Accessories for first telescope
Posted: Tue May 18, 2021 10:00 pm
I purchased my first telescope a couple weeks ago, a Skywatcher 100mm refractor paired with a Celestron AVX mount, and I absolutely love it. I've observed the moon, some open clusters, mars, lots of double stars, and a few variable stars over the course of a few viewing sessions and been really impressed. I'm thinking now about some accessories to add to it and I would appreciate anyone's thoughts on that topic. Here are some I'm thinking about:
Celestron Lunar and Planetary Filter set. https://www.celestron.com/products/luna ... -set-125in
I'm really looking forward to seeing Jupiter and Saturn this fall and am currently enjoying the moon. I've heard that filters can improve the planetary viewing and a lunar filter would be nice. Is 50% transmission still too much? I've seen some variable polarizing filters that range from 1% to 40%, but of course those cost more.
A soft case to store the AVX mount head https://www.highpointscientific.com/ape ... -a-avxcase
This seems very handy, but also somewhat expensive for a soft case that just lets me reuse the packing foam I already have. Has anyone used this?
A 10mm eyepiece https://www.celestron.com/products/ulti ... ece-1-25in
My Skywatcher came with a 25mm and a 5mm so the 10mm seems like a nice addition. Is the ultima edge a good line of eye pieces? I don't have a sense of how much is reasonable to spend on eyepieces for my telescope. I've seen some very expensive eye pieces, but I assume they make sense for scopes much higher end than mine. I have a 2" star diagonal that can take either 1.25" or 2" eye pieces, should I look at a 2" eyepiece? It's not clear to me when that's advantageous.
A celestron wifi adapter for the avx mount. This would seem to let me control the mount through various apps on my iPhone including Stellarium (which I purchased). This is a lower priority for me since I think the hand controller is very to use, but I could see myself getting it someday.
Am I missing anything? Advice on these accessories, or any others, for a beginning amateur would be really appreciated. Thanks! -Aaron
Celestron Lunar and Planetary Filter set. https://www.celestron.com/products/luna ... -set-125in
I'm really looking forward to seeing Jupiter and Saturn this fall and am currently enjoying the moon. I've heard that filters can improve the planetary viewing and a lunar filter would be nice. Is 50% transmission still too much? I've seen some variable polarizing filters that range from 1% to 40%, but of course those cost more.
A soft case to store the AVX mount head https://www.highpointscientific.com/ape ... -a-avxcase
This seems very handy, but also somewhat expensive for a soft case that just lets me reuse the packing foam I already have. Has anyone used this?
A 10mm eyepiece https://www.celestron.com/products/ulti ... ece-1-25in
My Skywatcher came with a 25mm and a 5mm so the 10mm seems like a nice addition. Is the ultima edge a good line of eye pieces? I don't have a sense of how much is reasonable to spend on eyepieces for my telescope. I've seen some very expensive eye pieces, but I assume they make sense for scopes much higher end than mine. I have a 2" star diagonal that can take either 1.25" or 2" eye pieces, should I look at a 2" eyepiece? It's not clear to me when that's advantageous.
A celestron wifi adapter for the avx mount. This would seem to let me control the mount through various apps on my iPhone including Stellarium (which I purchased). This is a lower priority for me since I think the hand controller is very to use, but I could see myself getting it someday.
Am I missing anything? Advice on these accessories, or any others, for a beginning amateur would be really appreciated. Thanks! -Aaron