The Crab Nebula, M1 in Taurus, was visible as a small patch of mist, while star clusters such as M44 in Cancer and M35 in Gemini appeared to sparkle against a black backdrop.Īlthough not designed for astrophotography, we were able to attach both an iPhone and a DSLR to the telescope (using our own adaptors) to capture a few shots of the Moon. Using the 25mm eyepiece we could fit both members of galaxy pair M81 and M82 into the view, with the 10mm revealing a mottled edge on disc of the latter. The 10mm gave a good increase in magnification and in moments of steady seeing we were able to glimpse the two fainter components of the Trapezium Cluster, which sits at the heart of the Orion Nebula.īy combining the 10mm eyepiece and 2x Barlow, we were also able to split tight double and multiple stars – including triple star Iota Cassiopeiae, where the closest companion is only two arcseconds away from the primary star. The 25mm eyepiece provided a wide field of view that allowed us to take in the whole of the Pleiades and almost all of the Sword of Orion.
Therefore the 25mm and 10mm eyepieces give magnifications of 30x and 75x respectively – a nice range for a beginners’ scope and one that doesn’t push the optics too much. The Star Discovery 150P has a focal length of 750mm, giving the system a focal ratio of f/5. Using the same eyepiece, we aimed at Aldebaran in Taurus to test the quality of the field of view: we were pleased to find that the star appeared pin sharp across 75 per cent of the view with only a little coma showing up towards the field edges. The second allows you to choose any stars in the sky.īoth resulted in good slewing, with targets usually placed in the central 50 per cent of the view in the 25mm eyepiece. The first method divides the sky into zones (north, south and so on) and suggests stars to use for alignment in the zone you’ve chosen.
There are two alignment routines to choose from, brightest star and two star. It offers a rich variety of targets, with nearly 43,000 objects in its database. The handset packaged with the Star Discovery 150P is the SynScan V4, which is slightly larger and a little more bulky than the more prevalent SynScan V3, though the arrangement and function of the control buttons are identical to previous versions. The mount has a battery compartment that takes eight AA batteries, as well as a port for an alternative power supply such as a power tank.Īlso on the mount is a connection for the handset and a ‘snap’ port for camera control: you could dispense with the telescope entirely, replacing it with a DSLR mounted on a camera bracket to record landscape or timelapse images.
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