Sky-Watcher Skyliner 250P Dobsonian - My First Telescope
Dobsonian Reflector Telescope
A great telescope for anyone breaking into the hobby, or those looking to maximise the amount of light and detail they can observe, particularly for fainter deep sky objects.
Pros
- + The fact that this rig is so manual provides a good knowledge and skill foundation to start in this hobby
- + The large aperture collects a vast amount of light, which is great to capture lots of detail for faint objects.
Cons
- − The unit is extremely heavy and required two people to fully assemble/disassemble before and after sessions.
- − Whilst the mount grants coverage of the night sky, it's cumbersome tightening the handle screws for each adjustment when finding an object
This was my very first telescope growing up, when I was in secondary school and fascinated by all things physics and astronomy. I remember waking up early one morning in the winter, it had snowed but I was determined to carry the telescope out to the front of the house to get an optimal view of Saturn for the very first time. I drew some sketches and attempted my first astrophotography shot on my LG cookie. The quality was poor, but it was unmistakably Saturn.
It was genuinely sad to move away from this scope in pursuit of a more advanced and motorised rig, I enjoyed every second I spent with it exploring the stars. Whilst cumbersome to move around, if you don’t mind the heavy lifting, or have a friend or family member that can help, I would strongly recommend this scope, particularly if you are just starting out in the hobby.
Recommended Accessories
Worth pairing with these if you're buying it.
2x Barlow Lens
The Barlow lens serves as a magnification multiplier for any eyepiece attached to it. It works by diverging (spreading out) the incoming light cone from the telescope before it hits the eyepiece, effectively increasing the focal length.
This will fit most telescopes, so long as you have an adapter to 1.25".
Telescope Rain Cover
Don't get caught out when the weather unexpectedly shifts. Having one of these handy will help protect the mirrors/lenses etc. The base of this Dobsonian is some sort of chip board, so this'll protect the mount from water damage too.
Given it's size, this will cover a large number of telescopes and mounts, so it will serve it's purpose if you chose a different setup.