I need some help setting-up a reflector telescope

[patroe]

Hi, I recently bought my son a reflector 'scope (from Jessops) & we are finding it very difficult to see anything with it; can anyone give us any hints, guidance etc. as to how to set it up properly?

We'd also be interested to hear any good advice for newby astronomers!

Thanks in advance, Pat.

[Mike]

What telescope is it please? Can you provide a link to it so we can see what it's specs are?

I've seen a few telescopes in jessops myself and I they have been the usual high street shop types, i.e. designed to entice the buyer, but in reality not a lot of use for astronomy, more suited for bird watching. However, I have also seen some Celestron's for sale in Jessops which are half decent.

[Mac]

Looking at the jessops site.
I can only assume that you have purchased the Meade EXT90


(Mike take your anti Meade pills now please )

What eyepieces did it come with?? as it dosent say on the site.
they normaly have a 26mm eyepiece to start with.

first things first.
you need to set the telescope up in daylight!!!!
THIS IS FOR ANY TELESCOPE!!!

build it in your backgarden and put everything together, including the red dot finder.
You need to align the red dot finder to your telescope, this normally only needs to be done once.
Fit the eyepiece to the telescope and focus on a distance object. The further the better!!!

The end of the garden is not far enough, something like the end of the street
or if you have a view across london, something the other side of london.

Once you have the object in focus, you need to align the red dot finderscope so that the red dot that you can see is over the same object in your main scope.
there are normally adjustment screws to assist you in this.
Once you have this set up you should be able to find things a lot easier.

Now the fun bit.
Asuming you have the above scope, but most of them with goto should be the same.

Point the telescope facing north.
Make sure it is level.
turn it on.
Follow the instructions on the hand set.
Normally the scope will go through a start up routine where it measures is position and level ect.
Once this has finished it will select two alignment stars. center these in the middle of the red dot finder first.
then center them in the main scope using the keypad press enter and the scope should goto the second star.

once you have aligned on both stars the scope is ready.
From hte key pad you should be able to move the scope anywhere in the sky, and use its built in database.

Dont expect the following images.


Fay this is one of yours. (oops sorry its a NASA one.)

Expect something like this.


The top one is from NASA and is probably about 100+ hours of data.
The bottom one isnt.

Your eyes will take at least 30 mins to become dark adapted, so even looking at the moon will reset them
as will going inside for a cuppa.

so when you are looking at the faint fuzzies (because that is all they are) that is what you will see normally only after your eyes have adapted!!

Enjoy looking at the moon though. Preferably when its not full!!
1st 1/4 and last 1/4 are probably the best times as there is more detail on the edges.

Have a look at our gallery.
http://gallery.orpington-astronomy.org.uk/
so you can see what is possible from the UK with a lot of patience.

Above all enjoy your new hobby.

Mac.

[mickw]

Pat another thing to think about is the eyepiece magnification - the smaller the number, the greater the magnification.

More magnification sounds better, but not always - with higher magnification, the more accurate you need to be with pointing the scope.  Try to stick with the lowest magnification (highest number eyepiece [in mm]) until you get used to actually seeing in the scope the thing you want to point at.
You can always swap the eyepieces in the scope for a higher magnification, but be gentle and don't go from the lowest magnification to the highest, you will very likely be disappointed with the results.
If you lose sight of an object, just go back to a lower magnification, it will make it easier to find.

Don't try and cram everything into one night - All the stuff that's up there has been around for some time and will be around for some time more.

Have fun and good luck,
Mick

Forgot to ask - When you were trying to set the scope up, what knobs or buttons did you turn or press (will need to know what scope it is to help with that one)

[patroe]

It's actually Jessop's own brand, "Reflecting Scope" model TA800x80. It has 3 eyepieces; 20mm, 12.5mm & 6mm as well as a 3x Barlow lens & was £100 full price, tho' we didn't pay that...

[patroe]

Thanks for the advice thus far; I'd obviously overlooked some basics, such as setting up the finder scope properly & getting "aclimatised" before viewing (or trying to!). I don't appear to be alone tho' as I've found a site where several people have asked the same question about the same scope:

http://stargazerslounge.com/beginners-help-advice/93799-what-do.html

I'll let you know how we get on.... Pat.

[Mike]

Pat,

Your best bet is to pop along to one of our observing sessions, with the scope, ad we can set it up and show you how to use it.

[patroe]

Thanks, we will; is it 15th June? Pat.

[Mac]

yup looks like the next one is on the 15th June.


Also if your free Tomorrow. Thursday, we have our monthly meeting.
Pop along and say hello.

http://www.orpington-astronomy.org.uk/

Mac.

[Fay]

Behave Mac   

[Mac]

What.