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 swiveling 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. Your secondary mirror will be aligned when you can see the full reflection of the primary with a complete ring encircling it.

Optical Tube Assembly– this is the light-gathering part of the telescope. Common forms are refractor, reflector, Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope, SCT, and Maksutov-Cassegrain, MCT. The Heritage 150P attaches to its tabletop Dobsonian mount with a standard Vixen-style dovetail bar bolted directly to the lower half of the tube. Thus, you could theoretically put the telescope on another mount, but it’s possible this could result in the focuser/eyepiece being located in an awkward position. Accessories

What's in the Box: Sky-Watcher Heritage-100P Tabletop Telescope

Connectivity: ASCOM platform for Windows PC, Mobile planetarium App for iOS and Android ( SkySafari Plus/Pro, Luminos, Stellarium, and more are coming) Overall, the wide field views were not too bad; a fact confirmed when we turned to the galaxy pair of M81 and M82 in the Ursa Major. Large” is a confusing term because there is no set definition as to where it ends. Some people would call a 30” Dob a “large telescope”. However, we would term it to be anything between 14” and 22” of aperture. A 22” is about the largest one-person scope you can buy. Second, the scope does tend to lose collimation a little more often. This, to me, is almost a nonissue; the tube is so short that you can make adjustments while looking through the eyepiece at a bright star or using a collimation tool, and it only takes a minute or so to do it anyway. Lastly, the Heritage 150P’s focuser is probably the weakest link in the whole telescope. It is of the simplest helical design – just a threaded tube that screws in and out of a corresponding receptacle, both of which are plastic. For eyepieces like the ones included with the 150P this is fine, but the helical focuser is not really capable of holding anything heavy such as a nice ultra-wide-angle eyepiece or Barlow lens.

Power Requirement: 8 AA-size batteries (not supplied) or External Power Supply (DC 7.5~14V, 1A) Tip Positive.Mars surprised us: the Dobsonian revealed a polar cap and dusky markings on the planet’s small disc. Lastly, a narrowband Ultra High Contrast (UHC)/ OIII nebula filter can significantly improve your views of nebulae, such as the Orion Nebula, when using almost any telescope, including the Heritage 150P. This filter also enhances the visibility of planetary nebulae by reducing the brightness of surrounding stars, making it easier for you to locate them at low power. Furthermore, it provides enough contrast improvement to reveal previously invisible targets, such as the Crab Nebula and Veil Nebula supernova remnants, when using this telescope under dark skies. What can you see with the Skywatcher Heritage 150P? The Heritage 130P’s 5.1” aperture is enough to show a lot of the brighter deep-sky objects, such as the Andromeda Galaxy, Orion Nebula, Ring Nebula, Dumbbell Nebula, and various globular clusters. The scope’s wide field of view also makes it great at showing open clusters such as M11 and M35, and asterisms like the Coathanger.

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. The Zhumell Z114 and Orion StarBlast 4.5 Astro don’t have quite as much aperture as the Heritage 130P, but both provide a significantly wider field of view and have solid instead of collapsible tubes if the collapsible nature of the 130P concerns you. We also viewed the Hercules Globular Cluster M13. Increased magnification from the 10mm eyepiece plus Barlow lens revealed a sprinkling of stars. Dents on the tube of a used Dobsonian telescope are usually not a cause for concern, as they are often inevitable and typically do not impact the light path. In the event that any dents do affect the optics, they can be hammered out of the 100P’s tube fairly easily. Alternative RecommendationsLooking for a balanced, powerful yet affordable dobsonian telescope with all the frills? Then look no further than the SkyLiner 200 P Parabolic Sky Watcher. This is the best overall Dobsonian that has some of the characteristics of a high end model without the unbelievably high price. 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. This is a simple, no-fuss telescope that is very likely to see frequent use. Another great starter telescope for kids. So you finally made up your mind about getting a Dobsonian telescope? Well, you’re no doubt finding out just how many different models and types there are in the market. But before you get overwhelmed and make a hasty decision, we’ve chalked up this here buyer’s guide and some of the best telescopes already making rounds in the UK.

If you’re just starting out your stargazing journey and are wondering which telescope will best suit your needs, then look no further than the SkyLiner 200 P Parabolic Sky Watcher. Not only is this telescope among the most affordable Dobsonians out there, but its ease of assembly and use make it a favourite among beginner stargazers. Most scopes of the same class wouldn’t be able to get anywhere near the power range; but with this beauty, the universe is indeed your oyster. Aperture– This is the diameter of the front lens or rear mirror of the optical tube. This is usually stated in millimetres, mm, or inches and may be noted as 150 mm or 6” in the specifications. This is the key specification for judging the telescope’s ability to show you dim and distant planets and deep-sky objects. In general, the more aperture the better. 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 comes with a red dot finder and two eyepieces: 25mm and 10mm “Super” eyepieces, yielding 26x and 65x, respectively. The “Super” design seems to just be a modified variant of the Kellner configuration-a little suboptimal for an f/5 telescope, but a decent performer nonetheless. The two eyepieces have mostly plastic bodies, but are built to a fairly decent standard of quality, and I have no complaints about them, especially given the price of the telescope they are included with.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 130P offers significantly more aperture than the Heritage 100P for bolder, brighter, and sharper views, and a collapsible tube to maximize portability. The Skyliner 200 P boasts of some sharp optics across 80% of the 1 degree field of view. The optics are diffraction limited and the manufacturer incorporated a telescopic focus length of 1200mm. At the same time, gazers get a highest practical power potential of x406. As for the mount, it consists of an easy to set up and use box that pivots in altitude and rotates at the base in azimuth. What It Does Best Looking for a cheap, affordable telescope to get you started on your journey to space exploration. There’s no doubt that with today’s technologically advanced models, prices can soar though the roof. But just because the top dobsonians are super expensive doesn’t mean that you should ditch your hobby. Instead, why not get the best budget dobsonian telescope in the market?