New Telescope Commentary + Finderscope/ Laser Question.

[Jerous]

Hi All,

Amazingly the cloudy curse did not get me when I got my first telescope on Saturday. I was blessed with three clear days to get out there and give it a go.

So far, I have a :
Orion XT8i scope.
Stock 10x50 Finder scope.
Stock 10mm and 25mm Orion eye pieces.
6mm TMB Eye piece from Sylvain.
Orion moon filter.

First night was a little frustrating. I wanted to keep the scope on my small concrete path and it's not flat. I was under the impression that as long as I had the scope exactly vertical when I started aligning that uneven ground would not matter. This was one of the reasons why got push to over a goto scope. It would seem this is not the case, or I am doing something wrong. Cause the alignment didn't happen and stars were nowhere near the right place when I spun it all around and aligned it.

Being excited to get into it, I dispensed with the Goto and manually pushed it around for the night. Checked the moon out with the kids, I am guessing that's a stock first night target. I stuck with the 25mm for the evening.

Second and third nights were a lot more fun, I never went back to the intelliscope, mainly because I found I didn't need to, I found Saturn and the stuff I was looking for pretty easily.

Looking at Saturn through the 6mm, I was amazed by how much blacker the blacks were, not sure if this is eyepiece or just the mag that caused it, but it was a lot nicer over the 25mm, but I had to keep adjusting the scope cause Saturn didn't stay in view long. I ended up putting the scope to one side of the planet and letting it drift across that seemed to be better viewing. Gave me some time to relax my eyes into it ( bear in mind, I've never looked through scopes before and I am learning how to do everything. )

So, I am guessing the intelliscope will come in handy when I go hunting weird and wonderful DSO's but I am wondering if I just should have backed myself and got a manual... I am hunting around just fine so far.

This commentary is background to my question.

I am finding, in suburban light, I don't get a great many stars. I can navigate around ok with the naked eye and my 7x 50 Binos. When I get to looking through the 10x50 finder scope, I am finding I don't get quite enough in the eyepiece to make it overly useful.

I am thinking of replacing it with a laserscope, of 20 or 30 watts. my reasoning for this is twofold. One, for my young son who is out there with me, it would get him looking in the right place in the sky, with his naked eyes or binos. Two it would let me just line the scope up with my naked eye, which I feel would make it easier as I like to use my wealth of printed star maps from the internet.

So my questions are this...

When I go hunting for fainter DSO's will I want a finderscope or a Laser? Or is it personal preference?

Is there any issues pumping out a laser into the sky in a suburban backyard? I know not to point it at planes and turn it off when I am not using it and have some common sense when using it. Is there anything I should know, is this not a good idea?

When I get the push to working, will I find I'm a lot less reliant on any finder scope as I can push to the objects via the counters?

Thanks for your time and if you've made it reading this far!

Additional : I just wanted to mention, I am aware of the laser restrictions over 1mw and that you'd need to get a permit ( no issues there ), or be a member of a local club, ( no issues there was planning that anyway ). So one last question, does your average club mind people using them? or have restrictions on the power? I could always use my finderscope instead at a star party.

[mental4astro]

Hi Jerous,

I'll take some of your points in turn first.

The 6mm EP you picked up from Sylvain is one brilliant EP. I've got the 6mm too, and the 9mm. The blacks do appear blacker, yes, first by the increased magnification, but also the better quality of the lens design and the quality of the coatings reducing scatter and internal reflections.

You did the right thing with allowing Saturn drift through the field of view (FOV). The term you used is the right one too, of 'drift viewing'.

Finders can be tricky things to get used to. However, I don't think a laser pointer is the best way to go. As you said, there are issues with lasers in urban areas, and a 1mW laser isn't useful at all in light polluted skies- it's too faint. And at the dark sky sites of many clubs, they will KILL you if the beam strays into the path of someones photo area!

An alternative is a Red Spot Finder (RSF). These little gizmos use a holographic glass to reflect an LED light back to you. This holographic effect sees the red dot not move from the place it appears to be sitting on on the sky. This way you can use both eyes to aim a scope without any problems of parallax. Your son can then have a quick squiz through the scope and see where the scope is aimed.

I use an RSF on top of a traditional finder on my big dob. The RSF does the gross alignment, the traditional finder does the fine alignment. I also find that the RSF is sometimes the only finder I use, as they are very accurate, and a low power eyepiece will serve you very well to pin down the DSO. I also use an RSF exclusively on my 8" dob too.

There is one bit of gear that you may find really useful, costs bugger all, and you'll find yourself using it for years to come, a planisphere. While computer based programs like Stellarium are fine, in the field they are not always practical. Planispheres are fantastic to use in the city as they show only the brightest stars, making them very good to quickly identify the constellations. When then used in conjunction with finer charts or Stellarium, the process of finding DSO's becomes an easier task.

I cut my teeth with a planisphere, and I still use mine 20 years later. Today it's more of a planning tool to show me what constellations are up, and then decide on the areas I like to search out.

Planispheres usually also have marked on them the brighter DSO's. This makes them especially useful as a beginners tool. No good trying to chase down a faint galaxy if you don't know how to use the scope or what to expect.

From my home in Sydney, I also need to use binos, where I'm using my smaller or larger scopes. In the big smoke they help show those stars that light pollution swamps.

You may also like to look in the Star Parties forum for local sessions of meets. Around Sydney there are monthly gatherings to the north, west and south. Sessions are also held in the metro areas of Sydney too.

[Poita]

I used to always take my planisphere out with me, I still do, but I'm finding Star Walk on the iphone or ipod touch or ipad an amazing tool. If you already have a phone, you just whip it out and hold it up to the sky, the patch of sky you can see is automatically labelled with the planets, constellations, DSOs, satellites etc. it is really amazing.

I've never used a goto but I reckon it would be great with the kids.

If your base of the telescope is level, then you should be able to get the alignment and tracking to happen, it is great to be able to keep Saturn in the middle of the eyepiece rather than drift viewing.

[Jerous]

I have star Walk and a Planisphere as well.

Both are good to get a general sense of what's is where.

So I am getting a sense of no laser scope for now.

I think my next project will be building a wooden wedge to level off the back path, ugh. Part of the reason I got a push-to was, I was hoping to avoid that.

Oh well.