Newbie Questions from Newbie Member

[Brown.dog (Tony)]

Hello Fellow Amateur Astronomers,

Browndog here, I'm 56 yrs and have always had an interest in astronomy and the stars. In fact the Astronomical Picture of the Day website has always been my first port of call when opening my web browser for as long as I can remember. So I recently decided I want a telescope to view the heavens and thanks to a nice tax return have invested in a Nexstar 8SE,which as yet is still in it's box. I have read that this is quite a good scope for a beginner to view DSOs. I hope to get my two boys 12 and 14 interested in the stars and this leads me to a question. I need glasses to read, my vision is great down to a metre out, but inside a metre it deteriorates to the point of needing glasses to read. So will using glasses limit my experience with the scope? and if I have something focussed in and want to show the boys will they need to refocus to get a sharp image?

regards,

Browndog

[Allan_L (Allan)]

Hi Tony,
and welcome to IceInSpace

I wear glasses, but have the opposite problem in that I don't need them up close, but I think the same principle applies.
I can adjust the focus so that I don't need to wear glasses to view through the scope, but others will need to adjust the focus individually to see the item clearly.

Alternatively, you can wear your glasses yourself and the focus will be just about right for others to use. But I find glasses at the eyepiece to be a bit limiting.

Adjusting focus is not a big issue.
Actually, I usually pop them on to refocus just before someone else has a look down the eyepiece.

Good luck with your new hobby
Regards

[AstralTraveller (David)]

So long as you are only long or short sighted then you can focus for yourself and not use glasses. If you have astigmatism then you need the glasses. Let the boys focus for themselves - in fact I think everyone should adjust the focus for themselves and not hope that their eyes are the same as the last person.

[Saturnine (Jeff)]

I can also add that if you only need reading glasses, as I do, then you have no need to worry about being able to see clearly through the telescope. The scope does the work that your glasses normally does and the scope may need a slight tweak of the focuser for your sons to view through it but not much . When other people view through my scopes at least 50% say that it is focus for them too, young and old. Your sons, at their age, should be able to refocus to suit their eyes , if they need to.

Cheers and Welcome

[Brown.dog (Tony)]

Thanks for the replies Gents, sounds like I won't have any dramas with the glasses. The fact that the scope will compensate for them is something I had not even considered.

regards

Tony