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FloDorm

By FloDorm
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FloDorm

FloDorm

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Hi all, I have just found this site and am hoping to get some help.  I have purchased a Celestron Astromaster 130EQ as that was the one the nice man in the shop said was ideal for beginners.  Having read some of the comments on here I now have some doubts.  So far I have set up the telescope and sorted the Starfinder.  I can see the Moon really clearly, but at the moment all I see for any thing else is twinkling shiny dots.  The scope comes with 10mm and 20mm eyepieces.  What would I need in order to see Mars and Venus in some detail and will this involve me in having to rob a bank?  Have seen various eyepieces on Amazon and Ebay, but am a bit overwhelmed by the sheer volume of stuff on offer.

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swag72

swag72

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Hi and welcome to SGL - I don't do visual I'm afraid, so I hope someone will come along soon to confirm, but I dont *think* you'll see detail as such on Mercury and Venus. If you can see the moon clearly, then that sounds like you have the focus sorted, so that's good. Why don't you have a look for Jupiter? It's well placed in the East at the moment and you should find that more interesting.

Planets aren't going to be particularly big, so make sure that your eyes are well dark adapted and that you spend time at the eyepiece getting used to the view.

Hope that helps :)

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Stropper

Stropper

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I'm a newbie too so I can't help you a lot. One thing I was advised to purchase was Turn Left at Orion which gives you lots of objects to look at in the sky at should be visible through your setup. It is often recommended by people on here as well.

Good luck with the stargazing

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laudropb

laudropb

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Hello and welcome to the SGL. It takes a little practice to get used to your new scope. Even Jupiter, which is at its best just now, may disappoint. It will be small and may appear featureless at first, but keep looking. Time spent at the eyepiece will be rewarded by being able to make out the planets bands and other cloud features. You will also be able to see the 4 major moons orbiting the planet. Stars will always just appear as tiny points of light. The book recommended is very good as it not only describes how to find interesting objects, but provides sketches of what you should see. I would also recommend going along to your local astronomy club. You will no doubt find lots of help there

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strutsinaction

strutsinaction

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Welcome aboard, FloDorm!

I agree with Laudropb - 'Turn Left at Orion' is a great starting point and will set realistic expectations on what you can hope to see with a scope such as yours. I would hold off buying more stuff until your understanding of visual obervations with a small scope improves.

Regards

John

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glowjet

glowjet

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Hi FloDorm and welcome to SGL, you have a nice scope, which should give rewarding views of many subjects in our heavenly neighbourhood, but you will need a little patience and practice. The recommended literature will help explain and guide you with your observations :)

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JamesM

JamesM

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Hi and welcome to the forum. I would also like to endorse "Turn Left at Orion" for those starting out. It lists some 100 objects that are divided seasonally in order to provide you with plenty to see throughout the year. It supplies both written instructions and maps to help you find these objects and also gives some written information on what you are looking at perhaps a specific detail to look put for. If you want some idea of the layout then you can take a look here.

Your scope is a great device for resolving objects beyond the capability what you can normally see with your eyes. Observing the night sky and in particular details of specific objects can be effected by various factors, light pollution, the amount of dust and the degree of turbulence in our atmosphere along with the actual capability of your own eyes which can be improved through practice. You will often read of peoples's ability to 'resolve' detail with their scopes and this is simply down to the amount of light that your equipment can gather and present to your through a given eyepiece. If you understand light as being a means of collecting information, then of course a 20" mirror will be able to collect more 'information' than a 6" or 8" scope. Another thing to consider is that when you change from a 20mm to a 10mm eyepiece in order to magnify an image, what you are actually doing is stretching the light you have collected and explains why the image you are viewing will have dimmed. This might not be so noticeable when looking at a bright planet but when you are attempting to split two distant stars that are close together, you will witness this more clearly. Now if you are able to collect more light at the beginning, then there is more light for you to stretch and hopefully more detail to see providing viewing conditions are good. Having said that, because we are subject to the rules of physics, any one scope is limited to a theoretical maximum which can be calculated as:

                                              Aperture in inches X 50

                    Celestron Astromaster (130mm) 5" X 50 = 250 magnification

But this is only a theoretical maximum because the true limit on magnification is our atmosphere which is also magnified along with the object we wish to view. On a night with poor viewing you might expect no more than x100 to x150, but on average it is about x180 to x200 with only very few nights allowing you to resolve x250 magnification. How you obtain that magnification will very much depend on the size and quality of your eyepiece set against the focal length of your scope. You might want to read here on a more detailed explanation that involves some very basic maths to help you understand magnification with your specific scope.

I hope the above information helps your understanding and that I haven't confused you more! You will always need a little bit of technical knowledge to get the best out of your scope and to help you decide in the future when upgrading your scope or eyepieces.

Clear skies and hope you enjoy your stay here.

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