if you get a chance!
With a 4mm or (better) 10mm/6.4mm + 2x Barlow you'll see great 'detail'.

Either way, you should also see Titan.

Download Stellarium if you haven't already.
It helped me immeasurably with finding objects in the sky. It give a realtime view of the sky from your chosen location.

Best of luck with the scope, it really is a good buy

Peter

peterako

peterako wrote: »

Hi Hellboy!

Just realised that you now have your scope!

Pray for clear skies.

What lenses do you have?

Clear skies would be nice, got an hour the other night with it and it's a great telescope. I got 10mm with moon filter and a 20mm with it. I'm going to order this in the next week or so:

http://www.teleskop-express.de/shop/product_info.php/info/p803_Complete-eyepiece---accessory-kit-in-aluminium-case---by-TS.html

Thanks again Peter

MotteDai

Hi Hellboy

How is it going, is it worth it? Im really considering purchasing a Scope and as with all im wondering which one to buy. This one seems to come up quite a bit and al say its pretty good bar the star finding. Hows it working for ya? Was it worth the money, I'd really like to get a view of Jupiter, Saturn and the moon, you have to get many filters and/or extras?

How you get on finding the right planets also can you see satelites etc?

Roomic Cube

I now own Plugs scope! pity its so cloudy tonight wanted to try it out

hellboy99

hellboy99 wrote: »

Does anyone here have or used an Astromaster 130 EQ telescope, what are they like and are they good for a beginner ?

Congrats on your new toy, you lucky thing ! Im dying to get mine.
Enjoy every minute of searching the skies I know you'll get hours and hours of pleasure from it.

MotteDai

MotteDai wrote: »

Hi Hellboy

How is it going, is it worth it? Im really considering purchasing a Scope and as with all im wondering which one to buy. This one seems to come up quite a bit and al say its pretty good bar the star finding. Hows it working for ya? Was it worth the money, I'd really like to get a view of Jupiter, Saturn and the moon, you have to get many filters and/or extras?

How you get on finding the right planets also can you see satelites etc?

Personally speaking I think it's a great telescope and it's well worth the money, just waiting now to get this eyepiece set:



The star finder on it isn't great so I mounted a camera on top of the telescope and use that along with a laser finder.

Got these pics of the moon a few nights back using 10mm & 20mm eyepieces, good pics considering I was just holding the camera to the eyepieces





Can't wait to get the eyepiece set though.

Jake1 wrote: »

Congrats on your new toy, you lucky thing ! Im dying to get mine.
Enjoy every minute of searching the skies I know you'll get hours and hours of pleasure from it.

Thanks, getting great use out of it and you won't be disappointed when you get yours.

fatlog

Hi All,

I got the same telescope recently and tried it out for the first time last night (first really clear night!). Got great views of the moon using the two included 10mm and 20mm eyepieces. 10mm expecially
Have to say it was very exciting!!
I'm still trying to get used to the whole thing. The equatorial mount is still baffling me a bit but I suppose that will come with practice. As others mentioned, I too found the viewfinder to be fairly poor. I've nothing to really compare it against. I just found it to be not very helpful. I tried to locate jupiter but just couldn't manage to find it via the finderscope.

The main reason I am posting here is to get some feedback from people on what I should do next.

What are the limits of this scope? I've read that I should be able to get decent views of saturn and jupiter? What about deep space objects such as the orion nebulae?

Hellboy. Whats your opinion on the eyepiece kit you linked to? Is the barlow lense a necessity?

Should i invest in a new finderscope or would mounting a camera do the trick?

basically, what do you guys suggest i do next?

Thanks

peterako

Great to hear you got out at last!

It's amazing isn't it Awe-inspiring!

Next steps.

If I was still using my Astromaster 130 I'd have, by now:

- Motorised the RA axis. That woudld give me trackng of objects as the Earth moved

- Improved the view finder (best thing you can do!), maybe as others have suggested by puting a camera on the the camera mount and using that as the view finder.

- Get a barlow (x2.5) and perhaps a 15mm eyepiece.

Limits of useful magnification is dictated by:

- Mirror size (roughly 50 x mirror diameter in inches I think)
- Seeing conditions
- State of collimation

For me this turns out to be about 163x on the Astromaster

Still pretty good though

At the moment you have 37.5x and 65x magnification. A 15mm eyepiece will give you 43x.

Add a 2x Barlow and you have: 37.5x, 43x, 65x, 86x and 130x.

Or, my preference, a 2.5x: 37.5x, 43x, 65x, 94x, 107x and 162.5x.

Just keep on getting out and using it!

Clear skies,
Peter

fatlog

Hi Peter,

Thanks for the quick response and all the information.

i actually got a motor drive with the telescope so will give it a go.

i was amazed at how quickly the moon would drift out of view. i knew it would but didn't think it would be so quick!

i've a few more questions...

Eyepieces:
would you recommend getting and eyepiece kit or buying them seperately? if a kit then any you would recommend?

Mount:
have you come across any good tutorials on using an equatorial mount. i have a book and the telescopes instructions but find that they jump around a lot in their explanations.

Collimation:
How would you know if you need to collimate the telescope? My views of the moon were fairly crisp. Does collimation only really matter deeper sky objects?

Thanks Again

peterako

Caveat - I'm a relative beginner too!!

Eyepieces

I prefer to buy them individually.
But that's just me.

As you have two already you probably only need one more and a barlow with the scope you have.
OK. The kit 10 and 20 may not be the best but......buying one eyepiece and a barlow will be a hell of a lot cheaper than buying a whole kit.

I bought filters when I had my Astromaster, but have hardly used them....

My opinion is spend a bit more on one or two good eyepieces that you plan to keep even if you change scope rather than get a package of (maybe) not as good eyepieces...

When I first got my Astromaster I rushed out and got a 4mm....never used now.

But since then I got a 6.4mm and 26mm Meade 4000 series and a 9mm Meade 5000 series eyepiece.

These three are what I use! (on my 8" reflector)

Plus a 2x or 2.5x Barlow, though I should have bought a better barlow

Mount

The manual that came with the scope is pretty good, but to simplyfy it:

Set your scope up and check that the tripod (at the mounting of the Equatorial Mount - GEM) is level. Make sure the scope is pointing straight along the line of the GEm and that the GEM is orientated so that the moint looks perpendicular to the ground looking from the front.

The scope should now be pointing towards you and, from the side, pointing at an angle towards the sky.

Then, roughly point the mount to the North.

Next, at night try to move the scope and tripod around so that it's pointing towards the North Star. You may have to adjust the elevation (silver screw/lever) to raise or lower the scoper angle.

Whan you have the North Star in visible in the centre of the scope it's roughly Polar Aligned.

Rough alignement is fine.

Astrobaby's site is great for this and Collimation:

Polar Aligning for Beginners

Collimation

A star test will show you how good it is, and if it's not too bad.....

Don't worry about it too much yet, just get used to your scope and how to use it first.

How important is it......?

Well, the better collimated the scope is the sharper the images you'll see will be! Wheter it's teh Moon or Deep Sky.

And a little bit makes a lot of difference, nearly as much as seeing....nearly.

I went from seeing The Great Nebula in Orion as a blue smudge with some shape....to seeing 'cloud' like detail with a small adjustment in collimation.

After fiddling with laser pointers etc I have found the best, and quickest way to collimate (assuming the seocndary is aligned) is with a star test.

Astrobaby again:

Collimating a Newtonian

Clear Skies,
Peter