Re: Eyepiece quality

"AB" <mail@xxxxxxxx> wrote in
news:V9KdndPXksp6WszZnZ2dnUVZ8tydnZ2d@xxxxxxxxxxxxx:

Google on StarBlast, and see what you think about it. It is
certainly compact, and regarding portability, can be carried with
one hand.

My local telescope shop doesn;t seem to offer the Orion Starblast but
they do have one very similar - A Skywatcher 114m for £125. It has a
motor drive (which I am not sure if I need or will use) and it looks
from the pictures to be the very similar in form to the StarBlast.
It looks compact which is something I think I will have to take into
account.

Once again, I'm speaking from a complete newbie's perspective, but in
the absence of comment from other, more experienced, hands...

It looks like the Skywatcher is on an EQ mount (if it is the one I think
it is). This is the kind of mount my SkyLux has.

This is a good thing, long term - an EQ mount, when properly aligned,
makes it easy to follow objects as they move, either during prolonged
observation or when imaging.

However, if all you want to do is sit and move from one thing to
another, going "gosh" and "wow" (which is my currently level of
activity), it can be a bit of a pain. Whereas the Dob mount of the
SkyLux (and other reflectors of this type) is simplicity itself - just
plonk it down, point and view.

I think the "pain" will disappear with familiarity and practice - so it
is a bit of a tradeoff between flexibility and simplicity.

Im going there next weekend to take a look at what is on display and
i'll probably purchase there and then - its only 10 minutes up the
road from me which is very handy.

That is useful, and buying from local people can be a very good thing -
especially for support and advice. However, do have a look around at
what is available elsewhere, and on the internet. In particular, I found
Telescope House - http://www.telescopehouse.co.uk - to be very helpful.

Also, I will echo the advice I have frequently heard - before spending
any money, it is a good idea to find a local astronomy club and go along
to see if you can give some scopes a try, before buying. Of course, it
is advice I completely disregarded, and have no regrets about, but it is
good advice, nonetheless.

As a newcomer to telescopes I wonder if the whole upside down business
through a reflector will be a problem - ive been using binoculars for
ages. I guess it may be another thing to get used to with experience.
Are there any eyepieces that turn the image the right way up?

That was one of my first thoughts too. My SkyLux came with an "erecting
lens" which was worse than useless. There are other more sophisticated
(and expensive) options, but once I started looking through the
eyepiece, I soon forgot the problem.

--
Chris
Minstrel's Hall of Filk - http://www.filklore.com/
Filklore Music Store - http://www.filklore.co.uk/
To contact me, please use form at http://www.filklore.com/contact.phtml
.

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