Skywatcher Explorer 130 PDS.

After much waiting I was finally able to purchase a Newtonian OTA to try imaging with.

I purchased the Skywatcher Explorer 130 PDS from first light optics in the UK as this falls within my restricted budget.
FLO and DHL were outstanding and from me making the online purchase on a Monday morning at 10AM, I had it in my hands at work on Friday morning!
That was super quick from the UK then through customs and delivered to me, outstanding service and I will happily deal with FLO again.

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/reflectors/skywatcher-explorer-130p-ds-ota.html

This is a great little scope and I was impressed with the first light both visually and with astrophotography.
The scope comes bundled with a 2" 28mm eyepiece along with a few other accessories for the 1.25 adapter and that screws apart and screws straight onto the T-ring adapter on the camera, makes attaching the camera a breeze and is one of the reasons I like the Skywatcher range, my 102 does the same.

The field of view is pretty good and it easily fits IC 26029(Southern Pleiades) in the FOV with a 25mm EP inserted.
The supplied 2" 28mm does not perform well in the fast scope but does heaps better in the bigger 8" dob.
The finder is a standard 6 X 30 and gets the job done for alignment purposes.

I now have a rather large learning curve ahead of me when it comes to using a newt for imaging.
I have taken a few test images to see what the scope can do.
First thing I noticed is that once the light frames are stacked it is a much darker final image that I can stretch WAY further than similar images from the refractor before noise shows up.
The stars do distort around the edges, but nothing too serious. the focus is off and it seems the collimation could use a tweak judging by the spikes and diffraction patterns around the brightest stars.
The Southern Pleiades image below illustrates this well.

So without much more ado here are some images.

Both scopes outside, the big dob on the left and "Mini me" on the right sitting atop my skywatcher alt/az goto mount.

Then a few images from the scope with my Canon 1200D DSLR.

First up is NGC 104.

Then we have NGC 5139

These are the Southern Pleiades.

And since all these images were captured under a near full moon here she is too.

Thanks for reading and clear skies friends!

Observing report 23 February 2018.

Clear skies presented late on Friday night 23rd February 2018.

All my targets from tonight are from the Crux constellation with one re-observation of a cluster in Musca without moonlight interfering.

I set out the toys just before 10PM and putzed around for a while as the scope cooled and my eyes got a chance to dark adapt. Some of the targets have been seen before under the moon's baleful glare so I was keen to have another look once the moon had gone down.
After 11PM the moon had all but disappeared and I managed a few hours of observing before the clouds took back control by 2AM.

So here is my journey in and around Crux.

Orion XT8.
9/15/25mm EP's used.
Had a very windy day which died down in the evening leaving the seeing somewhat poor and yet the transparency fared better. NGC 5139 presented as a pin prick of light naked eye while most stars in the lower regions had a nice twinkle.


NGC 4755(Jewel box cluster), Open cluster in Crux, Mag +4.19

Might as well start with the famous jewel box cluster.
Keep in mind my descriptions are as seen in the eyepiece, so that will be flipped and upside down.
There are six prominent stars at mag 5(+-) that form a V shape with a bright red star DU Crucis in the center of the V. There is a nice grouping of stars to the left of this V that start to blend in with the V shape. A very bright and large cluster of stars of all colours and hue's creating that "jewel box" look.

NGC 4349, Open cluster in Crux, Mag +7.40

This was one cluster that benifits from a moonless sky.
Even then I had to ramp up the magnification and found six very dim stars in the 9mm EP, averted vision helped improve the view.
A tough find.

HARVARD 5, Open cluster in Crux, Mag +7.09

This looks to my eye to be a upside down T which is tilted over to the left.
I count seven stars here and it takes magnification well revealing a few dimmer members.

I found this interesting info on the Harvard catalog of stars.
The Catalog contain 21 entries compiled by American astronomer Harlow Shapley(1885-1972) in 1930.
Roughly half the objects already carry a NGC or Trumpler designation and the remainder were not listed in any prior catalogs.
NGC 4439, Open cluster in Crux. Mag +8.39

I see 6 stars forming a semi circle that is open at the bottom with one star in the center of the would be circle.
This is another very dim object that may not be seen under a moonlit sky, to dig this one out I used the 9mm EP.

Hogg 14, Open cluster in Crux, Mag +9.50

This was a tough one to crack, took me a while to nail down the three stars I could see, two with direct vision and the third swimming into view with averted vision using the 9mm Ep again.
I would not recommend finding this guy with the moon holding sway over the skies!

Trumpler 20, Open cluster in Crux. Mag +10.0
I see three groups of scalene triangles, these guys are ultra dim at mag 10 and takes some doing to find them.
Not much to see but worth the hunt and getting it logged.
Not one that I would have noticed as a cluster to be honest.

NGC 4337, Open cluster in Crux. Mag +8.89

How this qualified as a cluster I will never know!
I see two ultra dim stars. fortunately this was a easy star hop from Gacrux so no waste of effort there, anyhow it's logged and best forgotten.

NGC 4463, Open cluster in Musca, Mag +7.19

I see a nice triangle of stars here with the addition two bright stars, one on the inside of the triangle and the other on the outside.
Not an unpleasant view.

NGC 4609, Open cluster in Crux, Mag +6.90

Here we see one bright star with a more compact collection of 6 six stars that remind me of a bow tie shape.
Nice and compact cluster that easily sticks out from it's surroundings and is recognizable as a "classic" cluster.


Hogg 15, Open cluster in Crux, Mag +10.3

All I can find is one single star just above NGC 4609, how this qualifies as a cluster goes beyond me!
Still it's logged and never to be returned to.

NGC 4103, open cluster in Crux, Mag+7.40

Here I see a elongated and back to front Z shape of stars.
The slant in the Z contains three stars, the upper arm also sports three while the bottom arm boast four stars.
A nice tight cluster.



And that folks is that.
Thank you for taking the time to read or follow along.
Wishing you all clear skies and happy hunting!