Skywatcher HERITAGE-100P Tabletop Parabolic Dobsonian Telescope

Product Information

Neptune is little more than a fuzzy bluish “star” with the Heritage 150P, but you can see its moon Triton without too much trouble; it’s a full magnitude brighter than Uranus’ moons. Pluto is just barely visible with the Heritage 150P at a similar brightness to the brighter moons of Uranus, but it is hidden among a field of thousands of similarly-dim stars in the constellation of Sagittarius for the foreseeable future and will require careful searching and observations spaced at least a few days apart to be sure. You can also see bright asteroids like Ceres and Vesta fairly easily with the Heritage 150P, though they will be little more than grey or yellowish points of light, far too small to actually resolve. Small” used to refer to telescopes of 6 inches of aperture or less, but the trend of larger and larger telescopes means that most astronomers today term “Small” to be 8 inches of aperture or less. Dobsonian is simply a Newtonian style telescope that uses classic or traditional optical reflector systems. However, it differs slightly when it comes to the mounting mechanism. Dobsonians come with an azimuth mounted design that pitches up down left and right.

This is a great grab-and-go scope and we found it very simple to use. Most importantly, we were able to get good views of a wide variety of celestial objects.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. Galaxy pair M81 and M82 were seen together even through the 9mm eyepiece. The Whirlpool Galaxy was small but bright in the 26mm.

Other measurements such as the PV and RMS are important too. With these measurements, the lower the number the better as it shows less curvature on the lens. The flatter an optical lens, the better it will perform. The PV rating (Peak To Valley) is a measurement from the highest point (Peak) to the lowest point (Valley). From this we get the RMS (Root, Mean, Square). This is a similar figure to the PV and measured exactly the same way. The RMS is basically an average height difference from the PV so again, the lower the better. As you can see form the example below, we measured an RMS of just 0.027 wave which is a very good value. Now, while the Orion SkyQuest XT8i Intelliscope is a super advanced piece of tech, there are a couple of things they could have improved on. For instance, if you’re going to install a computer on board, why not make the thing motorized? Sure, there are 14,000 preset locations, but you’ll have to actively push your telescope through each and every one of them. Still, it’s a whole lot easier when the telescope knows where it’s pointing. What Other Customers Think You may also want to make a custom stand and a shroud for the Heritage 150P to maximize its usefulness. What can you see with Skywatcher Heritage 150P? The Bresser Messier 6” f/8 Planetary Dobsonian has a narrower field than the 150P, thanks to its f/8 focal ratio, though this is somewhat compensated for by its hefty 2” Crayford focuser. The main advantage of the XT6 is that it stands flat on the ground without additional support or elevation, though it’s significantly less compact, lightweight, or portable than a tabletop instrument of similar aperture like the Sky-Watcher Heritage telescopes. Sky-Watcher’s own 6” Classic also works pretty well and shares the XT6’s basic design and features, but has inferior bearings and a mediocre focuser. Computerized telescopes can come with additional work and requirements. For example, they will need a power supply and can take longer to set up than most other scopes. Knowing what you can do with a good star chartis much more beneficial.For aiming the Heritage 150P, a red dot finder is provided, which attaches to a rail affixed to the front of the telescope. This is really all you need for aiming a wide-field instrument like the Heritage anyway, and a heavier finder would neither fit nor be secure on the small amount of real estate the upper part of the Heritage’s frame provides. Its tabletop “Dobsonian” Mount One way of reducing the time it takes to prepare for an observing session is to look at tabletop telescopes as your entry to astronomy and stargazing. The Heritage 150P comes already assembled and in a presentation box, with smaller boxes included to hold the red dot finder and eyepieces: 25mm and 10mm, providing magnifications of 30x and 75x.