FIRST LIGHT
Sky-Watcher Explorer 130P AZ GO-2
Smartphone-controlled, beginner-friendly reflector boasting excellent views
VITAL STATS
• Price £379
• Optics Newtonian reflector, parabolic primary mirror
• Focal length 650mm, f/5
• Mount Wi-Fi Go-To altazimuth
• Extras Red dot finder, 25mm and 10mm eyepieces, 2-inch eyepiece adaptor, SynScan app, Vixen-style dovetail, tripod, battery box and pouch, compass, manual
• Weight 8.4kg
• Supplier Optical Vision Ltd
• Tel 01359 244200
• www.opticalvision.co.uk
Compact enough to be portable, but with enough light grasp to observe a wide range of objects, 130mm-aperture Newtonian reflectors hit the sweet spot for stargazing. Fitting nicely into this very popular spot is the Sky-Watcher Explorer 130P AZ GO-2, especially with its Wi-Fi-enabled altazimuth mount, giving it the power to seek out numerous objects using your smartphone as a controller.
The telescope’s metallic black gloss finish with green highlights contrasts nicely with the mount’s white powder coating, sitting on a stainless steel tripod, inviting you to turn it on and observe; we were keen to accept the invitation. Assembly of the various components was straightforward and well-explained in the printed manual, with the optical tube attaching to the mount via a 45mm Vixen-style dovetail bar. The telescope required collimation on delivery, which was quickly accomplished using our own Cheshire collimator.
The mount is fully SynScan-compatible, but doesn’t come with a hand controller. Instead, you install the SynScan app on your phone and then connect that to the mount’s own built-in Wi-Fi hub. Once that’s done you get a convenient and intuitive on-screen interface. The mount will track objects at three different rates: solar, lunar and sidereal. The first two relate to the Sun and Moon respectively, but the third is used to track stars and other deep-sky objects.
Ready to go
To ready the telescope for observing, it is necessary to align the red dot finder with the telescope. We carried out this procedure during daytime by centring a distant object in the field of view of the 25mm eyepiece and then using the adjustment knobs on the finder to overlay the red dot on the same object.
Keen to get acquainted with the telescope, rather than wait until nighttime we mounted our own Baader AstroSolar Safety Film filter on the front to do some observation of the Sun. We were rewarded with excellent views of sunspots AR 13057 and AR 13509 on the Sun’s surface. Although removing the 1.25-inch eyepiece holder revealed a standard T2 camera thread, we were unable to focus on the Sun using our DSLR camera and adaptor. However, a planetary camera with a T2 thread and less than 30mm of back focus would be suitable for imaging both the Sun (with the correct safe filter fitted) and the Moon.
As darkness fell, we carried out the star alignment process in readiness for an observing session under the stars. This started with setting the mount to its ‘home’ position by levelling the tripod using its built-in bubble level as a reference, then setting the telescope tube level and pointing it to north. The supplied compass proved accurate enough to achieve this. We then connected the mount to its power supply and, with the app running on the smartphone, connected it to the mount’s Wi-Fi hub. The app automatically determined our location using the smartphone’s GPS location sensor, in readiness for carrying out an alignment based on two stars to build a basic pointing model.
Wide variety of views
With the mount carefully aligned, we went in search of deep-sky objects selected from the SynScan app’s extensive databases. The Go-To system easily located a range of objects, placing each one within the field of view of the 25mm eyepiece. We enjoyed excellent views of globular clusters M13, M92, M15 and M71 and then galaxies M31 and M81. We then headed to the planetary nebulae M27 and M57, the Double Cluster, and finally the double stars Albireo and Epsilon Lyrae. We couldn’t resist observing the prominent planets Jupiter and Saturn, easily discerning Jupiter’s bands and Saturn’s rings, as well as several of their attendant pinprick moons. Finally, we turned the telescope to the quarter Moon and enjoyed some satisfying views of numerous lunar features.
The Sky-Watcher Explorer 130P AZ GO-2 ticks a lot of boxes, especially for beginners, as it is lightweight and easy to set up, with the bonus of Go-To functionality. The free SynScan app is very intuitive and might appeal in particular to younger users who are used to doing everything on their smartphones.
SynScan app
Instead of a conventional wired hand controller, the Sky-Watcher Explorer 130P AZ GO-2 has a built-in Wi-Fi hub, allowing it to connect to a smartphone. Compatible with iOS and Android smartphones, the app gives access to all of the mount’s set-up and control features in an easy-to-use and convenient user interface. There are two versions of the app; we opted for the iOS Pro version on our iPhone SE 2020 and it operated flawlessly, although the lack of any tactile feel to the direction ‘keys’ meant we had to visually check our finger position from time to time.
The app contains Messier, NGC, IC, Caldwell, named deep-sky objects, named stars, double stars, Solar System objects (seven planets, Sun, Moon and comets) and a useful ‘tonight’s best’ object listing. Overall, it gives Go-To access to nearly 11,000 objects. In addition to standard pointing duties, the app provides information about the objects being observed, including visibility times for planning your observing sessions in advance.
KIT TO ADD
1. SynScan V.5 computerised handset and cable
2. Sky-Watcher rechargeable 17Ah power tank
3. Sky-Watcher SmartPhoto Plus camera adaptor
VERDICT
