Newbie advice please

[Rew1983]

Hi. I've wanted a telescope for a while and my wife just bought me one for my birthday. It is very much 'entry level' as she's afraid I won't get into it and so didn't want to spend a fortune. It is this:

http://www.wexphotographic.com/buy-sky-watcher-mercury-607-refractor-telescope/p10568

I know that the 60mm diameter is a restriction but for now I'm happy to observe the moon and find my way around the constellations a bit before splashing out on a better scope. However I'm tempted to add a 7.5mm or 6mm eyepiece to the 10 and 20 that came with the scope. Would it be worth it though? Just to look at some of the brighter planets a bit more closely?

[Alfian]

Hi Rew', and welcome to the forum,  the usual guide line for max magnification for a scope is 2x aperture in mm -  which for the 60mm  will be 120, so in theory you could use the 6mm or 7.5mm, but that guideline tends to presume perfect seeing conditions which most of us rarely if ever see, so  a true estimate  will be less than this. The 7.5mm will give you 93x which is probably enough. With a 50 degree afov plossl the moon will fill the eyepiece! Given that the the eyepieces that normally come with new scopes, are not normally the best, an alternative would be to improve the EPs you have. A switch to modestly priced plossls would almost certainly give you better quality views,

[Charic]

Rew1983........Hi there welcome to SGL.  You won't know until you try? Any eyepieces you buy will  and can be used in other telescopes,  if you purchase the 1.25" format

You're already  aware of the limitations of the 60mm,  which has got you into thinking,  as to what to buy next?

Any eyepiece is only as good as the telescope itself, If you think the images alone are not up to much  ( although you mention you're enjoying the Lunar views ) eyepieces alone won't do you justice. Its a combination of telescope AND eyepiece.  I think I have a good setup, but if I want better, I need a bigger scope for my Deep Space requirements.  Just buying another ( expensive ) eyepiece won't give me anything I don't already have?

Have a good think as to what aspect of astronomy, and what you want to see the most, this will give us some idea as to your needs, and what we believe would / could be a better option to get the desired results.

[Dave In Vermont]

Alfian is quite right about getting a few Plossl's. They will be a good investment. And the 600mm refractor is where many of us started from. That yours is from Skywatcher tells me it's a good one, so have fun with it! If you find this to your liking, and you wish to upgrade, used astro-gear retains most of it's value on the re-sale market.

Enjoy your new scope!

Dave

[ronin]

60/700 so f/11.5(ish), should do well on a couple of planets the moon, double stars and a number of clusters.

Orion Nebula will be another good option (sort of tinight and for the next couple of months).

I doubt a 5mm eyepiece will work very well but a 7mm eyepiece might for maximum magnification.

That would give 100x and that is easy enough for Jupiter, if the image is good then the same may be OK for Saturn.

The 10mm may actually be better on Jupiter if it performs well.

To simply find anything I would suggest a 32mm, or 30mm, eyepiece. Wider field of view.

Also spend the time to align finder and main scope.

[Rew1983]

Thanks a lot for the replies. Perhaps what I will do then is to upgrade the existing EP's to better quality versions and perhaps buy a 7.5mm whilst I'm at it. As mentioned, I can always transfer these as/when I upgrade the scope itself. The ones that came with it will at least allow me to get used to the process etc.

Ultimately I would love to be able to see a bit of detail on the likes of Jupiter and Saturn but acknowledge that this simply isn't possible with what I have.

I have bought a fitting to allow me to attach my nikon slr for a bit of lunar photography. I'll hopefully put some pictures of my attempts on here once it arrives and the moon is more full.

[Charic]

Rew1983..........holding a mobile phone and/or  attaching the SLR is something I have tried. I have some very basic images in my gallery (click the avatar for access) The SLR will have  weight problems with the balance of the telescope ( I own the D5000 ) but the main feature that is missing  on my my telescope is tracking? But until I want to get more involved into astrophotography, things will just stay as they are.

Your Skywatcher 20mm is an ok EP. I would just consider something to replace the 10mm you own for now. I wanted  wider  views with larger image scale? and did not want to spend much. I have the BST Starguiders,  of which I prefer my 8mm BST  over the Televue 8mm, the BST being more comfortable to use with my eyes. I have the wider field of  view that I desired,  and I'm not too concerned about off-axis observations. For the larger view/scale, I need a bigger scope!

As to buying "better quality" , I do think my BSTs are far better than my Skywatcher Modified kellner eyepieces,  when used in my Skyliner, but they don't improve or achieve better results when used in my old Celestron 127EQ. I blame the quality and the ability of the Celestron telescope for that, so no, EP's alone are not always the answer. 

[Astro Imp]

Don't underestimate what you will be able to see of the planets. As has often been remarked Galileo first saw the four largest moons of Jupiter in a scope which was far inferior to what you have.

When choosing new eyepieces be aware that Plossls have little eye relief at shorter focal lengths. This may not be an issue if you do not observe wearing glasses but is something to keep in mind.

[Lowjiber]

Nice way to get started. Congratulations!

However, at a focal ratio of f/11.7, you're going to be pushing it a bit with any eyepiece shorter than about 10mm. It will likely be satisfactory on the Moon because it is so close. It likely will disappoint on other targets (Juipter, Saturn, etc.) unless the seeing is excellent.

Clear, Dark Skies

[Rew1983]

Well, I had another quick play this evening during a short break in the cloud cover. Managed to get a decent look around Orion. However, I noticed the azimuth lock wasn't really doing much so took the screw/knob out of the mount only to find that the hole doesn't go all the way through....maybe I've got this wrong but shouldn't the hole go through the outer part to clamp the inner part to prevent it from moving?

[happy-kat]

Hi

I think to attach your camera you will need to consider the balance of your telescope to counter the added weight as I think without trying to allow for the camera might see the tube point upwards rapidly. Just didn't want your camera taking a hit if you did not carefully plan for this.

I can make out the ring (not split) of Saturn at 63x in my telescope (I know it is bigger 130mm but showing that magnification is not that high).

[Vox45]

Hello and welcome to the forum !

I was at a friend's house not too long ago and his son showed me the scope he got for his birthday, same as yours (60/700) He told me he was using it for the moon only.

We went outside and after aligning the finder, attaching the alt rode (that was just hanging there) for fine adjustment and explaining 'the ecliptic', he was able to find Jupiter, point it and observe it's moons. I thing he got hooked judging by the big smile he had on his face

[Peter Drew]

The hole for the azimuth lock probably does go all the way through. There is, however, usually a plug of some compressible material at the end of the hole to prevent the metal screw damaging the azimuth shaft.