My First Telescope. =)

[Traciti08]

Hello all.

This is my first post. Within the past week I've bought my first telescope. The Celestron Astromaster 140 Eq

Here are the following:

SPECIFICATIONS
OPTICAL DESIGN Reflector APERTURE 130 mm (5.12 in) FOCAL LENGTH 650 mm (25.59 in) FOCAL RATIO 5 EYEPIECE 1 20 mm (0.79 in) MAGNIFICATION 1 33 x EYEPIECE 2 10 mm (0.39 in) MAGNIFICATION 2 65 x MOUNT CG-3 Equatorial OPTICAL COATINGS Aluminum WEIGHT 24 lb (10.89 kg)



And.

I've also bought the,
Celestron Eyepieces i've bought in the set are the following kinda copy and pasting.

DESCRIPTION

The Eyepiece and Filter Kit (#94303) contains:
• Five Superior Grade Plössl Eyepieces - 1.25” — 4-element design with a 52° AFOV (32mm has 44° ) — Superb color resolution, edge sharpness and clarity. All eyepieces are fully multi-coated for maximum contrast and resolution. Supplied are a 4mm,6mm, 9mm, 15mm, and 32mm.
• Barlow Lens - 2x 1.25”— Compliments the Plössl eyepieces in this kit and gives you a total of ten power combinations. High grade glass optics with fully multicoated lenses are used so there is no degradation of image.
• Six Colored Eyepiece(Lunar and Planetary) Filters - 1.25” — Included are Kodak Wratten #12, #21, #25, #56, #58A, and #80A. Since you have all the eyepieces necessary to study the planets and moon in detail, these filters will greatly enhance your enjoyment of our solar system.
• Moon Filter - 1.25” — A neutral density filter which allows you maximum enjoyment of the moon especially during the brighter phases.
• Aluminum Carrying Case — This sturdy and well-built case fits all of the above items in the die-cut foam interior and has room for additional accessories.

Anyone know how to make the finder scope accurate by any chance?

I've also been observing the moon, the quality of it is just priceless.

As you see.

I'm kinda planing to get into Astronomy full-time as a hobby and a profession in the later years of my studying. From the time, I've wanted a telescope. I've started studying about all areas of Astronomy & Astrophysics. But now that I've got a telescope, I've looking for some pointers and some good direction to be pointed in as a guide or so

[deadsimple (Ash)]

Welcome! The first couple of weeks are fantastic. When I got my reflector, I had my eyes glued to the eyepiece every night I could spare.

Originally Posted by Traciti08

Anyone know how to make the finder scope accurate by any chance?

My finderscope's ring had two screws that changed where it points towards. I usually find something easy in the sky (e.g. Jupiter), align it so it's in the centre of the reflector's eyepiece, then twiddle with the finderscope to match.

[Octane (Humayun)]

Hey,

Welcome to astronomy and the site.

With regards to making the finderscope accurate, this is what I used to do; I'd plonk the telescope in the front yard, stick in a fairly high-powered eyepiece and point the telescope at the junction where a cable meets a powerpole. I got this smack-bang in the middle of the eyepiece, and then adjusted the screws on the finderscope bracket, until the finderscope aligned with what I was viewing in the eyepiece.

It was quick and easy.

Regards,
Humayun

[Whizgig (Eugene)]

Hi and Welcome to the site.

I have a mobile phone tower about 500m away from me and on it is a white satellite dish with a blue circle right in the centre of it. During the day I set up the scope and line it up with the dish in the centre of the 25mm eyepiece then set the finder scope to the same and then recheck it in the eyepiece until it is perfect.

[Traciti08]

Will try it out when i get a chance now.

Its a led light so should it make it any difference?

I'm gonna buy a Discover the night sky book, from Australian Geographic. Getting a compass, 3 books, Star grid and half dozen of posters of all under 40 dollars. Gotten 50% off because I"m staff in the complex "Fountain Gate". So using it to my benefit.

My telescope was $480 normally so got it for $240. So kinda saved a lot of money. Didn't think I'll save this much.

For the past week. I've had my eyes glued to the moon. So clear, I'm amazed. Got a friend that bought the Mars 1400 "Bushmaster". He paided $430 and gets **** all image of the moon.

I'll aim the finder scope over at a house in the hills in Beconsfield. Hoping it works tho.

[reddiablo (Andrew)]

Hi

I have the same scope which i got in June this year.

It's been great as an intro with views of the rings of Saturn, Jupiter, its moons and just slightly visible two of the bands and of course our Moon. It will be better again when Mars comes around again, with it's closest point to Earth about late January 2010 :-(

I would recommend you get a reasonable compass and the free software called Stellarium. As a finder of objects in the sky it's fantastic. I have those books and they are very good but with the capabilities of our equipment the Stellaruim software is a quick and easy tool.

http://www.stellarium.org/

cheers

[Jen]

to IIS

[Traciti08]

Stellarium is great

How did you end up on aligning the finder scope?

Any suggestions?

[Whizgig (Eugene)]

to ISS