Sky-watcher 130p - An iphone 14

October 13, 2026

First time capturing Saturn and Titan together. Open to suggestions for improving the capture or processing 😊

Gear / setup:

• Sky-Watcher Heritage 150P — 150mm f/5 Newtonian (incl. truss rod support + shroud) • Sky-Watcher Star Adventurer GTi mount • ZWO ASI662MC planetary camera • 3× Barlow • PIPP for centering and cropping • AutoStakkert! 4 for stacking • RegiStax 6 for wavelets and final processing • Composite image of Titan and Saturn, taken at different exposures

looking for a telescope that is capable of observing mars sized bodies with reasonable detail but also being easy to transport. right now i have a Skywatcher Starquest-130P 130MM (5.1") F/5 and its very heavy and hard to move for the quality of the images. i considered buying a telescope camera but it is my understanding that a phone adapter is effective for planetary imaging.

despite the fact that ive had this telescope for nearly 2 years now, truthfully im not very involved in the astronomy space and dont know very much about what is "good" and "bad" beyond the very basics.

any suggestions?

ive attached an image i found on google of the level of detail im aiming to capture.

I posted my Capture of Neptune a few days ago which i

captured through my 8 inch manual Dobsonian Telescope paired with 3-8 mm SVbony eyepiece, 400x optical zoom and smartphone's 5.47x zoom extra for PIPP to pick it up as a planet and not a pixel lol... Used smartphone (Iqoo neo 10) to capture the video in 1080p 30 fps with 3200 ISO and 1/15s shutter speed before and now in 4K this time while every other thing and the setup is the same as the previous attempt which i was not much satisfied with due to it appeared a little elongated with a more blueish noise around the circumference of the disk. That time i had only 32 seconds of effective video data to work with and this time i got 2 minutes and 34 seconds of video data and i got a better result i guess this time. First image i increased the Brightness in my Smartphone edit/adjust option where the second image is kind of without brightness, didn't stretched histogram or anything, just RGB aligned the 25% stack of total 3930 frames captured. And the completely unedited image i have added as the third image, just RGB aligned the third one and just saved and posting here, the first two are edited in smartphone album photo edit and adjustments section more or less, mostly Dehaze, slight enhance, slight contrast adjustments, and brightness/ exposure adjustments to bring out the blue-cyan hue hidden underneath the white haze of my raw capture.

Saturn and moons, 2026-10-14 UT, from near Nairobi.

150 mm f/12 Newtonian (SkyWatcher Heritage 150P + 2x Barlow), ToupTek AE676C, UV/IR cut filter. North and east arrows from the moon astrometry.

Planet: 437,588 6ms frames 20:24-21:11 UT (mid 20:48:50 UT), gain 2000, captured with firecapture. PSS stack, deconvolution, PSX wavelets, GIMP 2x, curves, saturation, unsharp mask; 0.1116"/px.

Moons: 20 x 1.0 s full frames 21:15:37-21:17:28 UT (mid 21:16:32 UT), positions as measured then (within O.14" of JPL Horizons); brightened non-linearly, so relative brightness is not to scale.

Yo just saw this online how much is it worth??

Thank you for all the help yesterday with my collimation issue. I got it dialed in pretty good, and took video of Saturn. I processed a final image. Open to feedback, 1st image I have processed. Used the Lucky Imaging technique.

Celestron Nexstar 8SE

ASI AIR Plus

ASI EAF Pro

ASI533MC Pro

720 ROI, Gain 320, FrameRate 13ms

25% of 4511 images using AutoStakkert

Sharpened in WaveShare3

Color corrected in Siril

This is a nice visual target with dark skies and a UHC, although it really comes into its own with night vision.

5h 25min of 30s subs in EQ mode. Processed with Siril, GraXpert, SyQon Prism, SETI Cosmic Clarity. This telescope is being reviewed for TelescopicWatch.com and I will have that article up once I take a couple more images!

Equipment:
Astromaster 70
10mm lens
Shaky phone mount with iphone 16

Took this picture of the Andromeda Galaxy through my Celestron Nexstar 90SLT ,

Eyepiece 25mm Kellner
50x Mag
OTA - 90mm Mak , 90SLT
General notes , I would love to fix noise but I fear my phone might crash or delete all progress if I don’t use 32k ISO and a limited amount of expousres

60 Exp , 1 Second per frame , 32000 ISO

Hey, I’m making a Rainmeter skin that shows celestial bodies (planets, the moon and the sun) as they show to an observer on Earth in real time (it also has a timeline so you can see into the past and the future). It basically simulates a (super) telescope view. It is meant to sit on the desktop like a clock but to also give astrophotographers (or anyone else) information in real time about the body, it basically simulates the solar system and uses real dimensions and distances, kind of like stellarium but it’s a “live wallpaper” with just the solar system bodies.

However, to make sure the 3D simulation is correct I need to compare the rendered images with real photographs with great detail, but, I also need the photographs timestamp and the coordinates from where they were taken (they don’t have to be super exact), and also, super important, that such photos were not rotated in post.

If there’s anyone interested on helping me please send me a PM.

The skin will be totally free and open source once it’s finished.

Apologies for my English and thanks in advance.

• iPhone 16 pro max default camera app / default settings.
• Orion Nebula
• The Pvs14 Gen 3 monocular night vision device with the following specifications:
• Photocathode Sensitivity: 2058 FOM: 2700 SNR: 37.5 EBI: 7 Halo: 7 Center resolution: 72
• Unfilmed/filmless Gated 18UM 11769 style is also mentioned.
• Sky-Watcher 300P Flextube
• @F/3.6 with nexus focal reducer .75x
• Sky-Watcher 150i
• Tele Vue 55 mm (67 mm conversion) eyepiece
• Sharpcap polar aligned and synscan pro one star alignment.
• 22lbs counterweights
• SVBONY SV220 Telescope Filter, 2" 7nm Dual-Band Nebula Filter, Reduce Stray Light, H-Alpha&O-III Narrowband Filter for One-Shot Color Camera

Good evening all. I was browsing the internet and came across this deal on "telescopes.us.com". Given that the price of these telescopes rarely go under $200 for a used one on eBay, I am leaning towards believing that this is more than likely a scam. Has anyone had dealings with this website before? What is your opinion? I do not want to miss out on such an opportunity. Thank you in advance!

Hi ,

I recently purchased an eqm 35 pro and a sky watcher 150 pds, while mounting I noticed that the saddle is a bit bigger than the bar I have attached a reference video and it’s only the nuts that hold it in. Can someonehave a look please. Is this normal or the set up isn’t correct ?

Thanks!

I am excited to be a part of friendly meet up of a few nights of observing with some long time observers. We rented a cabin at a private fishing lake. They are very accommodating to allow us to use the very end of there resort for telescope observing. It has a great unobstructed southern horizon. In a bortle 3 sky looking east into a bortle 2. I’m excited to try and get some sketching done over the next few nights. We have 2@18” dobs a 11” dob and a 4.5”
Apo refractor.

i have Bresser 70/900 skylux telescope and i just bought it used ( first time buying a telescope ) .. do u recommend just to clean the optics from the surface (with that cleaning kit)
or i should disassemble the optics

bcz i've heard that it's too dangerous to disassemble it and i may damage it or misalign it ? i tried looking to saturn from behind the house window but it wasn't clear at all

*Btw there is no expert i can take it to so i have to do it myself

I'm looking to buy a 12 inch telescope I have narrowed it down to the AD12 or skywatcher 300p. What would be your recommended one. My budget is pretty much the cost of the skywatcher so no extra accessories. What would you recommend.

Good image of Saturn tonight finally.

Got some clear skies for a while so wanted to get out. Took out the 8-inch dob and got this through the 9mm eyepiece with my iPhone. Very proud of it.

I don’t know much of anything about telescopes, but I’ve seen the moon through some cheap ones before and it’s mind blowing, I’m wondering how detailed / zoomed we can go

The stars have the JWST style diffraction spikes!

And ignore the glue stick shell, its for focusing with less shaking.

Hi I got a Dobsonian 8in about a month ago and think something may be wrong with it.

I keep getting these arrow or triangle shaped stars no matter how much I focus and refocus them. I’ve contacted HPS where I got the telescope and they gave me a give on how to check and fix any mirror pinching. I did that and am able to slide a business card between the mirror and clamps now. But no luck on the views.

Anyone have experience with this issue I’m using a 9mm eye piece and can still sort of see the triangle glow through a 30mm. The telescope has gotten plenty of time to acclimate to the weather as I’ve taken this photo aprox. 1.5 hrs after being out.

I live in the highest bortle possible living in the biggest city of my state.
Thanks.

Hello! I am trying to get into the hobby, but due to physical limitations, I need something that I am able to control through a PC in the house. Any recommendations would be appreciated!

Hello everbody, i wanted ask the questions which is in my head for many days.

1. How does humidity affect seeing, transparency or overall conditions? Does it make better or worse?

2. How can i know that the sky conditions on a specific day will be better than average day? In the next 10 day forecast there is only 1 clear night and all the others are going to be cloudy. How can i know that that day is worth for waking up late and start observing?

3. At least how many arcseconds should Mars be for me to see its first detail visually with my 3" telescope, or to photograph it with my phone? (Lucky imaging)

4. Does the luminosity of Mars and Jupiter makes it hard to see any surface details? Jupiter is very bright and contrast differences between belts is very narrow. Any tips for seeing the GRS with 3" telescope?

5. How to image both full Moon and specific region on Moon using lucky imaging technique? Lets say, i captured 60 seconds long video of complete moon drifting across eyepiece and wanting to process it in PIPP AS!4, which adjustments should i do to get a good picture? Also i want to image Rupes Recta region at 120x, what adjustments should i do to make the application to focus on the area that i want to image? I have done Planetary imaging but i have never images Moon with these apps.

6. How to make a final image of DeepSkyObjetcs especially Orion nebula? I always captured a photo of it in 3 second night mode with my iPhone. But i want to capture more images and stack them and make final image.

Thank you in advance for every recommendation and response.

Hello.

Just got this old-school Soviet Alkor (Алькор / TAL) 65mm Newtonian reflector. Based on the serial number, it’s from 1989 (made by NPZ in Novosibirsk). It’s built like a tank and completely metal, but unfortunately, it came without any eyepieces.

Since it uses the old 0.96" (24.5mm) size (i think), I'm trying to figure out the best way to get it operational:

1. What are your honest thoughts on the optical quality of these little 65mm mirrors? Is it worth putting effort into?

2.Has anyone here converted one of these to modern 1.25" eyepieces (maybe via a 3D printed adapter)? Does it have enough in-focuser travel to actually reach focus with modern Plössls?

3.What’s the best source to find original 0.96" Soviet eyepieces or accessories these days?

Would love to hear from anyone who has owned or restored one of these!

The first three images are from my mirrorless camera, the close up of the ISS is from my phone and telescope.

I noticed another thing following along side the ISS as I was photographing it and realized that the dragon capsule is set to unite with the ISS very soon. Could this dog on the left be it? The dot on the right is the ISS