Skywatcher HERITAGE-100P Tabletop Parabolic Dobsonian Telescope

Product Information

In addition to finding a suitable stand, stool, or table and constructing a homemade shroud to enclose the tube, there are several affordable and extremely beneficial accessories worth acquiring for the Heritage 130P to fully optimise its performance. I have successfully used this for EAA with my ASI 585 and 2 second exposures but full blown DSO astrophotography is out. The Heritage Skywatcher 100 P telescope is a super light and convenient grab and go scope that is perfect for your first unit. But don’t be fooled by the low price, this scope really holds its own out there. The high quality 100 mm parabolic optics lets you see the bright planets and moon as well as other distant nebulae and star clusters.

For a significantly higher price are a variety of full-sized, free-standing 6”, 8” and 10” Dobsonians which all provide great views in a simple and portable design format. One of the biggest gripes that puts beginner astronomers off getting out and observing the night sky is the prospect of setting everything up. SynScan App's Other Features: Tonight's Best Sky Tour, Point and Go with a mobile device, Identification of Celestial Objects, Remote control over the Internet, User defined objects, Pointing Accuracy Enhancement (PAE) We would highly recommend purchasing a 6mm goldline or redline (67x) wide-angle eyepiece for the Heritage 100P, which can be used with the provided Barlow (or a higher-quality replacement 2x Barlow, which is also a great item to have) for 133x magnification, about the most the 100P can handle. Alternatively or as an addition to either or both of these items, a 4mm planetary eyepiece (100x) is ideal.The Heritage 150P uses a tabletop “Dobsonian” mount—technically not a true Dobsonian but rather a one-armed fork design, with the tube pivoting up and down on a plastic pad and ball bearing and swivelling like any other Dobsonian using three small Teflon pads on the laminated base. The tube attaches to the mount with a Vixen-style dovetail rail and clamp, and can be slid along the clamp for optimal balance. There’s also a built-in handle. You can adjust the friction of the altitude axis by tightening a large knob, while adjusting the friction in azimuth requires a pair of pliers or wrenches. The Ursa Major 8″ f/6 Dobsonian is a simple 8” Dobsonian, which boasts an impressive light gathering capacity – almost twice that of its 6″ counterparts and four times the light collecting prowess of the Heritage 100P. Despite this, its weight and bulk are only marginally greater than a 6″ f/8 Dobsonian A red-dot finder is a reasonable choice for a telescope of this size as it is simple to use and quite lightweight.However, it felt as if it was in the way when using the focuser, and when the telescope was pointed vertically it was not easy to look up through the finder. Eyepieces

The Sky-Watcher Heritage 100P is of course pretty much the cheapest acceptable telescope one can find. Lower-priced 76mm f/4 tabletop scopes have flawed spherical primary mirrors and often sub-par accessories, while most tripod-mounted scopes are just completely unacceptable. The Zhumell Z100 and Orion SkyScanner 100mm, if available, are identical optically and mechanically to the Heritage 100P, albeit equipped with slightly different accessories. Galaxy pair M81 and M82 were seen together even through the 9mm eyepiece. The Whirlpool Galaxy was small but bright in the 26mm.The red dot sight provided with the 100P is more than adequate for a small, wide-field telescope, remarkably easy to use, and is higher quality than many of the cheap red dots compared with beginner telescopes from other brands. Mount

For a medium magnification between 30x and 75x, we might also recommend a 15mm gold-line (50x), which provides a good balance of field of view and magnification for viewing many deep-sky objects. If you’re willing to spend extra, there’s the SVBONY 15mm 70-degree with a wider and sharper field of view, as well as a more comfortable eyecup. It comes with a Wooden Alt-Azimuth tabletop mount and a 3/8" thread located on the base allows it also to use on a suitable field tripod. Furthermore, it is supplied in a presentation gift box. We then turned to the major bodies of the Solar System. Jupiter was small even with the 10mm eyepiece, but we could see the equatorial bands and the four Galilean moons.The StellaLyra 10″ f/5 Dobsonian possesses the same features, accessories, focal length, and, naturally, excellent value for money as the 8″ variant; the only distinction is the slightly broader tube, and it offers you 56% more light-gathering prowess and 25% more resolution than an 8”. While it’s not much taller than the StellaLyra 8” Dobsonian, the mount is a little fatter and thus transporting it by car might be a little more difficult. It’s also a bit more challenging to collimate. But if you’re willing to accept these compromises, you’ll be rewarded with even brighter images than an 8” telescope and views that simply blow away a smaller instrument. Alternatives The Orion SkyQuest XT8i Dobsonian IntelliScope is a price leader and a highly advanced model with a built in computer that takes exploration to a whole new level. This particular computer boasts of a comprehensive database with more than 14,000 fascinating celestial objects already programmed inside. The Bresser Messier 5” Dobsonian has similar optics to the Heritage 130P but in a simpler solid tube. However, the provided accessories are not quite as good. Obviously, given that this is a tabletop telescope, you’re probably wondering what we recommend putting it on. My personal preference would be a 3-legged stool. They’re cheap, they’re sturdy, and they look classy. A 4-legged stool works too, but it’s more likely to wobble. You could also make your own stand for the scope that could accommodate an accessory tray or storage container, or in a pinch, the telescope will work on the hood of most cars; the rubber feet allow it to rest on a slight incline. Should I buy a Used Skywatcher Heritage 130P?

The telescope can be removed, and another suitably sized one fitted (requires a regular Vixen-type dovetail).Eyepiece– This is an optical device that goes into the focuser or diagonal. The optical tube gathers light but it is the eyepiece that provides the magnification. Eyepieces come in various focal lengths, each providing a different magnification according to the focal length of the optical tube according to the formula Focal Length Optical Tube / Focal Length Eyepiece = Magnification. Therefore a 10 mm eyepiece will provide different magnification depending on the focal length of the telescope. Eyepieces are standardized on 1.25” and 2” diameters. Which size you can use is determined by the focuser and diagonal. So what does the SkyLiner 200 P Parabolic Sky Watcher do best? Well, it excels at the very thing that you want your telescope to do – viewing distant objects. Thanks to the Dobsonian’s 0.5mm ultra thin mirror supports, the 200 P has visibly reduced light loss and diffraction spikes. At the same time, the top quality parabolic mirrors help eliminate spherical aberration for an even clearer image. Sky-Watcher Deluxe Mirror Coatings: Today's reflectors often feature an aluminium coating on the mirror surface, followed by a protective layer of silicon monoxide or silicon dioxide. Compared to silicon monoxide, silicon dioxide creates a far more durable coat but costs more to apply since it needs specialised equipment. Because the mirror in the majority of reflectors is exposed to the elements and deterioration of the reflecting coating lowers the telescope's resolution, protection is necessary. For maximum durability and long-term performance, Silicon Dioxide Multi-Coating is a standard feature on ALL Sky-Watcher reflectors.