HELP NEEDED! Finding planets on Celestron astromaster 130eq

[meaganreid_ (Meagan)]

Hi guys

I have recently bought a 130EQ and am really struggling with finding ways to capture the planets. I have no problem with finding the moon (obviously because it is so close) but I have read the manual a thousand times and researched online and cannot find answers as to how to punch in coordinates into my telescope. I have a manual which tells me the exact place where planets are at what time, and at what location for each day but I have no idea how to apply these numbers to my scope.

They're such things as Venus: "20,00,19; 19, 12, 24" and so I am guessing that these numbers are for the telescopes with electronic remotes attached to them?

Basically I am asking how I can use these coordinates to find planets or any other way that I can find them.

Please, please help me, I would appreciate it more than anyone could imagine.
Thank you so much!

[Allan_L (Allan)]

Hi Meagan,
Welcome to Ice In Space

The answer depends on a number of things.

The setting circles on the telescope are right ascension and declination.
These can only be useful if you have the telescope properly polar aligned from the start, (pointing at South Celestial Pole).
Then you can use them to find objects that are at fixed RA / Dec locations.

However, planets move about and they do not have fixed RA Dec.
So the co-ordinates do change over time.

I found when starting, the best way to find the locations of planets was by use of monthly star maps (can be downloaded for free from several sites) which pictorially show the bright stars in a region and indicate where the planets are from there.

Jupiter is easily observable at the moment. It is the brightest object (other than moon) each night and close to Orion (last time I checked).
Perhaps if you line that up, check your co-ordinates from the book, for comparison to your telescope setting circles.

Hope this helps
Feel free to ask more questions if needed.

[mithrandir (Andrew)]

Originally Posted by meaganreid_

They're such things as Venus: "20,00,19; 19, 12, 24" and so I am guessing that these numbers are for the telescopes with electronic remotes attached to them?

Megan, those look like equatorial coordinates but not for Venus for around now. They are approximately correct for the start of February 2013 but with a missing "-" sign on the declination. On Feb 1 Venus will be at 20h02'24" -21°03'21"

[LAW (Murphy)]

The simplest answer is ... They look like the brightest stars.

The slightly longer answer is ... Jupiter is the bright thing to the North in the evening at the moment, Saturn will rise shortly before the Sun, Venus and Mercury will rise very slightly before the Sun and Mars is very low in the West as the Sun sets.

The longest answer is... using the "Setting Circles" on your mount. If you scope doesn't have a digital hand controller then this will be done manually. One axis will be marked with a 24 hour scale, the other is in degrees. Over the course of a day the sky (actually the earth) will rotate by 24 hours(ish), so Astronomers picked a 'zero' point and gave everything a value relative to that. The degrees measure the deviation from the celestial equator to the North Pole (+Dec) and the South Pole (-Dec). Once the scales on your mount are properly aligned for the night then (theoretically) you can use them to point at anything you know the coordinates of.

I usually just use a free program called Stellarium to find what I want to look at. The program has a feature to take a screenshot in inverted colours (stars are black, page is white) which saves on printer ink and I take that outside and compare the sky with my 'star map' then point the scope at it.

Good luck! Planets are a very rewarding target.
(Definietely get up early and see Saturn, you won't regret it)

[TheAstroChannel (Sean)]

I find it to much of a struggle with an equatorial mount like yours, so i decided to study sky charts, and now i know my way around the sky and where most things are so i have a fairly good idea of where to point a manual telescope. The polar alignment takes a time to do in the southern hemisphere since we don't have a very bright south pole star unlike the Northern hemisphere. so i suggest to just study charts to find your way around the sky, and i would reckon it's much better to have a good understanding of where everything is than to just use setting circles to find something

Just my thought
-Sean

[brian nordstrom (As avatar)]

good tips Sean , and get your self a ' Planesphere ' these cost $20 and are a God send for the newbys , like I was many years ago and I still have and use that one I got way back then . .
Bintel sells these , as well as most astro suppliers , be wary of the ones sold in book shops and the like as I have seen Northern hemisphere ones sold down here in the south ( where we live , and see the southern sky ) and thats really confusing , no carp I have had people over the years ask me how do I use this thing , only to find its for the northern sky , thats behind the Earth all the time and we never see it .
Sad but True . ( and money down the drain , spinning anti clockwise )
Brian.

[dannat (Daniel)]

If you want some help pm & well organize a time to meet up, it will be easier in person than describing with text

[Allan_L (Allan)]

Originally Posted by brian nordstrom

good tips Sean , and get your self a ' Planesphere ' these cost $20 and are a God send for the newbys , like I was many years ago and I still have and use that one I got way back then . .
Bintel sells these , as well as most astro suppliers , be wary of the ones sold in book shops and the like as I have seen Northern hemisphere ones sold down here in the south ( where we live , and see the southern sky ) and thats really confusing , no carp I have had people over the years ask me how do I use this thing , only to find its for the northern sky , thats behind the Earth all the time and we never see it .
Sad but True . ( and money down the drain , spinning anti clockwise )
Brian.

Yes Good General Advice Brian,
But the thread specifically asked about planets...
And a planesphere (well mine at least) does not include planets because they are not fixed in RA and Dec as i mentioned earlier.

But I agree these are essential for constellations and Deep Space Objects.
Which no doubt will be targets in the future.

[noeyedeer (Matt)]

Hey Meagan,
I have an old Meade 114eq .... With worn out slow motion controls etc, but what I do is, set the tripod so its facing in the gerneral direction of south, using the compass in the tripod, then slewing the tube around so its in the direction I want to look at, loosen the screws on the other 2 axis, then try and get what I want in the finder scope, tighten it up and the use slowT motion (worms?) To get in in the eye piece.
I think its a lot if fun, its a crap scope off gumtree, but I've seen more things than I've imagined. Like others have said all that ra/Dec is complicated ... Use your finderscope and neck bending angles once you get use to it, it's a lovely sight. Another tip is use an eyepiece that's around the 22-20mm mark to locate and pinpoint what you want to see then get into the higher powers.

That's if everything is aligned and collimated?(I can't spell) what you see in your finderdscope should be in your eyepiece. (My finderscope is intentually offset so no one else can use my scope lol)y
Ps, lovely site too
Matt

Edit : that's how I find anything, plus some help from mobile observatory, so I can star hop. I've yet to find Neptune or Uranus ... Not that I've bothered, but mercury mars Venus Saturn Jupiter are easy to find using the old point and shoot as they're the brightest stars around the time they're up

[dmizen]

Also Australian Sky and Telescope has a summary of the planets location current for the period of the magazines publication usually with a representation of the relevant horizon and appropriate constellations shown.
From there its easy to work out whats what, where and when.

[noeyedeer (Matt)]

As for locations, Jupiter will be at its highest point (31 degrees) at 2307 in the northern sky, approx 3 or so handspans west of the moon. (Oops prolly a lot more by now, I was thinking of last week)
If you have a good view west (243 degrees) mars sets at 2217, so any time beforehat is good for him. Mars also isn't as bright as the other planets, but is easily distinguishable by its reddish appearance.
If you're up late or early, Saturn rises at 0235 in the direction of 106E.

And Venus rises around the 430am mark too in roughly the same area Saturn did.
Hope this helps.

Use the same technique you used to find the moon and it should be sweet.
Matt

[brian nordstrom (As avatar)]

Yes you are right Alan , but without learning a few bigger constilations in the sky ,,, how is anyone going to know where to even start looking for the planets , as you say they are always on the move , eg. Planets is latin for 'wandering stars' ? or something like that .
Brian.

Originally Posted by Allan_L

Yes Good General Advice Brian,
But the thread specifically asked about planets...
And a planesphere (well mine at least) does not include planets because they are not fixed in RA and Dec as i mentioned earlier.

But I agree these are essential for constellations and Deep Space Objects.
Which no doubt will be targets in the future.