astro guys

david1701

david1701

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David
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how do you use a telescope?

I know it sounds daft, my niece got one for christmas and I went out with her to see what we could see and I couldn't get in a single star let alone focus on a paticular one

whats the art to it that I haven't picked up yet, my reputation as a miracle worker hangs in the balance here :D
 
David, What scope is it ? Is the finder scope aligned ? The FOV of a scope is very narrow, and even finding the moon without the finder is a tricky job.
 
nope no finder, cheapy plastic thing with 20x and 30x magnifying eyepieces hmmm, I might cheat and set up sights on it :D
 
Nowt wrong with that, that's basically what a red dot finder is, and I much prefer using an RDF than a standard finder scope. I would suggest setting it up during the day, and work out the focusing etc whilst you can see what you are doing, it makes a huge difference ;)... and is so much easier to do.
 
If it didn't come with software, download "Stellarium" it's free astronomical software that gives you a view of the sky from your location at any time, good for finding the general direction to point the scope to find the star you want.
Don't get your hopes up that you're going to get nice sharp closeups of stars though, the only scope I've ever had is a 70mm Newtonian and I can just make out the rings of Saturn with it ( mind you I'll never forget the thrill the first time I saw them for real ). Start with the smallest magnification eyepiece and look at the moon, it will be speeding across the field of view so you need to be quick but it's very impressive close up and easy to find.
 
jgs001 said:
Nowt wrong with that, that's basically what a red dot finder is, and I much prefer using an RDF than a standard finder scope. I would suggest setting it up during the day, and work out the focusing etc whilst you can see what you are doing, it makes a huge difference ;)... and is so much easier to do.
Click to expand...

not to be daft but how do I set up in daylight?

Steep said:
If it didn't come with software, download "Stellarium" it's free astronomical software that gives you a view of the sky from your location at any time, good for finding the general direction to point the scope to find the star you want.
Don't get your hopes up that you're going to get nice sharp closeups of stars though, the only scope I've ever had is a 70mm Newtonian and I can just make out the rings of Saturn with it ( mind you I'll never forget the thrill the first time I saw them for real ). Start with the smallest magnification eyepiece and look at the moon, it will be speeding across the field of view so you need to be quick but it's very impressive close up and easy to find.
Click to expand...

will deffo try that, dear lord don't get me into astro I'll be screwed :D
 
Setup the scope on the tripod. Align on something, like an object on a hilltop etc... put in an eyepiece, focus it. Go slowly... the focus point maybe narrower than you think... Swap eyepieces and focus again. Get used to using the focuser, the ep's and the mechanicals of the tripod (might sound easy, but it depends on the design of the head, it's probably an AltAz (Altitude Azimuth) with an Alt lock screw I'd think). If you build a targeting thingy, it'll need aligning with the scope, so again in daylight, use the highest power ep (shortest focal length) align on some object a fair ways away, then get your targeting thingy aligned on the same object.
 
Good luck, let us know how you get on.
 
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