New Toy

[Stevo72]

G'day,

I'm hoping someone can give me some info - My girlfriend just bought me a telescope. I'm pretty sure it's a 127mm (f8) Newtonian reflective telescope. Apart from craters on the moon what other types of things will I be able to see with this type of telescope?

Stevo.

[h0ughy (David)]

outline of saturn, some belt regions of jupiter, but remember they will be small dots with shape and some colour, orion nebula etc. but as for hunting deep sky objects generally - not much chop. you can see globs fairly well, maybe even a galaxy or two but not really deep sky stuff.

[matt]

Saturn's rings and major moon Titan...

Jupiter and its 4 major moons

phases of venus, mars and its polar cap closer to opposition

some deep sky objects (clusters, nebulae, double stars etc)

Plenty of stuff, actually. Nice little scope.

Got any pics?

[rmcpb (Rob)]

Forget faint nebulae or galaxies BUT anything else is on the menu

Congrats on the scope you will have a great time with it.

[Stevo72]

Excellent. Thanks people. No photos as yet - I've only had it 6 days and there has been too many clouds around the last few days.

Stevo.

[leon]

Yea Stevo, we hate clouds too.

Cheers Leon

[iceman (Mike)]

Hi Steveo, welcome to the forum.

It's fairly small for a reflector, and is probably on a wobbly tripod mount, but will hopefully be enough to get you hooked on the hobby and want to upgrade to something bigger and better in the near future.

You could get a very nice upgrade to an 8" dob for about $400.

Collimation will be key on that telescope.. also unfortunately you're probably stuck with pretty ordinary eyepieces which will make the view much worse than is possible.

Make sure you ask plenty of questions, and if you get interested, make sure you attend a public viewing night of an astro-society near you, and/or come to IISAC2007 in a couple of weeks, where you'll see HEAPS of great telescopes under dark skies.

[dhumpie]

Stevo,

I disagree with what has been said about your scope not being an able scope for deep sky objects. This is plenty of scope for deep sky and can keep you busy for a lifetime if you explore its limits I started out with a much smaller scope and have hunted numerous deep sky objects (yes galaxies included...heck Jay Renolds Freeman has done the Herschel's with Refractor Red, his 55mm refractor!). You will need very dark skies and if you have the patience, your scope will open up limitless possibilities. All you need is patience to train your eyes to see. I am sure many other members on this list will agree with me. Although I have a 10" dob, I have done the bulk of my DSO hunting with my 3" newt, my 80mm shorty refractor and and my 6" reflector.

Cheers,
Darren

p/s: if you want a list of DSO's to start with PM me

[ballaratdragons (Ken)]

Stevo,

You'll also be able to see in the window of the house down the road

Seriously though, you'll see more if you can get to dark observing sites.

I started with a 4.25" reflector I made on a wobbly mount that i also made, and I saw heaps and I didn't know where things where in the sky (I still don't ) and in light polluted sky.

Don't let any poor observing put you off this great hobby. Just wait until you see thru a better scope

Then you will certainly be hooked. Many people give up after poor viewing thru cheap scopes coz they think that is all they will see. The image they see doesn't match the pretty pictures on the box!!!!

[g__day (Matthew)]

Stevo - welcome aboard!

Let me suggest you get a free planeterium program to see what are the brightest things visible, Cartes du Ciel is excellent (15MB):

http://www.ap-i.net/skychart/cdc276/cdcin276.zip

Also a decent pair of large binoculars are great, I prefer 80 * 20s (and very affordable under $200 at Andrews Communications) http://www.andrewscom.com.au/site-section-11.htm

And a comfortable chair is an excellent accessory

Finally if your scope is equatorially mounted, learn how to polar align it to celestial South. http://www.btow.com.au/pdf/tips/how%...equatorial.pdf

If you are backyard observing pick a spot and mark 13 degrees East of magnetic South and an elevation of 34 degrees to the horizon, to speed up all future set up times.