Opinions on SkyWatcher 120mm Refractor Please

Hi everybody, Im seriously considering purchasing this:

www.teleskop-express.de/shop/product_inf...cts_id=1027#zubehoer



Was just wondering if anyone had any experience with it? I want as large a refractor as possible for that kind of money and that seemed like a good way to go especially for delivery to Ireland of €18.

I was just wondering what the performance will be like on Solar System objects and DSOs, splitting double stars etc, could that telescope be classed as a "keeper" as far as viewing future comets/other astronomical events are concerned? I dont have any interest in astrophotography. Thanks a lot.

Hi there

As the ad states this is a great rich field scope and will give very nice views of the Milky Way and especially open clusters, I had a 127mm F/6.8 scope that worked very well on DSOs and double stars. On brighter stars such as Vega and Sirius they appeared with an obvious purple halo, and I would imagine that with an f/5 scope the colour would be more pronounced, though a filter such as Minus Violet will help with this.

The colour will be there on the moon too, and definitely on Venus, with the moon the colour is usually around the limb and can be ignored. My scope performed well on Saturn and Jupiter, and I would imagine this scope should show plenty of detail.

One problem with planetary viewing with this scope is that with a focal length of 600mm a high magnification will be difficult, for example a 5mm eyepiece will only give a magnification of 120X. In my 127mm I saw some nice details in Jupiter and Saturn at 103X with an 8mm EP.

As a deep sky scope I would think that it is ideal, as a planetary scope I don't believe that it can do the job, an f/8 or f/10 scope would be preferrable.

Is this scope a keeper? You're asking the wrong man I've lost track of the number of scopes I've bought and sold.

This is just my opinion and I am sure others will provide more, or better, information.

Paul

Thanks Paul, Im looking for a decent alt-az refractor for general all round use, Im not a serious astronomer like Im guessing you probably are, I just want to be able to grab and go when the sky is clear or something particularly interesting is visible like Comet Lulin, it also comes with a fringe killer like you said:

www.nexstarsite.com/Reviews/BaaderFringeKiller.htm

I really don't want to go above the 350 Euro range and that site is really the only option as everywhere else Ive found charges ridiculous postage rates.

For a grab n go this scope is ideal, just make sure you give the lens time to adjust to the outside air temperature.

Paul