Sky-Watcher Skyliner 300P - Review

Rizal Technological University's Department of Earth and Space Sciences is home to three dobsonians from the Sky-Watcher Skyliner series.

I chose to do a review of the largest aperture of course, the 12-inch Sky-Watcher Skyliner 300P. I got to use this scope for an imaging session and was able to get pretty good results.

The Skyliner 300P has a focal length of 1500, giving it an f-number of f/5 which makes it ideal for deep-sky viewing. The eyepiece holder is a dual-fit for the standard 1.25" and also the 2". The scope also comes with T-threads for direct SLR connection via a T-ring. The finderscope attached is a 9x50. The dobsonian mount on the Skyliner series is a wooden mount that comes with an accessory tray at the front. The main OTA is connected to the mount by two tension-knobs which also serve as the telescope's lock and handle. The entire scope is also pretty heavy because of its size.

I attached my Nikon D3100 two ways: via prime focus and with a variable T-adapter. The added weight on the OTA did not cause problems in centering on a particular target. The large aperture provided good light gathering ability for observation.

Here are some sample images taken with the Skyliner 300P:

Celestron Omni XLT 150 R - Review

Last Saturday, the MS Astronomy students from RTU took the Celestron Omni XLT 150 R to Timberland Heights (15 mins away from Quezon City) for some stargazing in the mountains.

The telescope is a 6 inch (150mm) achromatic refractor mounted, via dove-tail, on a CG-4 German equatorial mount. It has good reviews for viewing deep-sky objects. It has a focal ratio of f/5 (focal length 750mm). The telescope makes use of the StarBright XLT coating which allows maximum light transmission. The finderscope attached is a 6x30 straight through achromat with a 7 degree field of view.

When viewing the Orion Nebula, the Trapezium stars are very well resolved and there is good contrast to the surrounding cloud layer. The stars of the Pleiades were also finely resolved.

In observing Jupiter, there is a violet halo resulting from chromatic aberration.

We also tried to do some prime focus imaging since the eyepiece holder has built-in T-threads, however the telescope requires a focal extender in order to put the image to focus. Neither planetary or deep sky targets can be focused by attaching the camera with the T-ring to the eyepiece holder's T-threads.

Travel Scope 70 Review

I recently acquired a Celestron Travel Scope 70 from Cutting Edge as an early Christmas gift from my father. It was one of three affordable grab-and-go scopes sold - the other being the Firstscope and the Travel Scope 50 (both less 4k; and the scope at 4470). The Travel Scope 50 had bad reviews so I avoided it. I wanted to get the C90 Maksutov but it was out of the available budget range..hehe. This will be my 2nd refractor, the other being a Tasco 2-inch(?).

The Travel Scope series portable telescope is specially designed for traveling. Both the 50 and 70 are compact refractors suitable for terrestrial and astronomical observing.

The TS 70 has a 70mm aperture in a compact body (17 inches long). It comes with a full size photographic tripod, a 5x24 finderscope, two eyepieces (20mm and 10mm - nothing special) and custom backpack for traveling. It also comes with TheSky x First Light edition. The scope only weighs 3.3lbs making it very easy to carry around. Also, the optics are fully coated. The assembly was quite easy too, I didn't even use the manual (well, that could just be experience speaking).

The tripod was quite shifty though. Try touching the focusing knob while viewing a bright star and it will dance to your touch. It's more stable when collapsed to it's lowest height - more like a table-top scope like the Firstscope. Also, it seems like the tripod couldn't hold the whole weight when pointed towards the zenith. I think the tripod is the biggest let-down. Anyways, you can't expect much from the mount for the price.

I wasn't able to observe much during my first attempt due to poor observing conditions but I was able to view clearly the Double-Double in Lyra, and low-magnitude stars in the tail of Scorpius in a wide field of view. On my second attempt, I had Jupiter in sight and was amazed at the amount of detail I could see. I could make out the bands of Jupiter and saw all 4 Galilean moons. Online reviews say they can see the Trapezium with it, I have yet to test that for myself.

Oh, yeah! It isn't written down in the features but the focuser on the TS 70 has a T-thread on it for SLRs via T-rings. I wonder why this key feature is not mentioned? Just make sure to change the tripod before attempting to attach a weighty SLR.

Although the magnifications attainable (with the given eyepiece) are lesser than the Travel Scope 50 (especially since it comes with a Barlow lens), the TS 70 has a higher aperture for higher maximum useful magnification. Therefore, upgrade your eyepiece and you get better images.



Basically, you can just replace the eyepiece and the tripod with better ones and you get a great scope at a low price! ^_^