Beginners Start Here!

[Suzy]

Aye, aye. I'm one of the humble servants :comp uter: When's the last time I had a holiday or a sicky?! Sheeez!
Welcome Michael, and enjoy your stay. If we can be of any help, don't ever be afraid to ask.

[kryo (Ben)]

Hello All,

My name is Ben, i've just signed up here after doing some reading online

i have been given what's described here as a 'supermarket telescope' as a gift, after reading through the forums here...i tried to get my hands on a reciept, to no avail.

so after spending about half an hour assembling a equitorial mount, i took the thing outside and it dawned on me that i have absolutely no idea what i'm doing.

i managed to get a 'decent' view of the moon with the 50x magnification, dark patches, craters, basic terrain - so i put in the extra 83x? lense and all i could see was bright white with some lines and dark patches, more like a petrie dish under a microscope than a moon.

i spent another hour or so playing with it, with some success with the 50x lense...being able to see the white dots of stars that i can't see with my naked eye, but absolutely no success with the 83x lense (however, i'm probably not doing something right in addition to a bargain basement telescope)

i downloaded stellarium, and managed to spot saturn i think with my naked eye..but alas the telescope couldn't be adjusted to view that high in the horizon (around 1am this morning)

aside from buy a new telescope/binoculars (mortgages are wonderful aren't they?)....any advice, suggestions, starting points that may be useful to see something apart from the moon?

Perhaps down the track, if interest persists... i'll look at spending $1-$1.5G on something a little better.

the telescope i was given, has the following specs (i'm sure this will make more sense to you, than to me):

127mm aperture, 1000mm focal length newtonian reflector, german equitorial mount

2 x eyepieces - 1.25", H20mm (50x) and H12mm (83x)

I'm in South-Eastern Melbourne by the way.

[barx1963 (Malcolm)]

Hi Ben and welcome to IIS
The scope you have is very similar to my first scope. Don't be too concerned about having trouble with the 12mm eyepiece. My first scope had a 10mm EP that gave 90x and I couldn't see much with that. Just use the 20mm as it will give the best views. Having said that, if you do use higher power on the moon, try to observe the terminator which is the boundary between dark and light sides.
Does it have a finder? If it does take scope out in daylight, slip in the low power EP (MAKE SURE YOU ARE NOT POINTING ANYWHERE NEAR THE SUN!) and get the main scope to focus on any ditant object eg top of a light pole, a branch etc. Then line up the finder using its adjustment screws. Once this is done the finder becomes your helper to locate objects.
Equatorial mounts can be very daunting at first. Have you attempted to polar align? Even a rough polar alignment makes using it a little easier. If you are in South East Melbourne I would suggest linking with a club, 2 that spring to mind are the Astronomical Society of Vic and the Mornington Peninsular Astronomical Society. The ASV have a loan scheme which once you are a member allows you to borrow an 8" Dob scope for 3 months, really worthwhile!

Malcolm

[JLycett (Jeff)]

Hello everyone,

My first experience looking at the moon with a Telescope was over 30 years ago which I found fabulous. As my kids where getting older I purchased a Saxon AZ1 Reflector scope a few years ago making the mistake of not researching scopes prior to purchasing. So attempted to use it numerous times got frustrated and put it away. I got it out yesterday as my kids wanted to look at the moon and we had a go. I couldn't get the moon to focus and it could be I am clueless at what I am doing but I have a number of EP that came with it SR 4mm, H12.5 mm and H20mm. As well as the EP it has a Barlow lens 2X and a Erecting Eyepiece 1.5x. We can see the moon but it is just a big light in the Telescope.

Today I have used the aligned the finding scope with the telescope to make it easier to try again tonight.

Any suggestions on what will give me the best view of the night sky with what I currently I have available would be greatly appreciated.

Frustrated Beginner

JL

[erick (Eric)]

Jeff, just concentrate on using that 20mm eyepiece and see what you can achieve with that. That will give you the best opportunity to get the Moon in the field of view and focussed. The magnification should be enough to give a view of the surface.

If that doesn't work, then we need to look at issues such as collimation of the mirrors.

Once you get the 20mm working orioerly, then you can try the 12.5mm and its higher magnification (but duller image). The 4mm is not likely to be very useful.

Full Moon isn't the best time to look at the Moon. If you wait several days until the terminator (the line dividing light and shadow) has moved across the surface, then you can see the craters and mountains close to the terminator lit from the side and casting shadows.

[JLycett (Jeff)]

Thanks Erick,

That is what I did the kids thought it was great will have a go after the rain comes through later in the week. Thanks for the advice

JL

[erick (Eric)]

Check back in here as you go, Jeff. I'm sure there will be lots of useful suggestions to get you up and working at your telescope's capacity and looking at interesting objects. After the Moon, you have Saturn farrly well positioned late in the evening. Then the Jewel Box cluster in the Southern Cross. And the globular cluster, Omega Centauri.

[MishMich]

Hi, introducing myself. I live in NZ, and moved here with my Kiwi partner in September. I built up a modest rig while in the UK, an HEQ5, Meade 120 refractor, Celestron SLT mount & a Celestron ED80.

I did some imaging in the UK, but LP was bad. A Canon EOS 1000D for DSO & QHY5 (with a filter wheel). I have started to put the rig back together, but am limited where we are at the moment to the Celestron mount & ED80 - which isn't really workable for planetary (even with a X5 barlow) or DSO imaging. Still, I got a nice shot of the recent 4-planet conjunction, and will see what I can achieve with the Milky Way for now (rare site in the LP-UK - awesome here!).

I have yet to find my way around the sky here, which seems very different, so I am a beginner in this context, and my experience was limited in the UK as well.

I have a couple of challenges - when I do get to set up the HEQ5 (which I upgraded to synscan), getting to figure out how to do a polar alignment without Polaris (which my polar scope is set up for). Trying to get as much as possible working under Linux (as I only have a netbook running XP). I have managed to get most things in place, but have hit a bit of a wall with the QHY5. Cannot get an image in Linux. In XP, while getting images, and getting scope control working in Stellarium or other software, I am trying to get Phd working with the SLT mount via ASCOM. Upgraded the firmware on the HC to NXT - and Phd finds it, but won't make it active because there is no pulse control.

This may gives an impression that I am more interested in the equipment than actually observing - and that would probably be correct.

[ZeroID (Brent)]

Hi Mish, to NZ. What part of the country are you in ?
Sounds like you know what you are doing with the technical stuff which is a big help. I'm up in Auckland where the LP is probably worst but still workable. I have several sites around my house ( view direction dependent) and I did several solar noon lines and E-W 'T's for the EQ6 to sit on and an inclinometer to set the polar axis.
A wee tweak with drift align and I'm all good to go.

You are going to enjoy our southern skies when you get familiar with them. Plenty to see. Have fun and keep in touch on here, plenty of help and advice should you ever need it.

Cheers
Brent

[MishMich]

Thanks Brent. I am in the Waikato, not far from Hamilton.

[oosh (Jason)]

Hi all

I'm Jason from Brisbane, and I wouldn't even class myself a NEWBIE astronomer! - I don't have a scope (i've looked through one once), binos, or much knowledge of the stars, constellations, globular clusters, galaxies, or anything really. BUT, I love space, the universe in all it's vastness and the wonder that comes with being apart of it.

I joined this forum after lurking for a long time, not really knowing much of what I've been reading, but being intrigued nonetheless. I happen to be user Shelltree's (Shelley) partner which is also the reason for my joining. We share the hobby of photography (just the regular kind so far ) which is is my main love, so it was only logical for me to eventually cross over and dabble in a little bit of astronomy too

We've been lucky to have Ron invite us to an astro night he's holding this weekend, so I look forward to meeting some new people and learning some new things up that way, as well as reading the forum here and doing a whole bunch of reading and learning everywhere

I won't bore you by rambling on anymore in my first post - just saying hi for now Thanks for reading.

[jjjnettie (Jeanette)]

Hi Jason.
I reckon we'll be getting to know each other pretty well then.
Looking forward to meeting you soon.

[oosh (Jason)]

Is that Jeanette? Shell has spoken of you - look forward to meeting

[jjjnettie (Jeanette)]

Originally Posted by oosh

Is that Jeanette? Shell has spoken of you - look forward to meeting

Aye, that's me alright.

[astroron (Ron)]

Jason and catch up with you on Saturday
Cheers

[shelltree (Shelley)]

Originally Posted by jjjnettie

Aye, that's me alright.

Postman shell rings the bell

[oosh (Jason)]

Cheers Ron - appreciate the invitation mate!

[jjjnettie (Jeanette)]

JJJ rings the bell.

[Jen]

Welcome to IIS Jason
Im guessing Shelley has turned you into an astro geek too
Nice work Shelley
Be careful of being with that Brissy lot they will drag you over to the dark side

[oosh (Jason)]

Haha she just might At the very least I'm intrigued! Thanks for the welcome Jen

(PS I second your motion of moving to Pandora)