Beginners Christmas Present

[Decoys84 (Tom)]

Hi all

New to the hobby. Been looking at making a start for a while now thanks to the mother in law have a beginner telescope for Christmas. The scope I got is the National Geographic 76mm/700mm Reflector on EQ mount. My interest in the near future will be just looking at the planets from my suburban Adelaide back yard as I have 3 young children and the hobby will end very quickly if I start leaving the wife all night with the kids.

Anyway on checking out the toy I noticed that the eyepieces have H affixed on them and a non coated (I think, it looks like clear glass) 3x barlow. From the lurking I have done this would suggest to me that they are pretty average eyepieces. Would this scope benefit from an upgrade to the eyepieces as my first investment in this hobby? Budget in the next 6 months is ok to look at some decent eyepieces but probably not top tier. If eyepieces are the way to go to upgrade the telescope should I get something like the skywatcher or celestron plossl kits or should I maybe consider the Baader zoom as I could probably make the budgets reach these? Alternatively would just one or 2 pieces be a better buy?

If upgrading the eyepieces to these is not the best option what other alternatives do I have to upgrade my viewing?

Thanks
Tom

[Stonius (Markus)]

I used to have a 60mm Refractor back in the day. I think the biggest improvement you would have would be through more aperture, rather than better eyepieces (that being said, I don;t know what your EP
s are like, but assuming they're Plossls they'll be fine to start out with. An upgrade to 6 or 8" at some point in the future will allow more resolution and brighter objects, but for planets, your scope is definitely fine to start out with. Also, astronomy is as much about learning how to see as it is about having the right gear in the first place. I'd suggest you explore what can be seen with your scope (which is rather a lot!) before upgrading.

Hope that helps!

Markus

[Decoys84 (Tom)]

Not 100% sure from looking at them but they have a H on them which I think means they are Huygens from my net researching. Would an upgrade to decent plossls be worth it for this scope?

[Larryp (Laurie)]

Originally Posted by Decoys84

Not 100% sure from looking at them but they have a H on them which I think means they are Huygens from my net researching. Would an upgrade to decent plossls be worth it for this scope?

Yes, they would be Huygens eyepieces. An upgrade to decent Plossls would be well worth while, as would a better barlow. Even if you upgrade your scope, you would keep your better eyepieces to use with a new scope.