New and looking for help

[aussie_finder]

Gday everybody, im new to all this star searching stuff, I got a StarView 70AZ Wedge Telescope for Christmas and now looking for help

im from Adelaide south Australia and looking for other people who are near by,

the telescope came with a 10 and a 20 mm lense and a moon filter. I tried lookin at the moon last night with no luck not sure what im doing wrong, and the stars I looked at just looked like white dots, I could focus on them but they seemd tiny,

any help and direction would be helpful, what would be good lenses to look into buying ?

[Tropo-Bob]

Try using the telescope during the daytime to become more familiar with using it. (Focus it on some distant mountains or trees). Start with the 20mm eyepiece as using a lower power is easier to find things.
However, stars will look like points of light, just brighter than what you would see with your eye.

[Kunama]

Welcome Ryan, the stars will always only look as tiny little dots, smaller the better. There is only one star close enough to us to show as a disc, the Sun.

Be sure not to try to view the Sun with your scope.

Not sure what your scope is but it should give you decent views of the moon.
Use the 20mm eyepiece as it will be half as powerful as the 10mm.
If your scope has a finderscope it needs to be aligned in daylight to match the view of the main scope. Use a distant target like a tree, tower or antenna to line up the finder.
For getting the scope roughly aligned you can sight along the tube of the scope, then use your finder to close in on a target before looking through the main scope.

Enjoy!!

[pdthomas23]

Bob beat me to the punch.
I agree with everything he said.
Try it in daylight (just DO NOT POINT IT AT THE SUN).
The Moon is your best target at night and you should be able to see and appreciate the detail.
You can also try to hook up with the Astronomical Society of South Australia (ASSA).
https://www.assa.org.au/

[big_dav_2001]

Welcome Ryan!

I agree with everything everyone has said so far, best way to align your finder is to point the main scope at a distant object (I use the tip of a distant telegraph pole) then lock off both axis of your mount so the main scope stays on that spot, and use the fine-tune knobs on your finder until it's pointing at the same object you see through your main scope... Then, when you're using the scope at night, anything you aim at through your finder should be seen through the main scope...

It's important to have realistic expectations of what you'll see through the scope, don't expect to see the colorful galaxies and nebulae you see in photos, they're the domain of huge scopes, long exposures and years of experience. Most of what can be seen through a scope is faint grey-white smudges or blobs (what we call faint fuzzies). The moon is an excellent starting point as there is an amazing amount of detail to be seen, then progress to the planets (the first look at the rings of Saturn is something most astronomers will never forget, likewise with the bands and moons of Jupiter), and then finally to the faint galaxies, nebulae and clusters... Your eyes need to be trained how to pick up the fine details, and rushing into it will only lead to frustration.

Welcome to IIS, and to Astro, feel free to ask any questions you have, everyone here is always happy to help.

Davin (from Facebook)

[aussie_finder]

Do i need to use the moon filter whilst looking at the moon.? Is that a stupid question? And i guess it screws to the bottom of the lense? Ill try my luck again tonight. Fingers crossed, what lense do i use or need to get for viewing the whole moon at once? Or would the 20 or 10 mm do it i jst havnt figured it out yet?

Ive got my self one of those planisphere wheels just gotta sus out how to use that aswell,

Now i just gotta find where to point it to be able to see
The phases of Venus Cloud belts and Galilean moons of Jupiter The rings of Saturn,

Thank you soo much for being ao helpful

[barx1963]

Hi Ryan and well done on a first scope.
The moon filter is not essential, it only dimes the view as the moon is a very bright target and and can be hard to view at full brightness.
With eyepieces (BTW the correct term is eyepieces not lenses) my usul advice is not to pend time or money on upgrading them until you have a very clear idea what you want. In the meantime focus on using the lower power 20mm eyepiece first. Try the 10mm one once you have found a target.

Cheers

Malcolm

[BeanerSA]

There are no stupid questions. We all started somewhere!

As the moon is just past full, using the moon filter can make viewing a bit more pleasant. As it gets closer to last quarter it is a bit easier on the eyes. Yes, it screws into the bottom of the eyepiece, or you can just rest it in the top of the eyepiece when you look at the moon. This saves fiddling about.

The 20mm eyepiece will be best for fitting the full disc of the moon in it. Magnification is worked out by dividing the focal length of the telescope, in your case 900mm, by the eyepiece size. 20mm will give you 45x magnification. The 10mm will give you 90x magnification.

Instead of a planisphere, I'd suggest getting Stellarium for your PC, it's free. For your phone or tablet, it costs a couple of bucks.

Venus and Saturn are both morning objects at the moment. Jupiter starts to rise in the west around midnight at the moment, getting earlier by about 5 mins per day.

Whereabouts in Adelaide are you?

[aussie_finder]

Paul im from the southern suburbs, flagstaff hill. How bout yourself?

[BeanerSA]

I have PM'd you :)

[ThunderStorm]

I am shamed of myself.
I got a 10 inch Skywatcher dob (no goto), I have managed to see Saturn with Moon so far (2 years ago) when Saturn passed behind Moon.

I am wondering the best steps to see M31 and/or Orion nebula?
I think these 2 are for us as starter.

[BeanerSA]

Hey Alan,

I probably wouldn't worry about M31 at the moment, it is past it's best at the moment, and can be a bit tricky from light polluted skies.

The Great Nebula in Orion is pretty hard to miss. Can you identify the constellation of Orion in the night sky? If you can, you're nearly there. If you can't, then I would make that a priority.

The Nebula is big and bright and really easy to find. Start with your lowest power eyepiece (the biggest in mm) and work your way up.

http://freestarcharts.com/messier/20-guides/messier/106-messier-42-m42-the-great-orion-nebula-emissionreflection-nebula (remember to turn the star charts upside down)