This was very useful, I bought a 150P a few years ago and lost the instructions. This reminded me of how to set it up. Thanks for putting this on youtube
I have the same tube, but with a dual focuser (more precise I guess), and an EQ5 mount, which I recently upgraded with the Synscan kit (computer+ RA and DEC motors). It is a very nice telescope, but a bit bulky and takes a little time to align it properly.
Thanks for posting. Yes you definitely have the better set-up there. The dual speed focus is a big improvement, and the tube is shortened slightly for astrophotography focus. The EQ5 is more stable, especially with the steel legs. Goto always takes longer to setup because of alignment, but then you save the time later in finding things! As for bulky - well compared to my 250pds on AZEQ6GT, its light and maneuverable, but its always a choice.
Wow,! you have an amazing piece of equipment. But as you say, some of my mates at the local astronomy group are "jealous" of my tube because it has very nice performance while being sort of "portable". I don't have a proper place at home to set up my telescope so when we go on an observation night (about once a month), I must carry it around with my car, and a 250mm reflector wouldn't fit in my small car :) I've recently bought a small 400mm refractor to use it at home or carry around wherever I want, because sometimes I just want to look at the moon and some planets and the small scope is good enough for that, and is so easy to setup.
Hello sir, i hope you are reading this. I just purchased a N 150/1200 Explorer 150PL EQ3-2 and when i look at the instructions i see a picture of a smal mounting plate. However i only have a large mounting plate, which is the next picture in the instructions. Could you tell me how its installed on your telescope? Thankyou in advance!
excelent! One question please: I just bought a new skywatcher120/1000 rig with equatorial neq5 and I'm still learning the equatorial (before it had a 70mm with altaz mount. Once I managed to put it in parking position (orient the tripod to the north with a quality compass, level the tripod , level right ascension and level declination and adjust latitude of Madrid), can I consider that I am aligned with the polar? even if it is fake alignment? because sometimes you want to see the moon during the day or because there is something that does not allow you to see the polar. And Would you know how many degrees you have to deviate to true north in the location of Madrid, since the compass will indicate magnetic north?
Can I see a lot more through this 150 mm than I can through a celestron 130 mm , I'm thinking is it worth the extra cost as it's not so good for moving around.
i took this out to a completely clear sky night and couldn’t see much..not sure if i had high expectations or what not. I used 15mm plossl, 2x barlow lens and the standard 25mm wide angle that came with the skywatcher. i was able to see some details on the moon but that’s about it, when i pointed it at any other object in the sky i didn’t see much. does anyone have any tips?
Hi I have the Eq3 exactly like this with smaller weights - twice now one of the bolts (closest to the polar eyepiece) has bent badly because it gets trapped under the mechanism inside and the weights bend the steel. Is it not better practice to put the weights on last after polar alignment? Or does doing this risk shifting the mount head?
Hello Claire, that’s quite a common problem with the eq3/5/6 models unfortunately. There are replacement bolts available, but to answer your question: usually the damage occurs because of over-tightening rather than just the load from the weights (easy to forget to loosen one before adjusting the other!). Unless you move the mount to different locations, the latitude doesn’t need change often, especially on visual use. I used to get it out of the garage, point it north and I was good to go. If you’re looking for really accurate P.A. Then the weight does need to be there, or at least check again after adding everything (scope, weight etc). Hope that helps!
Hi,I see you have the eyepiece holder and counter balance weights on the same side,would you rotate the whole scope round to the other side of weights for easier viewing?
Stephen Dicks, good question! It really depends on which area of the sky you are looking at, and if you look at different points of the sky - you’ll probably have to change it to suit. I think that setup was good for looking east, but it’s a long time ago sorry 😐
MikeyJ .cheers for reply,I’m new to the mad world of telescopes,just got a skywatcher explorer 150pl and whilst looking at some shiney thing I saw another more shiney thing,but didn’t realise I could rotate it,but assumed I was doing something wrong as I was upside down and doing a handstand and my glasses fell off.[slight exaggeration].will definitely look at more of your helpful videos.
Hi! I’m thinking about ordering one but on EQ5. Is it suitable for astrophotography too? I think you said something about the focus being too close. Thanks in advance!
Hi Geir Hilland, well, it's a good telescope, and the eq mount will make it useful as you progress. The downside is the extra weight of an eq, and that Newtonian design needs some maintenance in terms of collimating from time to time. If you think you will stay interested, then this is a good telescope to develop with your own capabilities. Hope that helps, Mike
Hi Marcus, you are probably aware that you can spend much more on eyepieces that the telescope costs! i find the 25mm is good and easy to use with reasonable field of view and eye-relief. The 10mm is the one to replace. Depending on your budget, you could try BST Starguiders, (via ebay). they give much better view. I have an Explore Scientific 10mm, a Celestron 15mm Luminos (both excellent btw) and a budget 6mm. if you look on my channel, i have a video on the eyepieces i use. hope that helps
Yes i changed the eyepieces after a while. The 10mm in particular needs to be replaced, you can get much better views with a better eyepiece than the original one. The 25mm is not bad, quite good actually, but i have a 24mm 82deg one that is much better. See my other video on the eyepiece collection i have (i added a 10mm 70deg Explore Scientific since making that video
Great video. Can you just attach a dslr direct into the focuser on this scope? I currently have a Skywatcher 8 dobsonian that I can do it with but am now looking at this scope for astrophotography. Many thanks.
Thanks! Yes you can, i have done that. The focus is a bit close, so the focus tube protrudes into the main tube a bit, but it works. i have seen a couple where they cut back the focus tube so the intrusion is reduced.
I dont mean to be offtopic but does anyone know of a way to log back into an Instagram account? I somehow forgot my password. I would love any tricks you can offer me!
@Hendrix Nathan i really appreciate your reply. I found the site on google and Im waiting for the hacking stuff now. Looks like it's gonna take quite some time so I will get back to you later when my account password hopefully is recovered.
Depends on where you are Ishan, its widely available as skywatcher 150p-ds, 150p, explorer 150/750. the optical tube is £179 in UK, with a mount like this one £300-400 depending on exact mount. Celestron have the same but different names eg CG4
Hi there Samantha san, I didn't take so many images with this scope, but if you go to AstroBin.com, you can search for the 150p and find many images taken with this scope. Honestly, i dont think you will regret this purchase :) www.astrobin.com/
Hi David, I take it you mean it’s behind a tree or something rather than being in the Southern Hemisphere? There is an app called polar align pro (iOS) which has a daylight alignment option, or you can approximate the North setting and latitude elevation, and then do something called ‘drift alignment ‘. That works well, but one other comment: unless you are imaging, an approx setup will do you just fine for visual keeping the star in the eye piece for 30 mins on a motor driven mount
Thanks for the reply, the only place I have to view is my front garden (South facing). Which means I can't see the pole star because my house is in the way. So just wondered how I would align it. Thanks.
Rozza Coyg , hi. With the motors fitted and accurate polar alignment yes it will be suitable. But, don’t expect to be able to take 5-10min exposures, this is an entry level mount. I would suggest 1min exposure as max, and keep the weight down to 2/3 max spec. Rolf the mount
+Eyesonyou ah. sorry for my typing error there. from everything i read in the forums, there is no different at all except for the polar scope. i'm not so sure though. anyway thanks for replying
So I have a celestron 130eq, and I started to hear about this telescope. I've seen the way that it performs and I know that the focal length is very good (650mm on the 130). I'm starting to wonder if I should upgrade to this, or if my 130 can perform the same. I know that the 130 is more of a beginner telescope, but I am not sure if I should take it back, buy this, or maybe they even perform the same. I need someone else's advice on what I should do, since I'm starting to move away from the beginners zone of telescopes.
Hi science cat, well I don’t think there is enough difference between the 130 and the 150p, although the parabolic mirror, finder and inverted optics make the Skywatcher better in my view. For an upgrade, the weak points on the 130 are the finder and the focuser in my view, so the ds dual speed version would be a big help. As far as focal length is concerned, not much difference, depends what you want to look at, a 127mak gives better views of planets and moon, but the 150p-ds is a good fast scope for wider field and even astrophotographers use it regularly with good results. Hope that helps :-)
So It would be possible to take photos with the celestron 130 (with an added motor) like the 150/750? Are you saying that they particularly perform the same?
Actually the one I had wouldn’t achieve focus of the camera, so unless you know they changed it, you cannot use the 130 celestron for prime focus photography without modifying
Alright, but I just saw an 8'' telescope on amazon (dobsonian), and I think i'll upgrade to that, because its skywatcher, and I'm not much of a fan of celestron
Do yiu mean eq1 mount? If u mean eq1 or eq2 not at all, you need an eq3, better an eq3-2. With an expensive motorized eq5 you can also do astrophotography with this scope
focal length is 750mm, tube length was about that also. not sure what you mean by 'its a dovetail'? skywatcher use vixen style dovetail. i would say that you probably could use the 114 mount for visual, but not for photos - just not stable enough
ok, well if I can add a general comment: check the recommended payload of the mount. The 200p is a big scope, also in length and the torsional 'moment' is big..meaning it will not settle after movement or a gust of wind. thats why people often say to over specify the mount (so 200p visual: EQ5, photography:EQ6). maybe go on 'Star gazers lounge' and talk to some ppl there
