Hi, from a complete newbie :)

[rach34 (Rachael)]

Hi all, my partner just bought his first telescope today, it's a Saxon 2001PEQ5, and i was wondering if anyone has the same and can tell me if it is as good as the sales guy said? We are still trying to figure it all out, but would love to understand how we can view stars and the moon properly with it. Any help would be greatly appreciated, but please be patient with me as i am totally new to all this

[Allan_L (Allan)]

Hi Rachael,

Although some people here may not agree, my experience with Saxon has been good, although it was not with a scope like yours.

What you have appears to be a Newtonian reflector, with 8 inch (200mm) diameter, 1000mm focal length, on an equatorial mount.

The telescope will be big enough to give spectacular views of the moon, and reasonable (although smallish) views of the planets. Additionally, it should give nice views of Deep Space Objects.

As a beginner, your main challenges will come from setting the mount up.
Polar alignment is challenging for beginners and experienced alike, so don't feel too bad about it.

Then once aligned, you will invariably find the finder scope in the most awkward places, and develop the common "Eq Pain in the neck".
again, don't feel this is because you are newcomers.

The trick to making life bearable with the EQ mount is to rotate the tube in the mounting rings (loosen them off carefully) to achieve a comfortable viewing position.

EQ mounts are great for photography, but can be a bit of a pain for visual observing. Nonetheless, you have a good sized machine there and it should give you some rewarding observings.

Please continue to ask questions, we all went through the learning curve you are about to face.

Try to find an organised observing site near you where you can learn from experienced people and share their tips and checkout their gear.

welcome aboard

[stopusinmyid (Tammy)]

Hi Rachel,

I only have a 5" telescope at the moment (in the process of upgrading to 10") and i can see Saturn fine, just a tad on the tiny side. Also I have had some decent views of Jupiter.
Just a recommendation that might make it easier for you to find things is a free downloadable program called Stellarium . It's the one I use all the time to see what's in the sky and when. We still don't understand how to use degrees and angles to line things up . I use the Southern Cross as my starting point and work from there .
The people on this forum site, IIS are a great help also and be prepared for some early cold mornings

[ballaratdragons (Ken)]

Hi Rachael and partner

HERE: Saxon 2001PEQ5

- The telescope is a pretty good scope. Great for DSO's especially.
- The mount is a pretty good mount. Good for tracking and basic astrophotography.

Put them together and . . . hmmmmm.

The first hurdle you will find is setting up and aligning the mount with the South Celestial Pole.
Many experienced observers still pull their hair out doing this.

The next hurdle will be trying to see through the eyepiece at all the weird unreachable angles EQ mounts go to.

I'm not trying to make you feel miserable, but if we don't say the negatives you will be grunting and groaning and complaining that no-one said how hard it all can be with this set-up.

The easiest way to start out is with a Dobsonian Mounted Reflector, but not everyone wants one.
The technical fancy look of EQ mounts are often a drawcard.
Place a Refractor on an EQ mount and life becomes a bit easier.

Saxon products are quite good. I use 2 of their refractors and they are very good quality

You will still get great views from your scope, and you will get the hang of setting up the mount. But be aware that these aren't a really easy mount for beginners to start out with.
But thousands do, and they eventually do well.

Persist with it, ask a ton of questions in here, and have fun with it

Try catch up with one of the Astro clubs in your area and the members should be happy to help you sort it all out.

Oh, and welcome

[rach34 (Rachael)]

Thanks so much for all your comments...we have recently discovered that we needed a barlow lens (what a difference that made) and took a few shots of the moon with our phone. Which turned out pretty good, i must admit. What a beautiful sight it is. Just waiting on the next full moon. Another question for you all, how can i tell the difference between a planet and a star when just looking with the naked eye? We were trying to see if we could spot a planet, but it all looks the same.

[big_dav_2001 (Davin)]

Hi Rachel, and welcome!

Planets can be hard to spot at times, Many of us use a computer program called Stellarium to locate objects, and the planets are pretty easy to locate using it. Generally, planets are a bit brighter than the surrounding stars, and they don't appear to 'twinkle' as stars do when they're close to the horizon.

The best thing is to get to know your consellations, either through books or programs like Stellarium and with a bit of practice you'll be able to spot anything out of place.

The inner planets like Mercury and Venus are only seen around sunrise and sunset, depending on the position of the planet, but I don't think either are around at the moment. Also, beware: these two are often close to the sun, always make sure the sun has fully set before going looking at these, because if you accidentally hit the sun when youre searching for them, it could result in instant permanent blindness.

Jupiter is pretty easy to spot at the moment, it's pretty bright, rising in the east at about midnight. You should be able to spot several moons and some banding on the surface. Also Saturn can still be seen low in the west, but it sets at about 10pm. Nothing beats looking at Saturn for the first time through a scope, something most of will always remember


Davin

[graham.hobart (Graham stevens)]

Hello and welcome to this great forum. EQ (equatorial) mounts are not as straight forward for visual use as an ALt AZ or fork mount, but once you get the idea then the tracking is much better. To re-iterate what has said before, it can be a pain in the neck (or knees). My favourite addition to my astronomy night out apart from a red torch is a pair of 15 dollar knee pads from Bunnings - certainly makes it more comfortable to kneel down and look up at the eye piece when in those awkward positions. When it's high you could rotate the tube also. I love my EQ mounts, they are out more times than my old fork mount nowadays.
What is mentioned earlier about polar alignment is true though, but unless you want to take piccies straight away don't let it put you off.
Use the usual rigmarole for setting up i.e point south with a tiny adjustment for Brissie magnetic variation and the altitude to your latitude and then you are away.
Or if you are like me - just get the bloody thing out at every opportunity and find something in the sky and go "awww"
re. the above, because scopes have a smaller view I found really useful the Stellarium as mentioned before but also a pair of cheap binoculars- to scan the sky.
I would find the area of interest then scan with binos till I found the bright object then point the scope that way.
Another way is finding the thing of interest in binos/ finderscope then taping a cheap laser pointer to the scope in it's optical axis so you know when you point the laser, the scope is there. You can buy laser pointer mounts as well but tape is cheaper!
Above all, don't get mired by the techno stuff, as at the end of the day we are all in it to be gobsmacked by the beauty of the heavens. So anyway you can see that is alright!

such a long post as at the moment the beauty of the heavens is swamped by the majesty of the rain!!
Graham in gumboots

[Poita (Peter)]

Saturn is easy to find in the west at the moment from sunset through to about 10pm.
Jupiter doesn't get over the horizon in the east until after midnight, so you'll have to stay up for a look at the big fella.

I'd consider getting or making a dobsonian mount for your telescope if you find it too hard after a while, but otherwise persist with it and you will get there.

If you have an iPhone/ipod touch/ipad download star walk, it allows you to hold the phone up to the skies and see where everything is in real-time, makes it very easy to find stuff, and has a 'night-mode' where it is all in red to stop your night-vision being affected.

With the naked eye, sometimes planets are brighter, but they really become easy to find once you are familiar with the night sky as they are the only 'stars' that aren't in the same place each night, so after a while you can spot them easily as they look out of place.
But in the meantime, use stellarium on PC/Mac or Star Walk on your iPhone/ipad/itouch.
http://www.stellarium.org/
http://vitotechnology.com/star-walk.html