Adopted a telescope

[Chasing Sanity]

After being intriuged by the new Jupiter 'bruise' I adopted my brother's abandoned DSE 114mm Newtonian Telescope. He lost his temper with it fairly quickly, so it was chucked in the shed and forgotten. Is this a good beginner scope? It's got a dinky wobbly tripod.

I've got some lenses that I don't understand, and the 'manual' is very useless. What are erecting eye pieces for? I have a 2x and a 1.5x.

Is there a way to line up planets without using the cross hair scope thing? Because it's in the wrong place! I'm not a contortionist!! I've gathered from reading here that the best way to use a scope like this is lying down?

I think my eyes are too small! In each lens I use (super plossl? a 6 a 10 and a 30) I only get a tiny little bit of view?

What does EP mean?

Halp!

[erick]

Elizabeth, you sound like a troubled woman! Let's see what we can do to help out!

EP may well mean "Eyepiece" the 6, 10 and 30 thingos. That actually means 6mm, 10mm and 30mm focal length for the three eyepieces. The 30mm will give the least magnification (and be easiest to use) and the 6mm will give the most magnification and might be a pain to use until you get some experience.

Normally the view through a telescope is not the same as you see directly because of the lenses/mirrors that the light has to pass though and bounce off. It will be upside down or back to front or both. An erect image adapter changes the image to make it look like "normal". Good if you are using your scope during the day to look at birds, ships, mountains etc.

It may be best if you take all the bits and pieces and visit someone who can help - or they come and see you. If you want to tell us which city/town you live in, we might have a volunteer. Or help you find a local astronomy group who will probably be happy to help.

We wouldn't have high hopes for a DSE 114mm reflctor on a "dinky wobbly" tripod - but with care, you should be able to look at the Moon and Jupiter for a start.

Eric

[Chasing Sanity]

I'm in Darwin, and I've joined the forum of the local club, but it (the club) doesn't seem terribly active?

The more I read of people seeing meteors and things the more I want to see!!

[astroron]

Hi Elizabeth, would it be possible to give us a picture of the scope or a name? does it have slow motion control handles, or does it just move up and down and round and round on the tripod?
If it is what I am thinking it is,you can slacken the retaining nut that holds the telescope in it's retaining ring and and turn the eyepiece and the finder to a more comfortable position.
I hope you have some luck with scope and the local club:thumbsup:

[Mike21]

I understand that you were talking generally about scopes, but may be we should tell her that she cannot rectify a reflector's image. I don't know about you, but if I have trouble with a scope at night, I test it during the day on terrestrial targets to see where the problem might be. We don't want the poor lady any further confused.

[torana68]

might sound a bit geeky but if you have a web cam you might find someone to explain the bits as you point the camera at them, might help , might not :D might even be a NT local who could be tempted with tim tams? that one works for me....
Roger

[hulloleeds]

With a bit of patience, you should be able to locate the moon in your scope without using the crosshair (finder). Use the lowest magnification - 30mm (largest amount of stuff viewable) to find the moon, then you can put higher magnification EPs in and see more detail. If the finder has screws on, you can then adjust the screws to make the finder have the moon in its crosshairs and then it should be of more use.

By find the moon, I mean, set the telescope up so it roughly points towards the moon and the move it (a small amount) and search.