Observing reports - 130mm Reflector

Here are observing reports made with a 103mm Maksutov-Cassegrain telescope. The reports below give a flavour of what can be seen with this type of telescope.

Observer: Henry

E-mail address: henryj@demon.co.uk

Web site:

Date and time of Observation: 6/7th August 2003

Observing Location: Back Yard N/E UK near York.

Object Observed: Mars / Moon

Viewing conditions: Poor

Telescope SKYWATCHER SKYMAX-102 (EQ2 equatorial mount) 102mm (4") f/1300 (f/12.74)

Eyepiece 10mm and 25mm + 2x Barlow

Observing notes:
When I was trying to choose a telescope I found this website useful so I determined to submit some observations once I decided on what I was going to get. I also found that actual specifics in the description were best rather then the story around the viewing session so I will try and keep to that here. A little background is necessary though. This is my first telescope - I moved to it after feeling I'd outgrown my Zeiss 10x50 binoculars which have served me well. I just wanted something a bit more powerful and while I was under no illusion that I would see Hubble Space Telescope type scenery I did want to see a little more then the Binoculars would allow.
Timing/location - Good things: Mars is almost at it's closest to the Earth and conveniently rises at a sensible hour at my location in the North East of the UK. My back yard suffers from next to no light pollution as I'm situated in a small village in a rural area. Bad things: it's summer and we have a heatwave. The air is far from steady. The sky is hazy with occasional breaks.
What could I see?
The Moon - through the 25mm giving a magnification of 52x the moon fills the eyepiece and is quite breathtaking compared to the view the old binoculars gave me. Slipping on the 10mm eyepiece the image quality degrades slightly and is a lot less steadier. I was not surprised by this as I've heard many complaining about the lack of stability of equatorial mounts. Just twisting the focusing knob shakes the image quite badly. But with the 10mm eyepiece the whole eyepiece is filled with apx. 1/4 of the moon. Great for seeing details of craters and the moons surface. I read somewhere that the optimal magnification for a given scope is about the same as the diameter of the mirror in mm - i.e. 102mm mirror means the optimal magnification should be 102x. Using the 25mm eyepiece with the supplied 2x Barlow I can get 104x - very close. I would say that advice is correct. At 104x I seem to get the best quality vs magnification ratio. Using the 10mm eyepiece the image is not as sharp and not as bright. So these observations of the moon were useful for discovering this. I made these observations of the moon on the 6th and the 7th - though on the 6th conditions were much wworse (cloud/haze etc).
Mars - On the 6th I got a glimpse of it for about 20 seconds after I set up the scope until it vanished behind a cloud not to be seen again that day. On the 7th not a cloud in sight - but lots of haze. Using the 25mm eyepiece (so 52x) it was clear Mars was a planet. A disc could clearly be seen about twice to three times as large as a star normally looks (so still not very big!) and reddish/orange in colour. Switching to my now preferred 2x Barlow on the 25mm eyepiece this became even more apparent. But at first glance few features were visible. I watched it for some time as it rose through the heat haze which was making viewing very difficult (like water in front of the image!). After some time Mars had risen substantially into clearer air and the view became much better. I'm pretty certain I made out a polar region - a whiter area on one side of the globe. But with the air movement and haze I can't be sure of that. I did switch to the 10mm eyepiece and 2x barlow for laughs! but really this magnification simply blurred the image and didn't resolve any further detail. I liked the image best with 25mm and 2x Barlow as predicted. At that magnification Mars was quite a small circular disc. Although I thought I saw a pole no real detail was discernable and the heat haze did not help with this. I am hopeful that on a clearer better night some detail might become visible - perhaps darker/lighter areas etc - though reading others comments perhaps I am unduly hopeful about that!
I gave up any further observations due to haze/heat and turbulent air. Conditions were poor due to the heatwave - but the results I got under adverse conditions have me hopeful for when seeing is good and perhaps when I have made some more observations under better conditions I'll post a follow up. Overall I am happy with the performance of this telescope - but the mount could be a lot sturdier. I guess you need to decide if you want an equatorial mount. I did as I imagine at some point upgrading it to motor driven in order to do astrophotography and a motor and mount of this sort is essential for that really.
Specific Telescope details: SKYWATCHER SKYMAX-102 (EQ2 equatorial mount) 102mm (4") f/1300 (f/12.74)

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Observer:	Henry
E-mail address:	henryj@demon.co.uk
Web site:
Date and time of Observation:	6/7th August 2003
Observing Location:	Back Yard N/E UK near York.
Object Observed:	Mars / Moon
Viewing conditions:	Poor
Telescope	SKYWATCHER SKYMAX-102 (EQ2 equatorial mount) 102mm (4") f/1300 (f/12.74)
Eyepiece	10mm and 25mm + 2x Barlow
Observing notes:	When I was trying to choose a telescope I found this website useful so I determined to submit some observations once I decided on what I was going to get. I also found that actual specifics in the description were best rather then the story around the viewing session so I will try and keep to that here. A little background is necessary though. This is my first telescope - I moved to it after feeling I'd outgrown my Zeiss 10x50 binoculars which have served me well. I just wanted something a bit more powerful and while I was under no illusion that I would see Hubble Space Telescope type scenery I did want to see a little more then the Binoculars would allow. Timing/location - Good things: Mars is almost at it's closest to the Earth and conveniently rises at a sensible hour at my location in the North East of the UK. My back yard suffers from next to no light pollution as I'm situated in a small village in a rural area. Bad things: it's summer and we have a heatwave. The air is far from steady. The sky is hazy with occasional breaks. What could I see? The Moon - through the 25mm giving a magnification of 52x the moon fills the eyepiece and is quite breathtaking compared to the view the old binoculars gave me. Slipping on the 10mm eyepiece the image quality degrades slightly and is a lot less steadier. I was not surprised by this as I've heard many complaining about the lack of stability of equatorial mounts. Just twisting the focusing knob shakes the image quite badly. But with the 10mm eyepiece the whole eyepiece is filled with apx. 1/4 of the moon. Great for seeing details of craters and the moons surface. I read somewhere that the optimal magnification for a given scope is about the same as the diameter of the mirror in mm - i.e. 102mm mirror means the optimal magnification should be 102x. Using the 25mm eyepiece with the supplied 2x Barlow I can get 104x - very close. I would say that advice is correct. At 104x I seem to get the best quality vs magnification ratio. Using the 10mm eyepiece the image is not as sharp and not as bright. So these observations of the moon were useful for discovering this. I made these observations of the moon on the 6th and the 7th - though on the 6th conditions were much wworse (cloud/haze etc). Mars - On the 6th I got a glimpse of it for about 20 seconds after I set up the scope until it vanished behind a cloud not to be seen again that day. On the 7th not a cloud in sight - but lots of haze. Using the 25mm eyepiece (so 52x) it was clear Mars was a planet. A disc could clearly be seen about twice to three times as large as a star normally looks (so still not very big!) and reddish/orange in colour. Switching to my now preferred 2x Barlow on the 25mm eyepiece this became even more apparent. But at first glance few features were visible. I watched it for some time as it rose through the heat haze which was making viewing very difficult (like water in front of the image!). After some time Mars had risen substantially into clearer air and the view became much better. I'm pretty certain I made out a polar region - a whiter area on one side of the globe. But with the air movement and haze I can't be sure of that. I did switch to the 10mm eyepiece and 2x barlow for laughs! but really this magnification simply blurred the image and didn't resolve any further detail. I liked the image best with 25mm and 2x Barlow as predicted. At that magnification Mars was quite a small circular disc. Although I thought I saw a pole no real detail was discernable and the heat haze did not help with this. I am hopeful that on a clearer better night some detail might become visible - perhaps darker/lighter areas etc - though reading others comments perhaps I am unduly hopeful about that! I gave up any further observations due to haze/heat and turbulent air. Conditions were poor due to the heatwave - but the results I got under adverse conditions have me hopeful for when seeing is good and perhaps when I have made some more observations under better conditions I'll post a follow up. Overall I am happy with the performance of this telescope - but the mount could be a lot sturdier. I guess you need to decide if you want an equatorial mount. I did as I imagine at some point upgrading it to motor driven in order to do astrophotography and a motor and mount of this sort is essential for that really. Specific Telescope details: SKYWATCHER SKYMAX-102 (EQ2 equatorial mount) 102mm (4") f/1300 (f/12.74)