I've been looking through the threads and am a brand new member and extremely new at this astronomy stuff. Based on exhaustive research both here (thank you very much) and on other sites, I purchased a 150MM reflector telescope and now I think I made an expensive mistake! I looked at the Dobsonian but boy were they huge and I wanted something fairly portable.
Got Mars in my crosshairs, looked through my 25MM eye piece thingy, seeing lots and lots of stars. Slowly twiddling the adjustment things, I see the outline of Mars! Wow, but then backing off to see the whole image and it's gone! If I can't see Mars, how is it going to work with the Moon and Venus! Do I need a different kind of eye piece. It also came with a 9MM but I couldn't see anything at all with that.
This is a stupid question but did I buy too powerful of a telescope or am I doing something way wrong. We plan on attending night viewings with a club for help but this is a present for my husband and I want to get it set up right for the October 30/31 viewing of Mars.
hey, welcome aboard fellow sydneyite!
ok first things first... you need to align your finderscope to the rest of the telescope.
secondly, people who are new to this commonly believe that you can "zoom in" with an eyepiece by twisting the knob on the focuser. this is wrong. each eyepiece has a point where it focuses, moving either side of that will put it out of focus.
my sugestion is to center mars in yous 25mm eyepiece then while its centred pop in your 9mm and focus it.
Hi David,
Thanks for that. Actually, I'm trying to back off "zoom out" because an edge of Mars shows up in the scope. If I adjust it in any manner, including using the fine adjustment knobs, it disappears completely. I can find Mars just fine using my finderscope...it is in the crosshairs, and have to make a very small adjustment to find Mars. I can't get it centred, can only see the edge that fills up the almost the entire view. I'm probably not making sense and am a hopeless case.
The 150mm reflector you bought will be a perfect introduction to a great hobby.
Your very first telescope can be a bit daunting to use your first night out. The field of view is very small; you've got to get use to directions in the sky; an astronomical telescope shows things upside down (you move the scope one way and the object you're looking at goes the other way!); you've got a finder that needs aligning; knobs to twiddle; eypieces to put in. Somehow you've got to do all this in the dark!
I recommend that you set up the telescope in the daytime and look at terrestial objects - the hills in the distance, mobile phone towers, the weird people down the road, etc!
It is a bit easier to sort out the issues in the daylight than at night. You can align your finder on an object in the distance, move the scope backward and forward, up and down, practise putting in eyepieces and focussing. It doesn't take much to get use to all this - it becomes second nature - but there is a little bit of a learning curve.
Let us know how you get on. There are lots of people on this forum who have been exactly where you are right now. We can take you step by step through all of the issues.
sounds to me that if you have a 25mm eyepiece in and you can only just fit mars in your field of view that it is way out of focus. in that eyepiece mars shouldnt be very big at all.
ok... been thinking... i know what wrong but putting it in words is a different matter.
1. find mars in your finderscope
2. with the 25mm eyepiece in place lok for it in the eyepiece
3. center it in the eyepiece (you will notice it is not in the center of your finder now)
4. there are adjustment screw on your finder scope to move it around, use this to re-center mars in the finder. then your telescope and finder are aligned.
5. with mars in the center of your field of view in the 25mm eyepiece, turn the focuser either way till you get the smallest posible image of mars. this is when it is in focus.
if you change eyepieces then you will have to refocus. once again you are looking to make what you see thru the eyepiece as small as posible to achieve focus (see step 5)
Welcome le.clark! There are lots of people on this forum who have been exactly where you are right now.
Adam.
Some are still at that point so your not alone Le.
It is awkward trying to explain it all in a post, and yet it takes only a few minutes when shown.
Hopefully a member near your location may be able to pop around and help.
What suburb are you in so members will know if they are close to you.
Just out of curiosity what sort of mount are you using. If you didn't get a Dob then I'm assuming you bought a small Equatorial mount. It has a funny looking goose neck that attaches the scope to the tripod.
Hi Le ! to IIS , I live in Bankstown so If you want help just PM me and I'll be happy to help you out . Once someone shows you how to use your scope you will find It very simple .
Moving the scope aside; your biggest problem at the moment is that you don't know what focus should look like.
In your 150mm reflector with a 25mm EP in the focusor Mars will appear as a bright orange dot. If you see, as you say the edge of Mars this is an indication that your scope is way out of focus. So with this in mind slowly move the focusing knob where the eyepiece, it looks like the focusing knob on a microscope. Try to get the edge of the defocused image to move more central by using the controls for movement i.e. the long turning knobs on a Equatorial scope or if the scope is a dobsonian (a tube that is sitting in a box) by moving the scope with your hand. As you do this slowly wind the focusor. If you are going in the right direction the circle or defocused image(what you called the edge of Mars) will get smaller. Keep doing this and making small adjustments to centre Mars. Eventually, Mars will appear as a bright dot with that EP. Now replace the EP with the 9mm and refocus with that EP. The image of mars will be bigger but not much more. You should see some detal but not a lot. The moon on the other hand will present you with lots of fascinating craters and valleys. Excellent for learning your scope with.
Things to remember, using the focusor simply focuses with an eyepiece. It does not zoom in an out. Also try as suggested to focus during the day on distant objects, this will help you understand focus. Even align your scope with the finder scope at this time. Look for a distant object and then align the finder with the image in the scope.
Also please tell us what brand model number your scope is, so that we can help you learn your scope.
Depending on where you live Le there is a viewing night at Linden in the Blue Mountains this Saturday with WSAAG ( http://www4.tpgi.com.au/users/wsaag/ ) just go to the Calendar link for directions etc.
Hopefully you can get there as there will be people there to help you.
I'm still pretty new at this also but what I do is focus my finderscope on the nearest street light (which is at the end of my front yard) then with the 25mm eyepiece I then get the light in my field of view(FOV). I then repeat this on a street light about 100M away. Once it is in the middle of my FOV I change the 25mm eyepiece with the 9 mm. Once I get that right I then point my scope up and line up the moon if it is in the night sky, if not try Venus or something. It takes a little while to get used to but you will get the hang of it very quickly.
Welcome, le.clark.
Just to make things a little easier/clearer if I may. In daylight, take the t'scope outside, put the 25 mm E/Pc in, pick on object,(the top of a telegraph pole or whatever), which is 500/1000 mtrs away, line this up in the t'scope, (adjust the focus till you see it clearly), then adjust the finderscope crosshairs to it. (not the t'scope to the finder). Make sure that the object you select is the SAME one in both fields of view.
Put the 9 mm E/Pc in & you should see a larger/closer image.
Once collimated, just 'nip' the adjusting screws finger tight. Check on another object. That should be all that is needed.
When viewing at night, always use the 25 mm to start with, as this gives you the widest FOV. (field of view). You should have 1 or 2 E/Pcs. in between the 25 & the 9 mm. Say an 18~15 & a 12mm.
Any other probs. please ask.
HTH. L.
A big thanks to everyone who's responded to my very lame request. I haven't written back, 'cause, well, you know, if you're in Sydney, the sky hasn't been exactly picture perfect. I work full time and I haven't had a chance at all to try your suggestions. Keep them coming though.
I promise, I will try, exactly what you suggest and in my next thread provide my scope information. But what I can tell you right now, is that, based on the horrendous, I mean terribly awful, Chinese (ie supposedly English)instructions that I received with my scope, any normal human being would have given up, but I perservered. It took me 2 hours for a 20 minute job 'cause the instructions were so bad, but that's another story!
Here's an idea...for the immediate future. I live at the Sydney Olympic Park. We have a bunch of cool, what they call markers (hard to explain but if you live in the west, you've seen them), here. I think it would be great fun to get a group together to set up scopes. Nothing spectacular but at least above city level. Anybody interested? That way I could learn to use my scope, we'd have a get together for those interested in the area and I'd provide entrees (BYO). It could be fun...anybody willling to have a go?
Thanks again for all your help. Once the skies clear up I'll try your suggestions....and those who have offered to help... be careful out there. I might take you up on your offer.
Here are the gory details:
I think I made a mistake, but you guys know better than me. This is all I have from the instructions manual:
Astronomy Telescope 153MM
Manual for a Reflector Type of Equatorial Mount
The BEST TELSECOPE MANUFACTURER
There is no brand name
No other information on the manual or box to distinguish the manufacturer. Bought from Andrews Communications (Sydney in Prospect) which had, I searched, a fairly good reputation. I wanted to buy a Skywatcher but he said this was better value for the money ($500.00) although I wanted a smaller scope.
It came with a 25mm and 9mm lenses.
After reading the instructions, I knew I had made a mistake. But how big?
Is this what your scope looks like? It's a GS-500 from Andrews site, It's the only one that fits your description anyway.
I think you did ok, a good entry level scope. GS is reputed to be of good quality, & I think most would choose this brand over a skywatcher these days anyway.
Seems to be a F5 scope which means you will need better quality eyepieces later down the track to get the best out of it.
I suggest learn the sky, learn how to use the scope until it becomes second nature before you worry about eyepieces though.
like rob said.. if you are mobile try heading up to linden
good viewing there too
oh, and if your scope is the GS-500 then you have picked a good scope and all thats left to do is learn how to use it
once you get the hand of it you will enjoy it
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to IIS , I live in Bankstown so If you want help just PM me and I'll be happy to help you out . Once someone shows you how to use your scope you will find It very simple .
L.
