Beautiful view of the ring nebula, One of my favorite objects.I always check it out in my twelve inch style, Which gives me a nice sharp beautiful view too.
Great video. Thanks, mate. I have been using an 8 inch Dobsonian for my first 10 months of astronomy, but I think this 102 will be my first refractor. Thanks again. I am now subbed. I look forward to more.
Been recommended dobs as my first scope and I totally get it, my friend has one and I've been leaching him. They're bulky and fun, but too cumbersome to bring up and down my college dorm room. While StarTravel isn't perfect, notably chromatic abbreviation, it may be a great first scope for me. Fingers crossed, time to get savin'
Look's like a good package, I actually own a Phenix 127mm refractor, only tried it out three times, but a friend who viewed a crescent moon one night said he had never seen anything like that ever!! at 57 years of age he had not viewed anything through a reasonable telescope. My telescope did come with a motor drive, which I have yet to try. Good video thank's.
An excellent unboxing and using video! I really enjoyed it when you took the telescope outside and looked at Venus, folks really need to see the real view. Thanks!
Hi, thanks for the great video. I bought this telescope back in April and have been looking into getting a motor and ZWO asi 120. I was holding back in case it didnt work but now I know it does! Thanks 😊
You're welcome Gwen, yes it's fine for a spot of casual imaging. The only thing I'll mention is Batteries! Because the RA drive only takes 2xAA's, they need changing quite regularly, but it's a minor point really.
Great vid , ..one thing though ..... you can't rotate the tube so you could end up in odd positions when viewing and using the finder, its the main thing turning me against this telescope
Hi John, no problem. The motor drive is an optional extra for an additional £48. You can take a closer look here: www.firstlightoptics.com/sky-watcher-starquest/sky-watcher-ra-motor-drive-for-starquest-and-az-eq-avant-mounts.html
Been looking to get one of these, I was wondering what you thought to the mount. As I remember the Sky Watcher EQ1 was a dreadful mount. Looks like they have completely changed it.
Hi Mark, I agree the EQ1 is awful, I think of the Starquest mount more as a modern equivalent of the EQ2, only with better clutch knobs and the ability to easily place it in Alt Azimuth mode by locking the latitude at the 90 degree position. It's a good little mount but does suffer from vibrations like any other aluminium tripod mount in this price bracket. Anti vibration pads for the tripod are a good add on I feel.
One thing I forgot to ask you last time - have you noticed - is the lens cell on this 102/500 is the same metal built as in the StarTravel 102/500? I ask because I know in the 80/400 SkyWatcher uses a plastic cell. These sell at somewhat lower prices than StarTravel of the same specs so I wonder if SW cut any corners on these?
Sorry John, I completely missed your post. Ooops! It's a very good thought! I've just waltzed over to the scope and gave it a little tap. I'm 95% certain it's metal because it feels fairly cold to the touch. The 5% doubt is down to it having a good few layers of paint...wait a minute, they wouldn't paint plastic so I'm even more sure it's metal!
Hi mate I’m looking at buying my first scope and am looking at the star quest 102 and the Startravel 102 I was wondering what the difference is if any as I can’t find anything through google regards Steve
Hi mate. had this scope since april. i will be investing in the motor now for sure. what other devices would you recommend to be able to auto find nebulas for example. also is there any other accessories you'd recommend? tia Aled
HI Aled, the motor simply helps the mount track the sky once you've manually found an object, there's no 'Goto' available for this telescope. However, you can down load Stellarium (sky map) for free and this is a great tool for helping to find objects. Accessories wise, other than rechargeable AA batteries for the motor drive as it's eats batteries, maybe a better high power eye piece as the 10mm supplied isn't that great, a red torch so you can see what you're doing without effecting your eyes dark adaption.
I remember this video and viewing Venus. There was some CA, but not as much as I was expecting. The ST102 is a decent scope, I prefer it to the ST120 which baths everything in a blue hue of CA.
@@Astrolavista have you tired a semi apo or fringe killer on it? It should return brilliant views. It seem like a great scope. I am contemplating buying the Celestron powerseeker 80mm EQ. It seems to be a good scope too
Hi Mihails, I think it could manage longer exposures if you keep the focal length short and polar align the mount as accurately as you can, only the mount doesn't have a polar scope so it could be tricky. You would get much better tracking accuracy with the Sky-Watcher Star Adventurer mount for example but the StarQuest is fun to play around with at least :)
@@Astrolavista many thanks! Good review, I contemplate on acquiring this telescope sometime in future. For now, I take 1300 1 s raw exposures on my Poco x3 through Celestron Skymaster 15x70 🎃
The Starquest 102 has a more modern mount that can be used in both Alt Azimuth and Equatorial modes. The AZ3 is an older mount which does have a couple of design flaws; the slow motion controls use a worm carrier that needs resetting periodically (It's not very relaxing tracking an object only for the slow motion control to come to a complete stop randomly). You can also add a motor drive to the Starquest so it will track objects for you. The optics are the same between the two packages, so its only the mounts and the paint on the tube that are different.
Fantastic video, it looks a great piece of kit and thinking of purchasing it when it'll be available as my current kit it to much for my first floor flat and want something more portable as I'd like to do some basic imaging with my zwo asi120mc-s and dslr if it would manage it. I live that you've been able to image a dso with it, did you manage anymore Dso's. Keep up the good work and your sidekick 😉clear skies 🔭🌌📷
Hi Lee, I've dropped you a reply on SGL. It is quite a light setup, but also consider a star tracker like the Skywatcher Star Adventurer mount as that will have a polar scope and better tracking. Still I enjoyed my time with this scope and was pleased to be able to capture some DSO's with a planetary camera and a scope that isn't intended for imaging. You'll be limited to the brightest targets like the core of Orion, ring nebula, and Hercules cluster, things like that. Without goto you do need to be vary patient trying to find the targets on the very small sensor of the ZWO ASI120. I did need to search around a while even though I knew exactly where this DSO was. If you're more serious about deep sky observing but want to dabble in imaging this will be fine, but if you're serious about imaging get a star tracker and small ED refractor instead :)
Hey guys, can you help a beginner choose a scope? I'm considering this one as my first. Something smaller like a 90 or 80mm would be significantly cheaper but then I'd have to settle for the 80/400 pretty much because that's the only one with a shorter focal length available where I live. Longer focal length isn't very attractive to me because I need something portable, and something like a 90/900 with an almost meter long tube doesn't sound great for that. The 80/400 looks like a good little scope, but 80mm sounds a bit too little, especially since I live in a fairly light polluted area. It's not the worst, but I don't have good options to get truly far away from it. I also looked at smaller tabletop Dobsons but, well, I'm not always going to have a table to put them on. I've also considered a 90/1250 mak, but then I'd be pretty much limited to observing the solar system with that kind of focal length. So, I'm leaning heavily towards this 102/500 even though it costs more than I initially wanted to spend, but it seems like the best deal. Do you think it's a good choice?
The 102 R is definitely a good option, but also consider the 130p version as it's a better allrounder for planets and deep sky objects. Also more affordable: www.firstlightoptics.com/sky-watcher-starquest/sky-watcher-starquest-130p-f5-parabolic-newtonian-reflector-telescope/ref/diyastro/
@@Astrolavista Thanks for the help! The 130 looks like a great scope, my only problem with it and newtonians in general is the weight. But I'll definitely consider it! Edit: although now looking at it it isn't even *that* much heavier. I may end up choosing the 130
Hi mate. Fantastic video and great views of Venus plus very nice shot of ring nebula! I prefer refractors and I've got the Vixen custom 80m refractor but I'm looking for another finder scope for it. The telescope looks pretty nice and how would you rate it's optics? Is telescope itself portable as I'm interested in getting portable telescope to take to park to use? I bet Saturn would look beautiful through telescope! Looking forward to seeing more shots from you through telescope!!!
Cheers buddy :) I've coincidentally owned the Vixen 80m in the past and thought it was pretty nice once I'd swapped the diagonal for a better one. The longer focal length of your Vixen will be better on the planets than my 102 R as mines more of a rich field low power telescope for DSO's. It doesn't mean you can't look at and image planets with it, you just get the purple fringing on bright objects as mentioned in the video. I think it's got a lovely lens on it. I checked a star image inside and outside of focus and the Fresnel rings looked really consistant. I will fully check it with the Ronchi eyepiece soon. If you're after a very portable telescope especially for planets maybe check out the Maksutov version of the Starquest: www.firstlightoptics.com/sky-watcher-starquest/sky-watcher-starquest-102mc-f127-maksutov-cassegrain-telescope.html
Hello, The ST120 / 600 is good for low power deep sky observing, however you have to keep the magnification quite low to keep the large amounts of chromatic aberration under control. Google chromatic aberration chart and you will see the ST120 is in the red region of the chart indicating un acceptable levels of CA. I owned an ST120 years ago and sold it after the second use, just too much CA for me at least. The ST102 has CA but it's noticeably less.
Hey, really enjoying your videos! I have the 130p StarQuest, but have been told I won't be able to reach focus with a DSLR. Would that be the case with the 102R? If so, do you think I could get some images using just my camera on the StarQuest mount with the motor drive (no scope)? Thanks again! :)
Thanks Craig! Yeah it's true you can't reach focus with a DLSR and the 130p OTA, although there is a camera bracket supplied that attaches to the top of the rings so you can attach your DLSR that way. I think it would also work fine with just the mount and a DSLR like a star tracker. The only fundamental disadvantage compared to a star tracker is the lack of polar scope but you'll likely be imaging at a shorter focal length with a camera and lens so that would make an accurate polar alignment less critical. Go for it and remember to report back with how you got on :)
@@Astrolavista Really appreciate your reply! I could always add a polar scope too right? I'm thinking eventually I could even add a guide scope and get something that's quite accurate. So my camera could attach/focus on the 102R refractor? Because I could trade up my setup for the achromat, and then get the motor drive :)
Hi i have a question, i got this mount (and the motor too) with the little mak90, how do you polar align with this mont ? There is no polar finder, i only look a the moon for now but i want to take some shoots too. And thanks you , you are the only one who speak about the star quest.
Hi Joyeuse, you're very welcome :) With entry level mounts like the StarQuest, EQ1, EQ2 etc you can only roughly polar align. The facility for a polar scope starts with the Skywatcher EQ3 and above. This isn't a problem for Lunar and Planetary imaging though! :) You can get away with a not having a very accurate polar alignment, Just set the altitude on the mount to match your altitude where you live, e.g. I'm at 52 degrees in the south east of England. It's the green scale with 15 degree increments. Then all you need to do is make sure the mount is roughly levelled and pointing north in the direction of the pole star (Polaris). This will be plenty accurate enough for Lunar imaging.
Congratulations on the new scope! There are apps that can help such as Polar Aligner Pro, or you can use the main scope if you have it pointing north with the counterweight pointing at the ground, Third method is to crouch down and eyeball the pole star Polaris along the mount axis. Hope that helps.
Hola, la ZWO ASI120 es principalmente una cámara de imágenes planetarias porque tiene un sensor diminuto. Sin embargo, puede tomar imágenes de objetos muy pequeños y brillantes del cielo profundo con él, pero no mentiré, una cámara con un sensor más grande facilitaría mucho las cosas. También obtienes un brillo de amplificador en exposiciones más largas con el ZWO ASI120, que no es ideal. En resumen, está bien jugar con él, pero no es una cámara de cielo profundo seria.
Hi mate I’m looking at buying my first scope and looking at the travel star 102 and the star quest 102 and was wondering what I’d any is the difference between them as the Startravel seems to be a lot harder to get hold of and was wondering if there was a reason for that? Any advise would be much appreciated as I’m very confused as there seems to be no info on google. Regards Steve
Hi Steven, you can think of the StarQuest 102 R as an updated version of the old Startravel 102. The optics are the same just with a different livery, but the Starquest mount is much better. The old AZ3 mount doesn't have a counter weight to balance the scope when pointing steeply upwards, and the slow motion mechanism uses worm gears with hard stops which need resetting regularly (annoying!). The Starquest mount has no hard stops for the slow mo's, and can be used in both AZ and equatorial modes, plus it has the option for a motor drive. A lot astronomy goodies are on a 40-60 day lead time from China at the moment with the current situation, so try not to read too much into that. EDIT: I've just checked with FLO and even the StarQuest is on a 40-60 day lead time looking at the site: www.firstlightoptics.com/startravel/sky-watcher-starquest-102r-f49-achromatic-refractor-telescope.html
That tripod is so flimsy and the mount isn't much better. I'd start with a really solid mount that will be future proof, then you can alway move on to a better scope, without having to buy everything twice.
I’m just about to get my first telescope was looking to get the Skywatcher Startravel 102 Refractor + AZ3 Mount . Would you say the one is the video would be better?
Hi Gary, yes! the AZ3 is quite an old mount now. I had one with a 90mm f10 refractor a long time ago and found the mount a bit annoying to use. It doesn't have a counter weight so it's not very balanced or stable when looking close to zenith (straight up) and the slow motion controls work via worm gears which need resetting at the end of their travel. The StarQuest and Avant range by Skywatcher are basically the replacement for the AZ3 and EQ1/2, and Skywatcher have made so many improvements. You can even use the Starquest mount in either equatorial mode to track with the rotation of the Earth, or in Alt/Azimuth mode where you simply move the mount up down left and right. I have a review of the StarQuest 130p which goes into more detail about the mount if you want to check it out for more info :) th-cam.com/video/GHdDs2PLIrk/w-d-xo.html
DIY Astronomy sorry to bother you again , out of the two telescope what one is better or are they both the same ? Skywatcher StarQuest 102 or the skywatcher startravel 102 ? Thanks Gary
@@garypratt6054 Not a problem, Gary. They are both the same scope i.e both a 102mm f5 achromatic refractors made in the same (Synta) factory in China. Skywatcher have just refreshed the livery from black with silver flecks to white and green.
DIY Astronomy thanks so much mate, I look on line and get so many different results for the same thing . I only have about £300 I want to spend it wisely. Thanks again mate look forward to the next vlog
Good video. You helped me to go for one of these, but I have a doubt between the 102 and Mak90. Can I asume the mak90 will work better in planetary and the 102 will work better with DSO? Any advice will be appreciated, not much info about these products out there. Thank you for time again. Jorge
Hi Jorge. Absolutely right, the Mak is great little planetary and Lunar scope due to it's long focal length and lack of chromatic aberration (colour fringing on bright objects), and the 102 R achromatic refractor is a lovely wide field scope for lower power views of deep sky objects such as open clusters, galaxies and nebula. You can of course use any type of scope on any object but above are the strengths. The 130p reflector version is more of an all rounder, but you do get diffraction spikes on bright stars and even planets with Newtonian's like the 130p and some people don't like this. If you get the Mak also buy a dew shield for it at the same time as the thick corrector plate is right at the front of the scope and is prone to getting covered in dew. The Mak90 optical tube with the Starquest is the same as the Mak90 with the Skymax 90, and the 102 R is the same as the Startravel 102 by Skywatcher, so the Starquest is basically an updated mount and new livery. There should be plenty of info on the Skymax and the Startravel and as long as you only consider the optical tube the information will apply :)
Yes, the only difference to buying the ST102 OTA is that this version has a short Vixen dovetail screwed directly to the tube, whereas the ST102 optical tube comes with tube rings. Optically identical though : )
not a cheap telescope at 300.00 pound!! ive seen lots of other videos where they can get excellent results with a 100.00 pound scope and cheaper! i think that this video is is promoting this telescope, and the video has nothing to do with cheap astrophotography!.......sales people suck!!
Hey Paul, I worked in health care when I made this video two years ago, not sales ;) I also bought this telescope because I was curious to mess about with it at the time and a lot of other channels demo rigs costing thousands so I guess price is relative right? E.g. people routinely spend hundreds on a single filter for their camera which costs thousands, and that's before you get to the thousands spent on an accurate tracking mount for deep sky astrophotography and as much again on a triplet apochromatic imaging refractor. Now this video was me sharing my experience with this particular telescope, setting up, first light etc, nothing planned or scripted, just off of cuff. It's not a master plan to sell telescopes or this particular telescope. I have over 150 videos on my channel covering all sorts to do with astronomy with all sorts of equipment. This particular telescope costs £269 now and two years ago it was around £220 so in my eyes that is cheap for an equatorial mount which you can motorise and a diffraction limited refractor with a 4" lens. Now the reason I've bothered to explain myself in reply to your rude comment is that I'm hoping you will link what you think can take better deep sky astro photos for less than a hundred pounds... put your £100 where your mouth is ;) Faint deep sky targets which require long tracked exposures, Not quick snaps of Jupiter and the Moon with a smart phone through the eyepiece which is what I'm guessing you've stumbled across right?
It is cheap as it comes with a mount included! One of my own scopes is the Skywatcher 102/500 Startravel OTA for 295 Euro's , I think a little bit better than the Staquest. More heavy, the dovetail is much longer and nice black coating with silver sparks in it, maybe bit older but decent scope with very good optics for its pricepoint. I use it on a much heavier Exos2 mount from Bresser, very stable. I love those compact refractors, why? They are grab 'n go. And the best scope is the one you use the most. The Startravel with mount in this video is a very good entry level scope to learn the hobby, but my first recommendation is always: spent some money on the mount!!! The Exos2 support up to 4Kg scopes, so a wide range of OTA's can be used on it. I also bougt my first Apo refractor from Teleskop Service, a 102/1122 complete different story, what a built quality and sharp optics :) But long story short: around 300 and little above is where it starts, forget 100 dollar.....
A brilliant video, very insightful & relaxed. Perfect Saturday morning viewing & learning. Looking forward to the next episode in the series.
Thanks so much! I'm pinning this comment :)
@@Astrolavista Thank you :-)
Beautiful view of the ring nebula, One of my favorite objects.I always check it out in my twelve inch style, Which gives me a nice sharp beautiful view too.
Great video. Thanks, mate. I have been using an 8 inch Dobsonian for my first 10 months of astronomy, but I think this 102 will be my first refractor. Thanks again. I am now subbed. I look forward to more.
Cheers buddy, there shall be more.
your money would be better spent on a celesterion astromaster at around 120.00 pound.
Been recommended dobs as my first scope and I totally get it, my friend has one and I've been leaching him. They're bulky and fun, but too cumbersome to bring up and down my college dorm room. While StarTravel isn't perfect, notably chromatic abbreviation, it may be a great first scope for me. Fingers crossed, time to get savin'
I liked and subscribed
Just ordered my first scope
Can’t wait to join y’all learning the night sky and seeing the birds a mile away
That's fantastic Rick! I hope you enjoy the scope when you get it, and thanks for the like and subscribing! :)
Look's like a good package, I actually own a Phenix 127mm refractor, only tried it out three times, but a friend who viewed a crescent moon one night said he had never seen anything like that ever!! at 57 years of age he had not viewed anything through a reasonable telescope. My telescope did come with a motor drive, which I have yet to try. Good video thank's.
Always great to share the night sky with someone and hear them say wow! Cheers!
An excellent unboxing and using video! I really enjoyed it when you took the telescope outside and looked at Venus, folks really need to see the real view. Thanks!
Thank you! John :)
Great video Chris.. looks like a great scope and nice views of both Venus and the ring nebula!!
Thanks my man :)
Hi, thanks for the great video. I bought this telescope back in April and have been looking into getting a motor and ZWO asi 120. I was holding back in case it didnt work but now I know it does! Thanks 😊
You're welcome Gwen, yes it's fine for a spot of casual imaging. The only thing I'll mention is Batteries! Because the RA drive only takes 2xAA's, they need changing quite regularly, but it's a minor point really.
This must be the short tube 102, The big brother of the short tube eighty millimeter.
Yes indeed; it's a StarTravel 102, and they do a 80, 102, 120 and 150mm model: www.firstlightoptics.com/startravel/ref/astrolavista/
Great vid , ..one thing though ..... you can't rotate the tube so you could end up in odd positions when viewing and using the finder, its the main thing turning me against this telescope
Rather entertaining and informative.
Hi Chris, are the holes in the dovetail standard thread for fitting to a photo tripod? Would be handy to have additional mounting options.
Hi Andrew, I no longer have this scope however the dovetails nearly always do have 1/4" UNC threaded holes when it comes to Sky-Watcher telescopes.
Nice scope and Ring Nebula image
Thank you. I'll be interested to see what other DSO's I can pick out with this guide/planetary cam.
Hello - sorry I missed it - was that motorized attachment in the supplied kit? I mean a rectangular box at 9:00 .
Hi John, no problem. The motor drive is an optional extra for an additional £48. You can take a closer look here: www.firstlightoptics.com/sky-watcher-starquest/sky-watcher-ra-motor-drive-for-starquest-and-az-eq-avant-mounts.html
Been looking to get one of these, I was wondering what you thought to the mount. As I remember the Sky Watcher EQ1 was a dreadful mount. Looks like they have completely changed it.
Hi Mark, I agree the EQ1 is awful, I think of the Starquest mount more as a modern equivalent of the EQ2, only with better clutch knobs and the ability to easily place it in Alt Azimuth mode by locking the latitude at the 90 degree position. It's a good little mount but does suffer from vibrations like any other aluminium tripod mount in this price bracket. Anti vibration pads for the tripod are a good add on I feel.
One thing I forgot to ask you last time - have you noticed - is the lens cell on this 102/500 is the same metal built as in the StarTravel 102/500? I ask because I know in the 80/400 SkyWatcher uses a plastic cell. These sell at somewhat lower prices than StarTravel of the same specs so I wonder if SW cut any corners on these?
Sorry John, I completely missed your post. Ooops! It's a very good thought! I've just waltzed over to the scope and gave it a little tap. I'm 95% certain it's metal because it feels fairly cold to the touch. The 5% doubt is down to it having a good few layers of paint...wait a minute, they wouldn't paint plastic so I'm even more sure it's metal!
@@Astrolavista No problem, thanks!
Hi mate I’m looking at buying my first scope and am looking at the star quest 102 and the Startravel 102 I was wondering what the difference is if any as I can’t find anything through google regards Steve
Well done, thank you
Hi mate. had this scope since april. i will be investing in the motor now for sure. what other devices would you recommend to be able to auto find nebulas for example. also is there any other accessories you'd recommend? tia Aled
HI Aled, the motor simply helps the mount track the sky once you've manually found an object, there's no 'Goto' available for this telescope. However, you can down load Stellarium (sky map) for free and this is a great tool for helping to find objects. Accessories wise, other than rechargeable AA batteries for the motor drive as it's eats batteries, maybe a better high power eye piece as the 10mm supplied isn't that great, a red torch so you can see what you're doing without effecting your eyes dark adaption.
@@Astrolavista brilliant thank you. do you attach the lense onto the digital camera you got? any other handy tips for the use of this scope?
How come Venus has no CA?! I am puzzled 🤔 that is the worst target for that scope. The CA should be horrific based on F4. I am sold 😅
I remember this video and viewing Venus. There was some CA, but not as much as I was expecting. The ST102 is a decent scope, I prefer it to the ST120 which baths everything in a blue hue of CA.
@@Astrolavista have you tired a semi apo or fringe killer on it? It should return brilliant views. It seem like a great scope. I am contemplating buying the Celestron powerseeker 80mm EQ. It seems to be a good scope too
Could this mount allow more than a couple seconds exposure tracking? 10 - 30 s? Thank you!
Hi Mihails, I think it could manage longer exposures if you keep the focal length short and polar align the mount as accurately as you can, only the mount doesn't have a polar scope so it could be tricky. You would get much better tracking accuracy with the Sky-Watcher Star Adventurer mount for example but the StarQuest is fun to play around with at least :)
@@Astrolavista many thanks! Good review, I contemplate on acquiring this telescope sometime in future. For now, I take 1300 1 s raw exposures on my Poco x3 through Celestron Skymaster 15x70 🎃
What do you think is a better purchase the star quest 102r or the star travel 102 az3?
The Starquest 102 has a more modern mount that can be used in both Alt Azimuth and Equatorial modes. The AZ3 is an older mount which does have a couple of design flaws; the slow motion controls use a worm carrier that needs resetting periodically (It's not very relaxing tracking an object only for the slow motion control to come to a complete stop randomly). You can also add a motor drive to the Starquest so it will track objects for you. The optics are the same between the two packages, so its only the mounts and the paint on the tube that are different.
Fantastic video, it looks a great piece of kit and thinking of purchasing it when it'll be available as my current kit it to much for my first floor flat and want something more portable as I'd like to do some basic imaging with my zwo asi120mc-s and dslr if it would manage it. I live that you've been able to image a dso with it, did you manage anymore Dso's. Keep up the good work and your sidekick 😉clear skies 🔭🌌📷
Hi Lee, I've dropped you a reply on SGL. It is quite a light setup, but also consider a star tracker like the Skywatcher Star Adventurer mount as that will have a polar scope and better tracking. Still I enjoyed my time with this scope and was pleased to be able to capture some DSO's with a planetary camera and a scope that isn't intended for imaging. You'll be limited to the brightest targets like the core of Orion, ring nebula, and Hercules cluster, things like that. Without goto you do need to be vary patient trying to find the targets on the very small sensor of the ZWO ASI120. I did need to search around a while even though I knew exactly where this DSO was. If you're more serious about deep sky observing but want to dabble in imaging this will be fine, but if you're serious about imaging get a star tracker and small ED refractor instead :)
Hey guys, can you help a beginner choose a scope? I'm considering this one as my first. Something smaller like a 90 or 80mm would be significantly cheaper but then I'd have to settle for the 80/400 pretty much because that's the only one with a shorter focal length available where I live. Longer focal length isn't very attractive to me because I need something portable, and something like a 90/900 with an almost meter long tube doesn't sound great for that. The 80/400 looks like a good little scope, but 80mm sounds a bit too little, especially since I live in a fairly light polluted area. It's not the worst, but I don't have good options to get truly far away from it.
I also looked at smaller tabletop Dobsons but, well, I'm not always going to have a table to put them on. I've also considered a 90/1250 mak, but then I'd be pretty much limited to observing the solar system with that kind of focal length.
So, I'm leaning heavily towards this 102/500 even though it costs more than I initially wanted to spend, but it seems like the best deal. Do you think it's a good choice?
The 102 R is definitely a good option, but also consider the 130p version as it's a better allrounder for planets and deep sky objects. Also more affordable: www.firstlightoptics.com/sky-watcher-starquest/sky-watcher-starquest-130p-f5-parabolic-newtonian-reflector-telescope/ref/diyastro/
@@Astrolavista Thanks for the help! The 130 looks like a great scope, my only problem with it and newtonians in general is the weight. But I'll definitely consider it!
Edit: although now looking at it it isn't even *that* much heavier. I may end up choosing the 130
Nice.
Can you vs the sky 102 National Geographic
Hi mate. Fantastic video and great views of Venus plus very nice shot of ring nebula! I prefer refractors and I've got the Vixen custom 80m refractor but I'm looking for another finder scope for it. The telescope looks pretty nice and how would you rate it's optics? Is telescope itself portable as I'm interested in getting portable telescope to take to park to use? I bet Saturn would look beautiful through telescope! Looking forward to seeing more shots from you through telescope!!!
Cheers buddy :) I've coincidentally owned the Vixen 80m in the past and thought it was pretty nice once I'd swapped the diagonal for a better one. The longer focal length of your Vixen will be better on the planets than my 102 R as mines more of a rich field low power telescope for DSO's. It doesn't mean you can't look at and image planets with it, you just get the purple fringing on bright objects as mentioned in the video. I think it's got a lovely lens on it. I checked a star image inside and outside of focus and the Fresnel rings looked really consistant. I will fully check it with the Ronchi eyepiece soon. If you're after a very portable telescope especially for planets maybe check out the Maksutov version of the Starquest: www.firstlightoptics.com/sky-watcher-starquest/sky-watcher-starquest-102mc-f127-maksutov-cassegrain-telescope.html
Hello a 120 600 is not better?
Hello, The ST120 / 600 is good for low power deep sky observing, however you have to keep the magnification quite low to keep the large amounts of chromatic aberration under control. Google chromatic aberration chart and you will see the ST120 is in the red region of the chart indicating un acceptable levels of CA. I owned an ST120 years ago and sold it after the second use, just too much CA for me at least. The ST102 has CA but it's noticeably less.
Hey, really enjoying your videos! I have the 130p StarQuest, but have been told I won't be able to reach focus with a DSLR. Would that be the case with the 102R? If so, do you think I could get some images using just my camera on the StarQuest mount with the motor drive (no scope)? Thanks again! :)
Thanks Craig! Yeah it's true you can't reach focus with a DLSR and the 130p OTA, although there is a camera bracket supplied that attaches to the top of the rings so you can attach your DLSR that way. I think it would also work fine with just the mount and a DSLR like a star tracker. The only fundamental disadvantage compared to a star tracker is the lack of polar scope but you'll likely be imaging at a shorter focal length with a camera and lens so that would make an accurate polar alignment less critical. Go for it and remember to report back with how you got on :)
@@Astrolavista Really appreciate your reply! I could always add a polar scope too right? I'm thinking eventually I could even add a guide scope and get something that's quite accurate. So my camera could attach/focus on the 102R refractor? Because I could trade up my setup for the achromat, and then get the motor drive :)
Hi i have a question, i got this mount (and the motor too) with the little mak90, how do you polar align with this mont ? There is no polar finder, i only look a the moon for now but i want to take some shoots too. And thanks you , you are the only one who speak about the star quest.
Hi Joyeuse, you're very welcome :) With entry level mounts like the StarQuest, EQ1, EQ2 etc you can only roughly polar align. The facility for a polar scope starts with the Skywatcher EQ3 and above. This isn't a problem for Lunar and Planetary imaging though! :) You can get away with a not having a very accurate polar alignment, Just set the altitude on the mount to match your altitude where you live, e.g. I'm at 52 degrees in the south east of England. It's the green scale with 15 degree increments. Then all you need to do is make sure the mount is roughly levelled and pointing north in the direction of the pole star (Polaris). This will be plenty accurate enough for Lunar imaging.
@@Astrolavista Thank you .
Great video, just ordered this from flo. Can I ask the best way to polar align it without a polar scope?
Thanks.
Congratulations on the new scope! There are apps that can help such as Polar Aligner Pro, or you can use the main scope if you have it pointing north with the counterweight pointing at the ground, Third method is to crouch down and eyeball the pole star Polaris along the mount axis. Hope that helps.
@@Astrolavista thanks very much, I will try some of those methods 👍
what is a focusing shield?
Its a plate that you place on the front of the telescope which helps you achieve sharp focus. Google Bahtinov mask for more details.
Hi, Chris do you know if you can buy the mount as a single item , nice video btw!
Hi Nigel, thanks, unfortunately you can only buy it packaged with either a 130p Newtonian, 102 Maksutov, or the 102 short tube achromat here.
What kind of tripod and eq mount is that?
This one: www.firstlightoptics.com/sky-watcher-starquest/ref/astrolavista/
Hola, esta cámara permite fotografías de cielo profundo con un telescopio 150/750 reflector y una montura Goto?
Hola, la ZWO ASI120 es principalmente una cámara de imágenes planetarias porque tiene un sensor diminuto. Sin embargo, puede tomar imágenes de objetos muy pequeños y brillantes del cielo profundo con él, pero no mentiré, una cámara con un sensor más grande facilitaría mucho las cosas. También obtienes un brillo de amplificador en exposiciones más largas con el ZWO ASI120, que no es ideal. En resumen, está bien jugar con él, pero no es una cámara de cielo profundo seria.
Hi mate I’m looking at buying my first scope and looking at the travel star 102 and the star quest 102 and was wondering what I’d any is the difference between them as the Startravel seems to be a lot harder to get hold of and was wondering if there was a reason for that? Any advise would be much appreciated as I’m very confused as there seems to be no info on google. Regards Steve
Hi Steven, you can think of the StarQuest 102 R as an updated version of the old Startravel 102. The optics are the same just with a different livery, but the Starquest mount is much better. The old AZ3 mount doesn't have a counter weight to balance the scope when pointing steeply upwards, and the slow motion mechanism uses worm gears with hard stops which need resetting regularly (annoying!). The Starquest mount has no hard stops for the slow mo's, and can be used in both AZ and equatorial modes, plus it has the option for a motor drive. A lot astronomy goodies are on a 40-60 day lead time from China at the moment with the current situation, so try not to read too much into that. EDIT: I've just checked with FLO and even the StarQuest is on a 40-60 day lead time looking at the site: www.firstlightoptics.com/startravel/sky-watcher-starquest-102r-f49-achromatic-refractor-telescope.html
DIY Astronomy thank you so much for your response it has helped me out a lot much appreciated regards Steve
@@stevensmith3208 You're welcome
That tripod is so flimsy and the mount isn't much better. I'd start with a really solid mount that will be future proof, then you can alway move on to a better scope, without having to buy everything twice.
I’m just about to get my first telescope was looking to get the Skywatcher Startravel 102 Refractor + AZ3 Mount . Would you say the one is the video would be better?
Hi Gary, yes! the AZ3 is quite an old mount now. I had one with a 90mm f10 refractor a long time ago and found the mount a bit annoying to use. It doesn't have a counter weight so it's not very balanced or stable when looking close to zenith (straight up) and the slow motion controls work via worm gears which need resetting at the end of their travel. The StarQuest and Avant range by Skywatcher are basically the replacement for the AZ3 and EQ1/2, and Skywatcher have made so many improvements. You can even use the Starquest mount in either equatorial mode to track with the rotation of the Earth, or in Alt/Azimuth mode where you simply move the mount up down left and right. I have a review of the StarQuest 130p which goes into more detail about the mount if you want to check it out for more info :) th-cam.com/video/GHdDs2PLIrk/w-d-xo.html
DIY Astronomy thanks so much that’s a big help.
DIY Astronomy sorry to bother you again , out of the two telescope what one is better or are they both the same ? Skywatcher StarQuest 102 or the skywatcher startravel 102 ? Thanks Gary
@@garypratt6054 Not a problem, Gary. They are both the same scope i.e both a 102mm f5 achromatic refractors made in the same (Synta) factory in China. Skywatcher have just refreshed the livery from black with silver flecks to white and green.
DIY Astronomy thanks so much mate, I look on line and get so many different results for the same thing . I only have about £300 I want to spend it wisely. Thanks again mate look forward to the next vlog
Good video. You helped me to go for one of these, but I have a doubt between the 102 and Mak90. Can I asume the mak90 will work better in planetary and the 102 will work better with DSO? Any advice will be appreciated, not much info about these products out there. Thank you for time again. Jorge
Hi Jorge. Absolutely right, the Mak is great little planetary and Lunar scope due to it's long focal length and lack of chromatic aberration (colour fringing on bright objects), and the 102 R achromatic refractor is a lovely wide field scope for lower power views of deep sky objects such as open clusters, galaxies and nebula.
You can of course use any type of scope on any object but above are the strengths. The 130p reflector version is more of an all rounder, but you do get diffraction spikes on bright stars and even planets with Newtonian's like the 130p and some people don't like this.
If you get the Mak also buy a dew shield for it at the same time as the thick corrector plate is right at the front of the scope and is prone to getting covered in dew.
The Mak90 optical tube with the Starquest is the same as the Mak90 with the Skymax 90, and the 102 R is the same as the Startravel 102 by Skywatcher, so the Starquest is basically an updated mount and new livery. There should be plenty of info on the Skymax and the Startravel and as long as you only consider the optical tube the information will apply :)
I take it that's the same OTA as the ST102?🤔
Yes, the only difference to buying the ST102 OTA is that this version has a short Vixen dovetail screwed directly to the tube, whereas the ST102 optical tube comes with tube rings. Optically identical though : )
Is this motorised
Edit: If not, can I get it motorised
Hi, It's not initially motorised but there is a motor drive available which is easy enough to install.
not a cheap telescope at 300.00 pound!!
ive seen lots of other videos where they can get excellent results with a 100.00 pound scope and cheaper!
i think that this video is is promoting this telescope, and the video has nothing to do with cheap astrophotography!.......sales people suck!!
Hey Paul, I worked in health care when I made this video two years ago, not sales ;) I also bought this telescope because I was curious to mess about with it at the time and a lot of other channels demo rigs costing thousands so I guess price is relative right? E.g. people routinely spend hundreds on a single filter for their camera which costs thousands, and that's before you get to the thousands spent on an accurate tracking mount for deep sky astrophotography and as much again on a triplet apochromatic imaging refractor.
Now this video was me sharing my experience with this particular telescope, setting up, first light etc, nothing planned or scripted, just off of cuff. It's not a master plan to sell telescopes or this particular telescope. I have over 150 videos on my channel covering all sorts to do with astronomy with all sorts of equipment.
This particular telescope costs £269 now and two years ago it was around £220 so in my eyes that is cheap for an equatorial mount which you can motorise and a diffraction limited refractor with a 4" lens.
Now the reason I've bothered to explain myself in reply to your rude comment is that I'm hoping you will link what you think can take better deep sky astro photos for less than a hundred pounds... put your £100 where your mouth is ;)
Faint deep sky targets which require long tracked exposures, Not quick snaps of Jupiter and the Moon with a smart phone through the eyepiece which is what I'm guessing you've stumbled across right?
@@Astrolavista well said mate
It is cheap as it comes with a mount included! One of my own scopes is the Skywatcher 102/500 Startravel OTA for 295 Euro's , I think a little bit better than the Staquest. More heavy, the dovetail is much longer and nice black coating with silver sparks in it, maybe bit older but decent scope with very good optics for its pricepoint. I use it on a much heavier Exos2 mount from Bresser, very stable. I love those compact refractors, why? They are grab 'n go. And the best scope is the one you use the most. The Startravel with mount in this video is a very good entry level scope to learn the hobby, but my first recommendation is always: spent some money on the mount!!! The Exos2 support up to 4Kg scopes, so a wide range of OTA's can be used on it. I also bougt my first Apo refractor from Teleskop Service, a 102/1122 complete different story, what a built quality and sharp optics :) But long story short: around 300 and little above is where it starts, forget 100 dollar.....