Posts Made By: Travis Bennett

My first pic. Orion 130 spaceprobe and fuji 4700

I recently purchased the orion spaceprobe 130 as a first scope. Although it has been good overall I am a little dissappointed with its planetary performance. I am now looking for something else to replace it with. I just wanted to know if the apex 90 or 102 would give better views or do I need to go to a 90mm refractor? I definately do not want another reflector. I want something smaller....ie...portable. And before you say it....I did collimate the newt with a cheshire.

Any advice is welcome.

Travis

I am trying to decide between 2 scopes and need some input.
background: about 2 years ago owned a spaceprobe 130 and an starmax 127. only had for a few months. spaceprobe ok but did not like diff spikes. Starmax was great and portable.
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looking to get new scope, I found a nexstar 5 and an lxd55 8" sn for around the same price. I know the meade is an f4 and better for wide field views and the nexstar more for planets. Here is my dilemma, I would like to have a scope that will do both pretty well. Will there be any diff between these 2 on planets, I know there will be diff on dso's. If any diff, what kind and how much.
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Also, I know many are going to tell me to get a dob, or some other variance. I have definately made up my mind that the mount has to be goto, I want to spend more time looking and less time finding.
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I have read and understand that nuances for the lxd55 mount. I figure I can tinker enough to make suitable.
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any opinions and help is greatly appreciated.

Travis

Well, I decided to write a little update. Thursday or Friday night (forgot which) I set up for some lunar and planetary viewing. First up was the moon. I started out with my favorite eyepeice (cause I only have 3) the orion expanse 9. This gives me 100x and the entire moon fits into the fov with a little room to spare. Great views as usual. Next, I barlow it. This time it was crystal clear and actually kinda easy to focus (I was real happy).

Next up..Jupiter. I go back to the 9mm (not barlowed) and spend about 10 minutes observing what I can. Which was pretty cool cause there was a lunar transit. Then I barlow the 9mm and the view got mushy again but not as bad as usual. So I decided to try the 10mm explorer that came with it(180x). This was better than usual but still a tad mushy. I think it was easier to focus because of the transit that turned into a double transit later that night. In my viewing I was able to make out more detail than before and this was my best night so far. I really think another eyepeice is needed so I can get about 150x as I think that would probably be the best mag for this scope on Jupiter.

Overall I beleive I was expecting too much from this scope. How could I not after seeing all these great photos all over the place. Also, last night I made my first star party and was able to look thru a 10" Discovery premium dob. Boy that thing was huge and heavy. The view of Jupiter in that was actually not as good as I had expected (go figure, for me) but way more detail than I have ever seen from mine. Now, If I could get that view in something alot smaller without costing a fortune I would have it made.

I just wanted to say thanks for all of the replies and the help from everyone here.

Thanks,
Travis