The Newtonian telescope Skywatcher 150/750 is probably one of the best telescopes made for beginners. Thanks to it’s large mirror (150mm), it can be used both for visual astronomy and astrophotgraphy. Its sold with various mounts : Eq3-2, Neq3-2, Heq-5, … And the best mount for you will depends of what are you going to use it for (planetary imaging, deep sky imaging with long exposure, …)
Description of the Skywatcher 150/750
The Newtonian 150/750 is very versatile and suitable for beginners as well as seasoned observers. It offers lots of light and stability at a low price. The quantity of light collected by its imposing diameter of 150 mm makes it possible to clearly see objects very far from the deep sky such as the Nebula of the Ring in the Lyre or the Hantel Nebula. And globular clusters like M13 are solved, on the edge, in many individual stars. Planetary observation also offers images rich in details of Saturn, Jupiter, Venus and Mars. The target opening ratio is F/5, so the scope is really fast and this is a great point for astrophotography. The collecting power is approximately 450 times larger than the naked eye with a 7 mm exit pupil!
Advantages of the telescope
- Relatively powerful optics with an opening of 150 mm
- Compact structure, therefore not very sensitive to vibrations and wind
- Parabolic primary mirror with limited curvature effect
- Fine fixation legs for highly contrasting images
- Easy transport and quick assembly
- The short focal length allows for short exposures in astrophotography
- Weight of the telescope: about 4.9 kg
- It’s easy to collimate it and fast temperature balanced
Miror quality
The quality of the mirrors of the Sky-Watcher 150/750 telescope allows to reach the theoretical separating power of the instrument, showing the diffraction rings on the brightest stars, guaranteeing a high optical quality. The mirrors are protected by silicon dioxide (SiO2) multilayer coatings, ensuring good optical performance and long-lasting protection of the aluminide. The parabolization of the mirrors is particularly careful in Sky-Watcher, which gives precise and contrasted images, contrary to the use of a spherical (non-parabolic) mirror mounted in newton configuration.
Eyepiece holder and eyepieces
The Crayford-type eyepiece holder with no microfocuser is 31.75 mm (1.25 “) and 50.8 mm (2”) thick, allowing you to accommodate a large number of eyepieces on the market that you can add UHC or Deep-Sky interference filters. These filters increase contrast on many nebulae and visually reduce light pollution. In this way you can benefit from the full potential of your instrument.
The telescope itself comes with two eyepieces of 25 mm and 10 mm focal length, plus a 2x barlow lens to double the magnifications.
Mount : Neq3-2
Personally i bought a Neq3-2 with my scope and it supports the 150 mm optical tube. The assembly is fast and secure thanks to a female Vixen type dovetail attached to the 150 mm optical tube. The axes of rotation in right ascension and declination are equipped with two hoses that ensure a smooth and regular manual movement, allowing precise centering of celestial objects in the telescope.
The mounting of the mount (alignment on the pole star) is facilitated by fine movements in azimuth and latitude; This will allow you to simply follow a celestial object to keep it in the center of the field of the eyepiece.
The NEQ3-2 mount can also accommodate a polar sight (sold separately) in the polar axis for quick and accurate setup. Thanks to this manipulation, the tracking of celestial objects will be done precisely and with ease, by turning only the flexible right ascension wheel.
Perfect telescope to start in astrophotography
The Skywatcher 150/750 is the first telescope that i bought and started with in the astrophotography. I was able to catch the beauty of the cosmos with it, from planetary and moon images to the very deep sky objects like Nebulas, Galaxies and star clusters. Here’s a selection of my best images that i’ve done with it :
For more images you can visit my photo gallery : Deep Sky Images with Skywatcher 150/750 and Planetary Images with Skywatcher 150/750